Keychron Q1
Latest revisions have pre-applied modifications to kill the case ping people complain about, plus knob, You people love knobs, don’t you. Hotswap knob gasket mount exploded 75 with RGB. Overall its a solid value board that even comes with a coiled cable and stabilizers. The barebones version is the best value and I would recommend it over the assembled version due to the low quality stock keycaps on the assembled. There are plenty of Youtube reviews for this board by now, check them out. Moving this one up because Glorious is a shitty company.
Word of warning: Wider caps (most infamously, MT3) do risk colliding with the case on edges where keycap and case meet, but other caps don’t seem to have same issue.
Keychron V1
Cheaper version of the Keychron Q1. Plastic case, tray mount, cheaper switches in the prebuilt option, MUCH lower price. Excellent entry point to the hobby.
MonsGeek M1
A sub-brand of Akko, the M1 is full metal, gasket mount and comes barebones in a variety of colours. Comes with a full suite of foam for experimenting. Good amount of features for the price that you pay.
Acrylic Stacked 75
Cannonkeys now has a whole lineup of stacked acrylic boards featuring the PCBs from their brutalist line of boards. Some require soldering so be sure to read the store pages carefully. If you are looking to really put in work for your first custom these are the most budget friendly way to do it. I’m going to copy paste this description for all the other sizes so don’t judge.
NextTime75/NT75 or LK75/Feker75
Rather cheap but effective GMMK Pro / Keychron Q1 “clone”. Plastic case, “gasket mount”, hotswap, north-facing pcb. Gets the job done.
NT75 will be wired PCB, LK75 will be wireless (2.4GHz/Bluetooth) PCB.
Keychron K2
Back and better than ever, the K2 was recently updated to match the K6 with a Bluetooth and hotswap PCB. If you dont need RGB, there is even an affordable backlit option.
Finalkey V81 Plus
The Finalkey V81 Plus, despite being from a lesser-known brand, stands out for a variety of reasons. It has tri-mode wireless functionality, while also maintaining QMK/Via compatibility. It stands out in its price range as the only keyboard with a noteworthy colour screen. The board is full metal, utilizes the standard strip gasket mount, and includes all the necessary foams one will ever need for modding.