SherMatch+ by Sherwin-Williams

Review by eFreeware

SherMatch+ is a free Android app from Variable, Inc, built for professional painters and contractors working with Sherwin-Williams products. It is the renamed successor to the ColorSnap Match app, and its job is to shorten the color-matching process on site: scan a painted surface with a paired device, get a reading, and move on to ordering paint. The main reason to consider it is that it turns a job that usually involves cutting a sample and a trip to the store into a scan and a lookup.

That pitch rests on hardware. The app itself is a companion to the SherMatch+ scanning device, which is sold separately at Sherwin-Williams retail stores, and it also supports the older ColorSnap Match and ColorSnap Match Pro devices. It is designed to work with a paired scanning device. It is the software half of a matching kit, and the value of the whole thing depends on owning the other half.

Built for the people holding the brush

The audience here is narrow on purpose. This is a tool for painters and contractors running residential and commercial jobs, indoors and out, who already buy Sherwin-Williams paint and want to spend less time on color matching. If your work involves repainting rooms, touching up exteriors, or matching an existing finish that a client wants extended into another space, the workflow the app describes is aimed at you.

It is less obviously useful for a homeowner doing one room. The app is free to download, so there is no cost in looking, but the scanning device is a separate purchase, and the parts of the app that go beyond finding the nearest standard color sit behind a subscription. Someone painting a single bedroom will likely find a paper color fan and a store visit simpler than buying hardware.

The professional framing also shows in the organization features. The developer has added fields for customer name, job notes and project folders, which suggests the app expects to be used across multiple jobs rather than as a one-off reference. That is a sensible direction for a trade tool, and it is the kind of detail that separates a working app from a demo.

What the scanner does with a wall

The core capability is measurement. You point the paired device at a smooth, non-metallic painted surface, and the app matches what it reads to the closest Sherwin-Williams color. The developer's stated aim is to avoid cutting samples out of a wall, patching afterward, and repainting because the match was wrong. On a finished interior where a client is watching, that is a meaningful difference.

Sheen matters as much as color in repainting work, and the app measures it too, though only through the SherMatch+ and ColorSnap Match Pro devices. If you are working with an older ColorSnap Match unit, the app supports closest-color matching but not sheen. That distinction is worth checking against whatever hardware you already own before you assume the full feature set applies to you.

The app is described as suitable for both interior and exterior surfaces, which fits the way contractors actually work: the same crew may be matching an interior wall in the morning and an exterior trim in the afternoon. The measurement is taken from the surface itself, which is the point of carrying a dedicated device.

Organizing colors, previews and store runs

Once a color is captured, the free tier does a fair amount with it. You can save colors and sort them into job folders, view coordinating and similar colors, and preview a color in different room settings before committing. There is also a store finder that points you to the nearest Sherwin-Williams location, which pairs naturally with the promise of fewer trips: you still go, but ideally once and with the right information.

The room previews are the part I would expect to matter most in client conversations. Showing a homeowner how a matched color reads in a different setting is easier than describing it, and it gives the customer something concrete to react to before paint is ordered. Coordinating and similar colors serve a similar purpose when a scheme needs a second or third tone.

The app was updated in July 2026 with a new name, revised graphics and what the developer describes as a more intuitive layout and smoother navigation. None of that changes what the tool fundamentally does, but for anyone who used the older ColorSnap Match app, the current version is a different-looking piece of software.

Custom colors and the Plus+ subscription

The paid tier is where the app's scope widens. A Plus+ subscription, which the developer lists as coming in February 2026, adds custom color creation using the SherMatch+ device. Rather than settling for the nearest standard Sherwin-Williams shade, you can create a color outside the standard range and get a QR code that stores across the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean will accept. The pitch is fewer cuts, less patching and fewer trips to the store.

On cost, the terms are specific. The app is free to download, carries no ads, and offers in-app purchases. The subscription is free through May 31, 2026 as a limited-time offer, after which it runs at $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year. Custom color matching requires the SherMatch+ device specifically, so the subscription is only useful to someone who owns that hardware.

Whether the subscription is worth it depends on how often a job calls for a color that does not exist in the standard range. For a contractor who regularly matches unusual existing finishes, custom creation plus a redeemable QR code could remove a genuine bottleneck. For someone who mostly needs the nearest standard color, the free tier already covers the core matching work, and the subscription adds capability rather than removing a restriction from basic use.

How it compares with the alternatives

The obvious alternative is the traditional method: cut a sample, take it to a store, and have it matched at the counter. That costs time and leaves a repair behind, but it requires no hardware and no subscription. SherMatch+ is a bet that the saved trips and avoided patches are worth the cost of a device, and for a working painter billing by the hour that math can go either way depending on volume.

Another option is a general-purpose color-matching app or a phone-based picker. Those are cheaper and need nothing extra in your kit, but they are not tied to a specific paint manufacturer's catalog or to ordering. The advantage SherMatch+ claims is a direct line from measurement to a Sherwin-Williams color and a store that stocks it.

There is also the question of brand lock-in. This app is built around Sherwin-Williams colors and stores, which is exactly what makes it efficient if that is where you buy paint and a limitation if your supplier varies by job. The developer's own framing is that this is the next-generation version of the ColorSnap Match app, so anyone already in that ecosystem is the natural audience rather than someone shopping across brands.

A tool for the trade, priced like one

SherMatch+ has been installed more than 500,000 times and holds a 3.6 average from 1,488 ratings, which is a middling score for an app tied to professional hardware. I would read that as a sign that the tool does a specific job rather than a general one, and that users have opinions about how well the pairing works in practice. It is not a mass-market app and does not present itself as one.

The case for installing it is straightforward if you own a compatible scanner and buy Sherwin-Williams paint. The free tier covers closest-color matching, sheen measurement on supported devices, job folders, previews and store lookup, and the subscription adds custom color creation with a QR code you can redeem in store. If you are a contractor matching existing finishes regularly, that combination addresses a real cost in time and rework.

If you are not already carrying the hardware, the app alone will not do much for you, and the device is a separate purchase from Sherwin-Williams retail stores. That is the honest shape of this product: software that makes a piece of hardware more useful, aimed at people whose working day involves matching paint. For that audience it looks like a reasonable addition to the kit; for everyone else, the free download is about as far as it goes.