Silent Switches Comparison

Overview

When most people think of mechanical keyboards, the first thing that comes to mind is the signature clack and thock of the keys. That feel and sound is a big part of what draws people to mechanical switches in the first place. But what if you want just the feel of mechanical switches without the noise? That’s where silent mechanical switches come in.

Outemu Cream Yellow

Outemu Silent Honey Peach V2

Outemu Silent Lemon V2

WS Wuque Silent Tactile

Wuque WS Silent Linear

Why Silent Switches?

Silent mechanical keyboard switches offer the best of both worlds: the satisfying feel of mechanical keys and the discretion of a quieter typing experience. Whether you’re working, gaming, or just browsing in a shared space, silent switches can elevate your mechanical keyboard while retaining a quiet and peaceful environment. If you love mechanical keyboards but could do without the noise, it’s worth giving silent switches a try.

Switch Feel

There's a distinct difference between typing on traditional mechanical switches (like linear and tactile switches) compared to typing on silent mechanical switches. The most noticeable difference is the auditory typing experience, although there is also a difference in the typing feel as well due to the elements in designing a mechanism to achieve a silent switch.

The most common design for silent switches is using silicone inserts, dampeners, or padding to reduce the plastic-on-plastic contact points. For example, some switches use silicone inserts in the rails of the stem, while some use silicone padding on the top and bottom housing.

Silent switches with silicone dampening, like Akko Fairy, Outemu Cream Yellow, Gazzew U4, use small silicone inserts built into the switch stem to physically cushion both the downstroke and the upstroke of the key. This dampening gives each keystroke a distinctly soft, almost “padded” feeling. When you bottom out, there’s no hard clack, just a subtle, muted compression that absorbs the impact. This not only reduces the volume of the switch but also reduces the fatigue during long sessions.

Although the silent switch with silicone inserts tend to sound the quietest and feel the softest, some users might not like bottom out feel due to it feeling too "mushy." To provide a different solutions to silent switches, designers have tried various methods for achieving a silent switch with silicone:

The Durock Shrimp, Durock Dolphin, and Durock Daybreak also uses silicone in the stem rails, but it is applied in a different way. Instead of using a full block of silicone to replace the stem rail, the Durock silent switches uses a sort of silicone ring that wraps around the stem rails. This provides a soft and quiet typing experience while preserving some of the solid typing feel.
Silent switches like the TTC Frozen, TTC Light Cloud and TTC Bluish White use silicone padding in the well of the bottom housing for bottom-out and a silicone ring around the stem for the top-out. This designs aims to achieve a quiet typing experience while minimizing the amount of "squish."
Another design with silicone is the Gateron Zero Degree which uses silicone padding on the bottom housing and the top housing where the stem rails would come in contact, kind of a reserve application of silicone in comparison to the silent switches with silicone on the stem rails.

There are also silent switches that achieve a quiet typing experience without the use of any silicone at all, like the Wuque WS Silent Tactile and Wuque WS Silent Linear. Instead the switches have relief cuts on the stem rails that create a method of shock absorption providing a soft typing feel that feels solid without any mushiness that might come from silicone dampening.

Switch Sound

The question we've all been wondering, which silent mechanical switch is the quietest?

To answer that question, let's start off by comparing silent linear switches to silent tactile switches. Silent linear switches tend to be slightly quieter than silent tactile switches. This is due to the tactile bump in silent tactile switches which can add a factor to producing a bit a noise upon actuation. Silent tactile switches are still very quiet, but if you are looking to build the quietest keyboard build then the silent linear switches would be the way to go.

Moving on to the choices among the silent linear switches, the quietest options are typically those that use silicone dampening on the stem rails. This design significantly reduces sound during bottom-out as well as the top-out by absorbing much of the impact. Some of the quietest models in this category include the Outemu Ocean Silent Linear, Akko Fairy Silent Linear, and Bobagum Pink Silent Linear. They not only utilize silicone dampening effectively but also produce minimal additional noise such as spring ping, leaf ping, or scratchiness.

When choosing silent switches, it's also important to consider how they feel, not just how quiet they sound. For instance, if you prefer the tactile feedback, a silent tactile switch might still be your best choice despite being slightly louder. On the other hand, if you dislike the feel of silicone dampening, switches like the Wuque WS Silent Tactile, which use alternative dampening methods without the use of silicone, could be a better fit for you.

Here is our ranking for silent switches from loudest to quietest:

Things To Note

The Gateron Magnetic Genty is a silent switch that was not included in the chart above so as to not mix up mechanical MX style switches with magnetic hall effect switches. For a quick comparison of the Gateron Magnetic Genty, it is one of the louder switches within the "silent switch" category although it is one of the quieter magnetic hall effect switches that also have a soft bottom out feel.

For more information about the specifications for the Gateron Magnetic Genty Silent, here is a link to the product page: Gateron Magnetic Genty Product Page

👉 You can buy these switches on our site:

Share your thoughts in the comments and let us know if you have any questions!

Outemu Cream Yellow Product Page
Outemu Silent Honey Peach V2 Product Page
Outemu Silent Lemon V2 Product Page
Outemu Silent Ocean Product Page
Durock Shrimp Product Page
Durock Daybreak Product Page
Durock Dolphin Product Page
TTC Bluish White Product Page
TT C Light Cloud V2 Product Page
TTC Frozen Product Page
WS Wuque Silent Tactile Product Page
Wuque WS Silent Linear Product Page
Akko Fairy Product Page
Akko Penguin Product Page
Gazzew Bobagum Pink Product Page
Gazzew Boba U4 Product Page
Gateron Zero Degree Product Page
Huano Jarvis JJ Product Page
HMX Sakura Product Page

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