Seven brands cover ~90% of microcement specification in IL practice today: Topciment (Spain), Mortex (Beal) (Belgium), Sika DecoDur (Switzerland), Marmorino producers (Italy — Stucco Italiano, Vasari, Meoded), Pavistamp PAVICEM (Spain), Ideal Work Microtopping (Italy), and Smartcret (Spain). They are not interchangeable. Pick by the parameter envelope, not by which one your last contractor used.
Why a seven-way
A two-way (Topciment vs Mortex) misses Sika channel safety; a three-way misses Pavistamp's stamp-bridge to decorative; a five-way still misses the price-floor (Smartcret) and the Italian heritage (Ideal Work Microtopping®). The seven below cover the parameter space honestly. The binder-chemistry article is prerequisite reading — the comparison below is meaningless if you don't already know which family is which.
Side-by-side specification
| Parameter | Topciment Sttandard | Mortex (Beal) | Sika DecoDur / MicroTop | Marmorino (various) | Pavistamp PAVICEM | Ideal Work Microtopping | Smartcret |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Origin | Spain | Belgium | Switzerland | Italy | Spain | Italy | Spain |
| Binder family | Cement + polymer | Cement + lime + polymer | Cement + polymer (region varies) | Pure lime + marble | Cement + polymer | Cement + polymer | Cement + polymer |
| Typical thickness | 2–3 mm (0.5/coat) | 2–3 mm | 2–3 mm | 1–2 mm (multi-coat) | 1.5–3 mm | ~3 mm (2 coats) | 1.5–3 mm |
| Waterproof in the mass | No (needs PU sealer) | Yes | No | Partial (lime) | No | No | No |
| Wet rooms | With tanking + PU sealer | Yes (often w/o membrane) | With tanking + PU sealer | Walls only; with wax for wet | With tanking + PU sealer | With tanking + PU sealer | With tanking + PU sealer |
| Pool / chlorine / salt | Yes (Atlanttic SKU) | Limited | Yes (DecoDur outdoor variant) | No | Limited | No | No |
| Finish range | Matt to gloss (sealer-controlled) | Matt to silk | Matt to gloss | Matt to mirror polish | Matt to satin | Matt to satin | Matt to satin |
| Colour palette | 52 standard + custom | ~40 standard | ~30 standard | NCS/RAL custom (lime-fast) | ~40 standard | ~28 standard | ~30 standard |
| DIY-friendly | No (professional) | No | No | No (specialist) | No | No | Yes (kits) |
| IL channel | Via specialty importers | Via specialty importers | Via Gilar (exclusive) | Via art-plaster trade | Via specialty importers | Via Italian importers | Direct ship + EU resellers |
| IL price ₪/m² (installed) [verify] | ₪450–₪750 | ₪500–₪900 | ₪500–₪850 | ₪500–₪900 | ₪420–₪700 | ₪500–₪800 | ₪380–₪650 |
| Sealer renewal | 2 yr wet / 4–5 yr dry | 2 yr wet / 4–5 yr dry | 2 yr wet / 4–5 yr dry | Wax 6–12 mo / wet only | 2 yr wet / 4–5 yr dry | 2 yr wet / 4–5 yr dry | 2 yr wet / 4–5 yr dry |
| One-line strength | Widest SKU range, pool spec | Mass-waterproof, organic look | Channel safety in IL | Heritage, polishable, breathable | Strong stamped+microcement bridge | Microtopping® heritage brand | DIY price floor, kits |
| One-line weakness | Narrower binder portfolio | Acid-sensitive, softer surface | SKU naming varies by region | Floor use limited, slow cure | Less brand recognition globally | Smaller colour palette | Quality drops in DIY hands |
How to read this table
The parameters that move the spec are binder family, waterproof in the mass, IL channel, and differentiator SKU. The Signal-coloured cells call out the brand that owns each row. If your project criteria force the cell — e.g. pool deck mandates "Yes" on chlorine/salt — the table narrows the field to one or two candidates.
Project-by-project recommendation
Bathroom floor + walls, modern look, code-compliant build-up
Default: Topciment Sttandard or Pavistamp PAVICEM over tanked substrate with two coats of PU sealer. Both are cement-polymer family; both have full IL applicator pools. Price competitive vs Mortex at this depth; Sika DecoDur is fine but charges premium for the brand.
Bathroom floor + walls, no separate waterproof membrane planned
Default: Mortex by Beal International. Mass-waterproof in the matrix; the standard product for IL specifiers who do not want to negotiate tanking on a residential renovation. Still budget a sealing strip at the wall-floor junction. Shower zones should still have tanking — Mortex protects the matrix, not the substrate-to-microcement interface joint.
Pool deck or pool basin
Default: Topciment Atlanttic Aquaciment (a Topciment SKU specifically engineered for chlorine + salt + UV stability with anti-slip granulometry). The closest cross-brand alternative is Sika DecoDur Pool variant where available regionally. No other brand in this seven-way is engineered for the chlorine envelope at parity.
Hammam, traditional bath, heritage restoration
Default: Tadelakt by a specialist (not in this seven-way; pure-lime saponified). If period-correct is not required, Marmorino Veneziano on the walls with a wax finish gets the heritage feel. None of the cement-polymer microcements deliver the lime aesthetic. Pure-lime chemistry primer.
Feature wall in a luxury hotel or villa interior
Default: Marmorino Veneziano (Stucco Italiano, Vasari, Meoded, or local Italian importer). Polishable to mirror, lime-fast pigment palette, heritage credentials. Topciment Marmolife is a cement-polymer take on the same look — cheaper, faster cure, less authentic. Use Marmolife if the budget will not absorb the lime spec.
Apartment-wide seamless floor (living, kitchen, bathroom transition)
Default: Topciment Sttandard or Pavistamp PAVICEM if the budget supports professional install across all rooms. Mortex if the bathrooms drive the spec and the rest follows. Smartcret if the owner insists on a tighter budget and accepts that the result depends heavily on the installer's hand — Smartcret kits are real product, but the brand's quality variance with weaker applicators is well documented in their own problem guides.
Restaurant or commercial floor with daily wear
Default: Pavistamp PAVICEM HD (heavy-duty variant) or Topciment Sttandard with PU sealer renewed every 18 months instead of every 24. None of these brands are positioned as industrial flooring; if the daily wear is heavy enough to challenge microcement, the spec should move to epoxy SL or PU-cement, not bigger sealer schedules on a 2 mm decorative system. PU-cement Big-3 comparison covers that step up.
What no one tells you about the IL channel
For most of these brands, the limiting factor in IL is not material quality but applicator availability. Topciment, Pavistamp, and Smartcret are widely imported but applicators with multi-year experience on each specific brand are a small pool — under a dozen for Mortex, under twenty for Topciment, larger for Sika DecoDur because of Gilar's training infrastructure. Specifying a brand without confirming you can put a competent applicator on the floor is how a perfect TDS turns into a hairline-cracked panel by month four. Phone the importer, ask for three projects done in the last twelve months by approved applicators, call those projects, confirm the result holds.
Final read
None of these seven is universally best. Topciment wins on SKU breadth and pool-grade specialisation. Mortex wins on no-membrane bathroom installations. Sika DecoDur wins on IL channel safety. Marmorino wins on heritage and polishable finish. Pavistamp wins on the stamp-to-microcement bridge. Ideal Work wins on the Italian Microtopping® lineage. Smartcret wins on price floor and DIY accessibility. Define your envelope; pick the brand that owns it.
Related: Microcement binder chemistry · Microcement nine failure modes · Microtopping system page.