Free screen color picker. No install.
Pick any pixel anywhere on your screen — even outside the browser, even on another monitor. Works in every modern browser. Zero install. Zero permissions.
Pick a color — instant, picks from anywhere on screen (even outside the browser).
Screenshot — when you need to pick from another tab without losing focus.
#171717 rgb(23, 23, 23) hsl(0, 0%, 9%) oklch(22.04% 0.0000 0.0) Recent palette (0)
Click Choose what to capture below. Your browser will show its picker for screens, windows, or tabs.
One quick heads-up
How screen capture works
After you click Continue, your browser will switch focus to the window you're sharing. Press Alt + Tab to come back here — your captured frame will be waiting.
Built-in alternatives
Why not just use your OS's color picker?
Windows
Windows ships PowerToys Color Picker (Win+Shift+C) — solid but requires installing PowerToys. Legacy Magnifier shows pixel colors but the UI is clunky.
Screen Color Picker wins on: zero install, OKLCH output, palette history.
macOS
macOS ships Digital Color Meter — pixel-accurate but only HEX/RGB, no HSL or OKLCH, and the UI is locked to 1989. Sip and ColorSnapper cost $10–25.
Screen Color Picker wins on: cost (free), modern UI, 4-format output.
Linux
GNOME ships Color Picker as a built-in app; KDE has KColorChooser.
Both work but require navigating to a separate app every time.
gpick is good but is a heavyweight install.
Screen Color Picker wins on: works in any browser, instant via P shortcut.
Real scenarios
When a screen color picker actually wins.
🎨
Inspecting design files in Figma desktop
Sample from the canvas without copying objects out.
💻
Cloning a UI from your IDE
Pick a Slack accent, paste into your Tailwind config.
📺
Branding from a paused video frame
Grab a streaming service's brand color in one click.
📊
Matching colors across monitors
Verify the same hex renders identically on each display.
📄
Pulling colors from a PDF
Brand audit a competitor's PDF deck without screenshotting.
🖼️
Sampling from any desktop app
Photoshop, Lightroom, OBS — anything visible is fair game.
FAQ
Screen color picker FAQ
How do I pick a color from my screen on Windows?
Open Screen Color Picker in Chrome, Edge, or Brave, and click 'Pick a color'. Your cursor becomes an eyedropper across all monitors — sample from Visual Studio, Photoshop, a Steam game, anywhere. No need for the legacy Windows Magnifier or third-party tools like Just Color Picker.
Is there a free color picker that works on Mac?
Yes — Screen Color Picker. macOS ships Digital Color Meter built-in but it only supports HEX/RGB and has a clunky UI. Screen Color Picker runs in Safari (Screenshot mode) or Chrome (live mode) with HEX, RGB, HSL, and OKLCH output. Free and zero install — no need to pay $10 for Sip or ColorSnapper.
What about Linux? Does Screen Color Picker work there?
Yes. Screen Color Picker works on Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, Arch, Mint, and any Linux distro that runs Chrome / Chromium / Brave / Edge. The EyeDropper API integrates with X11 and Wayland natively, sampling any visible pixel across your monitors.
Can I pick colors from another monitor?
Yes. When you click 'Pick a color', the browser hands control to the OS — your cursor becomes a system-wide eyedropper. Just move it to whatever monitor has the color you want and click. The browser doesn't need focus on that monitor.
What's the difference between a screen color picker and an image color picker?
Image color pickers only work on files you've uploaded — useless if you want to sample a color from a YouTube video, a streaming app, your IDE, or another desktop app. Screen color pickers work on whatever's visible on your screen right now, regardless of source. Screen Color Picker does both: live screen sampling (EyeDropper API) plus Screenshot mode for capturing any window's contents.
Coming from a Chrome extension? See the ColorZilla comparison