Perler Bead Sizes, Pegboards and How Many Beads You Need

Updated October 11, 2026

Before you start a fuse bead project, two questions come up: how big will it be, and how many beads do I need? Both are simple arithmetic once you know the bead size and the pegboard size. This guide lists the common sizes by brand, gives you the formulas, and explains how to buy the right number of beads without ending up short on black halfway through.

Perler bead sizes by brand

Fuse beads come in three sizes. The numbers below are the nominal bead diameter, which is also the spacing between pegs on the matching pegboard.

Artkal sells several other series (identified by a letter on the bag) that differ in size or plastic hardness. Check the series letter before ordering so you get the size your pegboards take.

If you are not sure which size to use: 5 mm is the standard for almost all patterns and the easiest to handle. Minis halve the size of a design and suit jewelry and detailed portraits. Maxis are for young children.

Perler pegboard sizes

The most useful board is the large square. Perler's large square pegboard is 29 × 29 pegs, which is 841 beads and about 14.5 cm (5.7 in) across. Hama's large square board is also 29 × 29. Perler large square boards are designed to interlock edge to edge, so you can join two, four or more to build bigger designs.

Small square, round, heart, star and animal-shaped boards are also sold. They are handy for kids but tie you to one shape. Mini bead pegboards hold far more pegs in a similar footprint; peg counts vary by brand, so check the listing.

How many boards does a design need?

Divide the design's width and height in beads by 29 and round each up. Multiply the two.

You do not need to own every board at once. For a big piece you can build and fuse one section at a time, but owning enough boards to cover the whole design makes alignment much easier.

Finished size formula

Finished size = number of beads × bead diameter.

• 5 mm beads: beads × 0.5 cm. 40 beads wide = 20 cm (7.9 in).
• 2.6 mm minis: beads × 0.26 cm. 40 beads wide = about 10.4 cm.
• 10 mm maxis: beads × 1 cm. 40 beads wide = 40 cm.

In inches, 5 mm beads come to about 5 beads per inch (5.08, to be exact). So a 4 inch coaster is about 20 beads across, and a piece for an 8 × 10 inch frame is about 40 × 50 beads.

These numbers are for the unfused layout. A light melt keeps the size almost exactly; a heavy melt can shrink a piece slightly, so leave a little margin if it has to fit a frame precisely.

Working backward from a target size

If you know the finished size you want, divide it by the bead diameter. For a 30 cm wide piece in 5 mm beads: 30 / 0.5 = 60 beads wide. For a 6 inch piece: 6 × 5.08 ≈ 30 beads.

How many Perler beads do I need?

A filled rectangle needs width × height beads. A 29 × 29 board filled edge to edge takes 841. But most designs have empty background around the shape, so the real count is lower, and the per-color count is what matters when buying.

Estimating by hand

1. Count the total grid: width × height.
2. Estimate how much of the grid is filled. A round shape fills about 75 to 80% of its bounding square; a character sprite often fills 50 to 60%.
3. Split that across colors by eye: outline, main fill, details.
4. Add 10% for spills, beads that land upside down and mistakes.

Example: a 40 × 40 cat portrait is 1,600 grid squares. If the cat fills about 65% that is around 1,040 beads. With a background color filling the rest, it is the full 1,600 plus 10% spare, so about 1,760.

Getting an exact count

Counting by hand is error-prone past a few hundred beads. The BeadBun Perler bead pattern maker shows the exact count for every color and the number of 29 × 29 pegboards a design needs as soon as you create it. The same counts appear in the pixel art converter and the photo to Perler beads tool, and on every pattern in the pattern library.

How many beads to buy

Fuse beads are sold in single-color bags and mixed-color jars or tubs. Pack sizes change over time and by retailer, so check the count on the label, but common sizes are:

• Single-color bags: often around 1,000 beads. Hama also sells larger single-color bags, and Artkal sells refill bags in several sizes.
• Mixed jars and tubs: from a few thousand up to about 20,000 beads or more, spread across many colors.

Rules of thumb:

• One 1,000-bead bag covers a full 29 × 29 board of a single color, with a little left over.
• Buy black and white in bulk. They are in almost every design as outlines, highlights and backgrounds, and mixed jars rarely have enough of them.
• For a big project, total the count per color, add 10%, and round up to whole bags. Buying all the bags of one color at once also avoids small shade differences between production batches.
• Before you buy a mixed jar for a specific project, check that its color list actually includes your pattern's colors. The color charts list every color by brand.

How many colors do I need?

Simple designs use 3 to 6 colors. Detailed sprites use 8 to 15. Photo portraits look good at around 12 to 20 colors; past that, each extra color makes little visible difference but adds another bag to buy. When converting an image, limit the color count in the tool and compare the previews.

Mixing bead brands: what is compatible?

Color names and shades differ between brands. A pattern that calls for Perler “Cheddar” needs the closest Hama or Artkal match if that is what you own. The pattern maker lets you switch the bead brand and remaps every color to the nearest match in that palette.

Perler bead sizes: summary

• Standard beads are 5 mm; minis 2.5 to 2.6 mm; maxis 10 mm.
• A large square pegboard is 29 × 29 = 841 beads, about 14.5 cm.
• Finished size = beads × bead diameter (5 mm beads: about 5 per inch).
• Boards needed = ceil(width / 29) × ceil(height / 29).
• Buy per color, add 10%, stock up on black and white.

New to the craft? Start with Perler beads for beginners, then pick a project from 50 Perler bead ideas.