An honest comparison of two budget alcohol marker brands — what each one actually offers, where Ohuhu beats SFAIH, and which to buy for what.
Ohuhu is the better long-term buy. SFAIH is the better first set.
Ohuhu wins the thing that matters most after year one: you can keep the set alive. It sells refill ink in 101 colours, replacement brush nibs, and single markers, and it publishes a 12-month exchange warranty. When an Ohuhu marker dies you spend a few dollars. When an SFAIH marker dies, that colour is gone — SFAIH sells no refills, no nibs and no open stock, so your only route back to it is another whole set.
Ohuhu also has the longer public record. The sets compared here carry 18,907 ratings against SFAIH's 4,493, and Ohuhu averages 4.7–4.8 stars where SFAIH averages 4.4–4.6. That is a real gap, though not a dramatic one.
SFAIH's case is narrower and still genuine: it usually undercuts Ohuhu, it offers more set sizes at the small end (49, 72, 81, 101), and its top set edges Ohuhu's on count. If you are buying your first big marker set, are not sure you will stick with it, and want the most colours for the least money, SFAIH is the sensible risk.
One caveat worth knowing: SFAIH's own listings describe the markers as “refillable” and mention “replaceable nibs”. The barrels may well be built to allow it, but SFAIH does not sell the ink or the nibs, so in practice you cannot act on it. We cover that on the refills page.
| If your priority is… | Buy | Because |
|---|---|---|
| Buying your first set on a budget | SFAIH | More sizes under 100 colours and generally cheaper. |
| Keeping a set alive for years | Ohuhu | Refill ink, replacement nibs and open stock. |
| Largest possible palette | Roughly tied | 321 against 320 — a difference of one marker. |
| Buying as a gift | Ohuhu | Published warranty and a longer public track record. |
| Skin tones | Ohuhu | 24- and 36-colour portrait sets against SFAIH's 12 and 37; both are usable. |
| Pastel palette | Roughly tied | Both sell a separate pastel range. |
| SFAIH | Ohuhu | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Largest set | 321 colours | 320 colours | SFAIH's 321 and Ohuhu's 320 both count a colourless blender. |
| Set sizes on sale | 49, 72, 81, 101, 121, 168, 169, 216, 217, 321 | 24, 36, 48, 72, 120, 216, 320 | As listed on Amazon. |
| Tip pairings | Brush + Chisel, Brush + Fine, Chisel + Fine | Brush + Chisel, Brush + Fine, Chisel + Fine | Both offer all three combinations. |
| Dedicated skin tone sets | 12-colour, 37-colour | 24-colour, 36-colour | |
| Pastel range | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | |
| Refill ink sold | ✗ No | ✓ Yes, 101 colours | Checked by searching Amazon and each brand's own store. |
| Replacement nibs sold | ✗ No | ✓ Yes | 8 replacement Super Brush nibs with tweezers, sold on Amazon |
| Single markers (open stock) | ✗ No | ✓ Yes | Whether you can replace one dead colour without rebuying a set. |
| Safety certification claimed | ACMI-certified non-toxic; conforms to ASTM D-4236 and EN71 (claimed on SFAIH listings and printed on the colour card) | AP-certified non-toxic (claimed on Ohuhu listings) | These are the brands' own claims; we have not seen the certificates. |
| Published warranty | None found | 30-day refund and a 12-month exchange warranty, published on ohuhu.com | |
| What is in the box | Printed colour cards, blank swatch sheet, plastic bleed sheet | Printed colour chart, blender pen, bleed sheet | |
| Total ratings across compared sets | 4,493 | 18,907 | Amazon pools ratings across variations of one listing, so these are family totals, not independent samples. |
Checked September 2026. Set sizes, tip pairings, ratings and rating counts read from SFAIH's Amazon listings. Refill and nib availability checked by searching Amazon for SFAIH refills and replacement nibs. Set sizes, ratings and rating counts read from Ohuhu's Amazon listings. Refills, replacement nibs, open stock and the warranty come from ohuhu.com's own product and policy pages. Prices are not listed here on purpose: Amazon changes them constantly and both brands run frequent promotions, so any figure printed on this page would be wrong within days. Use the buttons to see the live price.
A radar chart is only as honest as its scoring, so here is exactly how each axis was scored. Three of the six are simple yes/no facts, which is why the shapes differ so sharply.
| Axis | SFAIH | Ohuhu | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour range | 5.0 | 5.0 | Largest set size divided by 320, capped at 5 |
| Tip choice | 5.0 | 5.0 | Number of tip pairings offered, out of three |
| Track record | 4.1 | 5.0 | Total ratings across the sets compared (SFAIH 4,493, Ohuhu 18,907), log-scaled |
| Refillable ink | 0.0 | 5.0 | 5 if the brand sells refill ink, otherwise 0 |
| Replacement nibs | 0.0 | 5.0 | 5 if the brand sells replacement nibs, otherwise 0 |
| Published warranty | 0.0 | 5.0 | 5 if a warranty or returns policy is published, otherwise 0 |
Both brands sell the same three pairings, so the tip is a preference, not a tie-breaker between them. What it does decide is whether you enjoy the set you buy.
These ramps are cut from SFAIH's own 168-colour card, sampled swatch by swatch. They show how finely the range is stepped — which is what decides whether you can blend a smooth gradient or end up with visible banding.
| Colours | Tips | Rating | Ratings | SFAIH |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 321 | Brush + Fine | 4.5 ★ | 241 | Check price |
| 321 | Chisel + Fine | 4.5 ★ | 489 | Check price |
| 217 | Chisel + Fine | 4.5 ★ | 489 | Check price |
| 216 | Brush + Chisel | 4.5 ★ | 217 | Check price |
| 169 | Brush + Fine | 4.6 ★ | 87 | Check price |
| 168 | Brush + Chisel | 4.5 ★ | 241 | Check price |
| 168 | Chisel + Fine | 4.5 ★ | 162 | Check price |
| 121 | Brush + Chisel | 4.6 ★ | 713 | Check price |
| 121 | Brush + Fine | 4.5 ★ | 241 | Check price |
| 121 | Chisel + Fine | 4.5 ★ | 162 | Check price |
| 101 | Chisel + Fine | 4.5 ★ | 489 | Check price |
| 81 | Chisel + Fine | 4.5 ★ | 162 | Check price |
| 72 | Brush + Chisel | 4.6 ★ | 713 | Check price |
| 49 | Brush + Fine | 4.6 ★ | 87 | Check price |
| Colours | Tips | Rating | Ratings | Ohuhu |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 320 | Chisel + Fine | 4.7 ★ | 1,364 | Check price |
| 320 | Brush + Chisel | 4.8 ★ | 2,140 | Check price |
| 320 | Brush + Fine | 4.8 ★ | 2,140 | Check price |
| 216 | Brush + Chisel | 4.8 ★ | 1,800 | Check price |
| 120 | Chisel + Fine | 4.8 ★ | 3,823 | Check price |
| 120 | Brush + Chisel | 4.8 ★ | 3,497 | Check price |
| 72 | Brush + Chisel | 4.8 ★ | 4,143 | Check price |
Brush + Chisel · 4.8 ★ from 4,143 ratings
Refill ink and replacement nibs are sold separately, so this set does not become disposable when one colour runs dry.
Check price on Amazon
Brush + Chisel · 4.6 ★ from 713 ratings
The most-reviewed SFAIH set. A large palette for less, on the understanding that it is not refillable in practice.
Check price on Amazon
Brush + Fine · 4.6 ★ from 87 ratings
The cheapest way to find out whether you actually enjoy alcohol markers before committing to hundreds of pens.
Check price on AmazonTwo brands sold on the same marketplace can be compared honestly on a narrow set of things and dishonestly on everything else. What is checkable from the listings is the specification — colour count, tip pairing, what ships in the box — plus the rating and how many people left one. What is not checkable is how the ink behaves on your paper. Anyone telling you SFAIH's ink lays down better than Ohuhu's, without having put both on the same sheet, is guessing.
So this page does the first job properly and declines the second. Where the listings disagree with each other, that is noted rather than smoothed over; where a claim appears only in marketing copy, it is quoted as a claim rather than repeated as a fact.
Rating count is the most useful number on either listing, because it is the closest thing to a sales figure Amazon publishes. A score is an opinion average; a count is evidence of how many people got far enough to have an opinion. Across SFAIH's 75 listings there are 40,639 ratings in total, and the distribution below shows how unevenly they sit.
Two practical rules follow. First, prefer a 4.3 with two thousand ratings to a 4.8 with forty — the second has not been tested. Second, when two sets from the same brand share an identical score and count, they are almost certainly variations of one parent listing rather than two independent verdicts.
Everything on this page is read off SFAIH's own Amazon listings rather than from a press release or a review round-up. That catalogue is 75 listings, 75 of them carrying a star rating, 40,639 ratings between them. The average sits at 4.5, with 62 listings at 4.4 or better.
An average across a whole brand is a weak number, though, and it is worth saying why. Amazon pools ratings across the variations of one parent listing, so a set sold in five sizes can show the same score five times; and a 5.0 from six ratings sits in the same average as a 4.4 from three thousand. That is why the table below is sortable by rating count as well as by score — sorted that way it shows what people have actually bought, which is a far better guide than the score alone.
The strongest listings in the range by score, among those with enough ratings to mean anything, are SFAIH Black Permanent Markers Bulk, 24 Pack…, SFAIH Green Permanent Markers Bulk, 24 Pack…, SFAIH Red Permanent Markers Bulk, 24 Pack…. The weakest on the same basis are SFAIH White Liquid Chalk Markers for…, SFAIH Liquid Chalk Markers for Blackboard…, SFAIH Chrome Silver Paint Markers Pens with…. The most-reviewed are SFAIH Acrylic White Paint Pens - 8 Pack…, SFAIH Gold Acrylic Paint Pens - 8 Pack…, SFAIH Acrylic Red Paint Pens - 8 Pack 2-3MM… — and those are the ones whose scores you can lean on.
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As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. SFAIH is not affiliated with Ohuhu, Caliart or any other brand named on this site; brand names are used for identification and comparison only.