How much of the paint aisle can actually be compared?
GlossAtlas will only set two finishes side by side if both manufacturers published a gloss figure at the same measurement angle (why that matters). This page asks how much of the paint aisle that rule actually leaves comparable, which is a question about the industry's documentation rather than about any one paint.
Who publishes what
| Brand | Finishes | 60° only | 85° only | Both angles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sherwin-Williams | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Benjamin Moore | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 |
| Behr | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Valspar | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
The pattern follows the measurement convention: glossmeters read mid-gloss finishes at 60° and near-flat finishes at 85°, so a brand's Flat and Matte are usually at 85° and its Semi-Gloss at 60°. The trouble is in the middle of the ladder, where a brand can choose either angle, and brands choose differently. This table reports what is published; it does not say a brand never measured the other angle.
Brand by brand
| Brands | Finish pairs | Comparable | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Behr and Sherwin-Williams | 64 | 48 | 75% |
| Behr and Benjamin Moore | 72 | 52 | 72% |
| Behr and Valspar | 64 | 52 | 81% |
| Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams | 72 | 46 | 64% |
| Benjamin Moore and Valspar | 72 | 45 | 63% |
| Sherwin-Williams and Valspar | 64 | 46 | 72% |
| All brand pairs | 408 | 289 | 71% |
Between 63% and 81% of the finish pairs for every brand pair are comparable, so the gaps are spread across the dataset rather than concentrated in one brand. The lowest share is Benjamin Moore with Valspar. Benjamin Moore, which publishes no finish at both angles, is in the two lowest.
Where it bites: same-named finishes
| Sheen name | Same-name pairs | Comparable |
|---|---|---|
| Flat | 13 | 13 |
| Matte | 8 | 8 |
| Eggshell | 12 | 12 |
| Pearl | 0 | 0 |
| Satin | 18 | 10 (56%) |
| Semi-Gloss | 24 | 24 |
Satin is the weak point: 10 of 18 Satin-to-Satin pairs can be compared. The brand-level picture is starker:
| Brands | Can their Satin finishes be compared? |
|---|---|
| Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore | No: no shared angle |
| Sherwin-Williams and Behr | No: no shared angle |
| Sherwin-Williams and Valspar | Yes, at 85° |
| Benjamin Moore and Behr | Yes, at 60° |
| Benjamin Moore and Valspar | Yes, at 60° |
| Behr and Valspar | Yes, at 60° |
So a very common question, "is brand A's Satin like brand B's Satin?", has no same-angle answer for some brand pairs, and a reader who sees two bare "Satin" figures from different angles cannot settle it by looking at them.
The full coverage map
Each cell is one finish: its published range and the angle it was published at. A dash means the line has no finish of that name in the dataset. Read across a row to see which lines can be compared directly (same angle) and which cannot (different angle).
| Sheen name | Behr Marquee | Behr Premium Plus | Benjamin Moore Aura | Benjamin Moore Regal Select | Sherwin-Williams Duration Home | Sherwin-Williams Emerald | Valspar Signature | Valspar Ultra |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flat | — | 0–5 @ 60° · 0–5 @ 85° | — | 1–4 @ 85° | 0–5 @ 60° · 1–5 @ 85° | 0–4 @ 85° | 0–5 @ 60° · 0–7 @ 85° | 0–6 @ 85° |
| Matte | 2–5 @ 60° · 2–5 @ 85° | — | 3–6 @ 85° | 3–5 @ 85° | 2–7 @ 85° | 0–5 @ 60° · 4–8 @ 85° | — | — |
| Eggshell | 7–13 @ 60° · 16–22 @ 85° | 7–12 @ 60° · 17–22 @ 85° | 10–22 @ 85° | 15–22 @ 85° | — | — | 12–22 @ 85° | 10–20 @ 85° |
| Pearl | — | — | — | 20–30 @ 60° | — | — | — | — |
| Satin | 15–25 @ 60° | 15–25 @ 60° | 28–38 @ 60° | — | 15–20 @ 85° | 10–20 @ 85° | 20–30 @ 60° · 35–40 @ 85° | 22–32 @ 60° |
| Semi-Gloss | 45–55 @ 60° | 45–55 @ 60° | 50–60 @ 60° | 50–60 @ 60° | 35–45 @ 60° | 35–45 @ 60° | 40–55 @ 60° | 41–51 @ 60° |
What GlossAtlas does when there is no shared angle
It looks for a different finish at the other brand that does share an angle, and ranks those by closeness. That is why Sherwin-Williams Emerald Satin (85° only) is answered with Benjamin Moore Aura Eggshell: Aura Satin is published at 60° only, so it cannot be placed beside Emerald Satin. What it does not do is convert one angle to the other. Real finishes do not move between the two angles by one reliable ratio, so any converted number would be invented. The cost of that choice is the 29% above; the benefit is that nothing shown is made up. See the worked example, Emerald Satin to Benjamin Moore.
Reading limits
- A finish pair counts once. A pair sharing both angles is one comparable pair, though it supports two same-angle readings.
- Interior lines only. Exterior and specialty lines are not in the dataset, so the percentages describe these 8 interior lines, not every product.
- Documentation, not performance. This measures what is printed on data sheets.