ZSA Moonlander Review: Is This Hyper-Customizable Keyboard the Ergonomic Answer for Creatives?

by Alex Coleman June 24, 2025 0 Comments

As creatives, we spend a lot of time at our computers, where the cumulative strain on our hands, wrists, and shoulders is a real concern. While ergonomic mice and chairs have become more common, the keyboard often remains an afterthought. Enter the ZSA Moonlander, a split, ergonomic keyboard promising a highly customizable and comfortable typing experience. It aims to be a premium solution for discerning users and keyboard aficionados. But is it a worthwhile investment for creative professionals? I've been testing the Moonlander over the last few weeks, and here are my thoughts.

What's in the Box

The Moonlander arrives with a comprehensive set of accessories. Inside the box, you get the two keyboard halves with the “Wing” wrist rests pre-attached, a 3.5 mm TRRS cable to connect the halves, and a USB Type-C cable (with a USB-A adapter) for computer connection. ZSA also includes a key puller, a few extra keycaps, a hex key for adjusting the thumb cluster, and a soft carrying case in case you want to edit on the go.

The keyboard itself is well-constructed. It's a unique-looking piece of hardware, immediately showing its ergonomic intentions with its split design and columnar key layout. It uses high-quality plastics, while the optional tilting platform is all metal.

The core design of the Moonlander revolves around ergonomic decisions. Here’s a quick refresher if you’re not familiar with ergo setups: the split allows you to position each half independently, promoting better shoulder and chest alignment compared to a traditional single-slab keyboard. This alone can make a significant difference during long workdays and is the easiest single change to make when using a keyboard, in my opinion.

The tenting capability, available by default with the included legs or significantly enhanced by the optional Platform—a separate purchase at $112—is a major ergonomic feature. The Platform uses a robust locking slider mechanism, with angle markings in 10-degree increments, allowing you to precisely set and match the tenting angle for both halves, while the included legs still let you get a reasonable cant on the board. Once locked with the hex wrench, the Platform is incredibly stable, even at more extreme angles. The quick-release latching system is also clever; it holds firm while typing but disengages easily when you lift the keyboard, making it simple to pack away.

The Moonlander features a columnar layout, where keys are arranged in vertical columns rather than the staggered layout found on most keyboards. The theory is that this reduces finger travel and improves ergonomics. While I didn't notice a night-and-day difference in “finger feel,” it might help with some specific strain issues—it will require a bit of adjustment if you don’t touch type “properly,” i.e., using non-traditional fingers to hit certain keys.

Each keyboard half has an adjustable thumb cluster, designed to bring frequently used keys like space, enter, or backspace within easy reach of your thumbs, potentially moving some of the workload off your pinkies. These clusters can be independently angled for comfort.

The built-in Wing wrist rests are a nice touch, magnetically attaching underneath the keyboard halves, and they are removable if you prefer a different solution or no rests at all.

In practice, I found the Moonlander comfortable throughout the workday. Coming from a split keyboard already, I noticed the most improvement when switching between my laptop keyboard and the Moonlander, with the laptop keyboard forcing your wrists together in an awkward arrangement. Better arm posture is something you only really notice when you’ve stopped doing it the wrong way, but it really does make a difference.

Customization

The standout feature of the Moonlander is its deep customizability, courtesy of the open-source Quantum Mechanical Keyboard Firmware (QMK) and ZSA’s online configurator tool, Oryx. Every single key can be remapped, and remapping extends far beyond just swapping two keys around. There’s that simple key swapping, but then each key can have up to four functions: one for a tap, another for a hold, a third for a double-tap, and even a tap-and-hold combination. And that’s before you even get into layers.

The layer-based system effectively gives you multiple keyboards in one. You can design entirely different keyboard layouts and switch between them on the fly. Imagine a dedicated layer for Adobe Photoshop, with shortcuts for tools, adjustments, and layer operations mapped to specific keys—perhaps even color-coded with the per-key RGB underglow. Or a layer optimized for video editing, with keys assigned to trimming, playback control, and color grading functions. The left half can even operate standalone, which could be a boon for editors using a pen tablet with their right hand, providing a compact bank of custom shortcuts using your keyboard muscle memory. Even more pragmatically, you can have a layer just for arrow keys, media keys, and the numpad, bringing the power of a full-width keyboard to this far more compact split layout.

ZSA’s online configurator provides a simple and intuitive web UI for mapping keys, creating macros, managing layers, and customizing the RGB lighting. Flashing your new layout to the keyboard is quick, usually taking less than a minute. However, the process does require downloading a small app and manually putting the keyboard into bootloader mode via a reset button or key combination. Compared to some other customizable keyboards I've used—like those that allow flashing directly from the browser or live editing from their app—the Moonlander’s flashing process feels a little more basic, with a couple of extra steps.

While this level of control is undoubtedly powerful, it can also be overwhelming. The intimidation factor is real, especially when first starting out and trying to devise the optimal layout for your workflow. That learning curve with customization extends to actually using the board: be prepared for an adjustment period. ZSA is upfront about this, and even coming from a split ergonomic layout—albeit a non-columnar one—it took a week or two to feel truly proficient. The columnar layout and the unique key arrangement require retraining muscle memory, but it’s definitely doable.

ZSA does provide good resources to aid this transition, including typing trainers built into their software, a heatmap to track key usage (useful for understanding where you might want to add shortcuts), and training modes for specific keys or macros. These can be particularly helpful if you're diving deep into creating custom setups for complex software like Photoshop or video NLEs.

When it comes to the default layout, I found it a bit unintuitive. While it effectively showcases some of QMK’s advanced features—like the “Hyper” key (a single key acting as Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Win/Cmd), which is great for system-wide shortcuts—other choices were less ideal for me. For instance, the default mapping of "Z" to also function as Left Control when held, or the non-traditional placement of backspace, constantly tripped me up until I swapped them back to something more familiar. A default layout that more closely mirrors traditional QWERTY for essential keys like backspace, control, shift, and alt might ease the initial transition for many users, allowing them to get typing comfortably sooner and then gradually explore customization at their preferred pace.

Beyond the software, you can customize the board itself. The Moonlander supports hot-swappable switches, meaning you can easily change them without soldering. It's compatible with both 3-pin and 5-pin switches. My unit came with Kailh Copper switches, which are excellent tactile switches with a very short bump at the start of the keypress. ZSA offers the Moonlander with a range of Cherry MX and Kailh switches, covering tactile, linear, and clicky preferences. Swapping switches after purchase is straightforward using the included puller.

The keycaps are high-quality doubleshot PBT, made in Taiwan. The main lettered keys are all OEM Row 3 profile, which means you can shuffle them around for alternative layouts like Colemak or Dvorak without issue. ZSA includes F and J keycaps without homing bumps for this purpose. However, the thumb cluster uses non-standard 1.5u and 2u keycaps, which makes finding aftermarket caps for these specific keys more challenging. While generally quite comfortable, I found that even with larger hands, the outermost thumb key and the large red keys on each cluster were a bit of a stretch to reach comfortably and consistently—these probably aren’t going to be core keys in your layout, but it’s something to consider for smaller hands.

Price and Value

The ZSA Moonlander is undeniably a premium product with a premium price tag: $365 for the keyboard itself, and an additional $112 if you opt for the excellent Platform tenting accessory.

Visible above is the tenting Platform accessory, with detailed mechanical latches and assemblies—all just to tilt the board.

For creative professionals who spend so much of their workday on the keyboard and are willing to invest time in the customization process, the Moonlander can offer significant value. The potential for a more comfortable work experience and highly tailored workflows for specific applications is compelling. For users who aren't inclined to tinker extensively with layouts and macros, the high cost and steep learning curve might be harder to justify.

The board strikes an interesting balance, offering the deep customization often found in DIY keyboard products but with the polish and support of a consumer product, including a two-year warranty and direct customer service via regular email (a too-rare feature these days, and one ZSA is particularly proud of).

Overall, the ZSA Moonlander is a thoughtfully designed ergonomic keyboard. Its split design, tenting capabilities (especially with the Platform), and columnar layout provide a solid, very ergonomic foundation for a far more comfortable typing experience, while the power of QMK firmware allows for an almost limitless tailoring of the keyboard to individual workflows—even giving dedicated editing keyboards a run for their money, while still functioning as a normal board in other apps.

Ultimately, the ZSA Moonlander is a serious tool for users focused on ergonomics and workflow optimization. The Moonlander is available for purchase direct from ZSA.