Best Interior Paints

Here are the top five paints from our tests. For more information on how to shop for paint, see our paint buying guide. To see more paint options, check out our full interior paint ratings, which include more than a dozen lines of paint, including those below, along with Benjamin Moore, Kilz, PPG, and others. And if you’re thinking about painting the outside of your house, check our exterior paint ratings.

The paint formulas you see in our ratings are nontinted base paints (paint before the color is added). Each base paint goes through two tests to determine how well it can cover dark colors and how well it resists stains. This year we also started testing direct-to-consumer paint formulas in each brand’s whitest white. We’ll be revealing those test results soon.

To evaluate how well a paint formula hides darker colors, we apply one consistent coat to cardstock that has been painted black. After that coat dries, we use a colorimeter to measure how well the paint has covered the darker shade.

For stain resistance, our testers apply paint to a plastic panel. After it dries, we apply coffee and a substance similar to soot in a strip and allow the combination to dry. We wash the painted panels, then use a colorimeter to measure the color of the paint on the rinsed areas. The closer the cleaned portions are to the original coat, the more stain-resistant the paint.

These two tests are the most crucial when it comes to longevity and ease of application. If the paint hides well, there’s no need to use a primer.

“We don’t want you to get a paint with great hiding performance that might be fantastic when you first apply the paint but then becomes a burden to live with because it constantly requires retouching,” Wang says.

All of the paints in our ratings recently underwent testing to determine performance. Because manufacturers change paint formulas often, we test yearly to make sure we’re bringing you results that match what’s currently available on store shelves.