Our bottom-line verdict
Brilliant Earth is one of the best premium diamond jewelers we have reviewed. The site is easy to use, the jewelry designs are excellent, the loose-diamond pages give you plenty to inspect, and the company offers more ways to shop than most online sellers. You can book a virtual appointment or visit one of its 43 US showrooms.
Its work on traceability and sustainability is still a real point of difference. Brilliant Earth now separates its lab-grown diamonds into collections that use renewable energy, captured carbon, or a sustainability rating. That gives an environmentally focused buyer more to go on than the vague “eco-friendly” language found elsewhere.
The main drawback is price. In our latest controlled comparison, a 2.00-carat Brilliant Earth diamond cost $2,100. The median of the five lowest qualifying Ritani results was $422. The stones were not identical, but the gap was far too large to dismiss.
Our 2026 rating is 4.5 out of 5. We recommend Brilliant Earth if design, service, showrooms, and sustainability choices matter enough to justify a premium. Compare the loose diamond at Ritani before you buy.
Is Brilliant Earth legitimate?
Yes. Brilliant Earth is a legitimate US jeweler founded by Beth Gerstein and Eric Grossberg in 2005. Its parent company, Brilliant Earth Group, is publicly traded on Nasdaq under the ticker BRLT.
The business has grown from an online jeweler into a national brand. In August 2026, Brilliant Earth announced that its San Antonio location was its 43rd US showroom. Brilliant Earth also publishes detailed shipping, return, warranty, upgrade, sourcing, and sustainability information.
That does not mean every diamond is a good deal. It means you are dealing with an established jeweler that offers real stores, customer support, published policies, and independent grading reports for loose diamonds.
Who is Brilliant Earth?
Brilliant Earth started with a simple idea: the diamond industry needed better sourcing standards than “conflict free” alone. The company became known for its Beyond Conflict Free standard, origin information, and later its use of blockchain for selected mined diamonds.
Our review has always focused mainly on its lab-grown diamonds. They avoid diamond mining, cost less than mined diamonds of a similar grade, and fit naturally with the reason Brilliant Earth was founded. The company has also built one of the strongest design and service experiences in the category.
Brilliant Earth now sells loose natural and lab-grown diamonds, engagement rings, wedding bands, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, gemstones, custom jewelry, and several signature collections. It works well for someone who wants the convenience of online shopping without giving up the option of seeing jewelry or talking to a specialist.
Ethical sourcing and lab-grown diamonds
Brilliant Earth made its name by pushing for better sourcing in mined diamonds. That still matters if you are considering a natural stone. For a lab-grown diamond buyer, the more useful question is where the diamond was made and what energy was used to grow, cut, and polish it.
Lab-grown diamonds are real diamonds with the same chemical, optical, and physical properties as mined diamonds. They do not require diamond mining, but they are not automatically carbon-free. Growing a diamond uses a great deal of electricity, so the energy source matters.
This is where Brilliant Earth offers more useful choices than many rivals.
How sustainable are Brilliant Earth lab-grown diamonds?
Brilliant Earth currently offers three lab-diamond collections with clearer environmental claims:
- Renewable Collection: diamonds grown, cut, and polished using 100% renewable wind and solar energy.
- Capture Collection: diamonds grown using carbon dioxide captured before it is released into the atmosphere.
- Sustainably Rated Collection: diamonds grown, cut, and polished using carbon-neutral energy.
The company's 2025 Mission Report says 87% of its current lab-diamond manufacturers had been audited for safe working conditions. It also says 32% of its lab diamonds were cut and polished using renewable energy, Renewable Energy Credits, or SCS Sustainably Rated certification.
Those figures help put the claims in perspective. Brilliant Earth is doing more than simply calling every lab-grown diamond sustainable, but the strongest environmental attributes do not apply to every stone in its inventory. If this is important to you, use the collection filter and check the details of the diamond you are buying.
Brilliant Earth also says 99.5% of its gold and 96.4% of its silver are repurposed, with exclusions for some chains, posts, clasps, and other components. Its wooden ring boxes use FSC-certified wood, and most paper packaging uses FSC Recycled paper. You can read the current details on its sustainability page.
Lab-grown diamond selection
Brilliant Earth has a broad loose lab-grown diamond selection. We are not carrying over the old article's total of more than 520,000 stones because supplier-fed inventory changes too quickly for that number to stay useful.
What matters more is the range. The current search covers the main diamond shapes, a wide span of carat weights and grades, and both colorless and fancy-colored stones. It also lets you filter by price, cut, color, clarity, ratio, fluorescence, polish, symmetry, table, depth, grading report, delivery, and collection.
The collection filters are especially useful. Along with Renewable, Capture, and Sustainably Rated diamonds, the current site includes Flawless and Truly Brilliant options. Brilliant Earth also sells unusual colors such as Pacific Green and Malibu Blue.
The exact selection changes as diamonds sell and suppliers add stock. We found more than enough choice for a normal engagement ring or jewelry purchase without relying on a headline inventory number.
Diamond images and buying tools
Brilliant Earth gives you most of the information needed to judge a loose diamond before ordering. The 2.00-carat stone in our latest check included:
- an interactive video of the actual diamond;
- a separate real-diamond image;
- an actual-size view on a hand;
- table, depth, girdle, culet, and measurements;
- an IGI grading section;
- shipping information; and
- a comparison with similar diamonds.
That is a strong product page. The similar-diamond panel is particularly helpful because it shows how a small change in carat, color, clarity, or cut affects the price.
The experience is not perfect. Some alternative listings still showed a sample image rather than the actual stone. We would not buy an expensive loose diamond without seeing real media and checking the full grading report.
Ready-to-ship jewelry
Brilliant Earth's finished jewelry has improved considerably since our first review. The range now goes well beyond basic studs and solitaire rings, with engagement rings, wedding bands, tennis jewelry, fashion pieces, colored lab diamonds, signature collections, and custom designs.
The designs are one reason to consider paying more here. Brilliant Earth has a recognizable style and a much stronger presentation than a seller focused only on listing the cheapest possible loose stones.
Read the product details carefully when buying preset jewelry. Small accent diamonds and multi-stone pieces may be described by an average color and clarity range rather than an individual grading report. That is normal for small stones, but it gives you less control than choosing a certified center diamond yourself.
Create-your-own rings and jewelry
We usually prefer create-your-own jewelry for an important purchase. It lets you choose the center diamond, inspect its grading report and media, and then pair it with the setting you like.
Brilliant Earth makes this easy for engagement rings and also offers design-your-own earrings and necklaces. You can start with the diamond or the setting, save favorites, compare stones, and ask a specialist for help.
The custom service goes further if you want to change a standard design or create something from scratch. That flexibility is one of the clearest advantages over a basic ready-to-ship jewelry store.
Showrooms, appointments, and customer support
Brilliant Earth has become one of the easiest online jewelers to shop in person. Its 43 US showrooms let you try on designs and speak with a jewelry specialist. The store page says appointments are encouraged, though walk-ins are also welcome when staff are available.
Virtual appointments remain available for shoppers who do not live near a showroom. Brilliant Earth also advertises 24/7 support by phone, chat, and text.
Our earlier testing included questions for customer service and a purchase-and-return test. That experience helped support the original high rating. For 2026, we rechecked the current support options and policies but did not place a new order.
Brilliant Earth lab-grown diamond prices
Brilliant Earth is expensive for loose lab-grown diamonds. This is the biggest change from our earlier verdict, which described its prices as competitive and only slightly above Ritani.
Our August 2026 comparison used close round lab-grown diamonds near two carats, with E color, VVS2 clarity, IGI grading, and a top qualifying cut grade:
| Seller and sample | Price | Difference from Ritani median |
|---|---|---|
| Ritani: median of five 1.95 ct results | $422 | Baseline |
| Brilliance.com: 2.07 ct after public code | $924.70 | 119.1% higher |
| Grown Brilliance: 2.05 ct | $1,615 | 282.7% higher |
| Brilliant Earth: 2.00 ct | $2,100 | 397.6% higher |
The Brilliant Earth stone had a real video, detailed measurements, an IGI report section, and useful comparison tools. Those features have value. They do not, in our view, explain a price almost five times the Ritani median.
The stones were close rather than identical, and seller cut labels cannot be treated as the same. Prices also move constantly. Even with those limits, this was a large enough gap that every Brilliant Earth buyer should compare the loose diamond elsewhere before ordering.
Check current Brilliant Earth prices
Prices for preset jewelry
Preset jewelry is harder to compare because design, metal weight, craftsmanship, branding, and presentation all affect the price. Brilliant Earth is still a premium seller, but the premium can make more sense when you are buying a distinctive finished piece rather than a loose stone that is easy to compare across several sites.
For stud earrings and simple solitaire jewelry, compare the diamond quality as well as the total carat weight. A lower price is not a bargain if the product gives you little information about cut, color, clarity, or certification.
Shipping, returns, resizing, and warranty
Brilliant Earth currently offers free shipping and free 30-day returns for eligible orders. The return window starts when the item is available for shipment or pickup, and the jewelry must be unworn and in its original condition.
The exclusions matter. Custom-designed or altered jewelry, personalized pieces, resized or modified rings, repaired items, and purchases made through the lifetime diamond upgrade program are not covered by the standard return policy. Orders over $1,000 and create-your-own jewelry must be returned by phone rather than through the simple online portal.
Most rings qualify for one free resizing within the first year when the new size remains within the allowed range. Brilliant Earth also provides a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects. Normal wear, damage, theft, lost stones, and work performed by an unauthorized jeweler are not covered.
The lifetime diamond upgrade can be useful, but it has a high threshold for lab-grown stones. An eligible loose lab-grown diamond can receive its original price as credit only when the replacement lab-grown diamond costs at least twice as much. Save the grading report, appraisal, receipt, and policy terms for your order.
You can review the current return policy and warranty and upgrade terms before buying.
Our 4.5/5 Brilliant Earth rating
Brilliant Earth earns 4.5 stars because it does several difficult things very well. The shopping experience is excellent, the designs feel considered, the service is easy to reach, the showroom network is large, and the sustainability choices are more specific than those of most competitors. Its much higher loose-diamond prices keep it from scoring closer to the top.
| What we rated | Score |
|---|---|
| Diamond selection and buying tools | 4.8/5 |
| Jewelry design and customization | 4.8/5 |
| Customer support and showrooms | 4.8/5 |
| Sustainability and traceability options | 4.9/5 |
| Shipping, returns, and aftercare | 4.7/5 |
| Loose-diamond price and value | 2.8/5 |
The price score is the obvious weakness. A buyer who knows how to compare grading reports and videos can save a great deal at Ritani. A buyer who values design, appointments, physical stores, polished tools, and a stronger sustainability story may still prefer Brilliant Earth.
Our verdict: Brilliant Earth is one of the best premium choices for lab-grown diamond jewelry, but it is not the place to shop on price alone.
How we reviewed Brilliant Earth
We first published this review in October 2022 after months of research into Brilliant Earth's diamonds, jewelry, prices, shopping experience, service, and sustainability work. The original review was led by diamond-industry writer Rolf Hartmann and records a purchase-and-return test as part of the research.
We updated the article as the inventory, pricing, stores, policies, and sustainability programs changed. For this September 2026 edition, we kept the original review's strongest findings and images, then rechecked the current diamond search, a live product page, prices, customer-care policies, showrooms, sustainability disclosures, and affiliate destination.
The 2026 check did not include a new purchase. Prices and promotions are dated because they can change quickly.
What we consider
Our rating considers price, loose-diamond selection, jewelry design, diamond quality and inspection tools, shopping experience, customer support, sustainability and traceability, shipping, returns, and aftercare.
Review update history
- 2022: We published the original review after researching the diamonds, jewelry, shopping experience, service, and environmental claims.
- 2023–2024: We refreshed prices, inventory, ready-to-ship jewelry, showrooms, policies, and sustainability information as the business grew.
- 2025: We continued monitoring the seller and its changing place in our retailer comparisons.
- September 2026: We preserved the original research and images, retested the live shopping experience, added a controlled price comparison, updated stores and policies, and replaced broad sustainability language with the company's current collection-level details.
Sources checked
- Brilliant Earth customer care
- Brilliant Earth returns and resizing
- Brilliant Earth warranty and diamond upgrade terms
- Brilliant Earth sustainability information and 2025 Mission Report
- Brilliant Earth second-quarter 2026 results and 43rd-showroom announcement
- Brilliant Earth fiscal 2025 annual report
Frequently asked questions
Is Brilliant Earth legit?
Yes. Brilliant Earth is an established US jeweler founded in 2005. Its parent company trades publicly on Nasdaq, and it had 43 US showrooms as of September 2026.
Is Brilliant Earth a good place to buy lab-grown diamonds?
Yes, especially if you value design, service, showrooms, detailed diamond pages, and stronger sustainability options. It is not our first choice for the lowest loose-diamond price.
Why is Brilliant Earth more expensive?
You are paying for more than the loose stone: jewelry design, showrooms, appointments, customer support, branding, aftercare, and sustainability programs all add cost. Even so, the loose-diamond gap in our latest comparison was large enough that we recommend checking Ritani before buying.
Are Brilliant Earth lab-grown diamonds real diamonds?
Yes. Lab-grown diamonds have the same chemical, physical, and optical properties as mined diamonds. The difference is that they are grown in a controlled environment rather than mined from the earth.
Are all Brilliant Earth lab-grown diamonds sustainable?
No lab-grown diamond should be called sustainable without looking at how it was produced. Brilliant Earth offers selected Renewable Energy, Capture, and Sustainably Rated collections with clearer environmental attributes. Those claims do not apply equally to every diamond on the site.
Does Brilliant Earth have physical stores?
Yes. Brilliant Earth had 43 US showrooms as of September 2026. It also offers virtual appointments.
What is the Brilliant Earth return policy?
Eligible, unworn items can generally be returned or exchanged within 30 days. Custom, altered, personalized, resized, repaired, and lifetime-upgrade purchases are among the exclusions, so check the exact terms before ordering.