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Updated April 2, 2026

Best Watercolor Palettes for 2026: 12 Options Tested & Reviewed

I've spent 6 weeks testing 15+ watercolor palettes — from budget sets under $15 to ceramic studio palettes pushing $180. Some were much better than their price suggested. A few were worse. Here's what I found.

Sarah Mitchell
Sarah Mitchell

Watercolor artist · 10+ years experience · See methodology

In This Review

  1. #1 Holbein Artists' Watercolor Set — Best Overall
  2. #2 Sakura Koi Watercolor Field Sketch Set — Best for Travel
  3. #3 Winsor & Newton Cotman Field Plus — Best Value
  4. #4 Schmincke Horadam Aquarell — Premium Choice
  5. #5 Ohuhu Watercolor Pan Set — Best Budget
  6. #6 M. Graham Artists' Watercolor — Best for Beginners (Professional Grade)
  7. How We Tested
  8. Buying Guide
  9. FAQ

My Top Picks at a Glance

#PaletteRatingPriceMaterialPortability
1
4.8
$$$CeramicStudioCheck Price →
2
4.6
$$PlasticExcellentCheck Price →
3
4.5
$$Plastic / metal claspGoodCheck Price →
4
4.9
$$$$TinGoodCheck Price →
5
4.3
$PlasticGoodCheck Price →
6
M. Graham Artists' WatercolorBest for Beginners (Professional Grade)
4.7
$$$Tubes — fill your own paletteNeeds a separate paletteCheck Price →

Detailed Reviews

1Best Overall
Holbein Artists' Watercolor Set (24 Colors)

Holbein Artists' Watercolor Set (24 Colors)

4.8/5(847 ratings)
💰 $$$📐 24 wells🏺 Ceramic

✅ Best For

Professional and advanced watercolor artists

✗ Not Ideal For

Beginners on a budget, or anyone who paints outdoors regularly

🔬 From My Testing

I left this palette closed for 10 days between sessions. A light mist and 30 seconds was enough to get full paint flow. That's not typical — most palettes need 5 minutes of pre-wetting after a week of sitting.

Pros

  • ✓Colors rewet without greying out — even after sitting dry for a week
  • ✓Ceramic wells: paint hits the surface and spreads flat, no beading
  • ✓Well depth is 8mm — a size 12 round brush loads cleanly without hitting the rim
  • ✓ASTM lightfast ratings I–II across almost the full set
  • ✓Lid works as a second mixing area

Cons

  • ✗One of the more expensive pre-filled sets on the market
  • ✗Ceramic adds real weight — this is not a travel palette
  • ✗Nothing else in the box: no brush, no accessories
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2Best for Travel
Sakura Koi Watercolor Field Sketch Set (24 Colors)

Sakura Koi Watercolor Field Sketch Set (24 Colors)

4.6/5(1,203 ratings)
💰 $$📐 24 half-pans + mixing lid wells🏺 Plastic

✅ Best For

Travel painters, plein air artists, urban sketchers

✗ Not Ideal For

Studio work or anyone who needs large wash areas

🔬 From My Testing

I painted with this set standing up, palette in one hand, brush in the other, during a 3-hour outdoor session in 85°F heat. The pans stayed solid, the closure held, and nothing leaked in my bag afterward.

Pros

  • ✓Actual jacket-pocket size: 12 × 7 cm closed
  • ✓Mixing area built into the lid — no separate plate needed
  • ✓Pans stay locked when closed, nothing rattles or spills in a bag
  • ✓Available in 12, 24, and 48-color versions

Cons

  • ✗Plastic mixing lid beads up paint — takes practice to get clean washes
  • ✗Half-pan wells are shallow, hard to work with a large brush
  • ✗Student-grade pigments — fine for sketching, not for work meant to last decades
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3Best Value
Winsor & Newton Cotman Field Plus (24 Half Pans)

Winsor & Newton Cotman Field Plus (24 Half Pans)

4.5/5(623 ratings)
💰 $$📐 24 half-pans wells🏺 Plastic / metal clasp

✅ Best For

Beginners to intermediate artists who want real pigments without professional prices

✗ Not Ideal For

Artists doing archival work — some Cotman colors have lower lightfast ratings

🔬 From My Testing

I compared Cotman Ultramarine Blue side-by-side with Holbein Ultramarine on the same paper. There was a difference, but smaller than I expected for the price gap. For a beginner palette, the Cotman is a reasonable starting point.

Pros

  • ✓Cotman pigments are better than the price suggests
  • ✓Flip-open design with a magnetic closure that actually holds
  • ✓Ships with a brush included
  • ✓Covers the basic color range without obvious gaps

Cons

  • ✗Three or four colors in the set carry ASTM III ratings — they will fade over years
  • ✗Mixing area is small for wet-into-wet techniques
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4Premium Choice
Schmincke Horadam Aquarell (12 Half Pans)

Schmincke Horadam Aquarell (12 Half Pans)

4.9/5(412 ratings)
💰 $$$$📐 12 half-pans wells🏺 Tin

✅ Best For

Professional artists who care most about pigment purity over color count

✗ Not Ideal For

Anyone who hasn't painted with professional-grade paints before — the price jump is hard to evaluate without that reference point

🔬 From My Testing

The cadmium-free versions of Cadmium Red and Yellow are closer to the originals than I expected. I did a blind wash comparison and had to check the labels to tell them apart on the paper.

Pros

  • ✓Most of the set uses single-pigment formulations — mixes stay clean
  • ✓Washes are smooth with almost no granulation on hot-press paper
  • ✓Tin case has held up to two years of daily use in my studio

Cons

  • ✗Most expensive set in this review
  • ✗12 colors — you will need to buy more pans to round out your palette
  • ✗Replacement pans are sold individually at a high per-color cost
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5Best Budget
Ohuhu Watercolor Pan Set (48 Colors)

Ohuhu Watercolor Pan Set (48 Colors)

4.3/5(2,891 ratings)
💰 $📐 48 half-pans wells🏺 Plastic

✅ Best For

Students and beginners who want to experiment without a significant upfront cost

✗ Not Ideal For

Work you want to frame and keep — the pigments will fade

🔬 From My Testing

I left color swatches from this set in indirect window light for 4 weeks. The reds and purples lost roughly 20% of their saturation. For practice paintings and sketchbooks that's fine. For anything you'd frame, it's not.

Pros

  • ✓48 colors for about what a single tube of professional paint costs
  • ✓Comes with two water brushes
  • ✓Good for color theory exercises and loose practice work
  • ✓Replacement pans are available

Cons

  • ✗Several colors are dye-based — reds and purples faded noticeably in my 4-week light test
  • ✗Mixing is inconsistent across the set; some colors behave very differently from their neighbors
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6Best for Beginners (Professional Grade)
M. Graham Artists' Watercolor (5-Color Starter Set)

M. Graham Artists' Watercolor (5-Color Starter Set)

4.7/5(534 ratings)
💰 $$$📐 5 tubes (0.5 fl oz) wells🏺 Tubes — fill your own palette

✅ Best For

Beginners who want to learn with professional pigments from day one

✗ Not Ideal For

Anyone who wants a ready-to-paint set straight out of the box

🔬 From My Testing

I left M. Graham paints in an open palette for 3 weeks without misting them. They rewetted on the first brush stroke. With most other tube paints dried in a palette, I'd expect 5–10 minutes of pre-wetting to get the same result.

Pros

  • ✓Honey binder keeps paints workable longer than standard gum arabic
  • ✓Professional lightfast ratings across all 5 colors
  • ✓Rewets easily after weeks of sitting dry in a palette
  • ✓American-made

Cons

  • ✗No palette included — you need to source one separately
  • ✗Only 5 colors; you mix everything else
  • ✗Honey formula occasionally attracts flies in warm outdoor conditions
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How we tested these palettes

Last tested: April 2026 · 15+ palettes evaluated over 6 weeks · Full methodology on my About page

1

Initial assessment

Photographed, weighed, and measured every palette with calipers before opening the paint.

2

Bead-up test

Dropped clean water onto each mixing surface and timed how long it took to spread flat. Ceramic passed every time. Plastic varied.

3

Pigment density test

Mixed the same blue from each set using equal amounts of paint and water, then compared the washes on the same paper side by side.

4

Rewet test

Left each palette closed for 48 hours, then rewetted without pre-misting. Measured how many brush strokes it took to get usable paint flow.

5

Field test

Used each palette for a minimum 2-hour outdoor session. I painted standing up to test how the palette handled in real conditions, not just at a desk.

6

Lightfast assessment

Made color swatches from each set, left them in indirect window light for 4 weeks, and compared them to stored reference swatches from the same session.

Watercolor Palette Buying Guide

Types of watercolor palettes

There are three kinds: pre-filled pan sets (the pans come already loaded with paint — open the box and paint), empty palettes (you fill them with tube paint or loose pans you buy separately), and mixing plates(flat surfaces with no wells, just a mixing area). Most beginners start with a pre-filled set. Most experienced artists end up with an empty palette they've filled themselves.

Materials: ceramic vs plastic vs tin

Ceramic holds paint flat — no beading, even with very wet washes. It's heavier and breaks if dropped. Plastic is light, cheap, and survives travel, but the mixing surface is slippery and paint domes up on it. Tin sits in the middle: lighter than ceramic, more durable than plastic, good enough for a field palette. Most Schmincke and W&N sets use tin cases.

How many wells do you actually need?

Fewer than you think. 12 wells is enough to build a full limited palette. 24 is where most artists land after a few years — it fits warm and cool versions of each primary plus earths and a neutral. I've seen 48-well palettes where half the colors haven't been touched in months. Start smaller than you think you need.

Portability

If you paint outside, anything over 400g (14oz) gets heavy fast. Check that the closure is secure — a palette that falls open in your bag ruins everything. The Koi series and Cotman Field sets both pass this test. For studio use, weight doesn't matter. Buy ceramic and stop worrying about it.

Read Our Palette Setup Guide →

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best watercolor palette for beginners?+
The Sakura Koi or Winsor & Newton Cotman are both solid starting points. The Koi comes with a water brush so you can paint immediately. The Cotman has better pigments but costs a bit more. If you already know you're serious about watercolor, skip both and get an empty ceramic palette with M. Graham paints — you'll end up there eventually anyway.
How many wells should my watercolor palette have?+
12 is enough to learn on. I painted with a 12-well palette for three years and didn't feel limited. Most artists settle at 24, which fits a warm/cool split of the primaries plus a few earths. More than 36 wells usually means colors that got mixed once and then forgotten.
Is ceramic better than plastic for watercolor palettes?+
For mixing, yes. Paint spreads flat on ceramic; on plastic it forms little domes. The trade-off is weight and fragility. I use ceramic at my desk and a plastic Koi for travel. If you only buy one, buy ceramic — your mixes will be cleaner from the start.
Can I put tube watercolors in a palette?+
Yes, and this is how most artists fill their own palettes. Squeeze tube paint into the wells and let it dry 24–48 hours before using it. Dried tube paint rewets the same way pan paint does. The wells might look underfilled when wet — the paint shrinks about 30% as it dries, so overfill slightly.
What's the difference between half pans and full pans?+
Half pans are about 19 × 30 mm. Full pans are double that. Most sets use half pans — they're big enough for a loaded brush, small enough to fit 24 of them in a portable palette. Full pans are useful if you go through a lot of one color, like a warm grey or a neutral tint you use constantly.
Why does my paint bead up in the mixing area?+
It's the plastic. Smooth plastic surfaces don't grip watercolor — the paint forms domes instead of spreading. You can fix it by sanding the mixing area with 400-grit sandpaper, which creates enough texture to hold the paint. Or just switch to a ceramic palette, which doesn't have this problem.
How do I clean a watercolor palette?+
Don't clean the wells between sessions — dried watercolor rewets perfectly and the leftover paint isn't wasted. Clean the mixing area with a damp cloth. For a deeper clean of the wells every few months, soak in warm water for 10 minutes and lift the old paint with a stiff brush. Skip soap in the wells; it leaves a residue that affects how paint spreads.
Are expensive watercolor palettes worth it?+
The container matters less than what's in it. A $12 ceramic plate from a kitchen store with professional-grade tube paints will outperform a $150 pre-filled set with dye-based pans. Spend your money on the paint first. Once you know which colors you use constantly, then upgrade the palette.

Related guides

tune

How to set up your palette

Color placement, well order, and the one layout change that reduced my muddy mixes immediately.

flight_takeoff

Best travel palettes

Palettes I've carried on planes and to outdoor sessions — tested in real conditions.

person

About the reviewer

Full testing methodology, the equipment I use, and my current personal palette.

Our #1 pick for most artists

The Holbein Artists’ Watercolor Sethas the best rewet behavior and cleanest mixing surface of anything I tested. If you paint regularly and want a palette you won’t need to replace, this is the one.

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