Keychron V3
Much cheaper alternative to the Q3 without giving up the nice-to-haves like QMK/VIA, PCB mount stabilizers, and south-facing RGB. To reach the price point it is tray mount with a plastic case and cheaper switches in the prebuilt option.
Keychron Q3
Yet another solid option from Keychron: aluminum, gasket mounted, QMK/VIA compatible, available barebones or prebuilt, and with or without the knob (which is in a slightly odd location). May suffer from more hollowness/ping than its siblings due to its larger size, possibly benefiting from force break despite Keychron’s attempts at building it in.
Leopold FC750R
A prebuilt keyboard of the highest quality available. Excellent Leopold keycaps and a standard layout. THE pick if you don’t care about hotswap.
Acrylic Stacked TKL
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.
SK87
NOTE: Has recently been shipping as both North facing and south facing switch sockets, seems to be luck of the draw. Either way the value is still there for this board. Hotswap, per-key RGB and available as bluetooth. Plastic case available in black or white. Does not come with caps or switches.
Gopolar GG86
KBD67 Lite but bigger. Excellent features for it’s price. A “silicon gasket mount” with an customizable OLED display. Comes with an fr4 plate, and south-facing hotswap PCB. QMK/VIA binaries . NOTE: only supports tsangan/WKL (7u spacebar).
BM80rgb
Placing this directly below the XD87 since they are basically the same except this one has per key RGB and is already via compatible along with regular QMK. Still only north facing, make sure you read the kit options before buying.
Keychron K8/K8 Pro (Hotswap+Bluetooth)
Recently revamped to now be hotswap and Bluetooth, this board is now a great option for hotswap TKLs. There is even a cheaper backlit option for people that dont need full RGB. Comes with choice of Red, Blue or Brown switches and keycaps. The new “Pro” model is upgraded with screw-in stabs, QMK/VIA support, and more case dampening included.
MK870
Great value TKL board with south facing switch sockets. Hotswap, per-key RGB. Comes in translucent black/white or opaque white. Does not come with caps or switches.
Monokei Standard
A solid option if you want a wireless, very high quality TKL that looks less boring than something from Keychron. Plastic cases that come in a variety of colours, multiple options for switches, wireless and doubleshot keycaps.
Keychron C1 Pro
An updated version of the well-respected Keychron C1. Still comes with the usual selection of stock switches and thin shine-through caps, but now has full QMK/VIA compatibility, a far more powerful MCU and south-facing switch sockets. Excellent value at an attractive price if you don’t want Bluetooth. Benefits from lubing the stabs, putting foam in the case, and swapping the switches and caps.
Varmillo VA87M
Excellent build quality combined with colorful designs make the VA87M one of the most commonly recommended prebuilt mechanical boards, along with the Leopold above. Like the Leopold, this is not hotswap. Click the image to go to the Varmillo store to see other color options.
Vortex Multix
One of Vortex’s new boards. Comes fully built with Gateron Pro switches, but with south-facing hotswap sockets which makes it a great starter board. Seems to have some attempt at at least a partial isolation mount, maybe with o-rings? Available in dark Dolch colorway as well as this white “Summer” version, both come with doubleshot PBT keycaps. As a bonus, it seems to have support for multiple layouts on the PCB and plate including a tsangan bottom row!
XD87hs
The lowest budget option with a number of package options available to addon. The PCB has recently been ported into QMK making this option even more attractive. PCB supports PCB mount stabs and the addition of LEDs.
Gamakay K87
(Name changes depending on site, also called Womier) The TKL version of the Womier, this board is an excellent budget option with bright RGB and hotswap. Comes with caps and switches on a frosted acrylic case.
NCR80
You’ve made it to the end, and now we get to share with you a little secret. This is a loving/shrewd reproduction the G81-3007, with VIA support (with a side-loaded JSON), a daughterboard, solder/hotswap PCB options, and a carbon fiber plate, if you choose not to run it plateless. Blah blah blah tray mount bad blah blah blah shut up, this board actually kicks ass.