Recently, “ceramic” has been emerging as a new option for keycap materials.
Keycaps made from ceramic offer a hard feel, a cool-to-the-touch texture, and a distinctive typing sound that differ from common resin keycaps like ABS and PBT—showing that the keycap material itself can shape the typing experience.
The TacType Ceramic Keycaps we’re featuring this time stand out for using zirconia ceramic.
The original ceramic keycaps, “Cerakey,” use alumina ceramic as the keycap material, and it’s no exaggeration to say their keycaps have become a milestone in the ceramic keycap space.
What makes TacType Ceramic Keycaps interesting isn’t simply that they’re ceramic keycaps, but that they use zirconia ceramic, unlike Cerakey.
If Cerakey is the brand that expanded the ceramic keycap category, TacType is the brand that highlights the material difference of “zirconia ceramic” within it.
In this article, we’ll review TacType keycaps, which present a new option in ceramic keycaps.
What is TacType?
An up-and-coming brand offering zirconia ceramic keycaps
Material: 95% zirconia ceramic
Cherry profile
For ANSI layouts
Compatible with MX-style switches
Available in four types: White Glossy / White Matte / Black Glossy / Black Matte
Choose from Side Print or Blank
Kits available: Full / TKL / 60% / Alphas / Modifier / RX1U, etc.
Release date:
White: May 19, 2026
Black: June 2026
Affordable pricing, such as $74 for the Full Kit and $59 for the TKL Kit
Special pricing for the first 3 days after release
In partnership with TacType, this article includes a reader coupon. It’s a $5 off coupon usable on orders of $59 or more, and it can be combined even during sales.
TacType Ceramic Keycaps were provided for promotional purposes. If a purchase is made via Greenkeys, GreenEchoes Studio (the operator) may earn revenue as a referral fee. Product evaluations follow Greenkeys’ editorial policy and are based on real usage.
TacType Ceramic Keycaps are a keycap set made with zirconia ceramic.
Unlike ABS and PBT used in many standard keycaps, they feature a ceramic-specific hard feel, smooth touch, and satisfying weight.
The lineup includes the Full Kit for full-size boards, the TKL Kit for TKL, the Split Kit-60 for 60%, Split Kits that let you choose alphas and modifiers separately, and the RX1U Kit (a set of four 1U keys), among others.
You can choose White or Black, Glossy or Matte finishes, and Blank or Side Print legends.
For the first 3 days after launch, you can buy them at a special price.
TacType offers not only full sets, but also split kits like Alphas and Modifier.
It’s nice that you can use them not only to replace every key, but also to go ceramic just for alphas, just for modifiers, or even only a few 1U keys.
The profile is a standard Cherry-like one, so you can reasonably expect to mix them with your existing keycaps.
About the weight
Key size
weight
1U
4–4.5 g
1.25U–1.75U
5–6.5 g
2U–2.75U
7.5–9.5 g
6.25U Spacebar
25 g
Ceramic keycaps feel significantly heavier than standard resin keycaps.
Even a 1U key is 4–4.5 g, and the 6.25U spacebar is 25 g—clearly heavier than typical ABS/PBT keycaps.
Since keycap weight affects not only sound but also switch return and stabilizer behavior, it’s a point worth checking in advance.
With lighter switches in particular, the return may become slower.
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In our testing, the switches had a 42 gf actuation force, and we didn’t see a major impact on return. However, the spacebar did affect return, so we switched to a higher-force switch. Another option is to use the included springs.
What you’ll naturally wonder about is how it differs from the pioneer, Cerakey.
We’ve summarized the spec differences below.
(data) item
TacType
Cerakey
Main material
Zirconia ceramic
Alumina ceramic
Main component
ZrO2
Al2O3
Brand positioning
An up-and-coming ceramic keycap brand
A leading ceramic keycap brand
feature
Easier to emphasize toughness, density, and a substantial feel
Hardness, wear resistance, and lots of existing reviews
profile
Cherry Profile
Cherry Profile
Stem
PC Plastic
ABS Plastic
Alumina ceramic is known as an industrial ceramic with excellent hardness and wear resistance.
Zirconia ceramic, on the other hand, is known for its toughness—its resistance to cracking and chipping.
Differences between zirconia ceramic and alumina ceramic
Comparison item
Zirconia ceramic
Alumina ceramic
Main component
Zirconium oxide / ZrO2
Aluminum oxide / Al2O3
Typical characteristics
Toughness, high fracture toughness, premium-feeling texture
Hardness, wear resistance, stability, proven industrial track record
Resistance to cracks/chips
Tends to be relatively strong
Hard, but prone to chipping/cracking under impact
Hardness
Often slightly lower than alumina in general
Very high
Heft
Higher density than alumina, tends to be heavier
Tends to be lighter than zirconia
Texture direction
Dense and smooth; closer to contexts like jewelry, watches, and dental materials
Closer to industrial ceramics; tableware, insulators, wear parts, etc.
Zirconia ceramic is positioned as a type of fine ceramic whose main component is zirconium oxide.
It’s generally characterized by high strength and toughness and a smooth texture, and it seems to be used in materials like dental applications, watches, and decorative parts.
Differences as actual keycaps
We tested Cerakey and TacType using the comparison points below.
Test item
What to look for
Price
Price differences between kits
sense of touch
Cool-to-the-touch feel, smoothness, and differences between Glossy/Matte
keystroke impression
Sink-in from weight, return feel, and finger rebound
keystroke sound
Whether it gets deeper in tone or produces a hard resonance
Impact of weight on switches
Whether return becomes sluggish with light switches
Fit accuracy
Stem tightness, wobble, and ease of removal/installation
Exterior durability
Fingerprints, skin oils, and ease of wiping
backlight
How it glows through ceramic and how it pairs with RGB
About the color tone
Focus on how color temperature differs even within “white”
Price
On price, TacType seems more competitive compared to rivals.
In terms of feel, there isn’t a big difference between Cerakey and TacType.
They share the same hard ceramic feel and cool impression.
That said, when your fingertips get sweaty, Cerakey felt slightly smoother in terms of slipperiness.
But it’s truly a very small difference.
keystroke sound
Check out this video.
Keyboard used: TPS40
This is subjective, but TacType’s typing sound feels slightly lighter than Cerakey’s.
However, that’s only when compared to Cerakey; the ceramic-specific “deep, clacky” nuance is the same.
Meanwhile, Keychron’s ceramic keycaps sounded a bit snappier than TacType’s.
Impact of weight on switches
Ceramic keycaps are heavier than standard resin keycaps.
In our testing with 42 gf linear switches, we observed delayed return only on the spacebar.
We assume this is because the spacebar is extremely heavy at 25 g.
We saw this not only with Cerakey, but also with metal keycaps.
As a countermeasure, TacType includes springs so you can address poor return without replacing your existing switches.
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Cerakey takes the approach of including heavier switches.
Fit accuracy
TacType uses PC (polycarbonate) stems, while Cerakey uses ABS stems.
TacType appears to use an adhesive method that makes full contact across the underside of the keycap, while Cerakey looks more like an embedded adhesive method.
There’s little difference in stem precision, but likely due to material properties, PC felt easier to mount on switches and easier to pull off.
From this wording alone, you might think TacType is “more likely to fall off switches,” but that’s not the case.
It simply means it has higher glide when removing and installing compared with Cerakey and other resin keycaps.
Exterior durability
Next, let’s look at exterior durability.
For glossy keycaps, we rate scratch resistance as high—likely because they’re coated with a glaze.
As for fingerprint resistance, we found TacType to be less noticeable.
For matte types as well, TacType felt slightly more scratch-resistant.
That said, both Cerakey and TacType recognize that matte keycaps can scratch easily, and they include a dedicated removal tool.
Either way, you’ll want to handle the matte type with care.
Included dedicated removal tool
Backlight translucency
A big appeal of ceramic is its very high light translucency.
Among them, white ceramic keycaps in particular have especially high translucency and produce a soft, distinctive glow.
Be aware that black keycaps are not as translucent.
The photo below shows a test with the keycap placed on a surface light source. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgVSeN7VPsQ
Left: TacType Right: Cerakey
As you can see, the overall translucency doesn’t change dramatically, but the stem area translucency differs a lot.
Because TacType uses a highly translucent PC material, you can see that the entire keycap lets light through.
That said, this is only a translucency experiment.
In practice, many keyboards use south-facing LEDs, so this difference may not have a major impact.
About the color tone
The biggest color difference was in the white keycaps.
Now, let’s look at photos of the TacType Ceramic keycaps.
The sample kit we received includes a base kit (with legends, white, glossy) plus a sample set with four keycaps each in matte white, glossy black, and matte black.
It arrived in a cardboard box like this.
Contents: Base Kit (2 cases), keycap puller, keycap puller for matte keycaps, spacebar springs (2), and an instruction manual.
The quick manual explains how to use the spacebar springs and the matte-type keycap puller.
The matte type is prone to scratches, so it’s a hook-from-the-bottom removal style
Each keycap is packed individually, so it doesn’t seem likely they’ll get scratched during shipping.
They use side legends rather than top legends.
The font is a standard serif, with slightly thicker, solid strokes.
The surface finish is very uniform and gives off a pearl-like shine.
We also received samples from the RX1U Kit in matte white, matte black, and glossy black.
The color is closer to cream than Cerakey’s white, and it gives the impression of higher keytop uniformity.
Kawamura
The packaging is wonderful—like luxury chocolate. It’s beautiful enough to want to display.
Let’s look at the differences between each color.
From left: matte white, glossy white, matte black, glossy black.
Let’s go through the features one by one.
Glossy white is a warm tone closer to cream than pure white, and the uniform texture further enhances the gloss.
Light translucency is also very high, and paired with the PC stem it feels like it lets light through quite clearly.
Matte white has less light reflection, and the muted texture looks refined.
This one also has a very uniform surface.
Its translucency is very high as well, just like glossy white.
Glossy black has a gloss you can really get lost in.
With a surface this uniform, it even feels like polished marble.
Matte black, on the other hand, looks closer to ink-black than true black.
It has a beauty reminiscent of an inkstone.
For black ceramic keycaps, translucency felt low.
The stems are made of PC and are attached to the underside of the ceramic keycaps.
There are no issues with accuracy, but due to PC’s material properties, it felt like it slides smoothly when installing/removing.
While Cerakey uses alumina ceramic, TacType uses zirconia ceramic.
It’s interesting that you can compare material differences even within ceramic keycaps.
Highly uniform surface
The Glossy type in particular has a pearl-like texture, and you can really feel the smoothness unique to ceramic.
Because the impression changes depending on how light hits it, it has a strong presence even on your desk.
Beautiful light diffusion through the PC stems
Left: TacType Right: Cerakey
With white keycaps, you can enjoy a soft glow created by the ceramic material and PC stems.
Unlike typical shine-through keycaps, the light looks like it gently bleeds through the material, which is a distinctive look.
Includes springs for the spacebar
Because ceramic spacebars are heavy, return can become slower with light switches.
As a countermeasure, TacType includes auxiliary springs for the spacebar.
Easy to adopt partially with split kits
In addition to the Full Kit, there are split kits like the 60% Kit, Alphas, Modifier, and RX1U.
It’s worth praising that you can go ceramic not only for every key, but also just alphas, just modifiers, or only some keys.
Things we noticed / points to watch out for with TacType Ceramic Keycaps
TacType Ceramic Keycapsの気になった点・注意点
Be mindful of the spacebar’s weight
Matte types can scratch—handle with care
Primarily for ANSI layouts; not easy to use as-is on Japanese layouts
Black keycaps have more subdued backlight translucency than white ones
The white tone differs from Cerakey
The typing sound difference isn’t dramatic
Be mindful of the spacebar’s weight
The 6.25U spacebar is heavy at 25 g, and paired with light switches it may slow the return.
Using the included springs or pairing with switches with a higher actuation force seems like a good idea.
Matte types can scratch—handle with care
Matte finishes look calm and appealing, but you’ll want to watch out for scratches when ceramic rubs against ceramic.
When carrying or storing them, it’s best to prevent keycaps from rubbing hard against each other.
For ANSI layouts
TacType Ceramic Keycaps are basically made for ANSI layouts.
On Japanese-layout keyboards, they’re not suited to replacing every key as-is.
Black keycaps have weaker backlight translucency
With white keycaps you can enjoy soft light diffusion, but with black keycaps the light transmission is more subdued.
If RGB lighting is important to you, it’s worth considering how the look differs by color.
Different color tone from Cerakey
Left: Cerakey Right: TacType
TacType’s White feels slightly warmer compared to Cerakey’s white.
If you’re expecting a pure white keycap, it’s a good idea to check the color tone in photos beforehand.
The typing sound difference isn’t dramatic
Compared with Cerakey, it’s not that only TacType is clearly different—both share the deep, clacky direction typical of ceramic keycaps.
There are differences due to the material, but it didn’t feel like a product that differentiates itself mainly by sound.
summary
TacType Ceramic Keycaps are a new option in ceramic keycaps following Cerakey.
If Cerakey expanded the ceramic keycap category with alumina ceramic, then TacType is a product that presents a new option through the material difference of zirconia ceramic and approachable pricing.
That said, you do need to be mindful of the weight that comes with ceramic keycaps.
Especially for the spacebar, pairing it with light switches may affect return, so it’s worth considering using the included springs or switching to higher-force switches.
If you want to enjoy the hard ceramic feel, the deep clacky typing sound, and the presence of the material itself, TacType Ceramic Keycaps are a very interesting option.
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Kawamura
