Short answer: Adobe Color is the most complete free palette tool in 2026, with the generator, image extraction and contrast checker on one free page. Coolors is the most direct generator for building by hand, but its free plan caps palettes at 5 colors and keeps 10 saved palettes, and Pro costs $3 a month. Automatic application to designs is the one step Adobe marks as paid. Palettemaker and Realtime Colors both describe their tools as free forever on their own sites, which makes them the free-forever options to test first.
Nine palette tools compared on what their free plans allow: colors per palette, saved palettes, export formats, ads and commercial use, checked on vendor pages in October 2026.
Searching for a free color palette generator usually means one of two questions: will a tool give me a usable palette without a card, and what stops me once I rely on it? Some tools generate freely and cap what you can keep. Others cap colors per palette, show ads, or make the export the paid part. This guide ranks nine free tools on the limits their own pages state, and it puts the price of each paid step, where the vendor publishes one, next to the free limit it removes.
Toolradar data: of the 23 color tools we track, 74% offer a free or freemium plan (12 free, 5 freemium), while 26% (6 tools) publish no free tier at all. That split is why this guide ranks on limits, not on which tool is free. The color tools category shows the wider field.
Methodology: nine picks from the 23 tools in the color tools category, ranked on what each free plan lets you do without paying. Limits were read on each tool's own pricing, product or FAQ page in October 2026, and a figure appears only where the vendor states it. Tools whose sites state no plan terms were left out.
Top Picks
Picked by editorial review, informed by G2 and Capterra review volume and rating and by media mentions, the signals behind our category rankings. How we rate
A free palette generator with image extraction and a contrast checker, saving to your Creative Cloud library.
Starting price
No paid plan for core tools
4.7 (7,500 reviews)
Best for
Designers who want the most tools on one free page and do not need palettes applied to designs automatically.
The most direct generator for building palettes by hand, with a free plan capped at 5 colors and 10 saved palettes.
Starting price
Free; Pro $3/mo
4.8 (14 reviews)
Best for
Designers who build palettes by hand and accept ads and a 5-color cap on the free plan.
A free AI palette tool that previews colors on logos, UI screens, posters and patterns, with Procreate and ASE export.
Starting price
Free, forever per its site
4.9 (72 reviews)
Best for
Illustrators and logo designers who want a palette tested on sample artwork before they commit to it.
| Tool | Starting price | Rating | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Color | No paid plan for core tools | 4.7 7,500 reviews | Designers who want the most tools on one free page and do not need palettes applied to designs automatically. |
| Coolors | Free; Pro $3/mo | 4.8 14 reviews | Designers who build palettes by hand and accept ads and a 5-color cap on the free plan. |
| Palettemaker | Free, forever per its site | 4.9 72 reviews | Illustrators and logo designers who want a palette tested on sample artwork before they commit to it. |
| Realtime Colors | Free | n/a | Web designers with a palette in mind who want to see it on a site layout before exporting. |
| Colormind | API free, non-commercial | n/a | Developers and hobbyists who want palettes from films, art or photos and do not need commercial API use. |
| Leonardo | Free (open source) | n/a | Product teams building UI themes and design-system color scales who need contrast-true swatches. |
| Paletton | No paid plan; ad-funded | n/a | Students and artists learning color harmony who need Photoshop or GIMP swatch files. |
| Khroma | No charge shown (beta) | n/a | Designers who want a generator tuned to their own taste and accept a beta that keeps data in one browser. |
| Color Hunt | No paid plan listed | n/a | Designers who want palette inspiration from a curated library rather than a generator. |
Adobe Color
A free palette generator with image extraction and a contrast checker, saving to your Creative Cloud library.
- 4.7 on G2 (7,500 reviews)
- Starting price
- No paid plan for core tools
- Free plan
- Free to use
- Rating
- 4.7 (7,500 reviews)
Best for: Designers who want the most tools on one free page and do not need palettes applied to designs automatically.
- Pro: The generator, image palette extraction, gradient extraction and contrast checker sit side by side on the free page
- Pro: Saved palettes go to a Creative Cloud library, not only to the browser you are using
- Pro: Trending and curated palettes are browsable for inspiration before you generate one
- Con: Applying a palette to designs automatically is marked as needing a paid Adobe Express plan, priced on Adobe's own site
- Con: The page names no export format, so getting swatch files into Photoshop or GIMP is a separate step
Adobe Color is exceptionally generous as it offers all its features completely free of charge.
- Starting price
- Free; Pro $3/mo
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.8 (14 reviews)
Best for: Designers who build palettes by hand and accept ads and a 5-color cap on the free plan.
- Pro: The free plan generates palettes of up to 5 colors and includes picking colors from an image
- Pro: Pro lifts the cap to 10 colors per palette, removes ads and keeps saved palettes unlimited
- Pro: Pro adds a palette contrast check, a feature the free plan list does not include
- Con: Any palette over 5 colors needs Pro, so the free plan stops at a small brand palette
- Con: Ads appear on the free plan, which allows one project and one collection
Coolors' pricing is quite fair, especially the Pro tier at $3/month (billed annually).
Watch out
Pro tier requires annual commitment for $3/month price.
Palettemaker
A free AI palette tool that previews colors on logos, UI screens, posters and patterns, with Procreate and ASE export.
- 4.9 on G2 (72 reviews)
- Starting price
- Free, forever per its site
- Free plan
- Free to use
- Rating
- 4.9 (72 reviews)
Best for: Illustrators and logo designers who want a palette tested on sample artwork before they commit to it.
- Pro: Its own site describes the tool as completely free and says the current features will stay free
- Pro: Exports palettes as Procreate files, Adobe ASE swatches, images and code
- Pro: Sample layouts for logos, UI, patterns and posters show how the colors work in context before you export
- Con: The design examples are pre-made, so the palette is tested only on the layouts the site supplies
- Con: The site does not say how many palettes you can keep, so confirm that before a long project
The pricing for Palette Maker is extremely generous, as it offers a fully-featured 'Free' tier with no apparent paid options.
Realtime Colors
A free tool that places your chosen colors on a sample website, with ZIP, CSS, SCSS and PNG export and a Figma plugin.
- Starting price
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
Best for: Web designers with a palette in mind who want to see it on a site layout before exporting.
- Pro: Its site says 100% free, forever
- Pro: Exports ZIP, PNG, CSS, SCSS and a QR code for the palette
- Pro: Shows primary, secondary and accent colors on a site layout, so you see color use in context before exporting
- Con: You choose the neutral, primary, secondary and accent colors yourself, so it refines a palette rather than finding one
- Con: It is built around a website layout, so it helps less with logos or print work
It's essentially a free tool with feature differentiation.
Watch out
No overage fees or seat minimums.
Colormind
A deep-learning palette generator with a rotating set of models, an image upload and an API free for non-commercial use.
- Starting price
- API free, non-commercial
- Free plan
- Yes
Best for: Developers and hobbyists who want palettes from films, art or photos and do not need commercial API use.
- Pro: The API is free for personal and non-commercial use, and it takes locked colors as input
- Pro: Image upload builds palettes from a photo you supply
- Pro: Locking a brand color and letting the model fill the other slots is a workflow the site documents
- Con: Commercial API use needs an email agreement rather than a self-serve plan
- Con: Most models change every day, so a palette from a film or art model may not come back tomorrow
Leonardo
An Adobe open-source color tool that builds accessible scales from target contrast ratios and exports SVG and CSS tokens.
- Starting price
- Free (open source)
- Free plan
- Free to use
Best for: Product teams building UI themes and design-system color scales who need contrast-true swatches.
- Pro: Swatches come from target contrast ratios, so contrast is set in the tool rather than checked afterwards
- Pro: Exports SVG files, CSS custom properties and design tokens that follow the W3C working spec
- Pro: An npm module lets end users adjust contrast, brightness and saturation inside an app
- Con: Built for UI themes and data visualization, so it is a weak choice for mood-board palettes
- Con: The output is a set of technical scales, so a first-time user takes more steps than with a one-click generator
This pricing is extremely generous as it's entirely free, offering a comprehensive suite of color tools for design systems and data visualization.
Paletton
A color wheel tool with classical RYB schemes, color-blindness simulation and Photoshop and GIMP exports, paid for by ads.
- Starting price
- No paid plan; ad-funded
- Free plan
- Free to use
Best for: Students and artists learning color harmony who need Photoshop or GIMP swatch files.
- Pro: Exports HTML, CSS, LESS, XML, text, PNG, ACO (Photoshop) and GPL (GIMP) files
- Pro: Simulates palettes for several kinds of color blindness, plus grayscale and display or print gamma
- Pro: Checks WCAG contrast for every color pair in a palette
- Con: The site says advertising is its only income, so ads sit around the tool
- Con: Its color wheel uses the classical RYB model, so its harmonies can differ from screen-based RGB tools
Paletton's pricing is exceptionally generous, as it offers full access to all features completely free of charge.
Khroma
An AI color generator that learns from 50 colors you pick, with hue and type search, CSS output and a WCAG setting.
- Starting price
- No charge shown (beta)
- Free plan
- Free to use
Best for: Designers who want a generator tuned to their own taste and accept a beta that keeps data in one browser.
- Pro: Search works by hue, type, name, hex or RGB value, so you can steer the output
- Pro: Each color pair comes with CSS code and a WCAG accessibility rating
- Pro: A setting blocks type combinations that fail the WCAG contrast ratio test
- Con: User accounts are only on a waitlist for version 1.0, so data stays in one browser for now
- Con: Training data lives in local storage on one device, so moving it needs the download and upload steps
Khroma's pricing is exceptionally generous, offering a fully functional AI color palette generator for free.
Watch out
No overage fees
Color Hunt
An open collection of hand-picked palettes, sorted by mood, season and popularity, with a Chrome extension.
- Starting price
- No paid plan listed
- Free plan
- Free to use
Best for: Designers who want palette inspiration from a curated library rather than a generator.
- Pro: Palettes sort by new, popular, month, year and all time, so trending sets are quick to find
- Pro: Submissions are reviewed by curators before they appear, so the library stays curated
- Pro: The site says each palette is public property and not owned by its creator
- Con: It is a library, so there is no way to build a palette from one base color on the site
- Con: The palette creator exists to submit palettes to the collection, not to generate schemes
Color Hunt offers an incredibly generous pricing model, as it is entirely free.
Other Color Tools worth considering
More published tools from our Color Tools category, ordered by our category ranking. They are not part of the editorial picks above.
What a free palette generator actually gives you
A free color palette generator takes one color, a mood word or a photo and returns a set of colors meant to work together. Most tools in this guide generate palettes without charging for that step, and Color Hunt is a curated library instead. The real differences sit around it: how many colors a palette can hold, how many palettes you can keep, which file formats leave the tool, whether ads run on the page, and whether a commercial project is covered. Those limits decide whether a free plan is enough.
Why the export and the cap decide the choice
Most buyers do not need a generator that is free for an afternoon. They need the palette to survive the trip into their files. Coolors' free plan allows one project, enough for one client and not a portfolio. Adobe Color separates saving a palette to a Creative Cloud library from applying it to designs automatically, and only the second is marked as paid. Paletton exports Photoshop (ACO) and GIMP (GPL) swatch files at no charge, which matters if your work already lives in those programs.
Teams that need palettes inside a shared design file, such as one built in Figma, face a second cost. Figma's Starter plan is free with unlimited drafts, but its Professional plan, the one with team-wide design libraries, costs $16 a month per full seat, which comes to $192 for one seat over 12 months. A five-person team pays $960 a year at the monthly rate. A free tool that cannot export into your stack is only a sketchpad.
Key Features to Look For
Colors per palette (Essential)
Coolors' free plan generates palettes of up to 5 colors, and Pro raises that to 10. Paletton builds color schemes on a color wheel.
Saved palettes and projects (Essential)
Coolors' free plan saves up to 10 palettes with one project and one collection, and Pro removes those caps. The other picks do not publish a palette cap, which is not the same as no cap, so test one before a long project.
Export formats (Essential)
Paletton exports ACO, GPL, CSS, HTML, LESS, XML, text and PNG. Realtime Colors exports ZIP, PNG, CSS, SCSS and a QR code. Palettemaker exports Procreate files, Adobe ASE swatches, images and code, and Leonardo exports SVG, CSS custom properties and design tokens.
Ads on the free tier (Important)
Coolors shows ads on its free plan and removes them in Pro. Paletton is ad-funded, so ads run around its tool too.
Contrast checks (Essential)
Paletton checks WCAG contrast for every color pair. Adobe Color includes a contrast checker, Khroma can block pairs that fail WCAG, and Leonardo builds swatches from target contrast ratios. Coolors puts its contrast check in Pro.
Commercial and API terms (Essential)
Colormind's API is free for personal and non-commercial use, and commercial use needs an email agreement. Color Hunt says each palette is public property, not owned by its creator, which matters for client deliverables.
Where the data lives (Important)
Khroma's beta keeps your trained generator in browser local storage, with user accounts on a waitlist. Adobe Color saves to a Creative Cloud library, so saved work sits with your Adobe account.
Design-tool handoff (Nice to have)
Realtime Colors has a Figma plugin, Palettemaker exports Procreate and ASE files, and Adobe Color palettes reach designs through a paid Adobe Express plan. Figma's Professional plan is $16 a month per full seat, for teams that need shared libraries.
Choose by the limit that will hit you first
-
Output format comes first, since a palette that cannot leave the tool is a sketch. Check that your design tool reads what Paletton, Realtime Colors or Palettemaker exports.
-
Storage comes second. Adobe Color saves to a Creative Cloud library, while Khroma keeps beta data in one browser until accounts ship. If you switch machines often, that matters more than any color feature.
-
Commercial use comes third: Colormind's API is free for non-commercial use only, so client work needs an agreement first.
-
Caps and ads come last, but they bite on real projects. Coolors' free plan caps palettes and shows ads, which is fine for a sketch and tight for a brand system with a dozen accent colors. Pro costs $36 a year at the monthly rate, one person.
Evaluation Checklist
Count the colors per palette the free plan allows, since a per-palette cap can rule out layered brand systems.
Confirm the export formats your design tool reads, including ASE, ACO, GPL, SVG or CSS.
Check whether saved palettes live in the browser or in an account you can reach from another device.
Run each final palette through a WCAG contrast check for text on its background colors.
Pricing Overview
Coolors Free
Palettes of up to 5 colors, 10 saved palettes, 1 project and 1 collection, with ads on the page and picking colors from an image included.
Free
Coolors Pro
Palettes of up to 10 colors, unlimited saved palettes, projects and collections, a contrast check and an ad-free workspace.
$3/mo
Pricing Comparison
| Tool | Free plan | Paid step | Five people, 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
Coolors | 5 colors per palette, 10 saved palettes, ads on the page | Pro, monthly rate per person | $180 at the monthly rate |
Generator, image extraction and contrast checker | Paid Adobe Express plan to apply palettes automatically | Check current pricing on Adobe's site | |
Figma (shared libraries) | Starter: free, with unlimited drafts | Professional, $16/mo per full seat | $960 at the monthly rate |
Khroma | Beta with data kept in one browser | No paid plan listed | No charge shown while in beta |
Colormind API | Free for personal, non-commercial use | Commercial use by email agreement | Quoted by the vendor |
Palettemaker | Completely free, with Procreate, ASE and code export | No paid plan listed | Free |
Prices and plan terms checked on each vendor's own page in October 2026: Coolors pricing, Figma pricing, Colormind API access, Adobe Color, Khroma and Palettemaker. Five-person and 12-month figures are computed from the monthly rate shown on those pages.
Mistakes to Avoid
- ×
Judging a free tier by the generator screen. Coolors' limits sit on its pricing page: palette size, saved palettes and ads.
- ×
Saving into a full free plan mid-project. Coolors' free plan keeps 10 saved palettes, one project and one collection, so a long engagement can reach the cap before it ends.
- ×
Assuming a palette is cleared for client work. Colormind's API is free for personal and non-commercial use only, so a paid client project needs a commercial agreement first.
- ×
Keeping a Khroma palette in one browser. While accounts are on the waitlist, Khroma data lives in local storage on one device, so export it before you clear site data.
Expert Tips
- →
Build in one tool, then export to the format your design tool reads. Paletton exports ACO and GPL, and Realtime Colors exports CSS and SCSS, so one palette can feed Photoshop and a website.
- →
Check contrast before a palette ships. Paletton tests WCAG contrast for every pair, Adobe Color has a contrast checker, and Leonardo builds swatches from target contrast ratios.
- →
Save the file itself, not a link to it. Free plans cap saves and browser storage can be cleared, so export the palette file once a choice is final. For logos built on that palette, see Best Free Logo Makers.
- →
Price a team against the design file. A five-person team on Figma Professional pays $960 a year at the monthly rate, so budget for the shared file before any palette tool.
Red Flags to Watch For
-
A free plan that does not say how the palette leaves the tool: ask about export before you commit to the tool.
-
Ads on a free plan that also caps saves, which means you pay with attention and with a save limit.
-
Beta tools that keep your data on one device until accounts ship, so export your work regularly.
The Bottom Line
For most people, Adobe Color is the best free starting point, because the generator, image extraction and contrast checker sit on one page with no paid step for the core tools. Pick Coolors when you build by hand and can live with its free cap and ads, and pay the monthly rate once the cap costs you work. A five-person team on Coolors Pro pays $180 a year at that rate. Palettemaker and Realtime Colors are the free-forever options to test next, and Paletton is the pick when your files go into Photoshop or GIMP.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best free color palette generator in 2026?
Adobe Color is the most complete free option in this guide: the generator, palette extraction from an image and a contrast checker sit on one free page. Coolors is the better hands-on generator, but its free plan caps palettes at 5 colors and keeps 10 saved palettes.
How much does Coolors Pro cost?
Coolors Pro is $3 a month on the subscribe prompt of its pricing page, so one person pays $36 a year at that rate and five people pay $180 a year. The page also offers a yearly billing switch, so check current pricing for the yearly rate before you choose.
Is Adobe Color free to use?
The generator, palette extraction and contrast checker on Adobe Color's page need no paid plan. Applying palettes to designs automatically is the one step Adobe marks as paid, through an Adobe Express plan priced on Adobe's own site, so check that rate before you subscribe.
Can I use palettes from free generators in client work?
Check each tool's terms first. Colormind's API is free for personal and non-commercial use only, and commercial use needs an email agreement. Color Hunt says each palette is public property and not owned by its creator. Palettemaker and Realtime Colors describe their tools as free, but their home pages do not address commercial use, so ask the vendor before a paid client project.
Is Khroma free?
Khroma's beta shows no charge on its site, and the site lists no paid plan. User accounts are on a waitlist for version 1.0, and until then your trained generator and saved colors live in the browser you use, so download your data before you switch devices.
Cite this page: Toolradar, "Best Free Color Palette Generators in 2026", updated October 2026, https://toolradar.com/guides/best-free-palette-generators
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