About Miniature Paints Compare
An independent price reference for what UK hobby retailers print on their own paint and brush range pages, built for the person buying paint for miniatures and scale models.
Why this site exists
Hobby paint is a small purchase made dozens of times, and no shop makes it easy to see across the market: prices sit inside product grids, ranges are discounted continually, and the same pot moves in price between shops and between weeks. This site pulls the lowest printed price from each retailer's own range pages and puts them beside each other with the date each was read.
Who it is for
A UK hobbyist buying paint, brushes or airbrush kit for miniatures and scale models.
Someone choosing a paint range to commit a collection to, and wanting to see what it costs across shops first.
A painter who wants the technique explained honestly alongside the price rather than instead of it.
What it does not do
- It does not rank retailers on merit or sell a place in the index; affiliate commission never buys position or a description.
- It does not invent a price. Every figure is a price quoted verbatim from the retailer's own range page with the date it was read.
- It does not pretend to more coverage than it has. Three UK retailers could be read and priced; the ones that could not be read are named as such rather than left out silently.
- It does not cover markets outside the United Kingdom, because the retailers and the affiliate programmes behind it are UK ones.
- It does not charge the reader. We earn an affiliate commission from some retailers and never a fee from you.
What is on this site
11 guides, each with its sources on the page , 30 answers to the questions around them , and the comparison.
- Model paint: Model paint is a small purchase repeated dozens of times, which is why the price of a single pot matters more here than in almost any other hobby.
- Miniature paint brushes: Miniature paint brushes are the one place in this hobby where the expensive option is often the economical one, because a brush that holds a point does the work of three that do not.
- Contrast paints: Contrast paints changed how quickly a tabletop-ready model can be finished, because they do in one coat what base coat, wash and highlight used to do in three.
- Airbrush kits: An airbrush kit is sold as a single purchase but is really four: the airbrush, the air supply, the things that stop the paint going where you do not want it, and the cleaning gear that decides whether the airbrush still works next month.
- Airbrush compressors: The compressor is the part of an airbrush setup that people research least and regret most.
- Airbrush paint: Airbrush paint is either paint made thin enough to spray or ordinary hobby paint made thin enough to spray, and the difference between those two sentences is where most airbrush frustration lives.
- Spray primer: Primer is the least interesting purchase in this hobby and the one that ruins the most models.
- Wet palettes: A wet palette is a shallow box with a damp sponge and a sheet of semi-permeable paper on top, and it solves a problem every acrylic painter has: paint on an ordinary palette starts drying the moment it leaves the pot.
- Miniature paint sets: A miniature paint set is the usual first purchase in this hobby and one of the few places where buying a bundle genuinely beats buying individually.
- Brush holders: A brush holder is a trivial object that quietly decides how long expensive brushes last.
- Model varnish: Varnish is what turns a painted model into a model that survives being played with.
Where the figures come from
UK miniature paint entry prices (GBP) verified against each retailer's own range page on 2026-09-10 by infra/ingest/hubs/miniaturepaintscompare.com/ingest_vendors.py: every quoted figure re-fetched and matched verbatim (hash-pinned); product-type coverage evidenced by the retailer's live category page.
Who answers for it
Joseph Ellul, operator of Miniature Paints Compare. He answers for what the index says and for the discipline of quoting prices rather than inventing them. Write to hello@issafu.com.
Reach us
Contact for a question about the site, or enquiries@miniaturepaintscompare.com. The legal terms are on Terms and Privacy.