Summary
- Keycap profiles, defined by shape, height, and contour, change how a keyboard feels. Common profiles include OEM, Cherry, XDA, DSA, and SA.
- Sculpted profiles improve ergonomics, while uniform profiles feel and sound more consistent.
- Most keycaps use MX-style stems and are affordable, so it’s easy to try different profiles and find the one you like best.
If you’re customizing your mechanical keyboard with aftermarket keycaps, it helps to understand their shapes (aka keycap profiles) so that you can pick the right ones. Here’s a quick crash course on everything you need to know about keycap profiles.
There Are Many Different Keycap Profiles
The term “keycap profile” refers to the shape, height, and contour of the keycaps on a mechanical keyboard. Keycap profiles matter because your fingers interact directly with them, so even a small change in row height or angle can significantly affect typing ergonomics.
The most common profiles on the market are OEM, Cherry, XDA, DSA, and SA. Learning a few key details about each provides a helpful reference when choosing keycap sets.
You’re probably already familiar with OEM and Cherry, as they are the default profiles on most mechanical keyboards. Both are sculpted, meaning there are row-by-row differences in height and angle that create more natural and ergonomic typing. The main difference is that Cherry is slightly shorter and less aggressively sculpted, which makes it a favorite among enthusiasts.
- Colorways
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Brown/gray
- Keycaps
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PBT
The Womier Double Shot PBT Keycaps Set offers durable, oil-resistant PBT keycaps in a classic Cherry profile for a comfortable and familiar typing feel. The brown-gray retro color scheme gives any mechanical keyboard a clean, vintage look. These keycaps fit most standard layouts.
SA keycaps are also sculpted like OEM and Cherry, but they are taller and have a more pronounced presence. Their tops feature a deep, spherical concave shape that cradles your fingers, offering a distinctive typing experience. However, the height can be uncomfortable for some, especially without a wrist rest, so this profile is not ideal for everyone.
XDA and DSA are in a league of their own. They’re uniform, meaning there’s no row sculpting and all the keycaps are the same height across the keyboard—similar to a laptop or Apple Magic keyboard, but taller. The main difference is that XDA is slightly taller and has flatter, larger tops, giving a more open feel, though it can be a bit harder to orient your fingers on quickly.
There are many other keycap shapes that build on these common profiles. For example, Akko offers proprietary ASA and OSA shapes. ASA is like a taller OEM with a more curved top, while OSA is even taller and more sculpted, similar to SA keycaps. Whether you’re looking for a slightly flatter Cherry, a taller XDA, or something completely different, there’s probably a shape out there for you.
The most important piece of information here is that all of these profiles are compatible with any mechanical keyboard using standard MX-style stems. In other words, if your keyboard doesn’t feel right and it’s not the switches, the keycap profile might be the reason.
Fortunately, experimenting with keycap profiles is easy, as long as you get a set that includes all the right sizes for your keyboard, especially the bottom-row keys like Space, Alt, and Ctrl.
How Keycap Profiles Influence Typing and Gaming
In general, sculpted keycaps are more popular because they feel more comfortable to type and game on. They follow the natural angle of your fingers as you type, reducing the distance your fingers have to move. Plus, the distinct shape of each row helps your fingers develop muscle memory for where each key is, making it easier to find keys by touch. That’s why they’re great for gaming as well.
Sculpted keycaps feel both more ergonomic and quicker to use, especially when paired with a gentle curve at the top that guides your fingers toward the center of each key.
However, not everyone likes this kind of typing experience, especially those who are used to laptop or low-profile membrane keyboards. If you bought a mechanical keyboard and find the sculpted keycaps uncomfortable, uniform profiles like XDA might be a better fit.
Uniform keycaps feel more consistent across the board, and they sound the same from row to row since each keycap has the same shape and amount of material. I also find them more aesthetically pleasing to look at—they’re like little bonbons neatly packaged into a keyboard case. Yum!
However, a drawback of uniform keycaps is that they require you to stretch your fingers more when typing, which can be fatiguing over long sessions. It’s also easier to lose track of finger position because each row feels the same. I found these two factors particularly detrimental to gaming, so much so that I had to switch keyboards in the middle of a Marvel Rivals match when I tried gaming with XDA keycaps for the first time.
Height is another major factor. Taller keycaps have a deeper, “thockier” sound, look chunkier and retro, and can be a lot of fun to type on. Their size enhances the motion of each keypress, which feels very satisfying.
However, the taller the keycaps, the more your fingers and wrists have to work, which can get tiring if you type thousands of words a day. That’s the only thing holding me back from getting a set of tall, chunky keycaps, though I’d gladly throw them on a spare keyboard and bust it out when I’m feeling fancy.
How to Pick the Right Profile for You
I’ll start right off the bat by saying that keycap profiles are a highly personal thing. What works for me might be the worst typing experience for you, and vice versa.
My current favorite is the Cherry profile, but I honestly don’t mind most other sculpted shapes, such as OEM. I haven’t tried SA keycaps yet, as I already prefer shorter keycaps like Cherry over OEM’s slightly taller ones, so I doubt going even taller would feel comfortable to type on. Since sculpted keycaps are my thing, I don’t like flat laptop-style profiles like XDA and DSA—though my wife much prefers those because she’s used to typing on laptops.
The point is, it’s important to experiment with keycap profiles to figure out what kinds of shapes you lean toward. Once you figure out whether you prefer sculpted or uniform keycaps, experiment with different amounts of contour, keycap height, and so on until you find your ultimate favorite.
The good news is that even decent keycaps are fairly cheap. While high-end ones can set you back close to $100, you can find plenty of budget-friendly PBT and ABS sets for under $30 (and often under $20) on Amazon. I’ve already bought five sets of keycaps this year, and I’m pretty sure I’ll buy more, as it’s by far the cheapest way to change the aesthetics of my desk.
- Brand
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HyperX
- Color
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Black and white
These ultra-durable PBT keycaps have a black top and white sides that will let your RGB keyboard glow bright. They’re the perfect match for most gaming keyboards.
