Best TKL Mechanical Keyboard in 2023

Unless your professional life involves numbers, the ten key number pad is a largely redundant vestige of computing’s past most PC users, especially gamers, don’t use, a glorified dust repository tacked onto the right of keyboards out of habit. They evoke grey-suited accountants cooking the books in the stuffy, smoke-filled offices of the 80s, not the flick-shots, frantic Discord calls, and RGB light shows of today’s PC gaming scene.

Tenkeyless or TKL for short, keyboards cut out the ten key number pad entirely, adopting a more streamlined form factor prized by a growing number of gamers and eSports professionals. They cut out the dead weight and keep the keys that matter as you’d find them on a full-sized keyboard.

Aficionados swear by TKL mechanical keyboards because they allow the user to adopt a more natural hand/arm position – that slanted keyboard position that pops up every so often in eSports event B-roll – and play closer to the mouse, which tends to reduce strain and arm fatigue. Similarly, taking an ax to the number pad frees up precious desk space for the high DPI mousers among us. They are also the form factor of choice for some because of how portable and compact they are, ideal for pros and serious amateurs jumping from tournament to home to training facility.

If you’re tempted to try one out but aren’t sure where to start, we’re here to help with some choice recommendations for the best TKL mechanical keyboard currently out there.