Paint by numbers kits are sold almost identically and made to wildly different standards. The single thing that separates a relaxing evening from a frustrating one is whether the supplied paint covers the printed lines in one coat.
What we looked for
- Paint opacity — how many coats it takes to hide the printed numbers underneath.
- Canvas quality and tension, including whether it arrives creased beyond recovery.
- Print clarity in the small, dense regions where kits become unworkable.
- Brush quality, which is the most commonly cut corner and the cheapest to fix yourself.
Watch the full head-to-head
The ranked picks, the side-by-side comparisons and the ones that did not make the cut are all in the video version of this test.
How to choose
For a first kit, choose a simpler design with larger regions than you think you want. Detail looks impressive on the product photo and becomes tedious within an hour, and abandoning a half-finished canvas is the most common outcome for over-ambitious first purchases.
Assume you will replace the brushes. Even good kits include poor ones, and a small set of decent acrylic brushes costs little and improves the experience more than choosing a more expensive kit would.
Common questions
Do the printed numbers show through the paint?
On good kits, no, provided you use the paint at full opacity and do not thin it. On poor kits the print shows through even after two coats, particularly under light colours.
Can the paint dry out before you finish?
Acrylic pots supplied with kits can dry if left open or if the kit is old stock. Reseal firmly between sessions and add a drop of water to revive a slightly thickened pot.