6 Best Mac Keyboards That Money Can Buy; Compared & Tested

No time to read? Here are my top picks for the best Mac keyboards:

🥇 Editor's pick:

Logitech MX Keys

Logitech is the brand if you want a high-quality keyboard. No matter the device you have, you’ll find a top-of-the-line keyboard for it in Logitech’s catalog. No surprise that Logitech makes some awesome keyboards for Mac as well.

The MX Keys is a great all-around keyboard that gives you all the features you’d need and works with your Mac flawlessly. Moreover, you can pair it with up to three devices (supports Mac, PC, iOS, Android).

It’s low-profile yet offers decent key travel, which makes typing on it very enjoyable. You can also use the Logitech Options software to configure how the function keys behave – and you can even customize those keys on a per-app basis (meaning, they can do something else in Chrome vs Photoshop, etc.).

All that for the price of $100. Probably the best $100 you can spend on an alternative keyboard for Mac, and likely the last keyboard you’ll ever need overall.

💸 Budget pick:

Keychron K2

Keychron have been known for their great-quality keyboards while also being very affordable. Moreover, it being a mechanical keyboard makes it perhaps an even better deal! At just $74, you really won’t find a better keyboard out there.

Also, Keychron allows you to customize your keyboard by picking the type of mechanical switch that you want and the color of the backlight.

It works both by Bluetooth and cable, which means that you don’t have to worry about running out of juice. Not that you’d have to anyway since the battery life on this one is in the one-month range.

Lastly, it can be paired with up to three devices and works both on Mac and PC.

⭐ Honorable mention:

Satechi Aluminum Bluetooth Keyboard

At $80, it’s another very interesting keyboard that tries to bring out the best features from Logitech keyboards and from Apple’s very own Magic Keyboard.

The typing experience is very similar to that of the Magic Keyboard, but there’s slightly more key travel, making it a bit more comfortable. The spacing between the keys is similar to Logitech’s products, which further helps avoid accidental key presses.

Manufacturing-wise, it’s made of aluminum and looks very sturdy. It certainly does have a feel of a premium product. The only downside; you can’t configure the function keys.

For $80, this surely is a keyboard for Mac you should consider.

Finding ways to improve my Mac’s performance and workflow is my favorite hobby. But, trying to find the best Mac keyboard has been a personal mission of mine ever since I switched from PC to Mac. I quickly found out that getting a keyboard to cooperate with a Mac seamlessly isn’t always as straightforward, and that some keyboards are only partially up to the task. Unfortunately, the downsides are not something that the manufacturers like to mention on the box.

This is where the following roundup and comparison comes into play. What follows is a list of six of the best Mac keyboards, their pros and cons, prices, and overall impressions after using each one for at least a month.

What you need to know before looking for your best Mac keyboard

Not all keyboards are created alike – this you probably expect. However, some factors make looking for the best Mac keyboards a bit different than looking for, say, the best keyboard for a Windows PC.

Here’s what to pay attention to when on your hunt:

The best Mac keyboards tested

I divided the list into two categories:

• low-profile keyboards
• mechanical keyboards

While I could have made the categories something like wired vs wireless or Mac native vs multi-OS keyboards, I’ve decided to ultimately focus on the mechanism that’s under the keycap – since this is what makes the most difference when interacting with your keyboard.

Category #1: best low-profile Mac keyboards

Logitech Craft or Logitech MX Keys

The Craft and the MX Keys are basically the same keyboards with only one difference. The Craft has this:

It’s a dome-like dial (called the crown) that can be mapped to do all sorts of different things. Everything else – the key mechanism, the keycaps, and the layout are the same.

All Logitech keyboards come with Logitech’s own config software. You’ll find a lot of interesting options there, letting you control what each function key does plus what you want the crown to do.

Speaking of the crown, you can use it by performing one of three actions:

Those can be configured freely, but the default is what you see in the screenshot above.

Best of all, you can configure the crown and all the function keys on a per-app basis. So you can have the crown do something else in Chrome vs in the macOS UI. This also opens up a lot of possibilities if you use tools like Sketch or Adobe XD a lot.

Back to the keys and how they work. The key travel is decent, gives you a nice feel and doesn’t confuse you whether a key has been pressed or not. Each key also has a nice indentation. This helps avoid accidental key presses – you can always find the center of the key easily.

💰 Price

Logitech Craft: $199
Logitech MX Keys: $100

🔋 Battery life

The battery is 1500 mAh. From my experience, as long as you remember to turn it off for the night, you won’t have to charge it more than once a month.

👍 Pros

• Can be paired with up to three devices simultaneously. This means that you don’t have to re-pair the keyboard each time you switch devices.
• Low-profile but still offers decent key travel, which makes typing nice.
• The configurable function keys and the crown are a blast.
• Logitech Options – the control software that comes with the keyboard lets you easily configure everything.
• Good battery life.

👎 Cons

• The typing position is not adjustable.
• Connect it via Logitech’s unifying connector. If you use Bluetooth, you might experience some connection issues.

⭐ Verdict

For me, this is the best keyboard for Mac available. It’s highly customizable, the battery lasts long, it’s reliable, and the aesthetic is also in tune with other Apple products. If you want the crown, get the Craft. If not, get the MX Keys. And obviously, the price is a factor as well. The Craft is twice as expensive as MX Keys.

Apple Magic Keyboard

Could we really not have it listed? It is the most compact, the cleanest looking, and the most compatible best keyboard for Mac in the market.

The current generation of the keyboard has an improved scissor key mechanism. Compared to the previous generation, the key travel is smaller, and there’s slightly less space between the keys. It’s overall a bit easier to hit other keys by accident.

Design-wise, this is a beautiful product. It’s slick, simple, minimalistic, and does all that most users would want it to.

That said, it doesn’t offer much customization. The only thing you can do is decide whether you want to use the function keys as standard keys or Mac interface keys.

The Magic Keyboard also has a significantly smaller footprint than any other keyboard on this list.

There are two versions available: with and without the number pad.

💰 Price

Apple Magic Keyboard: $99 and $129 (with num pad)

🔋 Battery life

The battery is 2980 mAh. Personally, though, I think I only charged it twice since I got it. It seems like it’s not using any electricity at all. 🤷‍♂️

👍 Pros

• It’s Apple’s official keyboard, so it has to work well with a Mac.
• Small, compact, super minimal.
• Low key travel if you enjoy this sort of thing.
• Great battery life.

👎 Cons

• Only minimal customization available.
• Again, low key travel if you don’t enjoy this sort of thing.
• Not adjustable.

⭐ Verdict

This is the second-best keyboard in the low-profile category. It looks really clean, offers great battery life, and works with your Mac out the box. No configuration needed. Use this one if you don’t mind the lack of customization options or the low key travel.

Logitech K750 Solar Mac

To be honest, the K750 Solar would have been higher on this list if it was easier to buy it and if Logitech updated the design from when it first launched in 2011 (I think).

While you can still find this keyboard in stores and on Amazon in some countries, it’s one of Logitech’s older products. I’m not sure if it’s just no longer being promoted, or no longer manufactured completely.

The keyboard itself is fairly unique in a couple of ways:

First, it’s solar-powered. It’s what this strip does:

Second, it’s really low-profile – lays flat on the table. It’s not angled or anything. At the same time, there are these feet that you can deploy to tilt the keyboard toward you.

The keys are really nicely spaced out with a lot of room in between them. This limits accidental presses to a minimum. The key travel is nice, but the movement is a bit unrefined compared to the more modern products of Logitech’s.

Configuration-wise, the keyboard, unfortunately, doesn’t work with Logitech’s newest software. The only thing you can set is how the function keys work. And even that is available only via Logitech’s other (presumably) older software called Logitech Control Center.

💰 Price

Logitech K750 Solar Mac: $60-$70

🔋 Battery life

Well, it being solar means that you don’t have to charge it at all. It will just work. That being said, I did have another version of this keyboard for my PC and that one decided to die after what I think was 3-4 years of use. Still pretty good for a wireless keyboard with no need to be charged.

👍 Pros

• You don’t have to charge it, ever!
• Lays flat on the table.
• Adjustable.
• Sufficient key travel and great separation between the keys.
• Slick and good-looking.

👎 Cons

• Doesn’t work with the new Logitech software.
• Only minimal customization available.
• Hard to get.

⭐ Verdict

Overall, this is a great keyboard. I like it even better than the official Magic Keyboard, but I just can’t rank it higher since it’s an older product. The main thing it has going for it is the solar feature – so you get a wireless keyboard that you don’t have to charge at all. It’s also quite cheap compared to the other products. If you can find it, get it!

Satechi Aluminum Bluetooth Keyboard

Satechi is a known player in the accessories market for Mac. They offer hubs, mounts, chargers, mice, and also keyboards.

The Satechi Aluminum Bluetooth Keyboard is similar to a couple of keyboards that I already tested above. It has similar spacing in between the keys as Logitech K750 Solar. The indentations on the keys are similar to what you’ll find with Logitech Craft, and the typing experience is very similar to the Magic Keyboard, only there’s more key travel.

Manufacturing-wise, it’s made of aluminum and looks very sturdy. It certainly does have a feel of a premium product.

As I mentioned, the typing experience is similar to that of the Magic Keyboard, but with more key travel. The keys feel very light, which may or may not be something you like.

You can also pair it with up to three devices.

The main downside for me is that you can’t customize this keyboard in any way. You can’t even change the behavior of the function keys. For me, that’s a real deal-breaker since I have different macros mapped there. If that’s not such a biggie for you, you’re going to have a great time with this keyboard.

💰 Price

Satechi Aluminum Bluetooth Keyboard: $80

🔋 Battery life

Satechi says their keyboard has enough battery life for up to 80 hours of uninterrupted work time between charges. Not that great, but also not tragic.

👍 Pros

• The build quality is excellent.
• Supports up to three devices simultaneously.
• Has custom keys for taking screenshots and copy & pasting.
• The typing experience is great, the keys are light, but there’s enough travel to keep it comfortable.

👎 Cons

• Not adjustable per se, but you do get these stick-on bumpers that you can use.
• No customization available, and you can’t even set how the function keys work.

⭐ Verdict

For me, this would perhaps be in the top 2 range if not for the lack of customization. Typing on this keyboard feels great, there’s a good separation between the keys, and it just looks right on the desk next to your Apple products.

Category #2: mechanical keyboards for Mac

The way I’m going to look at mechanical keyboards for Mac is going to be very similar but with one key difference:

I’m not going to spend as much time talking about key travels and how the keys feel when typing. This all depends on the exact model of key switches that you choose when buying your keyboard. Most mechanical keyboards give you some options, so you can always go with the exact switch that works best for you.

Keychron K2 and K4

If you ever tried to google mechanical keyboards for Mac, you’ve noticed that there’s really not that much choice out there.

For some reason, Mac users, in general, don’t seem to care that much for mechanical keyboards as PC users do.

That said, there’s still more than a couple of suitable options.

Keychron keyboards are great examples of quality mechanical keyboards for Mac. There are two main models that we’ll discuss here: Keychron K2 and Keychron K4.

The features are the same on both keyboards, with the size being the main difference. Plus, the K4 also comes with a number pad.

The main strength of the Keychrons is that you can customize your keyboard quite extensively before you buy it. You can choose from a range of mechanical switches (also including optical switches). You can pick whether you want white or RGB backlight. And you can also order custom keycaps.

The keyboards are compatible with Mac and PC, and they can be connected via Bluetooth as well as by USB cable (the same model of the keyboard, you don’t have to pick between Bluetooth and cable keyboard).

When it comes to software customizations, again, there’s not that much available. You can only pick how you want the function keys to behave via the macOS settings panel.

But you do get to play around with the backlight. There’s a separate key on the keyboard for controlling the backlight sequences. This is kind of fun.

The keys are packed a bit tight, but there’s still enough space between them to help you avoid accidental presses. Still not to the extent you get from some of the other keyboards here, though.

💰 Price

Keychron K2: $74
Keychron K4: $79

🔋 Battery life

The battery life is more than great. The K2s and K4s have a battery capacity of 4000 mAh, which is more than double what you get from Logitech Craft. You’ll be able to use it for more than a month on one charge with the backlight turned on.

👍 Pros

• Great value for money.
• Customizable hardware. You can pick the key switches you want.
• An overall well-made product, has a premium feel and an original appearance.
• Great battery life.
• Works via Bluetooth and by cable.
• Can be paired with up to three devices and works both on Mac and PC.
• The price is very attractive for a mechanical keyboard.

👎 Cons

• The keyboard layout on the K4 can be confusing. Especially the placement of the arrow keys. You might have to get used to that, and it will certainly cost you some accidental key presses.
• The plastic on the keys could be better, at least to my feel.
• It’s rather tall, which may be problematic for some users.

⭐ Verdict

Overall, this is the best mechanical keyboard you can buy for Mac. I’m talking about both the K2 and K4. You can customize your hardware before you buy it (pick a switch type, backlight color). The K2 is a smaller model without the num pad. The K4 does feature a num pad, but it is still packed very tightly, which makes the footprint smaller than full-size keyboards with separate number pads.

Azio MK MAC BT / USB

Update. Azio seem to have stopped offering the Bluetooth version of their keyboard. Now only the USB version is available. The price remains the same.

Azio MK MAC USB is another great mechanical keyboard for your Mac. Design-wise, it’s a bit different from Keychron’s products – being predominantly white, vs Keychron’s dark color scheme.

The build quality is great, there’s aluminum finish (the top layer), and the keycaps themselves are made of quality plastic material. The color is also spot-on white, which matches the Apple aesthetic.

Unfortunately, the keyboard comes only with one type of switches, the Kailh Browns.

Customization-wise, you can only set how you want to use the function keys. There is also a volume adjustment wheel, which does work well. However, you can’t customize what the wheel does other than controlling the volume.

The keycaps are on the taller side, but the shape of them should help you avoid accidental key presses. Overall, can’t complain here.

Azio MK MAC USB comes with a detachable palm rest, which is a nice bonus.

💰 Price

Azio MK MAC USB: $100

🔋 Battery life

Azio rates their keyboard at one month of usage time. I’d say that’s about right, but compared to the other keyboards on this list, the battery capacity is not stunning at just 250 mAh.

👍 Pros

• Native for Mac.
• The design is good.
• Sturdy and good build quality.

👎 Cons

• No backlight
• Only one type of key switches available.
• Very limited customization.
• Currently only the wired USB version available.

⭐ Verdict

My second best pick for a mechanical keyboard for Mac. It’s a bit more expensive than the Keychrons, doesn’t let you customize your key switches, and there’s no backlight. That said, if you’re up for the white color scheme of the product and think it’ll match better with your setup, go for it.

Summary, which of these best Mac keyboards to choose?

The first decision you have to make is whether you want a low-profile keyboard or a mechanical one. Unfortunately, there’s no clear winner among these two categories. Some people love their mechanical keyboards, while others prefer the low-profile look and feel.

👉 Check out the FAQ section below to help you figure out whether to go with low-profile vs mechanical.

Now, if you need to know what I’d choose if I was buying a gift, here are my picks:

🥇 Editor's pick:

Logitech MX Keys

Logitech is the brand if you want a high-quality keyboard. No matter the device you have, you’ll find a top-of-the-line keyboard for it in Logitech’s catalog. No surprise that Logitech makes some awesome keyboards for Mac as well.

The MX Keys is a great all-around keyboard that gives you all the features you’d need and works with your Mac flawlessly. Moreover, you can pair it with up to three devices (supports Mac, PC, iOS, Android).

It’s low-profile yet offers decent key travel, which makes typing on it very enjoyable. You can also use the Logitech Options software to configure how the function keys behave – and you can even customize those keys on a per-app basis (meaning, they can do something else in Chrome vs Photoshop, etc.).

All that for the price of $100. Probably the best $100 you can spend on an alternative keyboard for Mac, and likely the last keyboard you’ll ever need overall.

💸 Budget pick:

Keychron K2

Keychron have been known for their great-quality keyboards while also being very affordable. Moreover, it being a mechanical keyboard makes it perhaps an even better deal! At just $74, you really won’t find a better keyboard out there.

Also, Keychron allows you to customize your keyboard by picking the type of mechanical switch that you want and the color of the backlight.

It works both by Bluetooth and cable, which means that you don’t have to worry about running out of juice. Not that you’d have to anyway since the battery life on this one is in the one-month range.

Lastly, it can be paired with up to three devices and works both on Mac and PC.

⭐ Honorable mention:

Satechi Aluminum Bluetooth Keyboard

At $80, it’s another very interesting keyboard that tries to bring out the best features from Logitech keyboards and from Apple’s very own Magic Keyboard.

The typing experience is very similar to that of the Magic Keyboard, but there’s slightly more key travel, making it a bit more comfortable. The spacing between the keys is similar to Logitech’s products, which further helps avoid accidental key presses.

Manufacturing-wise, it’s made of aluminum and looks very sturdy. It certainly does have a feel of a premium product. The only downside; you can’t configure the function keys.

For $80, this surely is a keyboard for Mac you should consider.

Lastly, here are the frequently asked questions and answers on the topic of best Mac keyboards and how to pick one:

📋 FAQ