The Adobe Color Wheel And Other Top Color Palette Generators [2023]
12+ Amazing Color Palette Generator Tools
Do you need color inspiration for your next project?
There’s a type of tool you MUST know: A color palette generator.
It will be super fast for you to create a beautiful and unique color palette, exactly to your style.
In this article, we’ll explore the top color palette generator tools of 2023 so that you can find beautiful color schemes for your project.
Read on as we take a look at 12 amazing color palette generators!
Content
Free Color Palette Generators
1 | Coolors
2 | Adobe Color (Adobe CC)
3 | Canva colors
4 | Color Mind
5 | Paletton
6 | ColorSpace
7 | Color palette and schemes generator by SEO checker
8 | Munzli Colors
9 | Color Hexa
10 | Color Hunt
11 | Venngage
12 | Khorma
More tools
Brandfolder
Colorkuler
Color Lisa
Designspiration
FAQ
Free Color Palette Generators
1 | Coolors
Super fun color palette generator
- Coolors is a random color palette generator – it proposes color palettes with just a tap of the space bar. On top, you can also create a color palette from a photo.
- You have a color palette in front of you to start with. You tab the space bar and with each tab, a completely new color palette is generated. When you like a color, you simply lock it and go on with the remaining colors, until your palette is complete
- Coolors is very easy and extremely fun to use
- There are many additional functions that make the tool easy to use: You can drag colors to arrange your palette, change the shade of a color, and tweak a color (this function is a little hidden – you click on the HEX code of a color), check if black or white text work on the color, adjust color palette as a whole, and copy the HEX code directly to the clipboard
Supported color formats: HEX (main), RGB, HSB, HSL, CMYK, LAB
Random color palette generation: YES
Custom color palette generation: YES
Color palette from photos: YES
Coolors is an extremely detailed tool with all functions you need to do creative work and tweak your color palettes right inside the tool; whether it’s for digital or print. It’s impressive how the tool is so super easy to use – in fact, it’s the easiest and most fun tool to use – and among the top-ranking ones when it comes to customizability.
Coolors is also the only tool that gives variety to the generated color palettes. While most other tools strictly stick to the color-theory-approved palette styles (complementary, analogous, triad, etc.), Coolors also creates beautiful and diverse palettes, more like an interior designer or graphic designer would create.
In summary: My absolute favourite tool to create color palettes!
2 | Adobe Color (Adobe CC)
Best color picker from photos!
- Adobe’s color wheel is one of THE online color tools
- The color wheel is a simple tool that helps you create a color palette with 5 colors. Inside the color circle, you drag the base color picker and the other colors will adjust accordingly
- There is a big variety of styles covered (Analogous, Monochromatic, Triad, Complementary, Split Complementary, Double Split Complementary, Square, Compound, Shades, Custom)
- Adobe Color also has the best tool to extract colors from photos: You upload a photo and the tool creates a palette from that by default. You can go in and drag around the pickers to your liking.
- Happy with a palette, you can directly save your color palette to your Adobe library (if you’re working with the Adobe creative suite)
Supported color formats: HEX, RGB, HSB, LAB
Random color palette generation: NO
Custom color palette generation: YES
Color palette from photos: YES
My opinion on Adobe Color
Adobe color is my favorite tool to extract colors from images!
You can completely freely choose the perfect color by dragging the color pickers around until you’ve found the perfect tone which is just awesome.
Doing that, I find it very helpful that the color picker circles stay on the image so that you exactly see where in the image the colors come from.
3 | Canva colors
Generate your custom color palette and get customized graphics
- First of all, this is not only 1 tool but 4 different color tools in one! Canva has color palette ideas, a color wheel, a color palette generator from photos, and a color meanings and symbolism finder
- The tools can both create a color palette from a photo (color palette generator) and give you a photo that matches a chosen color palette (color palette ideas). And of course create a color palette based on an input color
- Canva does a great job explaining color theory. Next to the color tool, there’s a whole article that explains basic color theory with visual examples – very easy to understand.
- The color meanings tool gives you lots of information about your selected color, both from a symbolic perspective and from the color definition in different formats (HEX, RGB, CMYK, …)
- An additional cool function of the Canva color tools: You can directly use your color scheme to create a graphic in Canva. There is a button to “Create a graphic” which brings you right to Canva’s template page with templates filtered for and adjusted to your selected color palette
Supported color formats: HEX (+ additional formats in the color meanings tool)
Random color palette generation: YES
Custom color palette generation: YES
Color palette from photos: YES
My opinion on the Canva color tools
The Canva color wheel and other color tools are perfect if you want to create nice color palettes fast and easily. The function to export palettes and to directly select customized Canva templates is another really, really practical feature.
As a control-obsessed designer, I wish I could tweak and customize a hint more – for example, the palette generated from a photo won’t let you adjust the auto-selected colors and also doesn’t show where in the photo the color is from.
4 | Color Mind
An AI-powered random color palette generator
- Color Mind uses deep learning (the technology behind AI) to create color palettes
- You start by clicking the generate button until you like one of the colors. Similar to Coolors, you lock the color you like and generate further options to repeat the process until you have your 5 colors selected.
- There is an option to fine-adjust the generated colors which is very useful
- The placing of the colors in the color generation tool matters a lot!
When you have 2 locked colors next to each other, the tool will generate colors that match the last locked color.
When you place the locked fields at opposite ends though, Color Mind will generate values that bridge from one to the other color (gradient). - The main tool is a random color palette generator but there is also a color scheme generator that translates photos into color palettes
Supported color formats: HEX
Random color palette generation: YES
Custom color palette generation: YES
Color palette from photos: YES
My opinion on Color Mind
The tool is very cool to use and it’s fun to see variations of a color palette.
Compared to other tools, it takes a bit more practice to get what you want though. In the color palette generator tool, the location of the locked color makes a huge difference! While you can’t select if you want a monochrome or contrary color palette, you can steer the outcome by the location of the locked color fields.
If you regularly create color palettes or have a big color selection project ahead of you, the learning curve will be worth it, in my opinion. The tool might be even more intuitive than other tools once you figure out where to place your locked colors.
5 | Paletton
The tool for designers
- The Paletton color wheel shows a very detailed color palette. Like most other tools, it gives you the option for different styles (monochromatic, adjacent colors, triad, tetrad, freestyle)
- Additional to the 4 main colors, the tool gives you 4 variations of each (lighter and darker) and you can switch between them
- Once a palette is created, you can switch to the “presets” tab and select an alternative version of the palette (pastel, dark, shiny, …)
- Clicking into a color square or exporting the palette, you get different color formats
- There are tons of format options when you export your color palette! (png, photoshop, HTML, CSS, and many more)
Supported color formats: HEX, RGB, LAB, …
Random color palette generation: YES
Custom color palette generation: YES
Color palette from photos: NO
My opinion on Paletton
This color tool is extremely detailed!
It looks a lot more technical than the above-mentioned tools and will be way too much information for anyone not caring about fine adjustments. But if you’re anything like me and would like maximum control, it’s a great tool to work with!
Annoying is the large ads on the bottom of the page though. They appear on top of everything else on the page and you keep clicking them away.
6 | ColorSpace
Create many palettes from 1 base color
- Color Space is doing one thing very well: Creating many different color palettes based on one input color
- You enter a base color and the tool generates 25 different color palette styles that contain this color (with 3 to 6 colors, depending on the type of palette), from matching and harmonious color palettes to contrary color palettes
- You can tweak the color you enter but you can’t change the other colors that the tool generates in the color palette
- There is a second tool that creates a gradient from 2 or 3 colors and provides the CSS code
- The tool currently is in beta version. It will be interesting to see how it evolves in the future!
Random color palette generation: YES
Custom color palette generation: NO
Supported color formats: HEX
Color palette from photos: NO
My opinion on Color Space
Color Space is a very good tool for anyone who quickly wants to generate a color palette.
For designers, it doesn’t offer the needed freedom and precision that other tools do. But it’s certainly a good source of inspiration; the number of color palettes that you create with one click is impressive.
7 | Color palette and schemes generator by SEO checker
The tool if you’re looking for information and variations on your main color
- The Color Palette and Schemes Generator gives you different color palette styles that fit your input color (triadic, tetrad, monochromatic, analogous, complementary, split complementary)
- On top, it gives you lots of information and variations to your base color (lighter, brighter, darker, greyer, more saturated, …)
- Below the generated palettes, the tool summarizes the basics of color theory, with great visuals of the different color palette styles, shown on color wheels
Supported color formats: HEX (+ HEX 8 RGB, HSL, HSV)
Random color palette generation: YES
Custom color palette generation: NO
Color palette from photos: NO
My Opinion on the Color palette and schemes generator by SEO checker
Like Color Space, this tool creates you a few quick color palettes based on your main color. The generated palettes are pretty basic though; other tools will do a better job of creating a detailed palette. But what might be interesting is the translation into different color formats and the variations of the base color that is generated on top of your results page.
All in all, a great tool to look up your brand color and a few ideas on how to combine it (but not more than that…).
8 | Munzli Colors
The color tool to create palettes based on your main brand color
- Like the 2 tools right above, Munzli Colors gives you color palette options, based on one input color: You enter one color into the tool and get 6 different palette styles to choose from (analogic, mono, triad, complementary, tetrade, random)
- When you go into a chosen palette, you can do fine adjustments, or find related palettes
- Scrolling down, it shows you related color palettes – color palettes that are close to the ones created
- On top, there is a section where you can see your color palette in use on graphics and in User Interface examples
Supported color formats: HEX
Random color palette generation: YES
Custom color palette generation: YES
Color palette from photos: NO
My Opinion on Munzli Colors
Munzli Colors is a cool way to get a nice color palette fast, for example, if you want to create brand colors – it’s the best of all the tools in this list that do exactly that!
I love the variety of options and color combinations it offers you upon first input. The related color palette is especially practical – that’s even more options to choose from.
9 | Color Hexa
Your tool to create gradients
- Color Hexa is a tool that’s very easy to use!
- You can generate gradients, color palettes, and alternatives to an input color.
- The tool also translates your color from HEX code to different color formats
- While the color palette options are pretty limited (without the option to tweak), Color Hexa is extremely detailed in finding similar colors and gradients from your input color
Supported color formats: HEX (translates into HEX triplet, RGB Decimal, RGB Percent, CMYK, HSL, HSV, WebSafe, CIE-LAB, XYZ, xyY, CIE-LCH, CIE-LUV, Hunter-Lab, Binary)
Random color palette generation: YES
Custom color palette generation: NO
Color palette from photos: NO
My opinion on Color Hexa
If you are looking for gradients, Color Hexa is your tool!
Same if you need to find an alternative to your base color.
Other than that, it’s similar to other color tools that give you the typical color theory-based palettes.
10 | Color Hunt
For color inspiration, by topic
- Color Hunt greets you with a selection of different created color palettes. You can start to search by entering color names or inspirational words and the tool will show you matching color palettes.
- There are many different options, such as seasonal palettes, trendy palettes, vintage, kids, all-time favorites, or moods and tones, such as pastel, warm, etc.
- Color Hunt started as the personal color palette collection of designer Gal Shir. It evolved into a community tool and now, everyone using the tool can submit their color palettes
- You can create your own color palettes from scratch, tag and submit them in the tool. But you can’t change and tweak the color palettes that already exist inside the library.
Supported color formats: HEX, RGB
Random color palette generation: No
Custom color palette generation:Yes
Color palette from photos: No
My opinion on Color Hunt
Color Hunt is very useful if you want to get inspired or are on the search for trending color palettes.
There is no option inside the tool to adjust and tweak a palette though so this tool is really more for inspiration than to create your own palettes.
11 | Venngage
The tool to choose color palettes that are suitable for vision-impaired people
- Venngage focuses to create inclusive color palettes – all generated palettes are accessible to vision-impaired people
- The random palette generator creates a variety of different palette styles from one input color (either your input or randomly created)
- The tool also gives info on which text color is save to use on the generated colors (black text or white text)
- Below the color generator, there is more useful and important information about designing for vision-impaired people
Supported color formats: HEX
Random color palette generation: YES
Custom color palette generation: NO
Color palette from photos: NO
My opinion on Venngage
It’s super cool that Venngage is fully dedicated to creating color palettes for vision-impaired people! If you need exactly this function, it’s definitely the best tool out there!
If you want to customize and tweak your color palettes, other tools will be better; I found it frustrating that I had very limited control over the type of palettes the tool produced – entering a vibrant color, you get vibrant palettes, entering a dark color, you get very greyish colors; there is no option for a mix which makes a good color palette in my opinion.
12 | Khorma
The tool that learns to recognize your personal taste
- Khroma uses AI technology that will learn which colors you like and customize the color palettes to your taste.
- This is the tool if you want a range of color palettes that fit your taste and style! You train the tool with 50 colors you like and it will generate color palettes and gradients for you.
- Functionalities other than the random color palette are pretty limited; there is no manual adjustment and currently, no color extraction from photos is possible. But Khorma is only in beta version so let’s see how it evolves.
Supported color formats: HEX, RGB
Random color palette generation: YES
Custom color palette generation: NO
Color palette from photos: NO
My Opinion on Khorma
At this stage, I find the tool very limited. It’s a cool idea that it learns my style and automatically generates color palettes to my taste. So if you’re looking for a tool that stays in line with your branding on social media, Khorma will definitely be interesting for you!
But if you would like to generate palettes in different moods and for different projects, other tools will be better; it will be time-consuming to train the tool over and over for a new mood.
More color tools
These tools aren’t your typical online color palette generator but might be interesting to check out:
Brandfolder
Brandfolder does one thing: Extracting (brand-) colors from an uploaded photo or logo; you upload your photo and the tool creates a palette with 6 colors. The tool is extremely straightforward but there’s no additional function (for example tweaking).
Colorkuler creates a color palette for your personal brand, based on your Instagram photos.
In the free plan, it takes the 9 last photos; for 3$ it creates a more detailed palette, based on your whole feed.
Have you ever wondered what a color palette from famous art pieces would look like? Color Lisa is an archive of color palettes, based on a key art piece of the most influential artists of all time – the pieces that hang inside the renowned museums of the world.
Are you looking for inspiration to a color or mood? Designspiration gives you graphic design and photography ideas based on your input color. Like Pinterest but with only high-quality inspiration images.
In this article you have seen the top color palette generators on the internet – Coolors, the Adobe Color Wheel and more great options.
FAQ
Color Palette Generators
What is a color palette generator?
A color palette generator is an online tool that helps you create balanced color palettes. It allows you to select the color of your choice and generate a range of color shades that fit the input color. You can then use these generated palettes as inspiration for design projects and web design.
How to make a color palette
Having a curated collection of well-balanced colors is important. But don’t worry, you don’t have to study design to create a nice color palette. There are lots of online tools that do exactly that for you.
How do I find the best color palette?
To create a color palette, you need to know the direction.
Start with your main brand color, an inspirational photo, or a mood. From that, online color generator tools will help you create a stunning color palette.
How many colors should be in a color palette?
Ideally, a color palette should have between 3 and 5 colors. However, you can use more or less depending on your project needs. Try to keep it simple though: too many colors in a palette can look random. So if you don’t need them all, just stick with fewer ones that work well together.
The Adobe Color Wheel And Other Top Color Palette Generators [2023]
by Corinne
