PNG Gradient Palette Generator

Samples evenly-spaced points along a 2 to 6 stop color gradient and renders them as a horizontal strip of discrete, uniformly-colored swatches, returning each swatch's hex code alongside the downloadable PNG. A free online tool from Staaarter, right in your browser.

Runs locallyUpdated 2026-07-26

Overview

Introduction

This tool turns a multi-stop color gradient into a practical palette: a strip of discrete, evenly-sampled swatches with their hex codes, generated entirely in your browser.

It's built for design work where you need a fixed set of usable colors rather than an infinite, continuous blend.

What Is PNG Gradient Palette Generator?

A pure pixel generator that treats 2 to 6 hex colors as gradient stops, samples a chosen number of evenly-spaced points along that gradient, and renders each sampled color as its own solid 64x64 pixel swatch.

It also returns the resulting hex color for every swatch, making it easy to reuse the exact values elsewhere.

How PNG Gradient Palette Generator Works

The tool first validates the color stops and the requested step count, then computes each step's position (from 0 to 1) evenly across the gradient defined by the stops.

For each step, it finds the appropriate segment between two consecutive color stops and linearly interpolates the RGB value at that exact position, then paints a uniform 64x64 square of that color into the output strip.

When To Use PNG Gradient Palette Generator

Use it when you need a discrete, limited color palette derived from a smooth gradient, such as a themed UI palette or a set of chart series colors.

It's also handy for turning two or three brand colors into a wider, evenly-spaced set of usable intermediate shades.

Features

Advantages

  • Gives you exact, reusable hex codes for every swatch, not just a visual gradient.
  • Supports up to 32 discrete steps for fine-grained palettes.
  • Runs entirely client-side with no external dependencies.

Limitations

  • Swatches are always a fixed 64x64 pixel size and laid out in a single horizontal row.
  • Sampling points are always evenly spaced; there's no way to concentrate steps around a particular part of the gradient.

Examples

5-step warm palette

Input

colors=[#FF512F, #F09819], steps=5

Output

A 320x64 PNG with 5 swatches evenly sampled between orange-red and golden orange, plus 5 hex codes

With only 2 stops, all 5 steps fall along a single interpolation segment.

8-step brand palette

Input

colors=[#6A00F4, #E100FF, #00C2FF], steps=8

Output

A 512x64 PNG with 8 swatches sampled across the two segments formed by the 3 stops, plus 8 hex codes

Steps landing past the midpoint of the gradient are interpolated within the second stop-to-stop segment.

Best Practices & Notes

Best Practices

  • Choose a step count that matches how many distinct colors you actually need, rather than always maxing out at 32.
  • Copy the returned hex codes directly rather than eyeballing colors from the swatch image, for pixel-perfect accuracy.

Developer Notes

The gradient-sampling and swatch-rendering logic is a pure, DOM-free lib function operating on a plain pixel buffer, reimplementing its own local segment-interpolation helper independently of the continuous-gradient tool so each stays self-contained and unit-testable; only the component paints the result onto a <canvas>.

PNG Gradient Palette Generator Use Cases

  • Building a themed UI color palette from a few brand colors
  • Generating evenly-spaced chart or data-visualization series colors
  • Turning a two-color gradient into a set of intermediate shade swatches

Common Mistakes

  • Requesting more than 6 color stops, which is rejected — this tool caps at 6 gradient stops.
  • Assuming swatches blend into each other — each swatch is a flat, uniform color block with no internal gradient.

Tips

  • Use fewer steps (4-6) for a curated palette, or more steps (16-32) when you need fine gradation for something like a heatmap legend.
  • Pair with the Color Step Generator when you only need to interpolate between exactly two colors.

References

Frequently Asked Questions