Colemak Typing Test — Is Colemak Faster Than QWERTY?

Colemak is the most popular alternative keyboard layout after Dvorak — and it has a compelling pitch: move only 17 keys from QWERTY, keep all your keyboard shortcuts, and put 74% of English keystrokes on the home row (compared to QWERTY's 32%). Is it worth switching? Here is an honest look at the numbers, the learning curve, and who should actually make the change.

What Is Colemak?

Colemak was designed by Shai Coleman and released in January 2006 as a modern alternative to both QWERTY and Dvorak. The design goal was to create a layout that is dramatically more efficient than QWERTY while being far easier to learn than Dvorak.

The key insight behind Colemak's design is that most of QWERTY's inefficiency comes from a small number of badly placed letters. By moving just 17 keys to their optimal positions — and leaving the other 10 keys exactly where QWERTY puts them — Colemak captures most of Dvorak's efficiency gains with a fraction of the learning cost.

The Colemak home row places these letters under your fingers at rest: A R S T D (left hand) and H N E I O (right hand). In typical English text, approximately 74% of all keystrokes come from these 10 letters — meaning your fingers rarely need to leave the home row when typing prose.

Colemak vs QWERTY vs Dvorak — Full Comparison

The Learning Curve

Because Colemak only moves 17 keys, experienced QWERTY typists retain useful muscle memory for the 10 unchanged keys and all punctuation. The most disorienting changes are the high- frequency letters — E, I, O, N, T, S, R — which move to the home row. Expect the following:

• Weeks 1–3: WPM drops significantly (often 15–25 WPM). You will confuse new and old positions for the moved letters frequently. This phase requires patience.
• Weeks 4–8: Speed recovers. QWERTY interference lessens as Colemak positions become dominant in muscle memory. Many people reach their old QWERTY speed by the end of this phase.
• Months 3–6: Speed surpasses previous QWERTY level. Home row efficiency becomes noticeably faster for common English words. Finger fatigue in long sessions typically decreases.
• Months 6–12: Full Colemak proficiency. Most switchers report 5–10% higher WPM than their QWERTY peak, with lower fatigue on long typing sessions.

Who Should Switch to Colemak?

Colemak is worth considering if you match one or more of these profiles:

• You have wrist or finger discomfort from QWERTY. The reduced finger travel on Colemak genuinely reduces repetitive stress for many users. If typing 6+ hours per day is causing strain, Colemak is worth the relearning cost.
• You write in English for most of your typing. Colemak is optimised for English letter frequency. Programmers who type many symbols may see less benefit.
• You are below 60 WPM on QWERTY. At lower speeds, the relearning process also functions as deliberate touch typing practice, which will improve your speed regardless of layout.
• You rely heavily on keyboard shortcuts. Because Colemak preserves Z, X, C, V, Q, W positions, it is significantly friendlier for developers and power users than Dvorak.

Do not switch if you are above 80 WPM on QWERTY with no physical discomfort — the gains are marginal and the switching cost in productivity is real.

FastTypings Works With Colemak

FastTypings captures keystroke input from the operating system, not from hardware key positions. This means it works natively with any layout — QWERTY, Colemak, Dvorak, AZERTY, or any other. Enable Colemak in your OS settings, navigate to FastTypings, and your WPM and accuracy will be measured correctly against the displayed English text.

To benchmark your layout switch progress: take a FastTypings test on QWERTY and record your baseline. Enable Colemak, test monthly. Most switchers see their Colemak speed pass their QWERTY baseline by month 2–3, and exceed it by 5–10% by month 6.

Frequently Asked Questions