Linear, tactile, or clicky

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Not sure which switch to pick? Linear, tactile, and clicky are the three feels of a mechanical switch. Linear goes straight down. Tactile adds a bump your finger can notice. Clicky adds that bump and a sharp noise. They are not three brands, and they are not three scores. A board can be any of them and still be the wrong width for the desk.

I play left-handed on UHJK. Switch feel is half of picking the best gaming keyboard. We’ll use Cherry MX Red, Brown, and Blue as the reference. More keyboard guides.

Boards worth a look

• Linear, official Cherry MX Red, full-size: Corsair K70 RGB PRO (CH-9109410-NA). Official US $169.99. Tech specs: CHERRY MX Red, full-size, 104 keys, Full Key (NKRO), report rate up to 8,000 Hz, 8 MB onboard memory, detachable USB-C, two-year warranty. Corsair’s own feel copy on that page mixes “linear and smooth” with a bump-and-click sentence. Cherry’s MX Red page is the feel: linear, no click. Corsair K70 RGB PRO. Amazon search for K70 RGB PRO MX Red
• One TKL that names all three feels: Logitech G PRO X TKL LIGHTSPEED. Official US $189.99 (listed against $219.99). LIGHTSPEED 2.4 GHz, tenkeyless, GX mechanical switches. Logitech G’s product page says you choose tactile, clicky, or linear. Logitech G. Amazon search for PRO X TKL LIGHTSPEED
• A full-size board that names Green, Yellow, and Orange: Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro. Official US from $229.99. Razer’s page: Green is clicky and tactile, Orange is quiet tactile, Yellow is smooth linear. Eight dedicated macro keys and buttons, Command Dial, N-key rollover. Razer US page. Amazon search for BlackWidow V4 Pro

The short version: the room rules out the click. Linear for matches. Tactile if you want the bump. The color is a hint until the listing prints the word.

Which feel to pick

Linear is a smooth press. Tactile adds a bump. Clicky adds that bump and a sharp noise. The room you play in decides the click before anything else does.

Who can hear the boardA shared roomOnly meI wear a headset and the room is mineWhat you do mostMatchesTypingBothWhat you already knowNot sure yetI hate a bumpI want a bumpI want the click

Pick

Linear

A shared room rules out the click. For matches, a smooth press is the usual pick. If the key feels empty, a tactile switch is the other quiet option.

The room decides before the game does. A click carries past a headset. If someone else uses that room, clicky is the option you need permission for. Linear and tactile can both stay in a shared room. The difference between those two is whether you want the bump.

UHJK still exists on a TKL and on a full-size board. I mouse on the left, so the keyboard sits to the right of the pad. A clicky full-size board is still a clicky board. The layout page is best gaming keyboard. Here we’re only talking about how the key feels when you press it.

What the finger actually meets

A switch is a housing, a stem, and a spring. Linear is a spring and a stem with nothing in the way. You press, the spring compresses, and the key registers on the way down. There is no bump to get past and no snap to hear. People pick it for matches because the press feels the same from the top to the bottom, and because it stays quiet next to a microphone. Two linear switches can still feel different. One spring is heavier than another. Cherry’s MX Red page prints 45 cN operating force and 45 cN actuation force, 2.0 mm pre-travel, 4.0 mm total travel, no click, over 100 million keystrokes. A heavier linear spring is still linear if the travel stays smooth.

A tactile switch adds a bump partway down. Something in the mechanism pushes back for a moment, then the rest of the travel eases off. Cherry’s MX Brown page says the brown stem has a bulge on the TLS surface, and that bulge is the noticeable feedback. The bump is how your fingers notice the key moved, which is why people who type for hours often want it. It is quieter than a click. You feel it. The room does not get a snap. The bump is not a promise that the key registered at that exact spot. How far the stem travels before the board counts the key is the actuation point, a separate line.

A clicky switch has the bump and a small piece that snaps. That snap is the click. Cherry’s MX Blue page describes a two-part stem: after the tactile point, a white piece hits the blue stem and a click sound is triggered. It is the product, not a side effect you can turn off in software. It carries across a desk, into a call, and into a room where someone else is trying to sleep. A headset on your head does not trap it. Buy it when you want that sound and the room is yours. Skip it when the room is shared, even if you like the idea of the click in a video.

Official Cherry MX numbers

Cherry is the maker the other reviews keep using as the ruler

MX Red. Linear. Highlights and properties both print 45 cN. Pre-travel 2.0 mm. Total travel 4.0 mm. Initial force 30 cN, final force 100 cN. No click. Over 100 million keystrokes. Cherry calls it the first choice for beginners, and says the straight TLS surface triggers directly.

MX Brown. Tactile, no click. The highlights print 55 cN operating force. The properties table prints 45 cN actuation force, initial 30 cN, final 80 cN. Pre-travel 2.0 mm. Total travel 4.0 mm. Over 100 million keystrokes. Cherry printed both on the same page, so I leave them as two numbers.

MX Blue. Tactile and clicky. The highlights print 60 cN operating force. The properties table prints 50 cN actuation force and initial 25 cN. Pre-travel 2.2 mm. Total travel 4.0 mm. With click. Over 50 million keystrokes. The Blue travel starts 0.2 mm later than Red or Brown. That is still not a score.

cN is centinewton. People say grams. Cherry prints cN. A listing that says 45 g next to Red is using the habit, not a second measurement I made.

Those three numbers do not travel to another brand’s red, brown, or blue. A red switch from a second company can be a heavier spring than Cherry’s 45 cN. The color is a hint. The word on the spec list is the feel. The millimeter line, if it is printed, is the distance.

What the color on the box means

Red, brown, and blue are the old names for these three feels. Red became the habit for a light linear, brown for a quiet tactile, and blue for a clicky. Cherry’s own stem colors match that habit. Other companies reuse the colors, and they also make up their own names for the same ideas. Logitech G’s GX line and Razer’s Green / Yellow / Orange line are those names. They are still linear, tactile, or clicky. They are not Cherry’s 45 / 45 / 50 cN set.

Read linear, tactile, or clicky before you read the color. “Gaming switch” is not a feel. “Speed” is not a feel. A board that only says fast has not told you whether your finger will meet a bump. If the page names the feel and also prints a weight, the weight is how hard the spring pushes back. It does not move a switch from one category to another.

A silent switch is not a fourth feel. It is a damper on the stem so the bottom and the return thud less. It can be a silent linear or a silent tactile. There is no silent clicky switch. The click is the noise. Silent gaming keyboard is that damper.

What the feel does not change

Linear is not a shorter wait. The shape of the press and the time before the board reports the key are different facts. A smooth switch does not report more often than a bumpy one. Cherry MX Red still travels 2.0 mm before it counts and 4.0 mm to the floor. If a listing advertises a polling rate, that number is the report, and it is not decided by the word linear. The K70 RGB PRO’s 8,000 Hz line is Corsair AXON, not MX Red.

A magnetic switch is not a fourth feel. The stem carries a magnet, and a sensor reads how far it moved. Listings call that Hall effect. It can feel smooth, and it can offer rapid trigger, which lets you set how far the key must travel. The page has to say Hall effect or magnetic, and it has to say rapid trigger, if that is why you are paying. A linear board that says fast does not have that sensor.

The actuation point is how far the key travels before it counts. Feel is the bump or the lack of one. Cherry MX Red and MX Brown both print 2.0 mm pre-travel. One is smooth. One has a bump. The same distance, two feels. MX Blue prints 2.2 mm. That extra 0.2 mm is not a click. The click is the two-part stem.

The feel also does not pick the layout. A clicky board can be huge, and a linear board can be small. How wide the desk is, and whether you use a number pad, stays a separate choice. I mouse on the left. UHJK already lives on the right side of a standard ANSI board. A 60% still has U, H, J, and K. A 60% does not keep a dedicated F-row, which I care about more in WoW than in Overwatch. The Naga Left-Handed already holds consumables. None of that is a reason to pick Blue.

Hot-swap is separate too. It means the switch pulls out later. A soldered linear switch is still linear. If you might change your mind, or if you want UHJK on one feel and the rest on another, the listing has to say hot-swap, or you are relying on the return window. The PRO X TKL is the swap-the-GX case. The K70 RGB PRO MX Red listing I opened does not offer that menu.

If you have not tried them

Use the room, then the job. Someone else can hear the board: do not buy clicky. Matches, and you have no opinion about a bump: linear. Typing: tactile. Both, in a room that is not only yours: tactile, and move to linear only if the bump feels like a hitch after a real session.

You already know more than the default if a bump has annoyed you, or if you have wanted the click on purpose. Trust that over a chart. A switch you hate is not fixed by a metal case, a knob, or a row of lights. Press it for a session you actually play, and return it while the window is open. Ten seconds at a shop counter is a hint. It is not the hour you will spend on it at home.

I would not buy a clicky full-size as the only WoW board in a shared room. UHJK still fits. The F-row and the Naga grid do more for an Evoker bar than a snap on every key. Overwatch on Zarya cares less about that row. More keyboard guides.

Common questions

What is the difference between linear, tactile and clicky switches?

Linear switches press straight down smoothly, tactile switches have a small bump you can feel, and clicky switches add a loud click on top of the bump. All three are mechanical; the name just describes the feel.

Which keyboard switch is best for gaming?

Linear is the most popular choice for gaming because the press is smooth and quiet. If linear feels too mushy, try tactile, and pick clicky only if the noise won't bother anyone.

Are red, brown and blue switches the same as linear, tactile and clicky?

Mostly, yes. Cherry MX Red is linear, Brown is tactile and Blue is clicky, but other brands reuse these colors with different springs, so check that the listing says linear, tactile or clicky.

What are the specs of Cherry MX Red, Brown and Blue switches?

MX Red is linear with 45 cN actuation and 2.0 mm pre-travel. MX Brown is tactile at 45 cN with 2.0 mm pre-travel, and MX Blue is clicky at 50 cN with 2.2 mm pre-travel; all have 4.0 mm total travel.

Are clicky switches too loud?

In a shared room, usually yes. Your headset won't stop the click from reaching everyone else, so choose tactile if you want the bump without the noise.

Do linear switches make you faster in games?

No. Linear switches feel smoother, but they don't make the keyboard report faster. For faster key resets, you need a Hall effect keyboard with rapid trigger.

What switch should I get if I've never tried any?

If others can hear you, skip clicky. Choose linear for gaming, tactile for typing, and tactile if you do both; buy from a shop with easy returns.

Are silent switches a fourth type?

No. Silent switches are linear or tactile switches with dampers that soften the bottom-out and return sound. There are no silent clicky switches.

Can I mix different switches on one keyboard?

Yes, if your keyboard is hot-swappable with compatible sockets. You could put linear switches on your movement keys and tactile ones everywhere else.