ColorDesigner

Overview

ColorDesigner is a web and browser-extension toolkit for building palettes, shaping gradients and working with colors from images. It suits designers who want several color utilities in one place, but its free plan’s tight saving limits make it a poor fit for anyone building a lasting palette library.

Its strongest case is breadth: palette creation sits alongside image tools, color conversion and contrast checking. The trade-off is that the most generous storage and export options require Pro.

Key features

Palette and image workflows

The Palette Builder produces tints, shades and tones, along with complementary, analogous, split-complementary, triadic and tetradic harmonies. That gives users several ways to explore a color direction. Image palette extraction and an image color picker are useful when the starting point is an existing visual rather than a chosen base color.

Tools, checks and integrations

ColorDesigner lists 13 tools, including a gradient generator, mixer, wheel, converter, contrast checker and compare-colors tool. The Free plan covers 12 tools; Pro adds palette variations, multi-color gradients, a Color Blindness Simulator and a Color Contrast Checker. This breadth can keep routine color work together, though users needing only a single focused utility may not need the full toolkit.

Pro exports in HEX, RGB, HSL, LAB, LCH, OKLAB and OKLCH; Free is limited to HEX. The Figma plugin generates tints, shades and harmonies from selected layers or local styles, and creates stepped gradients, but it supports solid fills only. The Pro Photoshop extension offers a color wheel, OKLCH support, harmonies and stepped gradients with hue interpolation across multiple color spaces.

Pricing

PlanPriceWhat it includesFreefreeAds, access to 12 free tools, up to five saved colors, five saved palettes and one project, plus HEX export.Pro$37.20 a year (billed annually; $3.10/month)No ads; unlimited colors, palettes and projects; seven export formats; palette variations, multi-color gradients, Color Blindness Simulator, Color Contrast Checker and advanced LCH/LAB/OKLCH/OKL... tools.Free works for occasional exploration, but five saved colors and palettes and a single project constrain ongoing work. Pro is the practical choice for users who need a larger library, broader exports or its additional tools. Subscription plans include a 14-day free trial; the one-time payment option has no trial. Payments are powered by Paddle, which stores credit-card details on its servers. Refund requests go to support at [email protected].

Platforms

ColorDesigner runs on the web and as an extension. Its Figma integration is limited to solid fills; its Pro Photoshop extension brings color and gradient tools into Photoshop.

Who it's for

ColorDesigner is a good fit for designers who regularly move between palette exploration, image-derived colors, gradients and accessibility checks. It is less compelling for occasional users who can work within the Free plan’s small save limits, or for people whose needs center on one narrow tool rather than a broad color workflow.

Pros and cons

Pro: A wide mix of palette, image, gradient and checking tools supports several stages of color work in one toolkit.

Pro: Pro’s unlimited saved items and seven export formats suit users managing larger projects or working across color models.

Con: Free saves only five colors, five palettes and one project, limiting its usefulness as a persistent library.

Con: The Figma plugin supports solid fills only, which rules out workflows relying on other fill types.

Alternatives

For a broader directory, browse Color Palette Generators.

Pantone Connect Palette Generator is worth considering if you want access to 15,000+ colors and its Search, Pick and Measure tools on a free account.

ColorKit is a free web option.

Atmos is an extension and web alternative with a lifetime plan.

Color Palette Generator AI offers unlimited generations, every export format, shareable links and an API without an account.

Grabient is a free option with documented API, PNG and JSON reads and no API key or signup.

Colora is a free, open-source Windows option under the BSD 3-Clause license.

Colorfool is a free web alternative with no paywalled accessibility checks.

Paletto Studio offers in-browser palette and recolor tools without an account.

Verdict

Choose ColorDesigner if you want a single web-and-extension toolkit for palette building, image color work, gradients and export across multiple color formats. Pro is the stronger fit for sustained work because it removes storage caps and expands exports, but the Free plan’s five-item limits make it a constrained trial of the workflow rather than a dependable long-term library.