Pantone Color Comparison Tool
Select two Pantone PMS colors to compare them side by side — see the visual difference, ΔE score, and full value breakdown instantly.
💡 Try: “186 C”, “Cool Gray 9”, “Reflex Blue”, “Process Black”
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How to Compare Pantone Colors
Choosing between two Pantone PMS colors is a common challenge for brand designers, print buyers, and packaging specialists. Even colors that look similar on screen can produce noticeably different results on press — especially when mixing coated and uncoated substrates. This tool lets you compare any two PMS colors side by side, showing their exact HEX, RGB, and CMYK values as well as a ΔE (Delta-E) difference score.
The ΔE score is calculated as the straight-line Euclidean distance in RGB space. A ΔE below 10 indicates colors that are nearly indistinguishable to the naked eye, while values above 60 represent very different hues. Use this comparison to verify substitutions, validate brand color alternatives, or simply explore the Pantone library.
If you need a difference score that industry actually writes tolerances in, the cross-standard converters rank every match by ΔE*00 (CIEDE2000) rather than RGB distance — see Pantone to LAB for the underlying colour space, or compare a Pantone colour against another standard entirely with Pantone to RAL, Pantone to NCS and Pantone to HKS.
Comparing Colours Across Different Systems
The tool above compares two colours inside the Pantone library. Comparing a Pantone colour against a different standard — RAL against NCS, a lab measurement against a PMS number, a screen colour against a textile code — is a cross-system question, and each of these converters answers it with a ΔE*00 figure rather than a yes or no.