diff --git a/packages/grafana-data/src/themes/createVisualizationColors.ts b/packages/grafana-data/src/themes/createVisualizationColors.ts
index 163e6ba7c2b..89ccd9bbd20 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-data/src/themes/createVisualizationColors.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-data/src/themes/createVisualizationColors.ts
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ export function createVisualizationColors(colors: ThemeColors): ThemeVisualizati
   }
 
   // special colors
-  byNameIndex['transparent'] = 'rgba(0,0,0,0)';
+  byNameIndex['transparent'] = colors.mode === 'light' ? 'rgba(255, 255, 255, 0)' : 'rgba(0,0,0,0)';
   byNameIndex['panel-bg'] = colors.background.primary;
   byNameIndex['text'] = colors.text.primary;
 
diff --git a/packages/grafana-ui/src/components/Table/utils.ts b/packages/grafana-ui/src/components/Table/utils.ts
index 1274dc053d2..5605e3c6175 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-ui/src/components/Table/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-ui/src/components/Table/utils.ts
@@ -617,7 +617,7 @@ export function getCellColors(
 
     if (mode === TableCellBackgroundDisplayMode.Basic) {
       textColor = getTextColorForAlphaBackground(displayValue.color!, tableStyles.theme.isDark);
-      bgColor = tinycolor(displayValue.color).setAlpha(1).toRgbString();
+      bgColor = tinycolor(displayValue.color).setAlpha(0.9).toRgbString();
     } else if (mode === TableCellBackgroundDisplayMode.Gradient) {
       const bgColor2 = tinycolor(displayValue.color)
         .darken(10 * darkeningFactor)