KEYCAP MANUFACTURERS list (Last update: 03 January 2023)

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1pctipaday:
Hello everyone!

I have created the following list with all the keycap (keysets, not artisans) manufacturers I know:

MANUFACTURER | MATERIAL(S) | MAIN PROD. METHOD(S) | MAIN PROFILE(S) | PRICING ($-$$$$) | QUALITY1 *NOTES
1 Basic < Not bad < Good < Very good < Top tier
2 Yellow color means "Lack of information / Possible known mistake"

MoreAIFEI / GLIGING / SUMGSN / VENIT KEYS / YONG-QIU ABS / PBT Doubleshot / Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry, SA $ Basic *Clones

AKKO-EPOMAKER PBT / PC Doubleshot / Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub / UV print ASA, Cherry, OEM, OSA $$ Not bad

ALL.CAPS PBT Dye-sub Cherry $$$ Good

ANGRY MIAO PBT / PC Dye-sub / Laser etched-engraving Unique-Unknown $$$ Good

BSP EUROPE (BSP) PBT Dye-sub Cherry $$$ Good

CANNONCAPS PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$$ Very good *Property of CANNONKEYS

OG CHERRY ABS / PBT / POM Doubleshot / Dye-sub / Laser etched-engraving / UV print Cherry $$$$ Top tier *Only found in vintage keyboards sold in second-hand market

CONTRAKEY PBT Dye-sub Cherry $$ Good

CREATEKEEBS a.k.a. ESC.HIT ABS-PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$-$$$ Good *Cooperating with ALOHAKB

DEADLINE STUDIO (DEADLINE) PC Laser etched-engraving Cherry $$$ Good

DOMIKEY (DMK) ABS / PBT Doubleshot & Tripleshot / Dye-sub Cherry, SA $$$$ Top tier

DROP (Artifact Bloom Series, DCX & MT3) ABS / PBT Doubleshot / Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry, MT3 $$-$$$ Very good

DUCKY PBT Doubleshot OEM $$ Not bad

ENJOY PBT (ePBT) ABS / PBT Doubleshot / Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$$-$$$$ Very good

GEEKARK PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$$ Very good

GLORIOUS (GPBT) PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$ Good

GLOVE PBT Pad print & UV coat WDA $$$$ Good

GMK-UNIQEY ABS Doubleshot / UV print Cherry $$$$ Top tier *Owner of the original CHERRY molds

HAMMERWORKS CRP PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$$ Top tier

HK GAMING PBT Dye-sub Cherry $ Basic

IDOBAO PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry, MA, OEM $-$$ Not bad

INFINIKEY (IFK) PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$$ Very good *Property of THE KEY COMPANY

IV WORKS PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$$ Very good

JKDK PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$ Good *AliExpress legit/original manufacturer?

JT KEYCAPS (JTK) ABS Doubleshot & Tripleshot Cherry $$$$ Top tier

KBDFans PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub / Laser etched-engraving Cherry, DSA $-$$ Good

KEEBMONKEY PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$-$$$ Good

KEYBEE (KBM) PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$$ Very good

KEYCHRON PBT Doubleshot / Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry, OEM, OSA $-$$ Not bad

KEYKOBO (KK) ABS Doubleshot Cherry $$$ Very good

KEYREATIVE PBT Doubleshot / Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub KAM, KAT $$$ Very good

KINETIC LABS PBT Doubleshot / Dye-sub Cherry $$$ Good

KONO DESIGNER SERIES (KDS) PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$$ Very good

KPREPUBLIC PBT Doubleshot / Dye-sub Cherry, CSA $-$$ Good

LELELAB ABS Unknown Unknown $$ Good

LEOPOLD PBT Doubleshot OEM $$ Not bad

MAX KEYBOARDS (MX) ABS / PC Laser etched-engraving / UV print OEM $$ Basic *Can produce individual custom keysets

MAXKEY PBT Doubleshot / Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub SA $$-$$$ Good

MELGEEK (MG) ABS / PBT Doubleshot / Dye-sub MDA, MG $$$ Very good

MILKYWAY KEYS (MW) PBT Doubleshot / Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$$$ Top tier

MODE DESIGNS (MODE) ABS Doubleshot Cherry $$$ Good

MONOKEI PBT Doubleshot Cherry $$$ Very good

MONSTARGEAR ABS / PBT Doubleshot / Dye-sub Cherry, MG, OEM $-$$$ Good

"MVKB (MV)" PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$$ Very good *According to designer, Max Voltar, MV means "Sets produced by a variety of factories that have been approved by him"

NicePBT PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub / Laser etched-engraving Cherry, DSA $$$ Very good *Property of CANNONKEYS

NOVELKEYS (NK) PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry, DSA $$$ Very good

NUPHY PC+ABS / PBT Doubleshot Cherry-like, Low profile $ Good

OMNITYPE (OTC) PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$$ Good

OSUMEKEYS (OSUME) PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$$ Good

PBTFans ABS / PBT Doubleshot & Tripleshot / UV print Cherry $$$ Top tier *Property of KBDFans

PG PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub NP/PG $$ Not bad

QUALITY PBT (qPBT) PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$ Not bad

RAMA WORKS (RW) PC Doubleshot Unique $$$$ Very good

SHENPO PBT Dye-sub Cherry $ Good

SHURIKEY ABS Doubleshot Cherry $$ Good

SIGNATURE PLASTICS (SP)-PIMP MY KEYBOARD ABS / PBT Doubleshot / Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub DCS, DSA, DSS, SA $$$$ Top tier *Include Comptec keycaps

SwagKeys (SW) PBT Doubleshot Cherry $$$ Good

TAI-HAO ABS / PBT Doubleshot Bobo (unique), OEM $$ Not bad

TEACAPS (TeaPBT) PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$-$$$ Good

TECSEE PBT Doubleshot Cherry $$ Not bad

TEX ELECTRONICS (TEX) ABS Laser etched-engraving TEX ADA $ Not bad

TOMATOCAPS (TMT) PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$$ Good *Partnering with zFRONTIER

TOMO CAPS (TOMO) PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$$ Very good

TRAITORS PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$ Not bad

VARMILO PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub OEM $$ Not bad

VORTEX KEYBOARD (VTK) PBT / PBT-POM Doubleshot / Dye-sub OEM $ Not bad *Also known as VORTEXGEAR or simply VORTEX

WASD ABS UV coat OEM $$ Basic *Can produce individual custom keysets

WINMX PBT Doubleshot / Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry, OSA, SA $-$$ Good

WORK LOUDER (wrk.) ABS / PC Laser etched-engraving Low profile Kaihl choc $$$ Good

WuquePBT (WS) PBT Doubleshot / Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub Cherry $$$ Good

YMDK ABS / PBT Dye-sub & Reverse dye-sub / Laser etched-engraving Cherry, DSA, OEM, XDA $ Basic

XIAMI (XMI)-21KB PBT Dye-sub Cherry $$$ Very good

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Last update (03 January 2023): OG CHERRY, DMK and ePBT modified, SW added.
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Data are based on public info, since obviously I have not tested a set from all of them. There can be mistakes; so please, feel free to give me feedback to amend them.

It is an open and editable list. My idea is that people can fulfill gaps, giving their "most objective" opinion, in such a way that The Community can maintain the list updated.

PD: It is not my aim to create a "fandom war" among people. The main goal of this list is giving a quick consulting guide to designers, customers and enthusiasts in general who look for basic information about keycap manufacturers.

Fraaaan:
Looks like the start of something cool.

Firstly for the price and quality columns I'd go with a more legible rating like x/10. Counting the symbols isn't very intuitive. Also I would suggest locking the document to avoid trolls and make adjustments yourself after collecting feedback.

At a quick glance I noticed some things that need to be fixed. Signature plastics has DCS in the name for some reason, it says they do doubleshot only but their PBT is dyesub, and the profiles are wrong; SP doesn't do Cherry profile, they do DSA, DSS, DCS, SA and G20. AFAIK Xiami doesn't do reverse dyesub, Tai-Hao does ABS as well as PBT, I am not aware of JTK doing dyesub PBT but I know for sure they do doubleshot/tripleshot ABS which is missing, PBT fans does doubleshot ABS as well as PBT, Keykobo does doubleshot ABS and there's reverse dyesub missing from GPBT.

Blacksimon did a keycap tier list stream if you want to check that out for a point of reference.

Good luck with the project!

1pctipaday:
Thanks for the feedback! I've deleted the original link to an open document and included all the info here to a faster and easier consultation.

--- Quote from: Fraaaan on Sun, 21 August 2022, 08:06:30 ---Looks like the start of something cool.

Firstly for the price and quality columns I'd go with a more legible rating like x/10. Counting the symbols isn't very intuitive. Also I would suggest locking the document to avoid trolls and make adjustments yourself after collecting feedback.

At a quick glance I noticed some things that need to be fixed. Signature plastics has DCS in the name for some reason, it says they do doubleshot only but their PBT is dyesub, and the profiles are wrong; SP doesn't do Cherry profile, they do DSA, DSS, DCS, SA and G20. AFAIK Xiami doesn't do reverse dyesub, Tai-Hao does ABS as well as PBT, I am not aware of JTK doing dyesub PBT but I know for sure they do doubleshot/tripleshot ABS which is missing, PBT fans does doubleshot ABS as well as PBT, Keykobo does doubleshot ABS and there's reverse dyesub missing from GPBT.

Blacksimon did a keycap tier list stream if you want to check that out for a point of reference.

Good luck with the project!

--- End quote ---

TyPo.mk:
A lot of these are keycaps from the same factory just rebranded. It’s actually pretty funny you have the same manufacturer listed twice, once as “top-tier” and once as “not bad”, the only difference being the price and legends

1pctipaday:
I'm sure of that you read there can be mistakes and the necessity of feedback. I do know there must be mistakes, since I found some "interesting" duplicities when looking for particular keysets.

That's why, as it is an OPEN and EDITABLE list, IMO it would be more constructive sharing your knowledge with everyone and making me able to amend these funny mistakes (even those less funny ones).

TIA :thumb:

--- Quote from: TyPo.mk on Mon, 22 August 2022, 08:09:12 ---A lot of these are keycaps from the same factory just rebranded. It’s actually pretty funny you have the same manufacturer listed twice, once as “top-tier” and once as “not bad”, the only difference being the price and legends

--- End quote ---

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