Teal and Dark Cyan are near-identical cyan shades — they sit within a few degrees of hue, lightness, and saturation of each other. The difference is mostly in name and historical use. Teal (#008080) and Dark Cyan (#008B8B) are extremely close — both are dark blue-greens, but Dark Cyan is just slightly brighter. They're nearly indistinguishable without side-by-side comparison.
Four real design scenarios, with the recommended pick based on hue, saturation, and WCAG contrast.
Teal is more saturated (100% HSL vs 100%) so it reads as bolder and more memorable at logo scale, while Dark Cyan can feel washed out when printed small.
Teal hits a 4.77:1 WCAG contrast against white — safer for text-heavy interfaces — where Dark Cyan only reaches 4.15:1 and risks failing AA at small body sizes.
Dark Cyan is a cool-leaning tone that flatters spring/summer collections and warmer skin undertones, while Teal leans cooler and is better suited to autumn/winter layering.
Teal is the more muted of the two (100% saturation) and sits more calmly on large wall surfaces, while Dark Cyan's higher chroma can overwhelm a room when used beyond accent pieces.
Teal (RGB 0,128,128) is the classic dark blue-green with equal green and blue channels at 50% — a balanced, sophisticated color.
Dark Cyan (RGB 0,139,139) is Teal's slightly-lighter CSS sibling. Same hue, just 11 RGB points brighter on green and blue.
Text legibility depends on the contrast ratio between foreground and background. WCAG 2.1 AA requires at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text; AAA requires 7:1. Use these numbers to choose accessible combinations for your design.
Each color has a dedicated page with shades, tints, CSS name, pairings, and color psychology.