List of Cherry-profile keycap sets

[jtsay]

This is a list of Cherry-profile keycap options in both ABS and PBT. The world of keycaps can seem like the wild west once you stray from your common GMK or EnjoyPBT options, so I wanted to compile a list of what sets are viable for the money and what sets people should stay away from.

Disclaimer - This list is incomplete and should not be taken as a recommendation in its current state. Please feel free to comment below if you have any positive/negative experiences with any of the sets listed (or if there are any other manufacturers/sets worth trying), and I will update accordingly. Thank you!

Vintage / Hard-to-Find

Manufacturer	Material	Pricing	Base Kit Size	Notes
OG Cherry	doubleshot ABS	vintage
OG Cherry	dyesub PBT	vintage
OG Cherry	blank POM	vintage
OG Cherry	engraved ABS	vintage
BSP	dyesub PBT	$150+	85 keys	made in Denmark, no spacebars

Modern, Fairly Established

Manufacturer	Material	Pricing	Base Kit Size	Notes
GMK	doubleshot ABS	$110+	118-140 keys	made in Germany, current benchmark for doubleshot ABS, massive selection of colorways / collabs
JTK	doubleshot, tripleshot ABS	$85+
Infinikey	dyesub PBT	$85+
Hammerworks CRP	dyesub PBT			made in China, marshmallow-like texture, nice dyesubbing
EnjoyPBT	dyesub PBT	$89+	146-178 keys	current benchmark for dyesub PBT? sits ~1mm taller than GMK
EnjoyPBT	doubleshot ABS	$69+		rougher texture than GMK, inconsistent legend thickness
EnjoyPBT	blank PBT	$40+	117 keys
KBDfans PBTfans	doubleshot ABS /dyesub PBT	$75-89
Drop DCX	doubleshot ABS	$99
NovelKeys	dyesub PBT	$85-95	176-177 keys	multiple colorways, large compatibility with accents included (Notion, Taro, Stone, Sand)
NovelKeys (discontinued)	doubleshot PBT	$50		WoB, BoW, discontinued due to inconsistency, switching to dyesub
CannonKeys NicePBT	dyesub / reverse dyesub PBT	$60-85	158 keys	1.7mm thick, more textured, many colorways
CannonKeys CannonCaps	dyesub / reverse dyesub PBT	$70		1.4mm thick, less textured
Domikey	doubleshot/tripleshot ABS	$67-165		known for their SA sets; Cherry-profile sets are offered with a bunch of kits in various colorways on Drop, KPrepublic, and AliExpress
21kb/Xiami	dyesub PBT	$70		KeebTalk comparison linked here
Gateron	blank PBT

 
New/Wildcard

Manufacturer	Material	Pricing	Base Kit Size	Notes
Omnitype OTC	dyesub PBT	$84.99	—
Monokei Series 1	doubleshot PBT	$	—	WoB set, being reworked due to surface issues
Milkyway	reverse dyesub PBT	$95	175 keys	five face dyesub, WoB Hiragana also available from Bolsa Supply
Kinetic Labs PolyCaps	doubleshot PBT	$60-80		many colorways
Kinetic Labs PolyCaps	blank PBT	$45		9009 colorway
Geekark	dyesub PBT	$69+	137-147 keys	same factory as MT3 keycaps
Artifact Bloom	dyesub PBT	$45	129 keys	various colors including BoW and 9009, surface is smooth with no texture; my in-depth review
Shurikey	doubleshot ABS	$69	167 keys	detailed comparison to GMK on zFrontier
Glorious	dyesub PBT	$50		centered legends, various colors
Monstargear	dyesub PBT	$40	108 keys	BoW
Vortex	laser etched top or side print PBT	$39	108 keys
KBDfans	dyesub PBT	$29-$63	101-151 keys	misc unbranded variants in completely different base kits/styles/colors/legends
KBDfans	blank POM
IDOBAO	dyesub PBT	$41-65	124 keys	BoW with Japanese sublegends, 1.3-1.4mm thick
Keyreative	dyesub PBT	$66+	120 keys
Keyreative	UV printed ABS	$35+	108 keys
Keyreative	blank ABS	$24+	128 keys
Keyreative/LeLeLab	UV-printed clear	$40	132 keys	clear keycaps in various translucent colors
Keyreative/LeLeLab	blank clear	$25	126 keys	clear blanks in various translucent colors
osume	dyesub PBT	$59	137 keys	sakura colorway, 2 month lead time?
Geekkeys	dyesub PBT	$65-85	104 keys
Geekkeys	blank PBT	$40-60	104 keys
YMDK	doubleshot PBT	$28	108 keys

 
Knockoffs / Shady Brands

Manufacturer	Material	Pricing	Base Kit Size	Notes
AKKO	doubleshot PBT	$60-70	157-162 keys	knockoff GMK sets
HK Gaming	dyesub PBT	$40-50	139 keys	highly questionable ethics but available on Amazon and often recommended by people who don’t care

[Rob27shred]

Awesome ideal, I’ll definitely add to the list if I think of or come across any other alternatives! With ePBT I see you have them listed as using Gateron blanks. I’m pretty sure they do not work with Gateron anymore & have had a downturn in quality compared to sets they made that are 100% known to be made with Gateron blanks.

[ajoflo]

Neat! I recently stumbled across Ducky’s foray into the keycap clone game with their release of Bon Voyage, or better known as GMK Bento. These are OEM. Thanks @dwarflemur

Ducky PBT Double-shot Bon Voyage keycap - Combined the latest Pantone color -...

Oh, if you want to tidy up your data into a table, the below Markdown code will help do the trick.

|Column 1|Column 2|Column 3|
|:---|:---:|:---|
|hello|world|hello world|

[dwarflemur]

I hate to be that guy, and maybe I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure ducky keycaps are OEM profile and not cherry

[ajoflo]

No no, good catch! I forgot.

[jtsay]

@Rob27shred

With ePBT I see you have them listed as using Gateron blanks. I’m pretty sure they do not work with Gateron anymore & have had a downturn in quality compared to sets they made that are 100% known to be made with Gateron blanks.

Got it, thank you! I always assumed they were one and the same - good to know they should be distinct in the list.

[jtsay]

@ajoflo

Oh, if you want to tidy up your data into a table, the below Markdown code will help do the trick.

|Column 1|Column 2|Column 3|
|:---|:---:|:---|
|hello|world|hello world|

Thank you for this bit of Markdown wisdom! I just put everything into a table - do you know if there’s a way to set the width of a column to look less cramped?

[ajoflo]

You could shrink the table font by enclosing the text in a “small” tag.

<small>hello world</small>

I am small text.

[jtsay]

@ajoflo

You could shrink the table font by enclosing the text in a “small” tag.

Thanks! Gave it a shot, but it ended up being a tad difficult to read. I might just end up changing the content of the columns depending on what information proves to be most useful (price, kit size, link, recommended status, etc)

[Laughmaster]

Might want to add blank POM to the OG Cherry variants. Also for what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure Vortex dyesubs their pbt caps. But the set I have is from 2015-ish so that may have changed for their current products.

I like the list though, I didn’t realize there were this many manufacturers using Cherry profile.

[insolentpotato]

adding Geekark BoW for consideration under Wildcards. i first saw this on Asian keyboard subs, as a past group buy. it also seems to have an accent set in muted pantone colors. i saw a few build pics where people used the pink caps to do homebrew PBT Olivia (Fauxlivia?)

[djmantis]

I came across this little interesting tidbit the other day:
“This also marks our first time working with manufacturer Geekark . They’re known for making the MT3 PBT keycaps you might have seen - and have been making keycaps for over 10 years!” - [GB] Geekark PBT Lancelot – CannonKeys

I have heard good things about Geekark, this must be why. They are not exactly new to the game.

[insolentpotato]

oh neat! didn’t know they were doing the Lancelot caps. i liked the pricing for that group buy but just couldn’t get on board with those colors.

[dwarflemur]

yeah the colors just don’t work at all for me, not having a slam dunk colorway doesn’t seem like a great way to introduce a new manu, I hope that doesn’t preclude more sets in the future

[djmantis]

The price is great. It may even come out really well, however the very basic renders don’t really help to make me feel confident.

I have been getting burned on renders from companies that I know well recently. I don’t want to take a risk on one I don’t know.

[LightningXI]

This is pretty cool. I’m gonna bookmark this for future reference, especially for newcomers.

And yeah, I’d add OG Cherry POM as well as lasered Cherry caps and maybe also laser-engraved / modified ones (there’s like engraved APL and whatnot)

[jtsay]

@Laughmaster

Might want to add blank POM to the OG Cherry variants. Also for what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure Vortex dyesubs their pbt caps. But the set I have is from 2015-ish so that may have changed for their current products.

I like the list though, I didn’t realize there were this many manufacturers using Cherry profile.

Thanks, just added OG Cherry POM blanks. I think Vortex does dyesub/doubleshot some of their OEM profile keycaps. However, the only set of Cherry-profile keycaps I was able to find from them look to be laser-etched.

[jtsay]

@insolentpotato

adding Geekark BoW for consideration under Wildcards. i first saw this on Asian keyboard subs, as a past group buy . it also seems to have an accent set in muted pantone colors . i saw a few build pics where people used the pink caps to do homebrew PBT Olivia (Fauxlivia?)

@djmantis

I came across this little interesting tidbit the other day:
“This also marks our first time working with manufacturer Geekark . They’re known for making the MT3 PBT keycaps you might have seen - and have been making keycaps for over 10 years!” - https://cannonkeys.com/products/gb-geekark-pbt-lancelot

I have heard good things about Geekark, this must be why. They are not exactly new to the game.

Thanks, added Geekark dyesub PBT to the bottom of the established category since their sets are carried by some reputable vendors, and Wildcat has a fairly detailed impressions video on them.

[jtsay]

@LightningXI

This is pretty cool. I’m gonna bookmark this for future reference, especially for newcomers.

Thanks, big fan of your content!

@LightningXI

And yeah, I’d add OG Cherry POM as well as lasered Cherry caps and maybe also laser-engraved / modified ones (there’s like engraved APL and whatnot)

Added OG Cherry POM blanks. Do you have any info on the laser-engraved / modified ones? I wasn’t able to find much on those.

[LightningXI]

I honestly don’t know much about it either but I know there are some collectors who have owned them. A quick Google search found me this:

https://deskthority.net/viewtopic.php?p=147902#p147902

And from a collector:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHP1r5VH1YA/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CE-zs60n5Mv/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CEf2aHXHRRj/