How to Find the Closest Paint Color to Any Hex Code (Hex to Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams & More)

To convert a hex code to a real paint color, use a reverse lookup tool that compares your hex value against a database of named paint colors and returns the closest matches. Glintera's free paint color tool does this across Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams, and Farrow & Ball: paste a hex code, get the nearest named colors with their codes, instantly. Here's when you need this, how it works, and what to watch for when you take a screen color to a paint store.

You have a hex code. Maybe you pulled it from a client's inspiration photo, a brand palette, a Canva board, or a rendering you've already sold them on. What you need now is the actual paint: a name and a number you can put on a spec sheet and order at the store. That's a reverse lookup, and it's a different problem from finding the hex for a color you already know.

When you need hex-to-paint conversion

This comes up more often than most designers expect:

• A client's inspiration photo. They love the wall color in a saved image. You eyedrop it and get #8A9389. Now what?

• Brand colors. A client wants their home office to nod to their company palette, or you're designing a commercial space against brand guidelines that only exist as hex values.

• A mood board that's already approved. You built the palette digitally first, the client signed off, and now you need to translate every swatch into something a painter can buy.

• An existing digital design. The rendering looks perfect. The wall in it is an RGB value, not a paint color.

In each case, working backwards by flipping through fan decks is slow and unreliable. Your eye adapts to ambient light, the deck is printed pigment, and your screen is glowing RGB. A computed match beats a squint test.

How to convert a hex code to a paint color

1. Get a clean hex value. If you're sampling from a photo, sample several spots on the same surface and average your reads. Shadows and highlights on a wall can shift the sampled color dramatically, so aim for an evenly lit area.

2. Paste it into a reverse lookup tool. Glintera's free paint color tool takes any hex code and returns the closest named colors across Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams, and Farrow & Ball, with their official color codes.

3. Compare the top matches, not just the first one. The mathematically closest color isn't always the right specification. Two colors can be nearly identical on screen and behave differently on a wall because of undertones and light reflectance. Pull the top two or three candidates.

4. Order physical samples of the finalists. The lookup gets you from "infinite possibilities" to "two or three candidates" in seconds. The sample board makes the final call, in the room, in its actual light.

Why the match is "closest," not "exact"

There are tens of thousands of hex values and only a few thousand colors in any brand's line, so most hex codes don't have a perfect paint twin. A good tool measures the distance between your target and every color in the database and ranks the nearest neighbors. For most interior work the closest match is well within the range that lighting conditions would shift the color anyway.

The honest caveat: highly saturated screen colors often can't be reproduced in paint at all. A meaningful share of the most vivid colors a screen can display sit outside what pigment can physically do. If your hex code is a neon or an ultra-saturated brand color, expect the nearest paint to read noticeably more muted, and set that expectation with the client before they see swatches.

Matching a color across paint brands

The same reverse lookup solves a related problem: the client loves a Farrow & Ball color but the project budget says Sherwin-Williams, or your painter has a strong brand preference. Look up the original color's hex, then find its nearest neighbors in the other brand's line. You'll get a faithful crosswalk instead of a guess, and you can show the client both values side by side before anything gets ordered.

From palette to specification, without the tabs

The deeper point is workflow. Color decisions move between two worlds constantly: the digital one where you present and the physical one where the work gets built. Every translation between them is a place where errors creep in. A reliable hex-to-paint lookup closes one of those gaps in seconds, which keeps the palette the client approved and the palette the painter rolls on the same palette.

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FAQ

How do I find the closest Sherwin-Williams color to a hex code?

Paste the hex code into a reverse paint lookup tool like Glintera's free paint color tool. It compares your value against the Sherwin-Williams catalog and returns the nearest named colors with their SW numbers. Order physical samples of the top matches before specifying, since undertones can differ between near-identical screen colors.

Can I convert an RGB value to a paint color?

Yes. RGB and hex are the same information in different notation, so any tool that accepts hex handles RGB too. Convert RGB to hex (most tools do this automatically) and run the same reverse lookup to get the closest Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams, or Farrow & Ball colors.

Will the paint look exactly like the hex code on my screen?

No, and no tool can promise that. Screens emit light while paint reflects it, and room lighting changes how paint reads through the day. A reverse lookup reliably gets you to the two or three closest candidates. Physical samples in the actual room make the final decision.

How do I match a paint color from a photo?

Eyedrop the photo in any design tool to get a hex value, sampling an evenly lit part of the surface rather than a shadow or highlight. Then run that hex through a reverse paint lookup to find the closest named colors. Because photos shift color with camera and lighting, treat the result as a strong starting point and confirm with samples.

Can I match a color between paint brands?

Yes. Look up the hex value of the original color, then find its nearest neighbors in the other brand's catalog. This gives you a measured crosswalk between, say, a Farrow & Ball color and its closest Sherwin-Williams equivalent, which is far more reliable than comparing fan decks by eye.