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Pie Chart Color Palettes

20 curated color sets for pie charts, each with copyable hex codes and a one-click Use in generator link. Includes colorblind safe palettes, dark mode sets, and palettes built for 10 to 13 segments.

The short answer

For most pie charts, use 6 or fewer slices with the Okabe-Ito accessible palette: #E69F00, #56B4E9, #009E73, #F0E442, #0072B2, #D55E00. It is colorblind safe, high contrast on white, and holds up in print. For formal reports, use one hue in lightness steps (monochrome blue below). Every palette on this page can be applied to your own data in the free generator with one click.

Accessible and Colorblind Safe Palettes

About 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have a color vision deficiency, most often red-green. These palettes stay distinguishable for deuteranopia, protanopia, and tritanopia viewers. Copy the hex codes directly or apply the set in the generator.

Okabe-Ito (the research standard)

Designed by Okabe and Ito for scientific charts. Safe for all three common types of color blindness.

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Paul Tol Bright

From Paul Tol's color schemes for scientific data. High contrast on white backgrounds.

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IBM Design Library

IBM's accessible categorical palette. Works in both light and dark UIs.

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Paul Tol Vibrant

Brighter variant tuned for screens and projectors.

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Best Overall Pie Chart Color Combinations

Balanced sets with clear separation between neighboring slices. These are the combinations we see exported most often in the generator.

Classic Chart.js

The default set from the generator. Familiar and readable.

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Corporate

Saturated primaries for business reports.

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Retro Pop

Warm terracotta and teal. Strong on slides.

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Jewel Tones

Deep emerald, sapphire, and ruby. Reads as premium.

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Ocean

Single-hue blues, ordered dark to light.

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Sunset

Reds through gold. Good for urgency or heat data.

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Dark Mode Friendly Palettes

On dark backgrounds, dark navy and forest slices disappear. These sets keep every slice above roughly 40 percent lightness so they hold up on #1E1E1E or #0F172A backgrounds.

Neon on Dark

High-saturation brights built for dashboards.

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Soft Glow

Muted pastels that avoid glare on dark UIs.

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Electric

Cyan, magenta, lime. Maximum separation between slices.

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Palettes for 10 to 13 Segments

Most palettes fall apart past 8 slices because hues start repeating. These sets keep 10 to 13 distinct colors by alternating hue and lightness. If you have more than 13 categories, group the smallest into an Other slice instead.

12-Hue Wheel

Twelve evenly spaced hues at matched saturation.

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13-Color Alternating

Alternates warm and cool so neighbors never blend.

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Crayon Box 10

From the generator's Crayon Box palette. Friendly, classroom ready.

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Gold and Monochrome Combinations

Single-hue and metallic sets read as elegant and print cleanly in grayscale. Order slices largest to smallest and shade dark to light so the hierarchy survives without color.

Gold and Charcoal

Metallic golds against near-black. Awards, finance, luxury.

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Monochrome Gray

From the generator's Print Friendly palette. Safe for any laser printer.

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Monochrome Blue

One hue, six lightness steps. The safest professional choice.

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Navy and Gold

Two-family palette for formal reports and certificates.

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Pie Chart Color Questions

Make a pie chart with any of these palettes

The generator is free, needs no signup, and exports PNG, JPEG, SVG, and PDF.