PC Gamer Hardware Awards: The best gaming keyboard of 2025
Check out more of the year's best tech in our PC Gamer Hardware Awards 2025 coverage.
As a writer, I really do care about using a keyboard with great comfort and typing feel. But as gamer, I'd also like some of the best features for gaming, whether that's Hall effect switches for rapid trigger, extra macro keys for MMO gaming, or yes, even RGB to get that 1337 g4m3r aesthetic.
Thankfully, 2025 has really solidified the fact that we can somehow have our cake and eat it these days. Gaming keyboards left and right have started to offer a ton of gaming features and really great typing feel and build quality.
The topper is that many of the fantastic keyboards we're seeing popping up—the Gamakay x NaughShark NS68 on this list, the NuPhy Air60 HE, or the Lofree Flow 2, to name a few—are priced very well for what you're getting. That's especially surprising for overtly gaming-oriented keyboards like the NaughShark, given that historically you'd often have to essentially pay a gamer tax for extra features and build quality.
There are almost too many keyboards to choose from this year, but we've managed to narrow it down to just three nominees for the best gaming keyboard of the year.
Best gaming keyboard 2025: the nominees
Gamakay x NaughShark NS68
This bad boy has slid right in to take the place of the Mountain Everest 60, which we used to frequently recommend as a lovely cheap keyboard, but which seems to have completely disappeared from retailers. The Gamakay is also a lovely keyboard for the price, and is actually available.
Part of what makes this diminutively priced clacker so compelling is that we've seen it maintain a low price—even dropping to less than $40 during sales events—while packing in a bunch of very modern gaming features. We're talking Hall effect switches for rapid trigger, 8K polling, and even a carry strap. Its 68% size is also a nice sweet spot, as you still get those arrow keys and some nav keys.
The simple fact is, it offers pretty much all the features you might want out of a gaming keyboard, and has somehow remained consistently cheap throughout 2025 since its launch.
Read our full Gamakay x NaughShark NS68 review.
Be Quiet! Light Mount
Be Quiet! really did its name justice this year with the Light Mount, because it's seriously the quietest keyboard we've ever heard here in the PC Gamer hardware den. Our Jess still stands by it and uses it daily.
That's thanks to its own silent tactile switches and a ton of dampening, which somehow doesn't feel too mushy, unlike some silent keyboards. The Light Mount is also just a very solid keyboard, with PBT keycaps, 1K polling, vibrant RGB, and even a knob and left-side macro keys.
The real draw is its quietness, though: it's a genuine first that we've seen this year, a clacker keeping so quiet.
Read our full Be Quiet! Light Mount review.
Kinesis Gaming Freestyle Edge RGB Plus
Ergonomic peripherals are great, but it's rare you get ones that are also great for gaming. It's even rarer to get both of these things and a reasonable price tag. But 2025 has given us all these things in one thanks to the Kinesis Gaming Freestyle Edge RGB Plus, which is essentially just an update to the previous non-Plus version that we also loved.
There have been some improvements this time, but by far the biggest one is that you don't have to buy the tenting kit separately, so you can get the ideal ergonomic typing angle with everything in the box. It also has pre-lubed stabilisers and hot swappable switches, and comes in much cheaper than many of its ergo-gaming competitors.
It's still not exactly a cheap keyboard, but the price is well worth it if you want to keep those wrists comfy, and it's a welcome update to the Freestyle Edge for 2025.
Read our full Kinesis Gaming Freestyle Edge RGB Plus review.
So there we are, a solid budget, quiet, and ergonomic choice; 2025 really has given us quite the range of gaming keyboards to choose from. If you want to know which of these is the winner of the PC Gamer Hardware Award for best gaming keyboard, you'll have to wait until New Year's Eve, as that's when we'll crown the victor.