Short answer: of the 51,362 paint colors in Muro, 76.7% have a color from a different brand that is practically identical on paper, even when we leave out colors that share the exact same published value. Almost all of them, 97.9%, have one that's very close.
In each column of the picture above, the top swatch and the bottom swatch come from two different paint brands. That's the whole story in one image, and the numbers below are how we got there.
Why we looked
Muro holds color catalogs from 34 paint manufacturers plus RAL Classic. One of the things the app does is find, for any color, the closest match from each brand. After a while we got curious about the bigger picture: if you take every color and look for its nearest neighbor in every other brand, how often is there one you couldn't tell apart?
How we measured it
- The colors: all 51,362 colors in the app's database, each with the value its manufacturer publishes, converted to the CIELAB color space.
- The difference: CIEDE2000 (ΔE 2000), the formula the paint and print industries use to say how different two colors look. Roughly: below 1 most people can't see a difference, and below 2 you'd only notice it with the two chips side by side.
- The rule: for each color we found its closest color from any other brand name. For the headline number we also threw out matches with the exact same hex value, because some brands share a palette and publish identical values. We wanted twins, not the same color filed twice.
One honest caveat before the numbers. These are the digital values manufacturers publish. Real paint depends on the base, the sheen and how the store tints it, so two colors that match on paper can still differ a little on the wall. Always put a real sample up before you buy.
What we found
| Closest color from another brand | Share of all 51,362 colors |
|---|---|
| ΔE below 0.5 | 29.5% |
| ΔE below 1 (practically identical) | 76.7% |
| ΔE below 2 (very close) | 97.9% |
If you count shared palettes too, the numbers go up: 80% of colors have a match below 1, and 3,627 hex values appear under at least two brand names.
Famous colors and their twins
| Color | Closest twin from another brand | ΔE 2000 |
|---|---|---|
| Farrow & Ball Hague Blue | Śnieżka S 7020-B10G | 0.49 |
| Farrow & Ball Elephant's Breath | PPG Whippet 1020-3 | 0.51 |
| Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace | Behr Snow Fall W-F-600 | 0.41 |
| Sherwin-Williams Agreeable Gray | PPG Whiskers 1025-3 | 0.55 |
| Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter | Caparol Histolith Umbra grünlich 50 | 0.51 |
All of these are below 1, so on paper they're the same color to most eyes. The Revere Pewter twin is a good example of why this matters: if you live in Germany and fell for a Benjamin Moore color on Pinterest, there's a Caparol color that matches it closely.
Which brands overlap the most
Among twins with different hex values, these brand pairs came up most often:
| Brand pair | Colors with a near-identical twin |
|---|---|
| Behr and Benjamin Moore | 619 |
| Benjamin Moore and Vista Paint | 571 |
| Dulux and Tikkurila | 555 |
| Benjamin Moore and Titanlux | 546 |
| Dulux and Titanlux | 524 |
Big catalogs overlap more simply because they have more colors, so read this as "where you're most likely to find a substitute", not as a ranking of anything.
Who has the most whites
We counted a color as white when it's very light (L* of 90 or more) and nearly neutral (chroma of 8 or less). In total that's 3,453 whites across all brands.
| Brand | Colors | Whites | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dulux | 5,056 | 389 | 7.7% |
| Sikkens | 3,064 | 344 | 11.2% |
| Zolpan | 2,965 | 303 | 10.2% |
| Behr | 4,656 | 263 | 5.6% |
| Tikkurila | 3,319 | 239 | 7.2% |
| Benjamin Moore | 4,118 | 216 | 5.2% |
| Sherwin-Williams | 1,519 | 36 | 2.4% |
| Brillux | 1,514 | 35 | 2.3% |
Smaller catalogs can look extreme in percentages: Procolor's 359 colors are 32% white and Magnat's 170 are 27.6%, but that says more about which part of the range each brand publishes than about how many whites you can buy.
What this means when you're choosing paint
- The color you love probably exists in a brand you can buy locally. If a Farrow & Ball or Benjamin Moore color isn't sold near you, there's a good chance another brand has one within ΔE 1.
- Don't pick a brand for one color. Pick the paint for its quality, finish and price, then find the closest match in that line.
- Check the twin on your wall, not just on paper. Muro shows the closest color from each brand, and you can put the original and its twin on a photo of your own room and look at them side by side in your light. After that, a real sample pot settles it.
FAQ
What is ΔE 2000?
A number that says how different two colors look to the human eye, used across the paint and print industries. Below 1 most people can't see a difference; below 2 you'd notice it only with the chips next to each other.
Are twin colors really the same paint?
Not necessarily. They match on the manufacturers' published values, but base, sheen and tinting affect the real result. Treat a twin as a strong candidate and confirm it with a sample.
Which paint brands did you compare?
All 34 manufacturers in Muro plus RAL Classic, including Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin Moore, Behr, Farrow & Ball, Dulux, Caparol, Brillux, Sto, Tikkurila, Jotun, Flügger and Polish brands such as Śnieżka, Dekoral and Magnat.
Can I use these numbers?
Yes. Please link to this page as the source.