Quiet vs loud mechanical switches

Updated October 2026. The descriptions of each switch come from the recordings in Kiiwi's library.

Every mechanical keyboard makes some noise, but the range is huge. One switch is a faint tick, another is heard from the next room. What decides it is mostly how the switch is built, and a bit about how the keyboard around it is set up.

Why some are louder

• A click mechanism. Clicky switches add a part whose only job is to make a sound: a click jacket, a click bar, a click leaf or a buckling spring. That part is where most of the noise comes from.
• The bottom-out. In every switch, the loudest moment is often the key hitting the bottom of its travel. A linear has nothing else to hear, so what you hear is that thock. A heavier or harder press makes it louder.
• The rest of the keyboard. The case, the plate, the keycaps and any lube or foam change how a switch sounds. The same switch can sound sharp on one board and soft on another.

The loud ones

These are the clicky switches in the library.

• Blue Alps is a click leaf design from the 1980s with a crisp snap.
• Kailh BOX White is a crisp click bar, lighter than the BOX Navy.
• Razer Green is Razer's clicky switch, loud and sharp.
• Kailh BOX Navy is a heavy click bar switch, very loud and deliberate.
• IBM Model M is the buckling spring from the 1984 keyboard, with a sound that is hard to mistake for anything else.

The quiet ones

• Minimal Tick is a quiet single tick, the least intrusive pack in the library.
• Gateron Black Ink has a smoky housing that gives a deep, muted bottom-out.
• Gateron Black is a heavy linear, dry and muted.
• Gateron Brown is a gentle tactile.
• NovelKeys Cream is made of POM, with a deep, full bodied sound.

Quiet, not silent

A keyboard sold as quiet is still a keyboard. In an open office a linear is a polite choice, and a clicky one is not. The question is less "how loud is it" than "who hears it", which is why the next section matters.

Keeping the sound without the noise

If you like the sound of a mechanical keyboard but share a room, the loud part does not have to be in the room. Kiiwi plays real switch recordings in your headphones as you type, in any app on a Mac, so the person next to you hears nothing while you hear a Cream or a Box Navy. You can try every one in the browser playground first, or type on it in the 1 minute typing test. The keyboard test lets you check every key on your own keyboard while it plays. If you are choosing a keyboard for work and play, read which switches suit typing and gaming.

Questions

Which mechanical switches are the quietest?

Linear switches and gentle tactile switches are the quiet end. In Kiiwi's library the quietest is Minimal Tick, and the muted Gateron Black and Black Ink are close behind.

Which mechanical switches are the loudest?

Clicky switches. The Kailh BOX Navy is very loud and deliberate, and the IBM Model M's buckling spring is just as unmistakable.

Are linear switches quiet?

Quieter than clicky switches, yes. They have no click, so what you hear is mostly the key reaching the bottom. They are not silent.

Can I use a loud keyboard in an office?

It is better not to. If you like the sound, play the recordings through headphones instead, so the sound stays with you.

Topicsquiet mechanical switchesloud mechanical switchesclicky vs linearquietest switchesswitch sound test