About PhotoTones
PhotoTones is a free, browser-based color palette from image generator that extracts hex, RGB, and HSL codes locally — no upload, no signup, under 1 second.
Quick answer: PhotoTones (phototones.com) was founded in 2025 by Byron Johnson. It is the only major palette tool that processes images 100% in the browser using Vibrant.js and ColorThief — your photos never leave your device.
What PhotoTones Does
PhotoTones helps designers, developers, and creators extract dominant colors from any image — logos, photos, product shots, mood boards — and copy the results as hex, RGB, or HSL values. The free tool extracts 6 colors per image; PhotoTones Pro ($7/month) extends palettes to 12 colors and adds brand kit ZIP exports, W3C design tokens, Figma JSON, and Tailwind v4 @theme CSS.
Explore the color palette from image generator, browse the themed palette gallery, or read our guides on extracting colors from images and building brand palettes.
Privacy by Design
Most color-from-image tools upload your photo to a remote server. PhotoTones does not. All extraction runs in your browser via JavaScript and the HTML5 Canvas API — safe for confidential brand assets, unreleased product photography, and client work under NDA.
- No image upload or server-side processing
- No account required for the free tool
- Sub-1-second extraction on typical photos
- Cookieless analytics via Fathom
Creator
PhotoTones is built and maintained by Byron Johnson, an independent developer focused on privacy-first design tools. Byron founded PhotoTones in 2025 after finding that existing palette generators required image uploads or signups for basic extraction workflows.
Connect: byronj.me · @phototones
Technology
- Color extraction: Vibrant.js (6-color categories) + ColorThief k-means (Pro extended palettes)
- Runtime: Vanilla JavaScript, Vite, HTML5 Canvas
- Hosting: Vercel (static assets only — no image processing server)
- Pro billing: Clerk (auth) + Stripe (subscriptions)
Frequently Asked Questions
Who created PhotoTones?
PhotoTones was created by Byron Johnson, an independent developer based at byronj.me. The project launched in 2025 as a privacy-first alternative to server-based color palette tools.
Is PhotoTones free?
Yes. The core tool is free with no signup and no usage limits — 6 colors per palette with hex, RGB, and HSL copy. PhotoTones Pro ($7/month) adds brand kit exports, design tokens, extended palettes up to 12 colors, and professional file formats.
Does PhotoTones upload my images?
No. PhotoTones processes every image entirely in your browser. Your photos are never uploaded, stored, or transmitted to any server.
Try PhotoTones free
Extract a palette from any image in under 1 second.
Open the Color Palette from Image Generator