Teclo vs KeyThock
Updated
KeyThock and Teclo both let you shape the sound instead of only picking it. KeyThock starts from recordings and gives you a mixer, per-key samples and per-app rules. Teclo starts from synthesized packs and lets you move five sliders, record your own, and share the result.
1-day free trial · $4.99 once · up to 3 Macs · macOS 13+
Secure checkout, payments byStripe· 14-day refund, no questions asked
Pick a pack, then press any key or tap the keys below. These are the same samples the app plays.
Side by side
| Teclo | KeyThock | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 once | USD 2.99 once1 |
| Free trial | 1 day, no account | Not listed |
| Macs per licence | Up to 3 | Not listed |
| macOS | 13 or later | 13.0 or later1 |
| Where to get it | Direct, at teclo.app, through Polar | Mac App Store1 |
| Sounds | 16 packs in 5 categories, synthesized | 20+ recorded packs, named by character: creamy, clacky, thocky, marbly and more2 |
| Press, release and variation | Separate press and release; 5 variants for ordinary keys plus Space, Return and Delete; small random pitch and level changes | Separate levels for press, release, Space and modifiers; any sample on any key1 |
| Stereo by key position | Yes | Not listed |
| Mouse and trackpad | A click pair for every pack; trackpad swipe and pinch sounds | Not listed |
| Scroll sounds | Yes, optional | Not listed |
| Your own sounds | Yes: shape a pack with sliders, record one from the microphone or drop in WAV files; share it as a .teclo file | Imports .thockpack, .zip or a folder1 |
| Muting | Pause from the menu bar; no per-app or automatic mute | Per-app sound recipes, including muted call apps; a hotkey1 |
| Typing pet | Yes, a keycap pet with moods and power-ups | Not listed |
| Worth knowing | Rain, marimba, typewriter, arcade and sci-fi packs next to nine keyboards | A mixer for pitch, brightness, bass and room; a Pomodoro timer and typing games1 |
- KeyThock on the Mac App Store (US), read October 2026
- KeyThock's site, read October 2026
Teclo's column is ours. Other apps change their prices and features; check their pages before you buy.
The short answer
- Pick KeyThock for recorded packs, a detailed mixer, any sample on any key, per-app sound and mute rules, or its Pomodoro timer and typing games, at a lower price.
- Pick Teclo to try the full app first, for packs that are not keyboards, trackpad and scroll sounds, packs recorded from your microphone and shared as one file, or the keycap pet.
A mixer against five sliders
KeyThock’s listing offers “mixer presets, pitch, brightness, bass, room amount, and repeat behavior”, separate levels for key categories, and “a full keyboard layout” for giving individual keys their own samples. Its site adds press, release, spacebar, modifiers, variation and echo to the mixer.
Teclo’s Create page takes a different route. You start from one of its packs and move five sliders, Clacky to Soft, Deep to Bright, Short to Long, Low to High, and Quiet to Loud click, or press Surprise me. Teclo synthesizes a new pack from those settings rather than filtering the old one, and Save adds it to your list. You cannot assign a sample to a single letter in Teclo; Space, Return and Delete have their own sounds and the other keys share 5 variants.
Creamy, marbly, poppy
KeyThock names its tones by character: creamy, clacky, thocky, bubble, marbly, poppy and clicky. Teclo publishes its packs’ measurements so you can compare them by number as well as by ear. Butter, a lubed linear with a soft, rounded clack at 2,479 Hz, is the nearest to creamy. Ivory is the marbly one, a clean clack under thick caps at 2,909 Hz. Pebble is the tactile one, round and full at 2,370 Hz. Play all three above, and read the thock, clack and creamy guide for what the words mean.
Both import packs: KeyThock takes .thockpack files, ZIP archives or folders, and Teclo takes folders of WAV files and its own .teclo files; the custom sounds guide shows Teclo’s format.
Questions
How much does KeyThock cost?
The US Mac App Store listed it at USD 2.99 on 25 October 2026, while KeyThock's own site listed US$3.99, checked by its maker on 21 October. Teclo costs $4.99 once after a 1-day trial.
Can KeyThock mute itself in calls?
Its listing describes per-app sound recipes, for example "muted call apps". Teclo has no per-app rules; you pause it from its menu bar icon.
Which runs on macOS 13?
Both. KeyThock and Teclo each require macOS 13 or later.
Sources
Other facts on this page come from these pages, read on or before the date above.