Design Inspiration
Best Coolors Alternatives in 2026: 5 Color Tools Compared
Five Coolors alternatives compared: OKLCH Color Picker, Realtime Colors, Color.review, Huemint and Colormind, by job and cost.
Coolors is a palette generator: lock the colors you like, regenerate the rest, and save palettes. The free plan caps palettes at 5 colors and 10 saves, and it shows ads. Pro raises palettes to 10 colors and adds unlimited saves and palette contrast checks.
People look for alternatives because of those limits, or because they need a different kind of color tool: perceptual color spaces such as OKLCH, a preview on a real page, or a contrast check. Many of these tools do one job rather than replacing Coolors entirely.
Below are 5 alternatives, with what each does differently and what it costs. Pricing checked October 2026 on each product's own site.
| Tool | Best for | Pricing | Free tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| OKLCH Color Picker | CSS written in oklch() | Open source | Open source (MIT) |
| Realtime Colors | Seeing colors in context | Free | Free; no pricing shown |
| Color.review | Accessibility checks | Free | Free; no pricing shown |
| Huemint | Brand, website or graphic | Free | Free; no paid plan listed |
| Colormind | Coolors-style flow | Free | Free; API non-commercial |
1. OKLCH Color Picker — convert and tune OKLCH colors
Best for: developers who write CSS in oklch() and need to convert and tune colors.
This is a picker and converter for the OKLCH color space, with P3 and Rec2020 ranges, not a palette generator. The source is MIT-licensed, and the tool has no paid plan listed.
More: OKLCH Color Picker on our site, or the official site.
2. Realtime Colors — judge a palette on a mock website
Best for: designers who want to judge a palette on a mock website before committing.
Realtime Colors shows your text, background, primary, secondary and accent colors on a live-looking page, with fonts, and exports CSS or Tailwind. Its source is published under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, which is not a typical open-source license. The site shows no pricing.
Official site: Realtime Colors.
3. Color.review — check contrast against WCAG
Best for: anyone who needs to check text and background contrast against WCAG 2.1 AA or AAA.
Color.review checks one foreground and background pair for contrast against WCAG 2.1 AA or AAA and shows the pass or fail. It does not generate palettes. The site shows no pricing.
More: Color.review on our site, or the official site.
4. Huemint — machine-learning palettes for a specific use
Best for: people who want machine-learning palettes for a brand, website or graphic.
Huemint generates schemes for specific uses, such as a logo or a website, instead of an open-ended five-color row. Its public API is free for non-commercial use.
Official site: Huemint.
5. Colormind — lock-and-regenerate with a deep-learning generator
Best for: people who like Coolors' lock-and-regenerate flow and want a deep-learning generator.
Colormind lets you lock colors and fills in the rest using models learned from photos, movies and art. Its API is free for personal and non-commercial use; commercial use means contacting the site. The site lists no paid plan.
Official site: Colormind.
How to choose
- Want the same lock-and-regenerate flow: Colormind.
- Need to check contrast: Color.review, or Realtime Colors, which shows a contrast check for each color you set.
- Write modern CSS: the OKLCH Color Picker.
- Need saved libraries and projects: none of these replicate them, so Coolors may still fit.
FAQ
Is there a free alternative to Coolors?
Yes. Colormind and Huemint list no paid plans, and Realtime Colors and Color.review show no pricing. The OKLCH Color Picker is MIT-licensed. None replicate Coolors' saved libraries.
Which tool checks color contrast?
Color.review checks a text and background pair against WCAG 2.1 AA and AAA. Realtime Colors shows a contrast check for each color you set. On Coolors, palette contrast checks are Pro.
Coolors vs Colormind?
Both let you lock colors and regenerate the rest. Coolors adds saving and projects, with free limits of 5 colors per palette and 10 saved palettes. Colormind generates with models learned from photos and art.