The 5 Best Keyboard Wrist Rests in 2023 – Voltcave (2024)

Keyboard wrist rests aren’t a particularly exciting addition to a computer setup, but they can be beneficial if you spend a ton of time typing. They elevate your wrists and can provide some welcome cushioning to reduce the strain and aches associated with long hours of typing. If that sounds useful, then this list of the best keyboard wrist rests is for you.

It’s hard to truly go wrong with a keyboard wrist rest, as many use similar materials and designs. However, a few rise above the mass of near-identical products to offer something worth your time. Let’s get into it.

Our Favorite Keyboard Wrist Rests

1. HyperX Wrist Rest

Best Keyboard Wrist Rest Overall

Most keyboard wrist rests are broadly similar to each other, with identical materials and coverings. But HyperX’s Wrist Rest stands out from the crowd with its unique combination of memory foam and cooling gel material, giving you the best of both worlds.

The HyperX Wrist Rest uses a comfortable memory foam core, which offers firm cushioning that contours to the shape of your wrists. However, HyperX took the added step of surrounding the memory foam with a layer of cooling gel, which helps overcome memory foam’s heat retention issues.

It’s one of the few (if not the only) wrist rests to give you the best of both worlds: the contoured support of memory foam and the cool, sweat-proof properties of gel.

We also appreciate the construction and aesthetics of the HyperX Wrist Rest. It has an understated design (for a gaming company), and its bright red anti-fray stitching is the only sign that the wrist rest is a gaming wrist rest. It’s a cool look and one that we think most users will enjoy.

HyperX sells its keyboard wrist rest in full-size, tenkeyless, and compact (for 60% boards) sizes. So no matter what size keyboard you use, you’ll find a wrist rest to suit it. The company even makes a matching mouse wrist rest, one of our favorite mouse wrist rests.

Overall, the HyperX Wrist Rest takes the cake for the best keyboard wrist rest due to its innovative cool gel memory foam combo, affordable pricing, and multiple size options. Unless you’re after something specific, we believe most of you should start here first.

2. 3M Gel Wrist Rest

Best Gel Keyboard Wrist Rest

If you like the cooler, softer feel of gel over memory foam, then 3M’s Gel Wrist Rest is the keyboard wrist rest for you. Its high-quality materials and just-right firmness make it a great buy, even if the price is high for a wrist rest.

There’s nothing too outstanding about the 3M wrist rest on paper. It’s a full-length wrist rest with a “satin smooth” surface that cleans up easily. That sounds standard so far, but where the 3M excels is in the gel material itself.

3M got the balance right with the gel in this wrist rest. It leans towards the soft and cushiony side of the equation, but it still has enough firmness that it won’t feel like your wrists are sinking.

The 3M wrist rest is a relatively low-profile and shallow wrist rest, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your keyboard. If you use a low-profile mechanical keyboard or a standard membrane keyboard, then it’ll likely be perfect for you. But its 0.6-inch height may not work as well as other wrist rests if you have a higher-profile mechanical keyboard.

The roughly $40 price is also on the high side for a wrist rest, but we think the gel and overall material quality justify the price. Besides, gel-based products tend to be significantly pricier than their memory foam counterparts anyway, so we don’t think the 3M’s asking price is too unreasonable.

3M’s Gel Wrist Rest feels great to type on, and the materials are top-notch for a wrist rest. It’s not cheap, but we’re confident that gel fans will find the 3M worth paying for.

3. i-Rocks Memory Foam Wrist Rest

Best Memory Foam Keyboard Wrist Rest

Memory foam keyboard wrist rests are a dime a dozen, with little separating one product from the next. This i-Rocks wrist rest isn’t a ground-breaking product, but features such as a dimpled surface and above-average color variety help differentiate it from the pack.

The most notable feature of the i-Rocks is its dimpled surface, which the company claims helps promote air circulation under your wrists. This, in turn, helps alleviate the common issue of high-density memory foam “heating up” after extended use. We’re not going to claim that this makes the i-Rocks feel as cool as a gel product, but the dimples do seem to help in our experience.

Of course, they will take some getting used to, especially if you’re used to uniform surfaces. But we think it’s worth a try, especially if you suffer from sweaty wrists with other memory foam wrist pads

Another point worth mentioning is the color variety you get with the i-Rocks. We prefer plain black, but you can opt for lilac, gray, blue, or aqua if you want more color in your setup.

Beyond the dimples and color options, there isn’t much to say about the i-Rocks that won’t apply to its memory foam competitors. It’s a full-size wrist rest perfect for 104-key keyboards, with a breathable fabric cover and a non-slip rubber base. It’s basic, but it works.

4. Glorious Gaming Wooden Wrist Rest

Best Mechanical Keyboard Wrist Rest

OK, sure, Glorious’ wooden wrist rest will work with any keyboard. But we think it’s the perfect wrist rest to complement a pricey custom keyboard in aesthetics and function. So if you’ve made the leap into the hobby and need a wrist rest, Glorious’ offering is the one to go for.

Unlike many keyboard wrist rests, which use memory foam or gel, Glorious’ wrist rest is an all-wood affair. It’s a hardwood wrist rest made with white ash and comes in two finishes: the red-brown Golden Oak or gamer-friendly “very dark brown” Onyx.

We’re big fans of the Golden Oak finish, and we think it has a classy look that works perfectly with a mechanical keyboard. But there’s more to the Glorious Gaming Wooden Wrist Rest’s mechanical keyboard compatibility than its looks.

Many mechanical keyboards have taller keycaps and steeper typing angles than membrane keyboards, which means that flat wrist rests may not offer adequate support. In contrast, the Glorious’ 19-mm (0.74-inch) thickness and angled front give it the perfect height and angle to suit mechanical keyboards. It also comes in full-size, TKL, and 60% sizes, so you’ll have a wrist rest no matter what board you use.

The main downside is, of course, the material. Natural wood feels great and adds a premium touch to any setup, but it offers zero cushioning for your wrists. That’s fine if you only want a platform that raises your wrists to a mechanical keyboard-friendly height. But if you suffer from wrist strain and need something soft to reduce aches, this isn’t for you.

Glorious Gaming’s Wooden Wrist Rest is a niche product that we can’t recommend to just anyone. We like it, but its size and hard surface mean it likely fails as a “true” ergonomic product for office workers and the productivity-minded. But it’s perfect if you’re a mechanical keyboard enthusiast after something that raises your wrist and looks good while doing it.

5. Gimars Keyboard and Mouse Wrist Rest

Best Keyboard and Mouse Wrist Rest Combo

Getting a two-in-one combo is a great way to improve the ergonomics of both your keyboard and mouse affordably. There are quite a few combos available, but we think this Gimars set is one of the best options available.

We like the Gimars set because it’s a simple, straightforward combination of memory foam and breathable fabric covering. This makes it easy to get used to and comfortable, both of which are essential if you want to improve your ergonomics.

The simple construction also helps keep costs down. At under $15 for a set, there’s really no reason not to try these wrist rests out. If they help, then great. And you’re at least not too out of pocket here if they don’t.

One area where the Gimars combo excels is in its color options. Where most competitors opt for a sober black color, the Gimars keyboard and mouse wrist rests are available in various colors including bright, solid colors such as pink and turquoise and patterned finishes like the stylish black-and-gold marble or a psychedelic kaleidoscope pattern.

Overall, the Gimars keyboard and mouse wrist rest combo does what it needs to do at a great price. If you’re looking for value or want to dip your toes into wrist rests before committing to a higher-end product, these are the wrist rests to go for.

Before You Buy

Keyboard wrist rests are generally affordable to try without issue. But even if they seem like low-risk purchases, we think it’s worth considering a couple of important factors before you pull the trigger.

Are Keyboard Wrist Rests Necessary?

As with mouse wrist rests, you’ll find wildly conflicting opinions on whether you should use a wrist rest. The general advice is you should only use wrist support for resting your hands and wrists when not typing. Resting your wrists too much when typing may aggravate carpal tunnel syndrome issues, not alleviate them.

Instead of relying on a wrist rest, the common advice is to use the classic floating wrist method, which keeps your wrists parallel to the keyboard and minimizes wrist strain. Floating wrist typing is essential if you’re a mechanical keyboard enthusiast, as they tend to be taller and have steeper typing angles than the average low-profile membrane keyboard.

You can probably get away with flat wrists with a low-profile board, but mechanical keyboards can wreck your wrists if you’re not careful.

The issue with floating wrists is that not everyone likes doing it. Many of us (including myself) tend to lapse into old habits and rest our wrists on the desk anyway. For example, I always forget to float my wrists when gaming, so a wrist rest occasionally comes in handy. If you’re like me, then keeping a keyboard wrist rest on hand is useful, if not necessarily essential.

That said, the best thing about keyboard wrist rests is that they’re relatively affordable. So you can buy a more affordable example (like the HyperX Wrist Rest) to see how you get on without committing too much money.

Gel vs. Memory Foam Wrist Rests

When shopping for a keyboard wrist rest, you’ll have to choose between gel and memory foam wrist pads. Both materials do their job perfectly well, but each has certain characteristics that may make one preferable over the other depending on your needs.

Gel is squishy and bouncy, with a generally “cushioned” feel to the support. Gel stays cool even after extended use and doesn’t absorb sweat or fluids, making cleaning easy. Most gel wrist rests use an easy-to-clean fabric covering, although you can find some products that eschew this covering.

The main downside of gel is that it can puncture and leak. If you get a gel product, check it regularly to ensure it’s still intact and in good condition. If it’s leaking, throw it away and get a new one.

Memory foam offers firmer support, but the upside is that the foam molds to the shape of your wrist and palm. It tends to feel more supportive, but some users may not like the subtle “sinking” feeling you get.

The main downside of memory foam is that it will trap heat and warm up with use, which can lead to sweating. It’s also excellent at absorbing that sweat and all the associated smells, requiring you to clean a memory foam wrist rest regularly to keep it in pleasant condition.

Unsure which to go for? We suggest buying one of each type and trying them out for a couple of weeks. That should be enough time to decide which keyboard wrist rest type is best for you.

Closing Thoughts

Even if the jury’s still out on whether they help or hinder the typing experience, we think the best keyboard wrist rests are affordable enough that you can be the judge. Grab a couple and try them out for a while to see if they work for you. Just don’t expect them to be the magic bullet for your carpal tunnel syndrome, and you’ll be fine.

The HyperX Wrist Rest’s gel-and-foam combo makes it our default choice if you want a keyboard wrist rest. It’s a good compromise between the two materials and comes in various sizes to suit different keyboard form factors. However, if you’re after something more aesthetically pleasing, then the Glorious Gaming Wooden Wrist Rest is worth a look for its classy natural wood finish.

All the best!