Here is why the Keychron K15 Max is our pick to succeed the K11 Max.
There is a problem at the affordable end of the split-keyboard market, and its name is stock.
For three years, the board we recommended above all others was the Keychron K11 Max, a 65% Alice-layout keyboard we carried, tested, and wrote about at length. On typing feel and build it is the best portable split keyboard we have used. The trouble is that you can no longer buy one. As of August 2026, Keychron's own product page shows the K11 Max as "sold out", offers only a "notify me" button, and gives no way to place an order. It has disappeared from AliExpress and Amazon as well. Keychron has announced nothing, but a keyboard that cannot be bought anywhere, from the maker or any reseller, is discontinued in all but name.
So what should you buy instead? Our answer is the Keychron K15 Max.
It is the K11, with more keys
The K15 Max is not a different keyboard that happens to look similar. It is the same platform. It uses the same low-profile Gateron mechanical switches, the same LSA keycaps, the same QMK firmware and Keychron Launcher software, and the same aluminium body. We spent three years learning how that platform types, how it holds up, and how its software behaves, and the K15 inherits all of it.
The difference is layout. The K11 is a 65% Alice board and the K15 is a 75% Alice board. In plain terms, the K15 adds a top function-and-number row and a navigation column. If you have ever wished the K11 had dedicated function keys without a layer, the K15 is that wish granted. Everything that made the K11 good to type on should carry over unchanged, because mechanically it is the K11.
The one thing shared engineering does not tell us: size
More keys mean a bigger board. The K15's 75% layout has a wider footprint than the K11's 65%. It is still a keyboard you can carry in a backpack, but it is a larger one, and if outright portability is your priority, the smaller K11 had the edge.
That said, if you are shopping now, at this budget, for a low-profile Alice board you can actually order, the K15 Max is the standout, and it is built on a platform we have trusted for years.
What it costs, and where to get it
The K15 Max starts at US$100 for the white-backlight version, direct from Keychron, rising to roughly US$130 to $150 for the hot-swappable RGB version. Crucially, and unlike the K11, it is orderable. Keychron's page shows an active "Add to Cart" on backorder, so you can place an order today rather than wait on a restock that may never come.
The bottom line
The K11 Max is gone. If you already own one, hold on to it, because it remains an excellent keyboard. For everyone buying today, the K15 Max is the same keyboard in a slightly larger 75% layout, it is actually in stock, and it sits comfortably under the price of anything genuinely better.
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