Best Budget Mechanical Keyboards 2026: Our tested picks under $100

Like most tech, the best gaming keyboards don't usually come cheap: Most well-known brands sell their entry-level models for $100 or more, especially if they're wireless or packed with other features. While mechanical keyboard enthusiasts are willing to pay much more than that for limited-run, luxury custom kits, not everyone wants to spend hundreds on just one peripheral.

Luckily, there are plenty of budget-friendly mechanical keyboards available that deliver a satisfying typing experience for less than $100 — with some solid options priced closer to $50. You might not get all the premium features found in pricier boards, but these deliver where it counts. And if you end up with a keyboard that doesn't quite meet your expectations, check out these mechanical keyboard mods to help improve on what you've got.

The Quick List

Best Budget Mechanical Keyboard You Can Buy Today

Best Budget Mechanical Keyboard for Productivity

With so much gaming focus on smaller keyboards, full-sized models with modern features at budget-friendly prices aren't as abundant 75% and 60% keyboards these days. But Keychron's C2 Pro stands out for its starting price, often under $55, its double-shot PBT keycaps, and support for both the popular VIA web app, as well as Keychron's own Launcher for programming and customizing the keyboard.

The C2 Pro also comes with a nice removable braided cable (six feet long) with a USB-C-to-USB-A adapter. Removable cables aren't very common on lower-priced productivity-focused keyboards, but it makes traveling with your keyboard easier and, of course, makes replacing it easy should something happen to the cable. It ships with MacOS keycaps installed, but comes with a set for Windows users, as well.

The backlight on the base model of the C2 Pro that we tested is white, and you get a choice of either red linear or brown tactile Keychron switches. If you want swappable switches and RGB backlighting, you can get a C2 Pro with those features, but it will cost $15-$20 more. So be sure to check which version of the keyboard you're getting before buying. Also note: The C2 Pro doesn't sound or feel as pleasing and solid as pricier alternatives, but it also doesn't feel hollow or cheap like many full-sized keyboards under $50.

Best Budget 75% Mechanical Keyboard

The 75% keyboard layout is popular (and my personal favorite) as a good balance between space-saving design without sacrificing things like the Function row and arrow keys. And if you only have around $60 to spend, the Ajazz AK820 Pro is tough to beat. Distributed through Epomaker, the AK820 Pro features a gasket-mount design with a good amount of flex and multiple layers of sound dampening for a premium sound, PBT keycaps, a metal ratcheting knob, and even a small TFT display. All of this adds up to a keyboard that looks and feels like something that could easily cost $100 or more.

The price feels particularly nice when you also factor in that this is a tri-mode wireless (2.4GHz, Bluetooth 5.1, wired USB-C), and its switches are swappable. The flying fish switches that our model shipped with sound good and feel smooth, but personally, I'd prefer something a little more tactile. And for those who aren't fond of the black plastic case and yellow accent keys, the company also offers this keyboard in a pastel purple and white colorway with light blue accent switches.

The company's software is also pretty powerful and intuitive. Just make sure you grab the right version (it was on the sixth page over in the company's "keybaord driver" section of its download page when I wrote this). The first time, I downloaded an older verison from Epomaker that wasn't entirely in English and therefore confusing. But the Beta 1.0.0.2 version I tested let me easily upload gifs to the display, program individual keys, adjust the RGB lighting, and record macros. It's not the most polished or comprehensive software package, but it's more than I expected from a budget keyboard that isn't made by one of the larger bands.

If you're after a 75% keyboard for gaming or productivity and you want it to feel and sound good, the Ajazz AK820 Pro is easily the best I've tested. In many ways, it's arguably on par with Corsair's K65 Plus Wireless, which sells for a full $100 more. The Ajazz actually sounds better than Corsair's keyboard, but the Corsair has a nicer knob and a more premium-feeling shell. The plain-feeling plastic shell is arguably the one downside of the Ajazz AK820 Pro's physical design. But there's so much else here worthy of praise for the price, it's plain chassis is easy to live with.

Best Budget 60% Mechanical Keyboard

To those unfamiliar with the brand name, or familiar with the company's older, lesser keyboards, might not expect much from the Royal Kludge R65. But while it is small, this is a whole lot of keyboard for its $50-$60 asking price. For starters, it looks stylish and distinctive in a way most gaming-focused keyboards don't, with gray and creme-colored accents, and a metallic, ratcheting volume knob. Personally, I also grealy appreciate the inclusion of arrow keys, which are often omitted on 60% keyboards. But I use arrow keys every day for RTS games and for nudging the cursor around while I write and edit.

What was even more impressive to me given the price, is that the R65 feels even better than it looks. Its linear cream switches feel extremely smooth thanks to lubrication, and the typing sound is on par with keyboards that cost twice as much. The switches are also swappable with 3- and 5-pin models, should you want to install something else. I think you'll like them unless you need switches that are particularly quiet.

The R65 also sports a gasket-mount design, and while it's far from the springiest on that front, it's still an appreciated feature in a keyboard this affordable. That's also true of the five layers of sound-absorbtion, which make the keyboard sound more expensive than it is, as well. And the PBT keycaps also feel premium, while the MDA-profile design looks, to my eyes at least, a lot more sophisticated than most keyboards in this price range.

The model of the R65 that I tested was wired, but a wireless model is available, often for less than $10 more. The RGB lighting is also nice and bright, with five levels of intensity. There is no software to control the lighting, so you'll have to rely on key combos to select patterns or your color of choice. But when it comes to customizing keys, the R65 uses the popular VIA web app, so there's no need to download or install anything, making this a good on-the-go keyboard, as well.

With all those features, its attractive looks, and a surprisingly affordable price tag, this is easily the best 60% keyboard I've used. It's also the first budget-priced keyboard I've used in a long time that I don't want to stop using once I'm done testing and writing about it.

Best Compact Budget Mechanical Keyboard

The Havit KB487L doesn't fit neatly into any other category, but it's such an interesting keyboard that we had to include it here. It's a standard TKL shape, but instead of having the usual cluster of shortcut keys along the right-hand side, it has a number pad. This leads to a ‘have your cake and eat it too’ design that offers the space-saving advantages of a TKL keyboard but doesn't actually consign spreadsheet lovers to using the number row. Our reviewer, who rarely uses the shortcut cluster or number pad, didn’t notice the difference during everyday use — but it’s almost certain to throw off anyone who’s used to a more traditional layout.

Havit also equipped the KB487L with durable PBT keycaps that feel nice and boast a unique black, white, and orange color scheme that allow the KB487L to stand out among the sea of monochromatically faced keyboards currently available. This doesn't look or feel like a budget mechanical keyboard.

Luckily the KB487L’s beauty is more than skin deep. Our reviewer didn’t notice any mis-pressed keys throughout multiple days of playing Valorant or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and those games make it pretty easy to tell when you’re doing something wrong with the keyboard — namely by making what should have clearly been a headshot fly off somewhere between the lost cities of Atlantis and Narnia. It may not be your preferred experience, but it's better than most linear switch-equipped options.

For those who like the look of the Havit keyboard but want RGB and at least the option of other switches, note that Redragon offers an aesthetically similar 94-key K636CL0-RGB. That keyboard offers hot-swappable switches and packs a lot of other niceties for its price (which often hovers around $36). But we think most people would prefer the feel of the Havit, as the Redragon's keys have a surprising amount of variation in their feel, perhaps due to the stabilizers. In our review unit, the right shift key felt drastically different than anything else on the keyboard, and some keys offering a much louder, hollow "thick" than others. It's forgivable given the surprisingly low price. But we'd choose the Havit KB487L for about $9 more.

Quick Shopping Tips

Finding Savings on the Best Budget Mechanical Keyboards

Whether you're shopping for the one of the best budget mechanical keyboards or a different model, you may find savings by checking out our lists of the latest Newegg promo codes or Best Buy promo codes.

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