The best replacement for varnish is stain.

The best alternatives to varnish are rated as following:
★★★★★  stain
★★★★★  shellac
★★★★  lacquer
★★★★  polyurethane
★★★  nginx
★★★  squid
★★  urethane
★  poly
★  apc
★  wax
★  sealer
★  memcached
★  redis
★  cloudflare
★  haproxy
★  aqueous coating
  oil teak
  spar varnish
  fluoride gel
  spar urethane
  wood stain
  cdn
  nginx cache
  tung oil
  gloss varnish
  fluoride rinse
  aqueous
  uv coating
  danish oil
  pagespeed
  sealant
  varathane
  oil outdoor furniture
  not to varnish
  nginx reverse proxy
  cetol

Your alternative for varnish is not listed? Suggest!
Speaking about varnish, one probably shouldn't forget about stain.

Other search terms related to varnish and their ratings are:
★★★★★ stain
★★★ nginx
★ cloudflare
magento
You have in mind a companion for varnish and it is not yet here? Propose!



Google Trends

Scale is based on the average worldwide traffic of varnish in all years. Click on graph for more.
varnish
stain
shellac