Keyboard layouts, compared
QWERTY dates from the 1870s. Every layout since tries to keep your fingers on the home row, share the work between hands and avoid typing two letters in a row with one finger. Here is how 38 of them measure up.
- layouts
- 38
- families
- 29
- words typed on each
- 23,331
National standards
The layouts printed on keyboards in each country.
- Travel
- Baseline
- Home row
- 37%
- Same finger
- 6.5%
- Travel
- +11%
- Home row
- 30%
- Same finger
- 7.4%
- Travel
- +2%
- Home row
- 37%
- Same finger
- 6.8%
- Travel
- −2%
- Home row
- 39%
- Same finger
- 7.1%
Established alternatives
Decades of users, courses and keyboard support behind them.
- Travel
- −43%
- Home row
- 72%
- Same finger
- 2.9%
- Travel
- −44%
- Home row
- 75%
- Same finger
- 1.4%
- Travel
- −44%
- Home row
- 68%
- Same finger
- 1.4%
- Travel
- −46%
- Home row
- 69%
- Same finger
- 2.9%
Modern optimised
Built since 2021 with large text corpora and layout analysers.
- Travel
- −45%
- Home row
- 67%
- Same finger
- 0.9%
- Travel
- −45%
- Home row
- 67%
- Same finger
- 0.9%
- Travel
- −41%
- Home row
- 63%
- Same finger
- 1.0%
- Travel
- −39%
- Home row
- 62%
- Same finger
- 0.9%
Research and ergonomic
Experiments in what an ideal layout could be.
- Travel
- −47%
- Home row
- 65%
- Same finger
- 3.3%
- Travel
- −45%
- Home row
- 67%
- Same finger
- 1.8%
- Travel
- −33%
- Home row
- 59%
- Same finger
- 3.4%
- Travel
- −46%
- Home row
- 65%
- Same finger
- 1.3%
Easy transition
Change a few keys at a time and keep most of your QWERTY habits.
- Travel
- −46%
- Home row
- 69%
- Same finger
- 6.3%
- Travel
- −21%
- Home row
- 53%
- Same finger
- 4.3%
- Travel
- −42%
- Home row
- 72%
- Same finger
- 4.5%
- Travel
- −43%
- Home row
- 75%
- Same finger
- 2.9%
All 38 layouts, side by side
Ranked by finger travel on 23,331 words of English. Less travel and fewer same-finger pairs are better; more home row and alternation usually feel smoother. National layouts are measured on English too.
Questions
Measured on 20 English passages, 116,654 characters, on a standard row-staggered keyboard with 19.05 mm key spacing. Shift counts for capitals and symbols.
It depends on what you measure. On 23,331 words of English, Halmak needed the least finger travel, −47% against QWERTY, and Gallium Rowstag had the fewest same-finger pairs, 0.9% against QWERTY’s 6.5%. No single layout wins on everything.
Alternative layouts cut finger movement, often by more than 40%, and keep more of your typing on the home row. Less movement does not guarantee more speed, though: experienced QWERTY typists can be just as fast, and switching takes weeks of retraining.
Layouts that change only a few keys: Minimak 4 moves four, the Tarmak steps reach Colemak a few keys at a time, and Colemak itself keeps Z, X, C and V where they are, so copy and paste do not move.
38 layouts in 29 families, each with an on-screen keyboard and hands that follow the layout, and a 3D comparison of any of them side by side.
Every layout types the same 20 English passages, 116,654 characters, on a standard row-staggered keyboard with 19.05 mm key spacing. Fingers start on the home row and return to it when another finger types; Shift counts for capitals and symbols, and layouts made for the angle mod are measured with it.