Luxia Le

This post contains affiliate links.

If you’ve been on the internet recently, you might have seen all the cute keyboards with unique keycap shapes. However, this isn’t a new feature of modern keyboards. Keycap profiles have existed for as long as keyboards have and enthusiasts tend to have specific preferences as to what shape and height their keycaps are for comfort during use. There are many keycap profiles to choose from. Let’s examine some of the most common.

OEM

Original equipment manufacturer keycaps are the most common ones you’ll see. Most of the keyboards on the market come pre-installed with OEM keycaps. OEM keycaps have varying heights between key rows, which are designed to make it easier to reach the higher rows of the keyboard.

Cherry

Cherry keycaps are also fairly common, but less so than OEM. They look similar but Cherry keycaps are significantly shorter than OEM ones.

SA

SA keycap are also similar to OEM ones, but much taller. They have a slightly more cylindrical shape and were originally unsculpted. However, they have since been changed to be sculpted by default.

DSA

DSA keycaps are SA keycaps that retained their unsculpted design.

XDA

XDA keycaps are shorter, rounder on the edges, and have a standardized single height for all rows.

MOA

MOA keycaps are similar in shape to XDA keycaps. However, they’re made of thicker material that changes the sound profile.

SOA

SOA keycaps are like MOA ones but have differing heights between rows.

Chiclet

Chiclet keycaps are unique in that the keycap plays a crucial role in the keyboard’s actuation mechanism. They the flattest keycap type, resembling the candy-coated chiclet chewing gum pieces. They’re popular for laptop keyboards, which must take up as little vertical space as possible.

Low-Profile

Low-profile is not a profile in and of itself but rather a collection of keycap profiles based on the above designs but with smaller, flatter designs. Most low-profile keyboards use low-profile OEM keycaps, but you may see other designs.