2019 test10 productsHome & Cleaning
Which Interior Paint Brand Wins?
We compared 10 interior paint options head to head. Sherwin-Williams Emerald came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
Winner
Sherwin-Williams Emerald
Price shown in test: $50.74 per gallon, the most expensive paint tested
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Runner-up
Behr Marquee
Price shown in test: $40.98 per gallon, second most expensive paint tested
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Budget pick
Pittsburgh Paramount
Price shown in test: $21.98 per gallon
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | One Coat Coverage Over Stripes | Wood Paneling Coverage And Yellowing | Stain Coverage_marker And Crayon | Shoe Scuff Resistance | Cleanability_all Purpose Cleaner | Overall Average Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Sherwin-Williams Emerald$50.74 per gallon, the most expensive paint tested | 1st place; surprised the presenter with how good the one-coat coverage was despite a lower viscosity than Behr Marquee | 1st place; definitely the best one-coat coverage of all paints, with less yellowing than any other brand | 1st place; still a faint shadow visible but beat every other brand at covering the permanent marker stain | 2nd place, behind Behr Marquee | 1st place; most of the purple marker gone, no more scuffing, permanent marker started coming off, little mustard stain left | won the overall average of all five tests by a large margin |
| 2Behr Marquee$40.98 per gallon, second most expensive paint tested | tied for 2nd with Valspar Signature; called a virtual tie with Valspar Signature, both did extremely well; described as extremely thick and sticky, going on very heavy | 3rd place; great one-coat coverage but slightly more yellowing than Valspar Signature | 5th place; PPG Timeless, Valspar Signature, and Sherwin-Williams all slightly outperformed it on marker coverage | 1st place, took the top spot in this test | 2nd place; terrific job, no more scuffing, most of the purple gone, some permanent marker removed, small amount of mustard staining left | 2nd place overall, barely edging out Valspar Signature |
| 3Valspar Signature$36.98 per gallon | tied for 2nd with Behr Marquee; slightly better coverage than PPG Timeless with less shadowing | 2nd place; better one-coat coverage than PPG Timeless with little yellow tint, and judged slightly better than Behr Marquee here | 3rd place; edged out Sherwin-Williams in a close comparison, though PPG Timeless looked slightly better | 5th place; presenter notes surprise that it 'didn't do a little bit better in this test' | 3rd place | 3rd place overall, barely behind Behr Marquee |
| 4PPG Timeless interior paint and primer$33.98 per gallon | 4th place; better than the less expensive brands, but still some shadowing and not quite as good as the top performers | 4th place; great one-coat coverage but noticeable yellowing | 2nd place; outperformed all the less expensive paints and looked slightly better than Valspar Signature at covering the marker stain | 4th place; fairly good, not quite as good as Pittsburgh | 4th place; didn't remove the crayon stain quite as well as Valspar Signature, similar mustard staining to Valspar Signature | not in the top 3 overall, but part of the premium tier that clearly outperformed all the budget paints |
| 5HGTV Home Showcase$38.98 per gallon | 5th place | 5th place | 4th place | about the same as Valspar Signature, quite a bit of scuffing | 5th place; more mustard staining than Valspar Signature and PPG Timeless | beat Pittsburgh on raw score, but the presenter notes Pittsburgh is much cheaper per gallon and performed nearly as well, making Pittsburgh the better value |
| 6Pittsburgh Paramount$21.98 per gallon | a little better than Glidden Premium, though a faint shadow remained | better one-coat coverage than Glidden and slightly better than Dutch Boy, though with a bit more yellow appearance than Glidden | did better than ColorPlace and Glidden Premium at times, though ColorPlace edged it out on the marker stain at one comparison point; very close with Dutch Boy, which may have edged it out slightly | 3rd place; called 'one of the top brands we've tested as far as resisting shoe scuff' | did remarkably well, most of the mustard stain and the scuff mark were gone, though crayon and marker remained | explicitly named a very good value paint, cheaper than HGTV and performing nearly as well; also judged better overall than Dutch Boy Forever |
| 7Dutch Boy Forever$29.98 per gallon, sold at Menards | a respectable job, though not as good as Pittsburgh at covering the dark underlying paint | pretty good one-coat coverage, similar to Pittsburgh, but with a bit more yellowing than Pittsburgh | may have edged out Pittsburgh slightly on the permanent marker stain, though ColorPlace still outperformed both | not tested | pretty good job; a little more mustard staining than Pittsburgh but a similar (maybe slightly less) amount of crayon residue | not tested |
| 8Glidden Premium interior paint and primer$18.98 per gallon | did quite well for a budget paint, notably better coverage than ColorPlace | very evenly matched with ColorPlace, with slightly less yellowing than ColorPlace | outperformed by ColorPlace and Pittsburgh at covering the permanent marker stain | did better than ColorPlace, though not as well as Pittsburgh | definitely better than ColorPlace, less mustard staining remaining and some of the marker starting to come off, though quite a bit of crayon staining and some scuff remained | not tested |
| 9ColorPlace interior paint$16.84 per gallon, second least expensive paint tested | quite a bit better than Valspar Pro, though still had areas of poor one-coat coverage; called good performance 'when you consider the price' | quite a bit better one-coat coverage than Valspar Pro, but with noticeable yellowing | did a much better job than Valspar Pro and Glidden Premium at covering the permanent marker, and outperformed Pittsburgh and Dutch Boy in one comparison | slightly worse than Valspar Pro in this specific test | did not do very well, quite a bit of mustard stain left and the marker stain did not come off at all | not tested |
| 10Valspar Pro Express Coat$12.98 per gallon, the least expensive paint tested | did not do a good job, a lot of the dark underlying color remained visible | poor one-coat coverage again, though comparatively little yellowing versus some other brands | the crayon and permanent marker stains proved very challenging, worst result of the group at that stage | slightly better than ColorPlace in this specific test | looked good at first glance but on closer inspection the paint itself was washing away, not just the stain, an undesirable result | not tested |
How it was tested
- one-coat coverage over dark green stripes (hiding power)
- one-coat coverage and yellow bleed-through resistance over unprimed wood paneling
- stain coverage over crayon and permanent marker
- shoe scuff resistance (weighted shoe dragged across dried paint)
- cleanability with an all-purpose cleaner on stained/scuffed paint
“If you're loaded with cash, you've got to go with the Sherwin-Williams Emerald. It is a really good paint. I'm really surprised at just how well it did.”