The Benjamin Moore (and Behr) Equivalent of Light French Gray

If you love Light French Gray but need it in another brand, you have probably noticed that no manufacturer publishes an official cross-brand equivalent. There is no sanctioned lookup table, and there is a good reason for that: brands do not certify a competitor's formula. Matching is really about finding the color with the closest light reflectance value (LRV) and the closest undertone, then accepting a small, honest gap. Light French Gray is a cool light gray at LRV 53, which means it stays bright and airy while holding enough gray to feel grounded, with a faint green and a whisper of violet that keep it from turning flat. Any match has to land close on both counts, brightness and cast, or it will look off on the wall even when the swatch looked right in the store. We explain the full method in our guide to how cross-brand paint matching works. Below we apply it to Light French Gray with one primary Benjamin Moore match, one alternative, and one Behr option.

The closest matches, side by side

A quick read of the table: Coventry Gray HC-169 is the pick we would start with, because a roughly five-point LRV drop and a slightly bluer cast is the smallest, most predictable gap on offer. Stonington Gray HC-170 is not a tighter match (it is lighter), but it is the right call when Light French Gray reads too heavy in a room, since a lighter cool gray keeps a small space feeling open. On the Behr side, Dolphin Fin 790C-3 goes almost straight across, sitting within a point of Light French Gray in LRV and only a hair warmer, so it is the natural choice if you are standardizing on Behr. None of the three is a clone, and that is the honest takeaway: you are choosing which small trade-off you prefer, not finding a twin.

As approximate digital renderings only (the physical chip is authoritative): Light French Gray sits near hex #BBB8B0, Coventry Gray near #B4B1A6, Stonington Gray near #C4C2BB, and Behr Dolphin Fin near #BDBAB1. LRV figures are published-figure approximations, and on-screen hex or RGB values shift with your monitor, your browser, and the room light around you. Never buy off a screen: pull a physical chip or a sample.

Why there is no exact Light French Gray equivalent

Every brand builds its colors on its own tint bases and its own set of colorants, then mixes them in proportions that are proprietary. Two cool grays can share the same LRV on paper and still land in a different place on the wall, because one leans a touch more violet and the other a touch more green. Light French Gray is a specific balance: a clean cool gray at LRV 53 with a faint green and a hint of violet, and that exact cast belongs to the Sherwin-Williams recipe. A Benjamin Moore or Behr color mixed on a different base rarely flashes those undertones in exactly the same way.

Deck size matters too. Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin Moore, and Behr each carry hundreds of grays, but the gaps between adjacent shades are not spaced identically. That is why the honest answer to a match is a small, named delta (a point or two of LRV, a slightly bluer cast) rather than a promise of a twin. Anyone claiming an exact or official equivalent is overstating what the color decks actually allow.

Light does the rest. Light French Gray behaves differently in a south-facing living room full of afternoon sun than it does in a north-facing bath, and so will its Benjamin Moore or Behr counterpart, just not by the same amount. Cool north light pushes the green and violet forward, while flooring, cabinetry, and existing trim pull any gray warmer or cooler by contrast. So even a well-chosen match should be judged in context, on your surfaces, under your bulbs, rather than against a fan deck under store lighting. This is exactly where a quick digital preview earns its keep before you spend on samples.

When the Benjamin Moore match works (and when to stay Sherwin-Williams)

The match you want depends on why you are switching brands in the first place. A few concrete calls:

• Choose Coventry Gray HC-169 when you are already committed to the Benjamin Moore ecosystem (trim colors, an existing accent) and want the nearest cool gray without rebuilding your whole plan around Light French Gray. Within about five LRV points, it reads like Light French Gray in most daylight rooms.
• Reach for Stonington Gray HC-170 instead when your room is small or short on light and Light French Gray feels too dark: it keeps the same cool gray family while lifting the space with roughly seven extra LRV points.
• Stay with Sherwin-Williams Light French Gray when the exact cool cast is the whole point, for example matching an adjoining wall or trim already painted in SW 0055, where even a five-point LRV shift would show. For a refresher on how it behaves by room and light, see Light French Gray undertones and best rooms.
• Whichever way you go, judge the chips the same way every time (big samples, same wall, same hours of daylight), which is far easier if you follow a simple routine for comparing paint colors side by side so you are grading the paint and not the setup.

Related matches

Cross-matching a whole gray palette and want the rest to follow? We ran the same LRV-and-undertone method on two of Light French Gray's closest neighbors: here is the Benjamin Moore equivalent of Requisite Gray, a deeper cool gray a few steps down the deck, and the Benjamin Moore equivalent of Silver Strand, the soft green-gray in the same light-and-airy family. Both are built the same honest way, with a numeric delta and a test-it-first payoff.

Frequently asked questions