Which kind of color tool do you need?

Sometimes, simpler is better

You just need to pick a color occasionally.

If all you need is an occasional HEX or RGB value from your screen, macOS already includes Digital Color Meter. A lightweight menu bar picker may also do everything you need.

There's little reason to buy a larger application if those tools already solve the problem.

You want a quick color scheme or some inspiration.

Online palette generators are convenient for exploring combinations, discovering ideas, and sharing them with other people. Many are free and require no installation.

If you work with photographs or other sensitive material, check how the service handles your files. Some process images locally in your browser, while others upload them for processing.

Your colors never leave one application.

If you do all your design work in a single application, its built-in color controls and swatch management may be sufficient.

A separate tool becomes more useful when you need to collect colors from other sources, reuse palettes across applications, or export them in different formats.

When a dedicated color toolbox makes sense

The more you work with color, the more likely you are to encounter tasks that don't fit neatly into one application.

You might sample colors from a website, extract a palette from a photograph, combine those colors with an existing project, check whether a combination is readable, and then use the results in both a design application and a stylesheet.

None of those tasks is particularly unusual, but moving between separate tools, converting values, and keeping track of palettes can become inconvenient.

That's where a dedicated color toolbox can help.

When choosing one, I'd look beyond how many colors it can generate. Consider how easily you can edit individual swatches, work with existing files, organize your collections, and use the results elsewhere.

And consider what happens to your work if you eventually stop using the application.

Where Suisai fits

Suisai is a native macOS color toolbox designed for people who work with colors across different applications and projects.

It lets you sample colors from anywhere on your screen, extract palettes from photographs, create and edit individual swatches, explore harmonies and ramps, and experiment with spectral pigment mixing.

You can evaluate color contrast against WCAG 2.2 requirements, preview different types of color vision deficiency, and prepare colors for use in design and development projects.

Its Palette Library indexes files in the folders where they already live. You don't have to move your existing collections into a proprietary format or give up the ability to work with them in other applications.

Suisai also supports forty-three individual color code formats and thirteen whole-palette export formats, so the colors you create aren't confined to the application.

Everything runs locally on your Mac, without accounts, analytics, or uploaded images.

When Suisai might not be the right choice

You only need an occasional color value.

A free or lightweight picker may be more than enough. Suisai offers considerably more functionality, but there's no benefit in paying for features you won't use.

You want automatically suggested palettes based on trends or popular combinations.

Suisai calculates color harmonies and ramps from colors you choose, but it isn't a trend-discovery service or an AI-driven palette recommendation tool. If automatic inspiration is your priority, a dedicated generator may suit you better.

You need your palettes synchronized across multiple devices.

Suisai has no account or cloud synchronization service. You can work with palette files stored in locations you control, including folders synchronized by services you already use, but Suisai doesn't provide its own device-to-device synchronization.

You need an application for Windows, iPad, Android, or the web.

Suisai is designed for macOS 14 Sonoma and later, on Apple silicon and Intel Macs. There are no versions for other platforms.

You prefer a subscription service with cloud collaboration.

Suisai works with palette files stored in folders you control, including shared network locations. Multiple users can access a common palette collection without moving those files into a proprietary database. When a file changes externally, Suisai can update an open palette automatically, provided it has no unsaved changes. But at the moment this is completely limited to local internal network shares and not online.

Choosing what works for you

I built Suisai because I wanted the color tools I use regularly to work together, without having to move between several applications or surrender control of my files and data.

That's still the purpose of the application.

If your existing tools already do everything you need, keep using them. But if you're spending too much time collecting, converting, managing, or recreating colors across different projects, Suisai may be worth exploring.

You can see the complete feature set, watch the tools in action, and decide whether they suit the way you work.

Explore all Suisai's features →

Watch all the workflow examples →

See whether it suits the way you work.

Sample colors from anywhere on your Mac, extract palettes from photographs, build and edit them, check that they read, and take them into your design and development work. All in one native macOS application, with your files staying where you put them.

One purchase. No subscription. No account or analytics.

If Suisai isn't right for you, a full refund is available within 30 days for direct purchases via Paddle. No reason needed.

macOS 14 or later · Universal · One-time purchase