PaintDial compares 5,582 paints from nine UK brands and finds the closest matches to any colour — across every brand at once, not just one manufacturer’s range. Here’s exactly how it works, and what its limits are.
Every colour in the library uses the brand’s own published digital swatch — the colour value each manufacturer provides for its paints on the web. We don’t re-photograph or estimate colours ourselves. LRV (light reflectance value) shown on colour pages is estimated from the swatch rather than measured from paint.
Matches are ranked by perceptual colour difference — a measure of how different two colours look to the human eye — computed in the OKLab colour space, which handles hue more faithfully than older formulas (blues stay blue as they lighten, and purples don’t get mistaken for blues). Our ranking also weights hue more heavily than lightness: a paint that’s a touch lighter or darker still reads as the same colour, while one that’s drifted in hue reads as a different colour — so matches keep the colour’s character, and the lighter/darker ladder covers depth.
Trade and specification colours are covered too: type a RAL Classic code (say, “RAL 7016”) or a British Standard BS 4800 code (say, “08 B 15”, Magnolia) — or a colour name — into the tool’s search and PaintDial shows every brand’s nearest paints to it. Our RAL values are derived from the standard’s published CIELAB coordinates; our BS 4800 values are derived from measured colour data (averaged spectrophotometer readings, standardised to D65 / CIE 1964). Both are physical colour standards, so on-screen values are approximate conversions — for binding samples, use an official RAL or British Standard fan deck.
The “match from a photo” tool reads the pixel colour from your image. That pixel is shaped by the room’s lighting, the camera’s processing, and your screen — so treat photo matches as a strong starting point, not a guarantee. The same wall photographed at noon and at dusk will match to different paints.
Screen colours are indicative. Real paint changes with sheen, light, and the surface underneath it — and every screen shows colour slightly differently. Before committing to any colour (or any match), order tester pots of both and look at them in the room they’ll live in, in daylight and lamplight.
The matching itself is exact: it compares each brand’s published colour value with every other, using the same maths for every paint. What it cannot know is how a colour will look on your wall. Anything labelled near-identical or very close is a safe shortlist; the tester pot is what tells you which one to buy.
Screens emit light and paint reflects it, so no screen shows a paint exactly. Sheen, daylight, lamplight and the surface underneath all shift a colour too. That is why every colour page points you to a tester before anything else.
For colour, yes, that is the point of the label. Finish, coverage and how the paint behaves on a wall are a separate question, and a matt from one brand will not look like an eggshell from another. Match the colour here, then choose the finish on the brand’s site.
No. Rankings are computed from colour difference alone. Some buy links earn PaintDial a small commission, but a link earning money has no effect on where a paint appears, and no brand has any say over the results.
They are typical per-litre ranges for a 2.5 litre tin mixed to the colour, checked against retailers in September 2026. They are there so you know the rough scale of the difference between brands, not as a quote. Retailers vary and bigger tins cost less per litre.
PaintDial covers nine UK brands, chosen because they publish digital colour values and have ranges people ask about. Brands are added when there is a reliable published source for their colours, not to make the number bigger.
Yes. No account, no app and no cost. The shortlist is saved in your browser, on your device.
Found something that looks wrong? Tell us — accuracy is the whole point of PaintDial, and corrections are genuinely welcome.