The Best Miniature Paint Sets (2026) - Ranked by Value

Most "best paint set" lists are one person's favourites. This one is arithmetic: we track every paint set with its exact contents and current price, so we can rank them by what actually matters for value - how much you pay per millilitre of paint. The table below covers the full catalogue and updates as prices change.

How the ranking works

For every set we count the paints inside (from the actual contents list, not the marketing blurb), multiply by the range's standard pot size, and divide the current price by the total millilitres. Cheapest per ml wins; the price per paint is shown alongside. Three honest caveats:

• Pot size drives the ranking as much as price. Vallejo bottles are 17ml, Army Painter's are 18ml, Scalecolor Artist tubes 20ml, Speedpaint Markers just 6ml, and Vallejo Premium a whopping 60ml - the pot column shows what each row assumes.
• Some sets bundle gear - a brush, primer, an airbrush or a miniature. That's real value the per-ml figure doesn't credit (and an airbrush in the box skews it badly), so the extras column calls it out.
• Cheap per ml isn't the same as right for you. Six shades of green is superb value and useless if you needed a starter spread. The picks below the table weigh that in.

The full ranking

Our picks

Cheapest millilitre of paint: big bottles win

Top of the table are Vallejo Premium Color sets at around 8p/ml - the 60ml bottle does the work. The honest caveat: Premium is a pre-thinned airbrush paint aimed at large surfaces, not a brush-painter's miniature range. The best value in ordinary miniature paint comes right behind: Vallejo Model Air's 6-paint camouflage sets and Green Stuff World's themed 6- and 8-paint sets at 10-12p/ml (£1.70-£2.20 per paint) - about half what you'd pay buying pots individually. The catch is focus: each is built around one idea (a colour family, one army's palette, one vehicle scheme). Perfect for topping up a collection; not a first buy.

Best first set: Vallejo Game Color Introduction

Sixteen paints at around £2.40 each, and - unlike the themed sets - it's a genuine spread: base colours, a wash and a metallic in dropper bottles that won't dry out. The Game Color Introduction Set is the strongest answer to "I have no paints, what do I buy?" The Warpaints Fanatic Starter Set runs it close and throws in primer, a brush and a practice miniature - less paint per pound, more complete kit.

Best speedpaint set: start small

Counter-intuitive but true in the current prices: the 10-colour Speedpaint Starter Set is cheaper per millilitre than the 50-colour Mega Set (about 17p/ml vs 18.6p). Bigger boxes are not automatically better value - check the table before assuming bulk wins. If you know you want the lot, the Mega Set is still the sensible ceiling for most painters; see our best contrast paints guide for how speedpaints compare with Citadel Contrast.

Read the extras column on the "worst value" rows

The very bottom of the table is sets that bundle hardware - an airbrush in the box makes the per-ml figure meaningless - plus the Speedpaint Markers, where you're paying for the nib delivery system, not the 6ml of paint inside. The genuinely expensive paint is Scale75's Scalecolor range at around 17p/ml: gorgeous ultra-matte artist tubes, but you pay for it.

Where's Citadel?

Our price tracking covers Wayland Games, which doesn't stock Games Workshop - so Citadel sets don't appear in the table. For comparison, Citadel paints run £3-£4.75 per pot bought individually, and the pots are 12ml - that's roughly 25-40p per millilitre, two to three times the price of anything in the top half of the table, in a pot that dries out faster than a dropper bottle. If you paint Warhammer, nothing stops you using Vallejo or Army Painter colours - the paint matcher converts any Citadel recipe to the brand you actually own. For which range suits you, see the best paint for miniatures.

Getting the most from a set

• Dropper bottles stretch further - you dispense drops instead of dipping into an open pot, and nothing skins over.
• A set plus one wash beats a bigger set. A single dark shade does more for your painting than five extra colours; see washes and shades.
• Check the exact contents before buying - every set page on this site lists each paint with a swatch, so you're never guessing what's in the box.
• Starting from zero? The starter kit guide covers the rest of the gear you need beyond paint.