🎨 Free Color Palette and Color Scheme Generator

Generate Beautiful
Color Palettes Instantly

Create harmonious color palettes and color schemes in one click. Lock colors you love, choose a harmony mode, and export to CSS, SCSS, JSON or PNG. Completely free, no signup. Already have a photo? Use our Image Color Picker to extract a palette directly from any image.

Press Space to generate a new palette

Color Codes

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

How do I generate a random color palette?
Click the Generate button or press the Spacebar. A new palette is created instantly based on your selected harmony mode and number of colors. No page reload, no waiting.
Can I lock a color and regenerate the rest?
Yes. Hover over any color swatch and click the lock icon to lock it. When you generate a new palette, locked colors stay in place while the rest are regenerated. Perfect for when you already have a brand color and need matching palette colors.
What are the harmony modes?
Harmony modes use color theory to generate aesthetically pleasing combinations. Analogous uses adjacent hues on the color wheel. Complementary uses opposite hues for contrast. Triadic uses three evenly-spaced hues. Split-Complementary uses a base color and two colors adjacent to its complement. Monochromatic uses different shades of a single hue.
How do I export my palette?
Click the Export button to open the export panel. Choose from CSS Variables (ready to paste into your stylesheet), SCSS variables, JSON (for use in code), or PNG image (for sharing or documentation). All exports are 100% free.
Can I copy individual color codes?
Yes. Click any HEX, RGB or HSL value in the Color Codes section below the palette to copy it instantly. You can also click the HEX code directly on the swatch when hovering.
Is this color palette generator completely free?
Yes, 100% free with no limits. No account required, no watermarks on exports, no usage caps. Every feature including all export formats is available to everyone for free.
How do I use this palette in Figma?
Export your palette as JSON from the Export panel, then use a Figma plugin like "Palette" or "Tokens Studio" to import it. Alternatively, copy individual HEX codes by clicking on the color swatches and paste them manually into your Figma color styles panel.
Can I export colors for Tailwind CSS?
Yes. Export as CSS Variables and paste the output into your stylesheet, or copy the HEX values and add them to your tailwind.config.js under the colors key. The JSON export is also easy to parse and integrate into any Tailwind theme configuration.
How do I create a color palette from an image?
This generator creates palettes from scratch using color theory. If you want to extract colors directly from a photo, use our Image Color Picker instead. It automatically extracts up to 8 dominant colors from any uploaded image, and you can click any picked color to explore its harmonies here.
What is the difference between a color palette and a color scheme?
The terms are often used interchangeably. A color palette typically refers to the set of colors you have chosen, while a color scheme describes how those colors relate to each other using color theory principles like complementary, analogous, or triadic relationships. This tool does both.
How do I generate a pastel color palette?
Choose Monochromatic or Analogous as the harmony mode, then click Generate until you land on light, soft tones. Pastel colors have high lightness and low-to-medium saturation. You can keep regenerating freely — locked colors stay in place — until your palette feels soft and airy.
What is a seasonal color palette?
Seasonal color analysis categorizes personal coloring into four types: Spring (warm, light, clear), Summer (cool, soft, muted), Autumn (warm, deep, earthy), and Winter (cool, deep, high-contrast). Each type has a characteristic palette of colors that complement natural skin tone, hair, and eye color. Use this generator to explore and create palettes in any seasonal direction.
How do I make a color palette from an image?
Use our Image Color Picker to upload any photo and extract its dominant colors automatically. You can then pick individual colors and bring them here to explore harmonies. This is the fastest way to build a palette based on a real-world photo, brand asset, or design reference.

About This Tool

Free Color Palette Generator and Color Scheme Creator

A great color palette is the foundation of every strong design. Whether you are building a website, designing a brand identity, creating a mobile app, or working on digital art, the right combination of colors determines how your work feels. Our free color palette generator and color scheme creator makes it effortless to discover beautiful, harmonious combinations instantly, in your browser, with no account required.

Unlike other palette generators that lock export features or harmony modes behind paid plans, every feature here is completely free. Generate unlimited palettes, lock individual colors, choose from six color harmony modes, and export in any format at zero cost. Already have a reference photo or brand image? Visit our Image Color Picker to extract a palette directly from any photo, then come back here to explore harmonies and export your colors.

Popular Color Palette Styles

Pastel Color Palettes

Pastel palettes use high-lightness, low-saturation colors that feel soft, airy, and approachable. They are popular for beauty brands, children's products, lifestyle blogs, and spring or summer wedding color palettes. To generate a pastel palette, choose Monochromatic or Analogous mode and use the Generate button until you land on light, muted tones.

Earthy Color Palettes

Earthy palettes draw from browns, warm tans, terracotta, olive, and forest greens. They convey authenticity, sustainability, and warmth. Popular for food brands, interior design, outdoor lifestyle brands, and autumn color palettes. Try Analogous mode with orange or brown as your anchor color.

Retro and 70s Color Palettes

Retro palettes use warm, slightly desaturated colors: mustard yellows, burnt oranges, avocado greens, and harvest golds. The 70s color palette aesthetic has seen a strong revival in graphic design, packaging, and social media. Generate these with Analogous mode anchored around orange-yellow hues with reduced saturation.

Neon and Bright Color Palettes

High-saturation, vivid neon palettes work for gaming brands, nightlife, streetwear, and anything that needs to feel electric and energetic. Use Complementary or Triadic mode and keep saturation high across all swatches.

Dark and Moody Color Palettes

Deep, dark palettes — burgundy, navy, charcoal, forest green — communicate luxury, sophistication, and depth. Ideal for premium brands, dark mode UI design, and winter color palettes. Try Monochromatic mode starting from a dark base hue.

Seasonal Color Palettes

Seasonal color analysis groups people into four types — Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter — based on their natural coloring. Each season has a characteristic palette. Soft Autumn palettes use warm, muted, earthy tones: caramel, rust, olive, and warm brown. Deep Autumn palettes go darker with rich mahogany, dark teal, and burnt sienna. Cool Summer palettes are soft and cool: dusty rose, lavender, and muted blue-grey. Deep Winter palettes are bold and high-contrast: black, pure white, and jewel tones. This generator can help you explore palettes in any of these seasonal directions by using the harmony modes with appropriate anchor colors.

What Is My Color Palette?

If you are trying to identify your personal color palette — the colors that suit your skin tone, hair, and eyes best — start with the palette analysis approach. Choose colors that appear frequently in clothing you feel good in, generate variations using Analogous or Monochromatic mode, and use the Contrast Checker to see how colors interact when placed near each other. For identifying specific color names from a reference photo, use the Color Name Finder after extracting the color with our Image Color Picker.

How to Use the Color Palette Generator

Step 1 — Choose Your Settings

Select how many colors you want in your palette: 3, 4, or 5. Then choose a harmony mode that fits your project. If you are not sure, start with Random to explore freely, or try Analogous for a calm, cohesive feel.

Step 2 — Generate and Refine

Click Generate or press the Spacebar to create a new palette instantly. Hover over any swatch to reveal the lock icon. Click it to lock that color while regenerating the rest. This lets you iterate quickly while keeping colors you love.

Step 3 — Copy and Export

Click any color code to copy it instantly. When you are happy with your palette, click Export to download it as CSS variables, SCSS, JSON, or a PNG image you can drop into Figma, slides, or documentation.

Understanding Color Harmony Modes

Random

Pure random generation across the full hue spectrum. Great for exploration and finding unexpected combinations you would not think to try manually. Every palette is unique.

Analogous

Uses hues that sit next to each other on the color wheel, typically within 30 degrees of each other. Analogous palettes feel calm, natural, and unified. Ideal for backgrounds, nature themes, and designs that need to feel approachable rather than energetic.

Complementary

Pairs colors from opposite sides of the color wheel: blue and orange, red and green, purple and yellow. Complementary palettes create high contrast and visual tension, making them ideal for call-to-action elements, sports branding, and anything where you want energy and punch.

Triadic

Three hues evenly spaced 120 degrees apart on the color wheel. Triadic palettes are vibrant and dynamic while still feeling balanced. They give designers plenty of variety without sacrificing harmony, and are popular in illustration, game design, and creative branding.

Split-Complementary

A softer alternative to complementary. Takes a base color and pairs it with the two colors adjacent to its direct complement. This creates strong visual contrast without the harshness of a direct complement, making it a favorite among professional designers for balanced, eye-catching color schemes.

Monochromatic

Different lightness and saturation values of a single hue. Monochromatic palettes are sophisticated, minimal, and always on-trend. They are perfect for luxury brands, editorial design, dark mode UIs, and anywhere that needs subtle elegance over loud contrast.

Who Uses a Color Palette Generator?

A color palette or color scheme generator is a daily tool for anyone working with visuals. Web designers use palette generators to establish a visual language before writing a single line of code. UI/UX designers use color palettes to define design system tokens for consistent, scalable interfaces. Brand designers explore color directions early in the brand identity process. Frontend developers use the CSS export to wire up design tokens directly in their stylesheets. Illustrators and artists use palette generators to break out of habitual color choices and find fresh combinations. Marketing teams use palettes to maintain consistent colors across social media, presentations, and print materials.

Why Color Palettes and Color Schemes Matter in Design

Color is one of the first things a viewer processes when they land on a page or see a brand. Before reading a word or examining a layout, a user feels the color scheme emotionally. Warm palettes create energy and urgency. Cool palettes communicate trust and calm. Neutral palettes signal sophistication. Getting your color palette right from the start means every design decision that follows has a foundation that works.

For web designers and developers, a well-defined color scheme also means faster production. When you export your palette as CSS variables and define them at the root of your stylesheet, you can reference colors by name throughout your entire codebase. Changing a brand color becomes a one-line update rather than a find-and-replace across dozens of files. Need to check if your chosen colors meet accessibility standards? Run them through our Color Contrast Checker to verify WCAG compliance before finalizing your palette.

Export Formats Explained

CSS Variables

Exports your palette as :root CSS custom properties, ready to paste directly into your stylesheet. Works in all modern browsers and integrates instantly with any CSS framework including Tailwind, Bootstrap, and plain CSS.

SCSS Variables

Exports as Sass variables for SCSS projects. Drop it into your variables partial and you are ready to use the colors throughout your entire Sass codebase.

JSON

Exports a structured JSON object with HEX, RGB, and HSL values for every color. Ideal for design systems, JavaScript applications, Figma plugins, or any tool that consumes color data programmatically.

PNG Image

Downloads your palette as a clean image with color blocks and HEX codes. Perfect for sharing with clients, dropping into Figma, including in brand guidelines, or posting on social media.