Sherwin-Williams vs. Benjamin Moore – Whose Paint Is Better?

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So, you have decided that you are ready to repaint your home and after hours of paint research, you have found two of the most respected paint brands on the market: Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore. The Sherwin-Williams vs. Benjamin Moore debate has been a hot topic in the paint industry for years, but the reality is that each brand has its place depending on your needs. Below, we have provided all the information needed to ensure that you make an educated decision.

Background on Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore

Before we can decide on a conclusion of the Sherwin-Williams vs. Benjamin Moore debate, it is important to know what each company has to offer. It would also help if we had more information about each respective company and what they have to offer. Below, we have provided more information about each paint brand and what it has to offer.

Sherwin-Williams

Based in Cleveland, Ohio, Sherwin-Williams Company is principally involved in the production, sale, and distribution of paints, floor coverings, coatings, and other relevant goods to professional, retail, commercial, and industrial consumers. The company has been around since 1866 and was established by Henry Sherwin, A.T. Osborn, and Edward Williams.

What makes Sherwin-Williams such a notable company is that it was among the first companies to start selling ready-mixed paint in a market where people had mixed the paint themselves.

This was followed by a series of innovations such as Kem-Tone, which is a water-based quick-drying paint designed for interior use, and the first microbicidal paint in 2016.

Benjamin Moore

Benjamin Moore & Co., better known as Benjamin Moore, was founded in 1883 by Benjamin Moore, William Moore, and Robert Moore. The company is headquartered in Montvale, New Jersey, but it was established in Brooklyn, New York. Over the years, the paint company amassed an incredible reputation for offering a broad range of products that have pioneered the industry.

Benjamin Moore is also responsible for introducing one of the first digital color-matching systems that discarded the use of color chips while simultaneously expanding the available color choices to the public.

However, one of its greatest innovations was born in 2007 when Gennex Color Technology was introduced. This combined proprietary resin and colorant systems cooperate to remove surfactants. Ultimately, this enhances color performance as well as durability with no VOCs (volatile organic compounds).

The Differences Between Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore

As is the case with any rival companies, there are distinct differences between Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore. Below, you will find a table that will allow you to compare the differences between the brands.

Product Lines and Offerings

Both Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore offer a variety of paint lines that will help you with different projects. These range from products designed for exterior and interior use, there are also primers, stains, and specialty paints available too. Before we continue the Sherwin-Williams vs. Benjamin Moore debate, we need to look at the products that both brands offer.

Benjamin Moore Product Lines

If you are asking yourself, “is Benjamin Moore good paint?”, then you are in the right place. We have taken the liberty to provide you with all of the necessary information regarding the different product lines offered by Benjamin Moore.

Benjamin Moore: Advance Interior and Exterior

Advance’s key selling point is its waterborne technology, which lowers VOCs. It is a terrific paint for trim, doors, and cabinets, with good adherence, leveling, and application ease. Both the interior and exterior compounds dry to a durable, furniture-quality finish that is resistant to frequent cleaning.

They also offer superb covering and concealment.

Advance Interior is available in high gloss, semi-gloss, satin, matte, and primer, whereas Advance Exterior is only available in high gloss.

Benjamin Moore: Ben

The Ben series is the brand’s most affordable option, yet it still provides a high-quality finish. As it does not provide the same level of coverage as the premium product lines, you will probably need to apply additional coats. Despite this, it is very easy to apply, has a clean finish, and includes no VOCs in its interior formulas.

The exterior paint is weather resistant, has leveling technology, and provides outstanding retention of color and coverage. The inside paint is long-lasting and resistant to spattering.

The Ben interior line is available in semi-gloss, eggshell, and flat finishes. Soft gloss, low luster, and flat, are some of the exterior finishes available.

Benjamin Moore: Regal Select

Regal Select achieves comparable outcomes to Aura yet at a reduced cost. It is a paint/primer mix that comes in both exterior and interior formulae. Regal Select is designed to be simple to apply and clean. The paint range comes in an array of sheens and has a consistent finish.

Ultimately, Regal Select interior paints are available in semi-gloss, pearl, eggshell, matte, and flat finishes. Regal Select exterior coatings include MoorGlo (soft gloss), MoorGard (low luster), and MoorLife (flat).

Benjamin Moore: Aura

Benjamin Moore’s premium paint line is called Aura. It is a paint/primer combination that is available in both exterior and interior applications and is praised for its excellent coverage, outstanding finish, and excellent hide. Color depth is excellent owing to Gennex Color Technology, and the paint is resistant to fading, mildew, and scuffs.

The interior paint is difficult to remove, and the exterior range comes with a limited lifetime guarantee.

Semi-gloss, satin, eggshell, and matte finishes are available in Aura interior paint. Aura exterior paint comes in semi-gloss, satin, low luster, and flat finishes.

Sherwin-Williams Product Lines

We cannot have a Sherwin-Williams vs. Benjamin Moore showdown without mentioning the product lines offered by the former. If you are thinking about whether Sherwin-Williams paint is good, you will be able to decide once you see the product lines available.

Sherwin-Williams: Latitude

This is an enhanced variant of Sherwin-Williams Resilience, which is being phased out. It is moisture resistant and may be used on wood and vinyl siding, various wood or wood composite surfaces, metal, and masonry. It is dirt and mildew resistant, has a good hide, and lasts quite a while.

The exterior paint is available in gloss, satin, and flat finishes.

Sherwin-Williams: Captivate

Every brand needs a budget product, and Captivate is the Sherwin-Williams brand’s low-cost option. It has a paint and primer mixture, is simple to apply, and has minimal VOCs. However, despite having primer-based paint, you will need to apply many coats. Semi-gloss, satin, and flat sheens are offered for interior paint.

Sherwin-Williams: Cashmere

Cashmere by Sherwin-Williams is a renowned interior paint that has an incredibly smooth feel. It applies smoothly and cures with a rich gloss that appears to be expensive despite the low price of the paint.

You will be able to scrub it without harming the surface to keep it clean and aesthetically pleasing.

This range comes in medium luster, pearl, eggshell, low luster, and flat finishes.

Sherwin-Williams: Duration

The paint that you would want to choose for areas with significant traffic outside or inside your home is Duration. This paint provides mildew protection for exterior as well as interior formulas. Antimicrobial ingredients in the inside paint defend against the development of mildew. It also prevents stains and makes them simple to remove.

The exterior version prevents buckling and warping on vinyl siding, as well as chipping, blistering, and flaking.

Duration interior finishes include semi-gloss, matte, stain, and flat. The exterior formula comes in gloss, satin, low luster, and flat finishes.

Sherwin-Williams: Emerald

Emerald is a high-end Sherwin-Williams paint that comes in both interior and exterior formulae. It is most similar to Aura, provided by Benjamin Moore. This coating and primer combination is durable, washable, and offers excellent hide for darker colors.

It resists stains, mildew growth, and water streaks, due to the use of an antimicrobial component.

The exterior is well-known for providing coverage with significantly fewer coats. It comes in the Rain Refresh formula, which is meant to resist dirt during heavy rain. Emerald interior paints are available in semi-gloss, matte, satin, and flat finishes. Emerald exterior paints are available in gloss, satin, and flat finishes.

Sherwin-Williams: SuperPaint

SuperPaint comes with paint and primer for excellent coverage and hide. It is available in both exterior and interior formulations and has an easy-to-apply, quick-drying, and silky look. The interior paint may be scrubbed without losing its luster, while the exterior version of the paint is intended to withstand the elements’ assault.

Interior SuperPaint can be purchased in semi-gloss, velvet, satin, and flat finishes. The exterior paint is available in high gloss, gloss, satin, low luster, and flat finishes.

Direct Comparisons

It can be very difficult to compare Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore paints. This is largely due to the different names that the brands have adopted for their products. Fortunately, there are plenty of different factors to consider, which we have taken the liberty of doing to help you decide if Benjamin Moore is better than Sherwin-Williams or vice versa.

Colors

More interior designers have leaned toward using Benjamin Moore paints than Sherwin-Williams. However, it was noted that both brands have their respective strengths and weaknesses.

Sherwin-Williams excels in providing earthier tones of beige and gray, while Benjamin Moore offers more vibrant colors. Ultimately, it depends on your goals, as neither brand is a clear-cut victor in this department.

Climate Versatility

When it comes down to withstanding heat and humidity, Benjamin Moore’s Aura and Regal Select both perform very well. However, the SuperPaint and Duration product lines offer similar performance in hot climates. Both brands offer quick-drying paints that can be used in different climates.

Both Aura by Benjamin Moore and Emerald by Sherwin-Williams are designed to withstand the harshest weather. So, it ultimately comes down to your preference as a painter.

Cost

When comparing identical products, Benjamin Moore costs somewhat more than Sherwin-Williams house paint. As previously said, both companies sell a variety of both exterior and interior paint lines such as Duration, Emerald, and Cashmere.

Superpaint by Sherwin-Williams is what experts regard to be the best blend of both cost and quality in any paint.

When looking at the overall cost, Benjamin Moore costs an average of $57 per gallon, whereas if you are wondering how much a gallon of Sherwin-Williams paint costs, it could set you back $53 per gallon. The Sherwin-Williams paint cost is also spread out evenly as it has more available product lines that cater to more customers.

Surfaces

Both brands can be used on multiple surfaces from wood to metal and everything in between. Since Sherwin-Williams has more products in its product line, it is only natural that there are more variations of exterior and interior paints available.

When it comes to suitability, both brands do very well when it comes to exterior and interior use, and many industry experts will recommend that you choose the brand that matches the color best.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

VOCs are chemicals that evaporate into the air when paint dries. These chemicals, as per the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), can induce irritation to the respiratory tract, headaches and migraines, and nausea. More serious consequences could involve damage to the kidneys and liver. Certain chemicals are known to cause cancer and tumors in animals and have been suggested of doing so in people.

VOCs in paint typically disperse fast after drying; however, certain paints can emit VOCs for up to six months. It is critical to take precautions to limit exposure, or choose paints with no VOCs to be safe.

Benjamin Moore provides both zero VOC and low VOC paints. Sherwin-Williams also sells low-VOC paint, but there is just one zero-VOC paint variation with EcoSelect Zero VOC Interior Latex.

Quality and Performance

You can easily walk into a paint retailer or hardware store, and pick up a gallon of paint without any expectations. However, the performance of the paint is incredibly important. We have provided some more information that will help you to decide the victor of the Sherwin-Williams vs. Benjamin Moore debate.

Coverage and Durability

Quality, longevity, as well as paint coverage efficiency, are three elements that most homeowners look for in paint. They seek something that looks great, lasts a long time, and covers as much ground as possible. That is what Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore excel at, which is why they are the market’s two most popular paints.

Property owners must know that lower-quality paints do not cover the same amount of square footage per gallon, do not last as long, are not as easily cleanable, and simply do not have the same visual appeal, which can have a significant influence on value.

To ensure that you get the most coverage, you should look for paint that has a higher rate of volume solids. However, these are generally more expensive.

The tables below will display the volume solid rates, and those that are not available in a specific finish will not display the value. This will answer the question, “is Sherwin-Williams paint good?”

Exterior Volume Solids

Interior Volume Solids

Ease of Use

Ease-of-use depends on the skill of the painter, but for argument’s sake, we will assume that you are a novice painter. It will be much easier for you to use thicker and more premium paints when compared to cheap paint.

Cheap paint tends to splatter and run, which makes it more difficult to use.

Both Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore are renowned for their high-quality paints that are thick and easy to use.

Color Quality

Paint fades when exposed to the environment, particularly UV radiation. The good news is that Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore have created fade-resistant formulations for both exterior and interior paints, allowing them to retain their color for an extended period of time.

Surfaces will not only look fantastic for years to come, but the property will keep more value and will not need to be redone as frequently as areas painted with a lower-quality product.

Both firms have developed coloring techniques that allow the dye to blend seamlessly with the other components of the paint. Speaking of colors, there are plenty of options to choose from and you can create a plan for every room in your home, both inside and out.

Price and Value

We have mentioned the average cost of paint from both companies; however, is it worth it? We know that Sherwin-Williams is slightly cheaper, but the $4 average price difference is not enough to be a determining factor, especially if your priority is quality.

Sherwin-Williams Cost

The table below indicates the typical Sherwin-Williams paint price per gallon and does not reflect what professionals may negotiate or purchase in bulk, which can add discounts to a project. However, you will never need to wonder how much a gallon of Sherwin-Williams paint costs again. The cost for these paints will differ based on the components used.

Benjamin Moore Cost

Benjamin Moore paint prices will change based on the economy, including supply and demand as well as the price of the materials used in the paints. Nevertheless, the table below provides a decent indication of the present market price per gallon.

Is the Price Fair?

The price of these paints are vastly similar and each product will do what you expect it to. In this sense, you will get what you pay for and that is a premium paint that will last long and provide you with an excellent finish. While Benjamin Moore paints have low to no VOCs, the same cannot be said for Sherwin-Williams products.

However, Sherwin-Williams has more to offer when it comes to choosing a product as the team will provide you with a free 30-minute consultation as well, but more on that later.

Customer Service and Support

Both companies have just acquired the JD Power Award, and this attests to their high quality. JD Power, a global authority on consumer insights and data research, voted Sherwin-Williams first in satisfaction among consumers with exterior paints and stains. Benjamin Moore scored tops regarding the satisfaction of customers who purchased interior paint.

Customer service was divided between Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore, according to the painting contractors we spoke with. It appears to be greatly dependent on the management and personnel at specific locations. When it comes down to the available online tools you can use, Sherwin-Williams has more to offer as the ColorSnap Visualizer has been a favorite for most clients, so is Sherwin-Williams paint good or is Benjamin Moore better?

It looks like the Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore debate will continue, but this is a good thing. It is rare to find two brands that are passionate about their respective products that continue to challenge each other to this degree. Nevertheless, both brands have something unique to offer, and depending on your project, you will find what you are looking for.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Is a Gallon of Sherwin-Williams Paint?

Compared to Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams paint is slightly cheaper at a cost of $53 per gallon compared to $57 per gallon for the former. However, you can also get your hands on the SuperPaint series of paint offered by Sherwin-Williams, which retails at $48 per gallon. This is the typical Sherwin-Williams paint cost, but you can expect prices to vary depending on where you are.

Is Benjamin Moore Good Paint?

If you are wondering if Sherwin-Williams paint is good,  then you are correct. However. Benjamin Moore is one of the only brands that has been able to match the quality of Sherwin-Williams and it has become a staple in the painting industry.

Is Benjamin Moore Better Than Sherwin-Williams Paint?

Both brands have their respective strengths and weaknesses; however, as a DIYer, it is better to go with the more cost-effective option, which is Benjamin Moore. With this brand, you will also have access to more colors and a more durable finish. This does not mean that Benjamin Moore is better than Sherwin-Williams; it simply means that you will have a better experience as a first-time user.

Rebecca Fleming( Interior Designer, Crafting Maniac, Content Editor )

Rebecca has been a crafting maniac since childhood. One of her great passions is also decorating and furnishing. She has a degree in English and Communications (BA) from Cornell University in New York. After graduating and working at a local art gallery, Rebecca discovered her enthusiasm for art and design. During this time she continued her education in interior design with a recognized certificate from an institute in New York. Since 2020 she has been writing blog posts about the topics crafting, home decor, interior design and color theory at craft-art.com. Meanwhile, she is also the senior content editor with us. Working as a content writer and editor for Craft Art perfectly allows her to combine her fluency with her affinity for art and design.

Learn more about Rebecca Fleming and about us.