What Can Online Color Tools Do and Which One Should You Use?

Updated

Online color tools split into four jobs: looking up and converting a color, building a palette, generating shades and gradients, and checking that a color combination is readable. HexColor.co covers all four with 22 free tools, no account required, and the same result every time you run one. Pick by what you're trying to finish, not by tool name — the site groups its tools that way for exactly this reason.

Start with a lookup if you only have one color

Type a hex code, an rgb value, or a color name a browser understands into the lookup box, and you get back everything about that color in one place instead of opening four tabs:

  • Conversions across rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, and the CIE color spaces
  • Harmonies built around that color
  • Its shades and tints
  • Contrast figures against white and black
  • Its nearest RAL and Pantone matches
  • How the color looks to eyes that see it differently

The site accepts formats like teal, #FF6347, or rgb(102, 51, 153). Every hex code also has its own page, so you can link to or bookmark a single color rather than re-entering the value.

If you're starting from a name instead of a code, the site lists 24 of the 148 browser color names, chosen so no two look alike — Tomato #FF6347, Gold #FFD700, Aqua #00FFFF, Crimson #DC143C, and so on. Each has its own page.

Match the tool to the task

The 22 tools are grouped by what you're trying to do, which is more useful than an alphabetical list — if you already knew the tool's name, you'd have searched for it.

What you're trying to do Tools
Build a palette Color Palette Generator, Color Scheme Generator, Color Harmonies Generator
Pick and convert Marvelous Color Picker, Color Converter, Color Names, Pantone Colors, RAL Colors, Random Fresh Colors
Shades, gradients, and mixes Color Shades & Tints, Color Mixer, Gradient Color Generator, CSS Gradients Collection
Pull colors out of something Image to Colors Palette Generator, Extract Color Palette from a Website, Brand Color Extractor
Check it works for everyone Color Contrast Checker, Color Blindness Simulator
Read and browse Color Psychology, Color Trends, Color Inspirations and Ideas, Material Design Colors

Two decisions fall out of this table:

Converting a single value vs. building a set. If you have one color and need its rgb, hsl, or cmyk equivalent, the lookup or Color Converter is enough. If you need a family of colors that work together, start with the palette or harmonies generator instead — converting one color at a time won't get you there.

Extracting from an image or site vs. picking by hand. When the color already exists somewhere — a logo, a screenshot, a competitor's page — use Image to Colors, Extract Color Palette from a Website, or Brand Color Extractor rather than eyeballing a picker. When you're choosing from scratch, the picker and random tools are the faster path.

Check accessibility before you ship

Two tools answer a question the others don't: will people actually be able to read this?

  • Color Contrast Checker gives you the contrast figures for a pairing, so you can confirm text stays legible against its background.
  • Color Blindness Simulator shows how a color looks to eyes that see it differently, which catches combinations that pass a contrast check but still collapse into each other for some viewers.

Run both on any palette you intend to ship. A palette that looks fine to you can still fail for a meaningful share of your audience, and these two checks are the cheapest way to find that out before launch.

What the site is, and what that means for you

HexColor.co is free, requires no account, and returns the same answer every time — so a color you look up today matches what a colleague gets next week. That consistency matters when you're passing values between design and code.

If you need more than a palette — a full design system with Tailwind config, CSS variables, SCSS, design tokens, dark mode, and WCAG contrast handled — the site points to Palette Studio for that, which is a different scope from the 22 single-purpose tools.

A practical order of operations

  1. Have a color already? Look it up to get its conversions, harmonies, and nearest Pantone/RAL.
  2. Need a set? Build it with the palette or harmonies generator, or extract it from an image or website if the source exists.
  3. Need variations? Use shades and tints, the mixer, or the gradient generator.
  4. Before shipping: run the contrast checker and the color blindness simulator on the final pairing.

Each step feeds the next, and because results are reproducible, you can hand any value to a teammate and they'll see the same thing.