Comparing Lab Grown and Natural Diamond Prices: Why the Huge Gap Exists
When you start the search for your perfect engagement ring, you quickly run into a major decision: natural or lab grown? If you’ve done five minutes of Googling, you'll already know that equivalent lab grown diamonds are significantly cheaper.
But why the massive price difference? Is it because one is fake? No. Both are chemically, physically, and visually identical diamonds. The difference boils down to a simple, fundamental contrast: market control and technological efficiency.
This isn't just about saving money; it’s about understanding the true cost and the future value of your purchase.
Early Lab Grown Diamond Costs: Why Prices Started High
It’s easy to look at today's pricing and assume lab grown diamonds were always the budget option, but that wasn't the case.
When high-quality, gem-quality lab diamonds, meaning they were suitable for jewellery and had excellent colour and clarity, first hit the market, the price difference was modest. Early on, the technology was inefficient, meaning costs were high. They were perhaps only 25% cheaper than their natural counterparts. It was a nice saving, but not the game changer we see today.
This early market performance was a reflection of the challenges in creation.
From Low Colour to High Colour: Refining the CVD Diamond Growing Process
So, what changed? The growing process became incredibly refined.
To understand this, we need to know what "gem quality" truly means. In short, a diamond is considered gem quality if it has the superior combination of colour, clarity, and carat weight necessary to be set in fine jewellery.
Early on, methods like Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD), which is one of the primary ways diamonds are grown today, often struggled. They generally produced diamonds that were smaller and often had a lower colour grade (a brownish or yellowish tint). Consistently creating high-colour diamonds (like the stunning D-F grades) in large carat sizes (over one carat) was incredibly difficult and costly.
Fast forward to today: Through tireless innovation, the growth process has been perfected. Modern CVD reactors can now consistently produce diamonds of high colour (D, E, F grades) and excellent clarity in significant carat weights.
This refining process dramatically lowered the production cost per carat. With growing times also dropping for months to weeks. As a result, that initial 25% discount has ballooned into massive savings.
Saving Money: Lab Grown Diamonds Are 75% Cheaper Than Natural
Today, a high-quality lab-grown diamond is typically priced at around 25% of the cost of a natural diamond with equivalent cut, clarity, colour, and carat weight.
Simply put, choosing lab grown means you can get a truly stunning, larger, higher-spec diamond and potentially save 75% of the cost compared to going natural.
To truly illustrate the price evolution, let's look at a concrete example. Imagine you are searching for a high-quality, sought-after diamond: a beautiful 1.50 carat stone with VS1 clarity and an excellent F colour grade. For an equivalent natural diamond, you would typically expect a retail price to fall within the £18,000 to £22,000 range. The exact same stone, grown in a controlled environment with zero ethical ambiguity, now costs approximately £4,500 to £5,500. That is a genuine, significant difference: a saving of roughly £15,000 that can be put toward your future, whether that's a house deposit, a dream honeymoon, or simply financial peace of mind.
Natural Diamonds are Not an Investment: Debunking the Myth
When you’re looking at a £10,000 price tag for a natural diamond, you’ll often hear the narrative that it's an "investment" or something that "holds its value."
We need to be transparent: This is a fallacy.
Unlike fine art or rare historical items, the vast majority of natural diamonds purchased in retail stores do not appreciate in value. If you try to resell a natural diamond you bought retail, you will almost certainly only receive a fraction of the price you paid, often 25-35% of the retail price, and sometimes even less.
Your beautiful diamond is an object of sentiment and love, not a liquid asset.
By choosing a high-quality lab grown diamond, you eliminate the worry of paying an inflated price for something that will immediately lose value. You pay a fair price for a truly stunning, physically identical diamond, allowing you to invest the real savings into your future together.
Informed Diamond Choice: Lab Grown vs. Natural
Ultimately, the choice between lab and natural is personal. But if your goal is transparency, environmental responsibility, and maximum value for your budget, the modern lab grown diamond offers an undeniable advantage.
We are here for honest, transparent advice to help you select the perfect diamond for your stress-free forever moment.
