Disclaimer: Not affiliated with Sherwin-Williams or Benjamin Moore. Color names and codes are trademarks of their respective owners. All values are visual approximations — verify with physical paint chips before ordering.

Pantone to Paint Colors

Enter a Pantone color or HEX code to find the closest Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore paint matches side-by-side. Both brands are matched using Delta E 2000 against curated 40-color reference sets, so you can quickly see which paint library has the closest analog to any Pantone color. Results are for design exploration — always verify with physical paint chips before ordering.

HEX code

Or pick a Pantone color

What is Pantone to paint color conversion?

Converting a Pantone color to a paint color is not an official mapping — it is a visual approximation. Pantone is a print and graphic-design ink standard. Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore are architectural paint brands. The three systems use different pigments on different substrates, with different levels of reflectivity, and no official cross-reference has ever been published between them.

What designers actually need, though, is a good starting point. When a brand identity is based on a Pantone color and needs to be extended to a painted interior — a storefront, an office, a branded wall — there is no official "Pantone to paint" answer. This page solves that by computing the perceptually closest paint color from each brand's well-known palette, so you can shortlist two or three candidates and then verify them with physical chips.

Why both brands?

Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore have partially-overlapping but distinct palettes. Some Pantone colors (deep navies, warm whites) have excellent analogs in both. Others (vivid oranges, saturated purples) may have a close match in one and only a distant approximation in the other. Seeing both side-by-side lets you judge which paint library has the better fit for the specific color you need to reproduce.

There is also a practical case for using both: a job may be split between two vendors, or a designer may be more comfortable with one brand's ordering process. Having both matches available in one view saves a round-trip through a second tool.

How the matching works

The Pantone HEX is converted to CIELAB (perceptual color space).
Delta E 2000 is computed between the input and each of the 40 Sherwin-Williams colors, plus each of the 40 Benjamin Moore colors.
Both sets are sorted by lowest Delta E and the top 5 of each is displayed.
Delta E values under ~2 are typically visually indistinguishable; over ~5 are clearly different; over ~10 are only "related" not "matching".

Accuracy and limitations

Limited reference sets. Our Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore libraries each contain 40 widely-used colors — not the full ~2,000-color libraries. If your Pantone falls outside the reference sets, the "closest" match may be visually distant.
Medium difference. Ink and paint are physically different media with different pigment behaviors and different reflectivity. Even a Delta E 0 match on screen will not reproduce identically under real lighting.
Sheen matters. Both paint brands offer the same color in multiple sheens (matte, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss). The perceived color shifts under directional light and changes the match.
Screen accuracy. Monitor calibration and ambient light affect what you see. Verify on multiple devices and against physical chips.

Use cases

Brand identity + architectural space. Extending a print-focused brand into a storefront, office, or branded installation.
Editorial photography set design. Painting a set to match a brand Pantone used in the printed final product.
Packaging mockups. Rendering a physical mockup of print packaging against a wall or backdrop that matches the packaging's Pantone color.
Exhibition and event design. Matching exhibition graphics (Pantone) to painted walls and physical props.
Interior design specification. When a client references a brand color, quickly presenting both SW and BM options.

Common mistakes

Treating a Delta E < 3 as "exact match" — it means "close enough that most viewers won't notice side-by-side", which is not the same as identical.
Forgetting to check the physical chip under the actual lighting conditions where the paint will be seen.
Using only one brand — the other may have a significantly closer match for your specific Pantone color.
Ordering paint in the wrong sheen — the same code looks different in eggshell vs semi-gloss under directional light.
Assuming the closest match is "the" equivalent — there is no official Pantone-to-paint equivalence, only visual approximation.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find a paint color that matches a Pantone color?

Use this tool: enter a Pantone HEX code (or pick a Pantone color from the dropdown) and the tool returns the closest Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore matches side-by-side, using Delta E 2000 perceptual color difference. Both results are approximations — you should always verify by ordering a physical paint chip or painting a small test patch before committing to a full paint job.

Which paint brand matches Pantone better — Sherwin-Williams or Benjamin Moore?

Neither brand has an official mapping to Pantone, and neither is systematically closer. The best match depends entirely on the specific Pantone color: some Pantones are closer to a Sherwin-Williams color, others are closer to a Benjamin Moore color, and some are not particularly close to any paint in either 40-color reference set. Using both libraries gives you a better shot at finding something usable.

Why are the matches only approximations?

Three reasons: (1) Paint and ink are physically different — paint reflects light through pigment, ink absorbs light through paper, and the two produce different visual results under the same lighting. (2) Our paint reference sets are limited to 40 widely-used colors per brand, not the full ~2,000-color libraries. (3) Screen color is affected by monitor calibration and ambient light, so the match you see on screen may look different on paper or on a wall.

Can I use these matches for a commercial brand identity?

Only as a starting point. Brand identities that span both print and painted surfaces need cross-media color review with physical samples: get a Pantone chip, get paint chips from both Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore, and compare them under neutral lighting. No screen-based tool — including this one — should be the final word on a brand color specification.