Cheap Paint vs Premium Paint: How To Choose The Type Of Paint

I painted three bedrooms in three different rentals with three different price tiers of latex paint. Same roller, same nap, same 4-hour gap between coats. Two years and one lease renewal later, I have opinions.

How To Choose The Type Of Paint?The short version: the cheap paint held up better than I expected, but the premium paint saved me money on touch-ups I didn't know I'd need. Here's the long version, with the actual prices and the actual stains.

The Price Gap Is Real (and Bigger Than You Think)

I paid for one gallon each of the "renter go-to" tier in every brand:

• Behr Premium Plus (Home Depot in-store tint): $28-32 per gallon
• Sherwin-Williams SuperPaint (in-store, slightly negotiated): $55-65 per gallon
• Benjamin Moore Regal Select (independent dealer, BM 0566 base): $70-80 per gallon

That's not a 2x gap — that's almost a 3x gap between the cheapest and the most expensive gallon.

My three-bedroom total spend: - Behr bedroom: $87 (3 gallons + 1 primer) - SW bedroom: $156 (3 gallons + 1 Multi-Purpose primer) - BM bedroom: $192 (3 gallons + 1 Fresh Start primer)

The $105 difference between the Behr bedroom and the BM bedroom is real money for a renter. If you're staying 8 months and moving out, that's a chunk of your security deposit you just gave to the paint aisle. If you're staying 3 years, that's three months of Netflix.

Coverage and Hiding Power (Where You Start to Notice)

I painted all three bedrooms from a medium-dark tenant color (taupe-beige) to bright off-white. This is the worst-case scenario for coverage — going light over dark requires more pigment hiding power.

• Behr Premium Plus: 1 coat showed the taupe through like a bad sunburn. 2 coats got me to about 85% coverage. 3 coats got me there.
• Sherwin-Williams SuperPaint: 2 coats did it. The hide was visibly better wet-on-wet — I could feel the taupe disappearing as I rolled.
• BM Regal Select: 2 coats did it, but the second coat went on so thin it almost felt like I was rolling water. The self-leveling was the smoothest of the three.

The renter-relevant question: can you cover dark-to-light in 2 coats? Yes for SW and BM. No for Behr — and a 3rd coat adds another hour to the room and another day of off-gassing.

The 6-Month Test (Coffee, Crayon, Tape)

I didn't run a lab. I did what every renter does: I lived in the rooms. Six months in, I attacked one wall in each bedroom with the same three stains:

1. Cold coffee — splashed and wiped after 10 minutes 2. Crayon (Crayola, kid-nephew visit) — drawn on, erased with a damp microfiber 3. 3M Blue Tape pull — applied, pressed, ripped

Here's what came off:

The biggest surprise was the crayon. I assumed premium paint would win by a mile. It won — but only by a small margin. Behr Premium Plus left a faint waxy shadow that I could not fully erase. BM Regal wiped clean on the first pass.

Touch-Up Blend (This Is Where Cheap Paint Loses)

Six months later, I had to patch a nail hole in each bedroom. Same brand of paint, same can, same stirrer. Same brush. Same room lighting at 2pm.

• Behr Premium Plus touch-up: I could see the edge. The patched spot was visibly lighter — like a chalky halo against the surrounding wall.
• Sherwin-Williams SuperPaint touch-up: The patch was visible if you tilted your head. A guest would not notice. A landlord with a flashlight would.
• BM Regal touch-up: Invisible. I had to mark which wall I'd patched so I could find it again.

This is the part that matters for renters. The number one security-deposit deduction is "visible touch-up marks." Cheap paint oxidizes faster (especially in a sunny bedroom), and your 6-month-old touch-up doesn't match your freshly opened can.

That's The premium you're paying for peace of mind — not for the color, but for the color-stability over time.

Odor and Off-Gassing (The Real Renter Trade-Off)

I painted all three bedrooms on Saturday mornings so I could sleep there Saturday night. That's not optional when you live in a studio and rent a second bedroom as an office.

• Behr Premium Plus: Strong paint smell for 24 hours. Fully aired by hour 48.
• SW SuperPaint: Noticeable smell for 12 hours. Aired by hour 18.
• BM Regal Select (zero-VOC formula): Almost no smell from the first coat. I slept in the BM bedroom 6 hours after the second coat dried.

The renter trade-off: cheap paint is fine if you have a guest room, a balcony, a friend's couch, or 48 hours of patience. Cheap paint is a trade-off when you painted the only bedroom you sleep in.

If you or your partner have asthma or chemical sensitivities, the $20/gallon upgrade to BM Regal's zero-VOC formula isn't a luxury—it's a medical necessity. I learned this the hard way when a friend with mild asthma had a reaction to the Behr bedroom on day two.

3 Anti-Consensus Lessons From 3 Bedrooms

1. Cheap paint isn't harder to apply. I expected Behr Premium Plus to drip, sag, and fight my roller. It didn't. The viscosity is actually thicker than BM Regal — easier to load the roller, less splatter on the trim. The "cheap paint is hard to work with" line is industry marketing, not user experience.

2. The color-tint accuracy is not premium-only. I tested 6 colors across the three brands. Behr's in-store tinting was the most accurate — the color on the lid matched the color on the wall. SW's SuperPaint drifted slightly warm on the third color (a cool gray pulled lavender). BM Regal was the most consistent overall, but the independent dealer near me had only one color-matching scanner and the second visit I had to wait 25 minutes.

3. "Pro-grade" paint is a margin trap. Both the SW dealer and the BM dealer pushed me toward their pro lines (SW ProMar, BM Aura). ProMar is the same as SuperPaint with a different label and 15% lower price — it's what contractors actually buy because they negotiate. Aura is BM's flagship line and it's $95+ per gallon. The dealer earns more margin per Aura gallon than per Regal gallon. As a renter painting one bedroom, Aura is overspec you don't need.

So Which One Do I Actually Buy Now?

If I had to paint one more renter bedroom tomorrow, here's the table I'd run:

• Lease < 1 year, moving out fast → Behr Premium Plus. Save the $100. Do 3 coats if you're going dark-to-light. Tape everything. Live with the touch-up halo for 6 months because you'll be gone.
• Lease 1-2 years, want minimum hassle → Sherwin-Williams SuperPaint. The sweet spot. 2 coats cover anything. Touch-up blends. Off-gassing overnight. Costs $60 a gallon — half the price of BM Regal.
• Lease 2+ years, sleeping in the painted room → BM Regal Select. The zero-VOC alone is worth $20/gallon more. The touch-up invisibility alone is worth another $20. Add it up and the $192 bedroom actually costs less than the $156 bedroom when you factor in the time you save not re-patching.

One-sentence decision rule: How long are you staying? — That decides.

FAQ

Is Benjamin Moore really worth 2x the price of Behr? No, it's not 2x — it's closer to 2.5x. But "worth it" depends on how long you're staying and whether you're sleeping in the painted room. If you're moving out in 8 months and the bedroom has a window you can crack open, Behr Premium Plus is the smarter buy. If you're renovating a 2-year rental, BM Regal pays you back in touch-up time alone.

Can I use Behr paint over Benjamin Moore primer? You can, but you'll lose 10-15% adhesion. The chemistry isn't identical — BM Fresh Start is acrylic-heavy, Behr Premium Plus is vinyl-acrylic. If you're budget-stretching, commit to one brand across both primer and paint. Don't mix and match unless you're okay with a slight peel risk on humid walls (bathrooms, exterior-adjacent).

Will my landlord notice the difference at move-out? Move-out inspectors don't carry spectrophotometers. What they check is: visible scuffs, visible touch-up marks, and visible tape-pull damage. Behr Premium Plus with 2-3 coats + careful taping + 6-month-early touch-ups will pass unless your landlord is specifically looking for touch-up halos (which Behr sometimes leaves). It will not pass an inspection in a luxury condo where the building manager actually compares paint sheen under a flashlight.

How I Painted Each Bedroom (The Actual Steps)

Step 1: Calculate your wall square footage. Measure each wall (length × height in feet). Add all four walls together. Multiply by 2 for two coats. Divide by 350 — that's the average coverage per gallon for interior latex on drywall. A 12' × 10' bedroom with 8' ceilings needs about 2.5 gallons for 2 coats.

Step 2: Pick your brand by lease length. Run the table above. Don't ask the paint store what's "best" — they earn more on premium. Ask them what's "best for a renter" and they'll mostly point you to SuperPaint.

Step 3: Buy primer if you're going dark-to-light. Behr Premium Plus primer ($18/gallon), SW Multi-Purpose ($28), BM Fresh Start ($35). Skip primer only if your current wall is white or close to white. Primer is the cheapest coat you'll ever paint — skip it and the topcoat has to do double duty.

Step 4: Cut in with an angled brush, roll with a 3/8" nap roller. Cut in first — 2-inch angled brush along the ceiling line, corners, and trim. Then roll the wall with a 3/8" nap cover. 3/8" is the renter default — thick enough to hide roller texture, thin enough to not splatter on the ceiling. (For a refresher on the full wall-prep sequence, see the 7-step painting order I use before any of this. And before you reach for the wood filler on a trim nick, try super glue first — it holds better and doesn't shrink.)

Step 5: Wait 4 hours between coats, 24 hours before tape removal. Latex paint skins over in 30 minutes but cures in 24 hours. If you pull the tape at hour 4, you pull the skin with it. Wait the full 24 hours — and pull the tape at a 45° angle, not straight out. (Tape timing matters more than coat timing — the full walls-vs-trim decision is in my walls-or-trim-first guide.)

Final Thought

The most expensive paint is the one that doesn't fit your lease. The cheapest paint is the one that doesn't fit your bedroom. Match the paint to the situation, not to the marketing.