Colorplan

Compare Paint Colors

Pick up to 5 colors from any brand and see them side by side in a real room.

Color 1
Color 2
Color 3

How to compare paint colors

Start with LRV

Light Reflectance Value runs from 0 (black) to 100 (white) and tells you how bright a color will look on the wall. Two colors a few points apart read as nearly the same depth; ten points apart is an obvious step lighter or darker.

Then check the undertone

Two whites or grays with the same LRV can still look different because one leans yellow, one green, one blue or violet. Undertones show most next to each other, which is why a side-by-side view is more useful than two separate swatches.

Use ΔE to judge how close they are

ΔE (CIEDE2000) is a single number for the visible difference between two colors. Under 1 is hard to see, 1 to 2 is a very close match, 2 to 4 is similar but distinguishable, and above 5 they are clearly different colors.

Look at them in a room

Pick two colors above and drag the slider across the room photo to see each one on the same wall, in the same light. Then test real samples at home: screens and daylight both shift how a color reads.

Popular paint color comparisons

222 head-to-head comparisons, each with LRV, undertone, a room photo slider and which one to choose.

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