Colora vs Pantone Connect Palette Generator

Colora is a free Windows color converter and screen picker for selecting and saving colors. The screen picker includes zoom for more precise selection, and the converter handles RGB, HEX, HSB, HSL and CMYK. You can create custom palettes, save them for later and export them to GIMP; an automatic history also retains recently picked colors. Window controls let Colora stay on top of other windows or use a minimal size mode. It requires Windows 7 or newer and .NET Framework 4.6 or higher. The maker says the picker has been tested with Windows 10 and DPI scaling. Downloads are offered through SourceForge, with installation also available through Chocolatey. Colora is published by Bluegrams under the BSD 3-Clause license. SourceForge lists version 0.3.1, dated September 11, 2020, as the latest release.

Pantone Connect Palette Generator creates palettes from a mood, theme, or concept using semantic search and Pantone trend research. The beta is available to authenticated Pantone Connect users, including free-account holders, and Pantone says it is built using Microsoft Azure OpenAI. Generated palettes can be saved to Connect, edited, exported into a design workflow, downloaded for creative files or vendor color specifications, and shared with a team.

Pantone Connect provides access to over 15,000 colors and nearest RGB, CMYK, Hex, and L*a*b* equivalents. Basic account holders can save and share up to 10 palettes. Premium includes tools such as color extraction, conversion, color data, harmonies, trending palettes, simulations, and accessibility support. Connect is available on the web, iOS, and Android, with an extension for Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. Premium is required to use Pantone Libraries in Adobe Creative Cloud apps. Pantone Connect Basic is free with an account. Individual Premium costs $29.99 per month or $89.99 per year; subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled before the next billing date.