The Glorious GMBK is a value-packed keyboard, but struggles to justify membrane switches in 2025 | Review

The Glorious GMBK 75% targets a market that hardware brands seem to forget about. This 75% membrane deck wants to be a bargain favorite, an entry level gaming keyboard with the core features you need to survive the arena. On the surface, it succeeds.

A strong build quality for the price, decent 1,000Hz polling, customizable keycaps, and dedicated volume controls make for a compelling package at $59.99 / £49.99. The enduring stiffness of membrane switches persist here, though, and considering cheaper mechanical decks are sneaking into this price range things aren't exactly smooth sailing compared to the rest of the market. Yes, it's cheaper than the best gaming keyboards on the shelves, but there are better typing experiences available at this price point.

As far as the best membrane gaming keyboards are concerned, though, this is a new contender.

Design

Despite its lower price tag, this is undeniably a Glorious keyboard. You're getting the same blocky wedge-shaped form factor with a strip of RGB lighting down each side and a logo emblazoned in the top right corner.

Unlike the rest of the brand's premium lineup, this is an entirely plastic affair. That's to be expected for a more budget-friendly deck, and the case itself holds up well under pressure. I heard no creaking during either day-to-day operation or when physically pushing on the sides and underside.

It still feels like plastic, with a slightly hollow chassis and lighter form, but it's a solid implementation of a cheaper material designed to keep costs low.

The main deck has enough flex to stay bouncy without feeling mushy, and is decked out with some pretty vibrant RGB lighting. The Glorious GMBK 75% offers ten customizable lighting zones, spread across the main typing area underneath a translucent cover. That's far more than you'll find on the Roccat Magma, which halves your RGB zones.

The fact that this is a membrane keyboard also means you're covered for spills, with IP57 waterproofing and dust resistance.

Keycaps

Glorious has made a big song and dance about the fact that you can swap the keycaps on the GMBK 75%, and I can see why. The caps available straight out the box are super cheap APS toppers, with a slippery surface. They're far from pleasant to type on, but do offer shine through legends and the fact that RGB isn't confined to individual switches means that shine is impressively uniform as well.

The big benefit over other membrane keyboards here, though, is that swappability. Most rubber-dome decks keep their caps fused to their switches, but this deck is compatible with any MX-style toppers.

Switches

If you've come from a mechanical gaming keyboard you're going to hate the feel of these switches. If you're shopping for your first RGB-infused deck and don't want to break the bank, your opinion may be slightly different. I'm in the privileged position of testing a huge number of high-end keyboards month to month, so returning to a membrane option always hurts a little.

These keys are significantly heavier, and stickier, than mechanical switches - though they're far more pleasant to type on than those of the SteelSeries Apex 3 TKL. While membrane switches are always going to feel stiffer than smooth mechanical options they're also much, much cheaper. If, however, you can't stand that extra force, it's worth noting that the SteelSeries Apex 5 manages to sidestep the issue by using lighter mecha-membrane clackers.

The GMBK's clickers also feature a satisfying clack sound, which I love - but certainly disqualifies the brand's "quiet" marketing claims. I also recorded no jittering or double presses, faults that often plague cheaper mechanical decks.

Software

The GMBK 75% is fully customizable using Glorious Core software, a refined set of keybinding, RGB, battery, and polling controls. The actual software is nice and easy to use, with a sturdy, though not exhaustive, collection of keybinding options and a simple macro recorder. The only issue I encountered happened after updating my firmware, though.

I usually keep my gaming keyboards' RGB to a static cyan (strangely labelled "normally on" in Core software) and had everything set up as such before updating. The update removed this setting and no matter how many times I rebooted I was never able to customize the RGB again. This should hopefully be ironed out with further fixes.

There's one downside to the Core software that you might not find in other programs or keyboards that offer lighter web-launcher customization tools. It's hungry. At times, it was using more of my CPU than a 98-tab Chrome window, and it always seems to bury itself deep in my task bar.

Controls

I'm a big fan of the 75% form factor, so I'm glad Glorious chose this mini-yet-functional style for its budget friendly device. You've got full access to a function row, arrow buttons, and navigational keys here, while also maintaining a compact footprint. That means no knocking up against the side of your keyboard with your mouse hand, and a more comfortable shoulder position when typing.

The GMBK also features dedicated volume controls via its programmable rotary dial, a knob that feels sturdy and smooth to operate. Unfortunately, playback is relegated to the function row, so you're losing the full buttons you'll find on the SteelSeries Apex 5.

Connection

As you might have guessed from the low price tag, the Glorious GMBK 75% is a fully wired affair, and that cable is nothing special. This is one of the cheapest cables cords I've come across, a thin rubber wire that keeps all the kinks it gained in packaging.

Typing

It took me a little while get used to typing on the GMBK 75%. I'm used to a linear mechanical or magnetic switch, so the heavier actuation force and stickier feeling of a membrane deck took a little re-learning. Still, there's a surprising energy underneath these keys that actually made longer typing sessions slightly more pleasant than I was expecting after first laying hands on it.

Fatigue does set in fairly quickly, you'll need sturdy fingers to marathon this device. However, it's far from the lethargic feel of the SteelSeries Apex 3 TKL.

I made more mistakes in the early days, due to the lower sensitivity of the switches I was assuming a keypress had been registered far too often. What happened in the typing tests surprised me.

Despite the heavier feel, I was actually well above my usual average typing speeds here. The average of all my tests was a neat 100 WPM, where my usual average sits at 95. That said, my accuracy was well below average, working out at 93% across all tests. I'm normally sitting at around 96%.

Gaming

The heavier switch feel means the GMBK 75 won't be the one for those needing instant responses to twitch-reflex inputs. I couldn't quite keep up with my usual pace in faster games like Apex Legends, and I was missing quite a few inputs while expecting a lighter actuation force.

The deck did, however, hold its own in single player events. Fatigue is less of an issue here, which means that deeper keypress works slightly more in a gamer's favor. While a few inputs were dropped due to my lighter touch, I was far cleaner in avoiding accidental presses.

Should you buy the Glorious GMBK 75%?

If you've got $60 to spend on a new gaming keyboard you've got a few options open to you. You can opt for a budget mechanical deck from a lesser known brand (likely Redragon or RK Royal Kludge) or go for a more feature-rich membrane deck. The path you take will be dictated by your priorities; typing feel vs gaming features.

You're less likely to find easy programming controls, RGB lighting and higher 1,000Hz polling rates in the kinds of $59.99 mechanical keyboards you'll find on Amazon or AliExpress. But they will feel a lot smoother than stiffer membrane keys.

If you're going for gaming features, the Glorious GMBK 75% could be worth a look. It's not for those who will be typing for longer periods of time, nor those looking for twitch-reflex gameplay, but as a first, budget-friendly gaming keyboard with everything you need to get started (and the opportunity to customize further with new keycaps), it's well worth your attention.

It's certainly a better buy than the SteelSeries Apex 3 TKL. That said, I'd always recommend checking out cheaper mechanical options before a membrane deck.

How I tested the Glorious GMBK 75%

I used the Glorious GMBK 75% for one work week and two gaming weekends, running the device for a particularly typing-intensive few days and using it for all my daily gameplay. I primarily tested across Doom: The Dark Ages and Spiritfarer, while also testing more intently on Apex Legends. I also completed three typing tests on TypingTest.com, using two minute runs on easy text. For more information on how we test gaming keyboards, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also rounding up all the best wireless gaming keyboards and the best hot-swappable keyboards on the market. Or, check out the best gaming mouse models for more setup inspiration.