Pantone has nothing to do with a number of colors. The recipe for the final color does not matter to Pantone. Of course, Pantone colors are also created from several inks/pigments, but there are more than 6. You won’t get that if you want to reproduce all the Pantone colors. It is better to compare Pantone colors with known RAL colors in the drawing.

It’s also not about that CMYK has a limited color gamut, in principle you can make a few combinations with 4 inks mixed in different proportions. CMYK has a limited gamut because you use CMYK as a base as colors, so you can forget about bright, vivid colors, for example. But you can’t really say it has more limited colors, I think Pantone is more limited looking at fans but it really can’t be compared.

Basically, companies like to use Pantone color for their logo, for example, some register it so other companies are not allowed to use it for their logo/corporate identity. The big advantage of Pantone color is that it is a recipe-based color and the result is always the same, because the ink is simply made via the Pantone Matching System. Since you’re already working with mixed ink, this means that you won’t get any aberrations per printer or as with CMYK where colors are mixed on the press through multiple printing processes.

Another advantage is that you have a solid color that does not require a grid. So, when you mix 50% cyan with 100% yellow with a CMYK green, you can see the scan points clearly. If you instead use a PMS color close to CMYK color, you have a 100% smooth surface without any mesh.

The disadvantage is, for example, that if a company has one or more pantone colors in the logo, and, for example, it will print a full color printed material with a logo, it actually has to do an additional printing process for each pantone color. If you have 4 CMYK prints, with 2 Pantone colors you have 6. These two Pantone color presses also need to be cleaned specifically for the job, etc., so there’s always a cost associated with a Pantone color.

The latter means that many companies also have a derivative logo that can be printed in CMYK, but well, you’re actually killing your own corporate identity. Certainly because some Pantone colors are simply impossible to approach in CMYK, it is best as a company to use a black and white version, it is less crap.