Dominant Color
A WordPress plugin to automatically save the dominant color and a color palette for an attachment image into post_meta. Requires: PHP >= 7.
Consider an alternative
Dominant Color shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 200+ sites, is rated 4.8/5 and was last updated 2 years ago, and scores 37/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (200+ active installs)
- No update in 2 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 6.5 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Dominant Color stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| color | >100 |
| colour | >100 |
| dominance | #2 |
| dominant | #7 |
| image | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 from 5 reviews
About Dominant Color
From the official readme · v2.2.0Description
A WordPress plugin to automatically save the dominant color and a color palette for an attachment image into post_meta.
Installation
The dominant color and color palette is automatically saved on upload and edit to post meta.
You need to then use get_post_meta to retrieve the “dominant_color_hex” or “dominant_color_rgb” meta key. hex returns a string, including the #, rgb returns an array with key 0 as red, 1 as green, and 2 as blue.
Alternatively, you can use the meta keys “color_palette_rgb” and “color_palette_hex” to get an array of 8 colors that feature prominently in the image.
Changelog
2.2.0
Modernise javascript for deprecated jQuery handlers
Update to latest version of PHP Color Thief
Bump version requirements to match color thief and a modern-ish WordPress (5.4+)
2.1.0
Support translated languages (Submit your translation at translate.wordpress.org!)
2.0.1
Fix a bug where loading our JS in the footer would cause a javascript error.
2.0
Add a colour picker to the attachment edit screen to override the dominant color with a custom pick.
The WordPress media gallery will now let you pick a dominant color override which will be returned in place of dominant_color_hex/rgb when set.
It’ll also let you generate a palette for legacy images uploaded before you installed the plugin.
1.0
Initial Build
Screenshots
For developers
Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.
Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.
Best Dominant Color alternatives
All color plugins →
FAQ
Dominant Color: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 14, 2026
Is Dominant Color free?
Yes. Dominant Color is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Dominant Color safe to use in 2026?
Dominant Color shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 200+ sites, is rated 4.8/5 and was last updated 2 years ago, and scores 37/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Dominant Color?
Dominant Color is active on 200+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 8,520 times since it launched in July 2015. It was downloaded 107 times in the last 30 days.
Does Dominant Color work with WordPress 7.1?
Dominant Color is officially tested up to WordPress 6.5.13, while the latest release is 7.1.3. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
What PHP version does Dominant Color need?
Dominant Color requires PHP 7.2 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was Dominant Color last updated?
The latest version, 2.2.0, was released on April 16, 2024 (2 years ago).
Who makes Dominant Color?
Dominant Color is developed and maintained by Liam Gladdy.
What are the best alternatives to Dominant Color?
The most popular alternatives to Dominant Color are Central Color Palette (10K+ installs), ACF RGBA Color Picker (6K+ installs) and The Events Calendar: Catego… (4K+ installs).
Powered by PageForge
Want thousands of pages that rank like these? Build them in an afternoon.
This directory runs on the same engine as PageForge. Turn any spreadsheet, CSV or API into thousands of fast, SEO-ready WordPress pages — with schema, internal links and AI-written copy baked in.
- CSV, Google Sheets & API data sources
- AI content, schema & internal links per page
- Works with Elementor, Gutenberg, Yoast & Rank Math
- Free on WordPress.org — no credit card
