Last Updated on October 6, 2026
Glidden is not one paint. It is a name on at least four different interior products that sell for $25.98, $30.98 and $35.98 a gallon, and they do not perform the same.
Most Glidden paint reviews compare a brand to a brand, which settles nothing. Compare the right tiers against each other and something awkward turns up: Glidden’s best interior paint and Behr’s cheapest interior paint lay down exactly the same amount of dry film, from the same wet film, at the same spread rate. Both numbers land at 1.6 mils.
Who makes Glidden paint
PPG. It bought the business on April 1, 2013, for $1.05 billion.
The colors came with it. Pick up a Glidden can at Home Depot today and the code on the label is a PPG number: PPG1001-1 Delicate White, PPG0993-3 Gosling Gray, PPG1011-4 UFO. Glidden colors are PPG colors, mixed on PPG machines, from PPG colorant. The fan deck a 2009 forum thread complains about is not the fan deck on the shelf.
The four Glidden interior tiers
| Tier | Sheens | Claimed coverage | 1 gallon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glidden Essentials | Flat, eggshell, semi-gloss | 300 to 400 sq ft | $25.98 |
| Glidden Premium | Flat, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss | Up to 400 sq ft | $30.98 |
| Glidden Diamond | Flat, eggshell, semi-gloss | Up to 400 sq ft | $35.98 |
Essentials is a builder-grade paint: three sheens, no satin, and a claimed spread of 300 to 400 square feet per gallon rather than a flat up-to-400. Premium is the middle, zero-VOC in the base, washable, with a mildew-resistant claim. Diamond is the one carrying the scuff-protection and one-coat claims on the label, and it is only $10 above the bottom of the range.
There is also a ceiling version of Diamond, a cabinet, door and trim enamel, and a Kitchen & Bath line, which matter if you are shopping for ceiling paint or cabinet paint rather than walls.
Glidden vs Behr, measured
Pick one sheen, eggshell, and measure every can at the same 4.0 mils wet.
| Eggshell paint | Dry film | Volume solids | VOC, white base | 1 gallon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glidden Diamond | 1.6 mils | About 40% | 0 g/L | $35.98 |
| Behr Premium Plus | 1.6 mils | About 40% | Under 5 g/L | $37.98 |
| Behr Marquee | 1.8 mils | 44% plus or minus 2 | 32 to 49 g/L | $56.98 |
Glidden Diamond and Behr Premium Plus both dry to 1.6 mils in eggshell. Same wet film, same 400 square feet per gallon, same finished thickness, and the Glidden can costs $2.00 less.
Marquee is the paint that genuinely clears both. It builds 1.8 mils in eggshell, at 44 percent solids give or take two. That is roughly 12 percent more film than either paint above. It also costs $56.98, which is 58 percent more than Diamond.
So, is Glidden paint good? In its top tier it is the same class of paint as the entry tier of the brand that beats it in every forum thread on this subject, and the gap to the expensive Behr is an eighth of a coat.
Why the reviews are so mixed
Glidden Premium in satin dries to 1.2 mils at the same 4.0 mils wet. That is a third less film than Behr Marquee in the same sheen, and a quarter less than Glidden’s own Diamond. Premium in semi-gloss is 1.4 mils. Premium satin is the thinnest interior film in either lineup.
Someone who bought a gallon of Premium satin, rolled it next to a neighbor’s Marquee and said the Glidden was thin was measuring something real. They had measured one sheen of one tier, not a brand.
Spreading a cheap tier thicker does not fix it either. To get 1.6 mils out of a paint rated 1.2, you have to lay it at 300 square feet a gallon instead of 400, which is three gallons where two would have done. Three gallons of Premium costs more than two gallons of Diamond and still is not Diamond. Buy up a tier instead of stretching one.
Are the Glidden paint colors accurate?
Since 2013, yes, within the limits that apply to every brand.
Two things actually move color on a wall, and neither is the brand. The first is sheen, and the sheen names are not standardized. Diamond eggshell is specified at a gloss reading of 10 to 20 at 60 degrees and 20 to 35 at 85. Premium satin reads 8 to 18 at 60 and 25 to 45 at 85, so it is flatter head-on and glossier at a glancing angle than the eggshell. Two cans, two sheen names, overlapping numbers, and a visibly different wall. That is the whole subject of eggshell versus semi-gloss and the reason a chip never quite matches.
The second is tint load. A deep base carrying a lot of colorant does not hold the 0 g/L figure the white base does, and it hides worse, which is where the two-coat-plus arguments come from on dark colors.
One real limitation: Glidden’s tintable interior lines run flat, eggshell and semi-gloss. There is no satin in Diamond. If satin is the sheen you want, the only Glidden route is Premium, and Premium satin is the 1.2 mil film. That is a genuine hole in the range.
What a room actually costs
Take a 12 by 14 foot bedroom with 8 foot ceilings. Walls come to 416 square feet; knock off a door and two windows and you are painting about 365. Two coats needs 730 square feet of coverage, so two gallons at the claimed rate.
| Paint | Dry film | Two gallons | Against Diamond |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glidden Diamond | 1.6 mils | $71.96 | Baseline |
| Behr Premium Plus | 1.6 mils | $75.96 | Plus $4.00 |
| Behr Marquee | 1.8 mils | $113.96 | Plus $42.00 |
| Regal Select | Not stated | $169.98 | Plus $98.02 |
Four dollars separates the two paints that finish at the same thickness. Forty-two dollars buys the extra 0.2 mils. Ninety-eight dollars buys a brand with a claimed coverage range of 400 to 450 square feet per gallon, the only figure in this article higher than 400.
Do the division before you reach for the five-gallon pail, because the saving is not consistent. Diamond flat in a 5 gallon lists at $170.00, which is $34.00 a gallon against $35.98 for the single can. Diamond semi-gloss in the same size lists at $212.00, or $42.40 a gallon, which is more than buying five separate gallons.
The real downsides
Three of them, and none is the one you read about.
The satin gap is the first. Second, the tier names tell you nothing: Essentials, Premium and Diamond is not a scale anyone can read on a shelf, and the $10 between the bottom and the top is small enough that people grab the cheap one without thinking, then judge the brand on it. Third, the deep bases lose the zero-VOC claim. The base figure is 0 g/L, colorant takes it up, and the label does not say by how much.
Coverage is not a downside. Every claimed interior figure here is the same 400 square feet per gallon, bar the premium outlier at 400 to 450 and the builder-grade line at 300 to 400. Nothing in this price range covers more ground than anything else on these sheets. They differ in how much solid material they leave behind while doing it.
Is Glidden as good as Sherwin-Williams, Valspar or Benjamin Moore?
| Brand | Owner | Owned since | Sold through |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glidden | PPG | April 2013 | Home Depot, Walmart |
| Behr | Masco | Long-held | Home Depot |
| Valspar | Sherwin-Williams | June 2017 | Lowe’s |
| Benjamin Moore | Berkshire Hathaway | December 2000 | Independent dealers |
| Sherwin-Williams | Sherwin-Williams | Founder | Own stores |
Benjamin Moore is the clean comparison because it has a shelf price you can look up: $84.99 a gallon for Regal Select, 400 to 450 square feet, VOC under 50. That is 2.4 times the price of Diamond for up to 12 percent more ground covered.
Valspar is the closest thing to a like-for-like rival, for the same structural reason as Glidden. It is a retail-exclusive line owned by a giant: Sherwin-Williams bought Valspar on June 1, 2017 at $113 a share. Glidden at Home Depot and Valspar at Lowe’s are the same idea, tiered the same way, and the comparison comes down to which store you drive to.
Sherwin-Williams itself is the one you cannot price-compare, because it has no shelf price. Its range runs from a contractor line to a flagship, and the bottom of that range is much closer to Glidden than the top of it is. Comparing a store brand’s flagship to a retail brand’s mid-tier is how this question usually gets answered, and it is not an answer.
Which Glidden to buy
Walls you will wash: Diamond. It is the only Glidden with the film build to compete outside its price class, and at $35.98 it undercuts the paint it matches.
A rental, a flip, a ceiling, or a color you will change again in two years: Premium, in anything but satin. Zero-VOC base, washable, 1.4 to 1.6 mils, $5.00 cheaper.
Satin walls: buy another brand, or accept 1.2 mils.
A large job where material cost dominates and durability does not: Essentials, knowing that 300 to 400 is the claimed spread and the lower end is what a color change gets you.
Frequently asked questions
Is Glidden a high quality paint?
Its top tier is. Glidden Diamond lays down 1.6 mils of dry film at 4.0 mils wet, matching Behr Premium Plus exactly and sitting 0.2 mils under Behr Marquee. Its bottom tier is builder-grade and does not pretend otherwise. Judging the brand on one $25.98 can is the mistake almost every review of it makes.
Which paint brand is better, Behr or Glidden?
At the top of each range, Behr, by about an eighth of a coat for 58 percent more money. In the middle they are the same paint by the numbers, and Glidden is two dollars cheaper. The Glidden vs Behr question has no single answer because the two lineups do not sit at the same price points: Glidden’s most expensive interior paint is cheaper than Behr’s least expensive one.
Is Glidden paint as good as Sherwin-Williams?
Not against the Sherwin-Williams flagship lines, and the comparison is awkward because Sherwin-Williams has no shelf price, so you cannot see which tier you are being quoted. Against its contractor-grade interior products the gap narrows a lot. Glidden Diamond is a mid-market paint competing on price, not a flagship.
What is better, Valspar or Glidden?
They are the same kind of product, and the honest answer is whichever store is closer. Both are retail-exclusive lines owned by coatings majors, both tier from builder-grade up to a premium top end, and both price below the store brands. Match tier to tier rather than brand to brand and the difference is small.
Is Benjamin Moore better than Glidden?
It is thicker, better covering and far more expensive: $84.99 a gallon against $35.98, for a claimed 400 to 450 square feet per gallon against up to 400. Whether that is better depends on whether an extra 50 square feet a gallon and a harder finish is worth $49 on every can you buy.
Final word
Stop asking whether Glidden is good and ask which Glidden. The brand spans $10 of shelf price and 0.4 mils of film build, a wider range than the gap between its best paint and the cheapest paint from the brand everyone says beats it. Buy Diamond and you are buying Behr Premium Plus film for $2.00 less. Buy Premium satin and you are buying the thinnest wall paint on either shelf. Same name on both cans.
