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If you’re looking to purchase a diamond or diamond jewelry, then you may have come across either Jared, Brilliant Earth, or both. This guide helps you decide if you should buy your next diamond at Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry. Read on as we’ll do a side-by-side comparison to help you make the best choice.
Brilliant Earth and Jared both sell online and in physical stores. However, Jared has a much larger offline footprint, while Brilliant Earth mostly focuses on online diamond shopping. As we’ll learn in our comparison of Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry, there is a huge difference between the two.
In the following section, we’ll compare the diamond selection, prices, quality, and shopping experience of Brilliant Earth and Jared Jewelry, compare the pros and cons of both, and conclude with our recommended place to buy diamonds.
BLACK FRIDAY PROMO ALERT! : Free diamond jewelry with purchase at Brilliant Earth!
A Quick Comparison of Brilliant Earth VS. Jared Jewelry
If you’re short on time, here’s a quick side-by-side comparison of Brilliant Earth VS. Jared Jewelry.
Low-priced sustainable diamonds and jewelry, build your own.
Well-known brand, better than most mall diamond jewelers.
- A Quick Comparison of Brilliant Earth VS. Jared Jewelry
- Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry: Bottomline Recommendation
- Company Backgrounds
- Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry: Lab-Grown Diamond Selection
- Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry: Price Comparison
- Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry: Shopping Experience
- Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry: Sustainability
- Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry: Shipping and Returns
- Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry: Pros and Cons
- More Diamond Seller Comparisons And Reviews
Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry: Bottomline Recommendation
Who came out on top in our Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry review? For those short on time, we’ll summarize our experiences with Brilliant Earth and Jared Jewelry below.
Diamond Selection and Inventory
When it comes to diamond selection and inventory, Brilliant Earth offers a much more extensive selection of diamonds, particularly lab-created diamonds, than Jared does. That said, we were impressed by the selection of loose diamonds and, not least, the shopping experience when searching for them. In continuation of this, the ring customization options were great too. But, of course, that is not surprising since they’re built on James Allen’s software.
Diamond Jewelry Options Beyond Engagement Rings
Unfortunately, when it comes to any other diamond jewelry, Jared is far behind. Instead of relying on James Allen’s platform, Jared uses the same as Kay and Zales (read our Kay review and Zales review to learn why that is not good).
Price Comparison
When it comes to prices, again, Brilliant Earth is ahead. Jared Jewelry is cheaper than comparable physical jewelry stores but way behind online jewelers like Brilliant Earth. Expect to pay a considerable premium at Jared compared to online stores.
Shipping and Return Policies
The only area in which Jared and Brilliant Earth perform similarly is in shipping and returns, where Jared impressed us with similar offerings as some of the best places to buy diamonds online.
Sustainability Commitment
If sustainability is a priority for you, Brilliant Earth is the clear choice. While Brilliant Earth is one of the leading diamond jewelers within sustainability, Jared does not keep up with the industry standard either.
Final Verdict: Why Brilliant Earth is the Better Choice
If you’re looking for the top option among mall jewelers, Jared Jewelry could meet your needs. But why settle for less and not buy online, save, and get a better diamond at Brilliant Earth. With better prices, a wider selection of lab-grown diamonds, and a commitment to sustainability, Brilliant Earth is our top recommendation for diamond engagement rings and lab-created diamonds.
Company Backgrounds
Brilliant Earth
Founded in 2005, Brilliant Earth’s primary goal is to provide customers with ethical and sustainable diamond options. As one of the largest online diamond retailers, they offer a vast collection of lab-grown and mined diamonds. In addition, their San Francisco studio designs a wide range of stunning jewelry styles.
Moreover, they ensure sustainability by using recycled materials for packaging, offsetting carbon emissions, and utilizing precious recycled metals.
For more information, check out our detailed review of Brilliant Earth.
Jared Jewelry
Jared Jewelry is part of Sterling Jewelers, founded in 1910 by Henry Shaw. It grew rapidly in the 90s and 2000s, acquiring smaller jewelers to become one of the largest in the US. Sterling was acquired by Signet in 1987 and now operates as a subsidiary. Signet is the world’s largest jewelry retailer, acquiring Zale Corporation, James Allen, and Blue Nile.
Jared stands out among the other Sterling mall brands as a more luxurious diamond jeweler usually situated outside the malls. It offers a superior and pricier shopping experience.
Sterling and Jared have faced controversy, including a class-action suit for alleged discrimination and a case about pressuring customers into services.
Read more about Jared Jewelry in our in-depth Jared Jewelry review
Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry: Lab-Grown Diamond Selection
First, we’ll compare Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry’s diamond inventory and see which has the better diamond and jewelry selection. We’ll start by reviewing Brilliant Earth’s selection and then Jared Jewelry, ending with a comparison of the two.
Brilliant Earth Diamond Quality and Inventory
Brilliant Earth offers an enormous selection of diamonds, both mined, lab-grown, and sustainably-rated lab diamonds. The selection is not only vast but also broad and covers all fancy diamond shapes and fancy diamond colors.
In fact, Brilliant Earth boasts one of the largest inventories of high-quality lab-grown diamonds we have reviewed. Our Brilliant Earth Review found that they have over 50,000 loose lab-created diamonds. When looking for our reference diamond (see below), we found more than 400 matches in their inventory, of which most were of excellent quality.
Our reference diamond is a round brilliant-cut lab-grown diamond between 0.93-1.07 carats (tip: you can often save by going just below one full carat). The reference clarity is in the range VS1 to VS2 and with a color grade of I or J. The diamond cut grade is always the best, which for most lab-grown diamonds (certified by IGI) is ideal.
At Brilliant Earth, you can find a diverse range of jewelry designs, from timeless to modern and distinctive styles. Moreover, you can create your own diamond jewelry by choosing loose lab-grown diamonds from their vast collection. This option ensures higher diamond quality compared to pre-set diamond jewelry, which usually comes with lower-quality diamonds.
Jared Jewelry Diamond Quality and Inventory
When comparing Jared and Brilliant Earth, both boast a large selection of diamonds. As you can learn in our review of Jared Jewelry, their loose diamond selection is based on the same platform as that of highly-rated James Allen.
And, as a diamond jeweler, you might want to take a cue from James Allen, one of our best-rated diamond jewelers. James Allen offers an impressive 11,639 lab diamonds! But, when you compare them to Jared Jewelry’s offerings, it’s a different story. Jared only has 5,294 lab diamonds listed with the same minimum grades of excellent/ideal cut, J color, and VS clarity.
Diamond Grades
Why the big difference? Well, Jared tends to carry higher color grades overall. As a result, you’ll find plenty of D and E grades at Jared, but the selection of lower grades is lacking. For instance, if you’re looking for I or J lab diamonds with minimum VS2 clarity and ideal cut, there are only 41 options at Jared Jewelry vs. the 400+ at Brilliant Earth. But for D and E color grades, there are 4,614! That’s a lot of diamonds to choose from, but it also means you’ll likely pay too much for their high-color grades.
We think it’s a shame that Jared doesn’t offer lower-color grades, which is typically where you find the best deals on lab diamonds. D or E grades will be too expensive in most cases, and the difference between an H, G, or F won’t be noticeable. You might even be able to get away with an I or J!
Cut Quality and Considerations
One thing we do appreciate about Jared is that all their larger lab diamonds are graded ideal for the cut grade. That’s the best grade available, so it’s a big help to customers who want the best of the best. But, if you’re in the market for a smaller diamond, beware of the lab diamonds with “very good” cut grades. “Very Good” is usually not, in fact, very good.
Finally, we’ve noticed that some of Jared’s lab diamonds graded as VS1-2 aren’t exactly eye-clean. Despite the decent clarity grade, there are visible inclusions or blemishes. So, do your research and pay close attention to each diamond’s clarity grade before making your purchase.
Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry: Price Comparison
The next section of our Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry review compares the prices of Jared Jewelry and Brilliant Earth. We’ll start with Brilliant Earth.
Brilliant Earth Diamond Prices
Brilliant Earth offers some of the lowest prices for loose lab-grown diamonds in the market. When compared with other price-leaders, such as Ritani, Brilliant Earth’s prices are slightly higher but still competitive.
Competitive Pricing for Loose Lab-Grown Diamonds
In our comparison with other diamond jewelers using our reference diamond, we found that Brilliant Earth’s prices ranged from $1,100 to $1,890. Again, this is one of the lowest prices we’ve seen, with only a few diamond sellers having slightly lower prices.
The quality of their lab diamonds is fantastic, so not only will you get a great diamond, but you’ll also get it at an excellent price.
Affordable Jewelry Settings
Brilliant Earth’s jewelry settings are well-priced, too, so you can pair their low-priced lab diamonds with any jewelry piece and end up with a very low total price.
However, the prices for pre-set diamond jewelry at Brilliant Earth are mixed. They tend to be higher than the price-leader, Ritani, for some designs but on par for others, such as Grown Brilliance or James Allen, as still very reasonable considering the premium quality.
That said, we suggest you avoid purchasing pre-set jewelry at Brilliant Earth and instead use their build-your-own jewelry option to get a better diamond for the same price.
Jared Jewelry Diamond Prices
When comparing the prices of Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry, we’ll again use our reference diamond.
At Jared Jewelry, the 1-carat diamonds in our range start at $1,470 and go up to $2,670. But, as noted above, we have found that the diamond clarity of the cheapest diamonds at Jared seems considerably lower than their grade suggests.
So, after inspecting their available loose diamonds, the minimum price for a 1-carat lab diamond at Jared with decent clarity is closer to $1,800. In comparison, Ritani, Grown Brilliance, and With Clarity all offer high-quality 1-carat lab diamonds for under $1000, while James Allen and Brilliant Earth start at $1000 for excellent 1-carat lab diamonds.
Thus, Jared is significantly more expensive than any of our recommended best places to buy lab diamonds, including Brilliant Earth. However, prices are not as high as expected for a typical mall jeweler. See, for example, much higher prices at Diamonds Direct or Zales.
Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry Price Summary
As we compared Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry diamond prices, we found that prices at Brilliant Earth are slightly higher than those of Ritani but still very competitive.
However, the prices at Jared Jewelry are higher than at Brilliant Earth and what we have found at our best-rated diamond jewelers. But, compared to most other mall jewelers, the prices at Jared are actually pretty decent. Even so, we recommend Brilliant Earth over Jared Jewelry for diamond prices.
Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry: Shopping Experience
The shopping experience and the ability to inspect the prospective diamonds are crucial when purchasing a diamond. In this comparison, we will examine the buying experience at Brilliant Earth versus Jared Jewelry.
The Brilliant Earth Shopping Experience
The shopping experience at Brilliant Earth is top-notch. Here’s why.
Easy Navigation and Access to Information
Their website is user-friendly and easy to navigate. You can easily find all the necessary information to evaluate diamond quality, except for the diamond certificates, which are low-quality but are still legible.
Design Your Own Diamond Jewelry
Moreover, Brilliant Earth offers a unique service for building your own diamond jewelry. Unlike other jewelers, they allow you to design almost any type of diamond jewelry. This is highly recommended, as choosing your own diamond pairing ensures that you get a high-quality diamond and avoid subpar pre-set pairings.
Building your own diamond jewelry at Brilliant Earth is effortless.
Support from Trained Gemologists
Brilliant Earth stands out due to its thorough diamond inspection process and the expert support provided by trained gemologists. Their highly qualified support team is always available to assist customers during the purchasing journey. You can easily reach them via email or chat, or you can schedule a virtual meeting for personalized guidance and support.
Physical Locations for In-Person Shopping
In addition to online shopping, Brilliant Earth has 19 physical locations across America. This allows customers to experience their exceptional service and quality in person if they prefer.
The Jared Jewelry Shopping Experience
When comparing the shopping experience between Jared Jewelry and Brilliant Earth, it’s important to note that Brilliant Earth is online first, while Jared is first and foremost a physical diamond retailer.
In-Store Experience
As a physical retailer, Jared has positioned itself as an upscale version of the mall jewelers, distancing itself from fellow Signet jewelers Kay and Zales (and more recently acquired Diamonds Direct). And the shopping experience at Jared does feel a little more premium when visiting their stores.
Why We Recommend Online Shopping
But we recommend shopping online. That’s because not only will you find better prices, the shopping experience will be better. While sitting on your couch, you can compare thousands of diamonds side by side and inspect diamond grading reports and magnified HD images. At diamond jewelers such as Grown Brilliance and James Allen, you can even see how the specific diamonds will look in various settings. And you don’t have to deal with pushy salespeople.
Online Experience at Jared Jewelry
The online shopping experience at Jared Jewelry is mixed. As we previously mentioned in our Jared vs. Brilliant Earth comparison, the user experience shopping for loose diamonds replicates James Allen’s. And that’s good.
Unfortunately, the inventory is smaller and more expensive. But, the shopping experience itself is pretty good, even if some James Allen features are lacking.
Custom Diamond Ring Design
The platform for finding loose diamonds can also be used to create a custom diamond ring. And that works really well, too. The selection of ring settings is pretty decent, allowing you to pair the perfect diamond and ring design. Unlike James Allen’s advanced ring designer tool, you’ll only be able to see the ring set with a stock diamond photo.
Pre-Set Diamond Jewelry: A Lackluster Experience
When searching for pre-set diamond jewelry, Jared Jewelry uses the same platform and user interface as Kay and Zales. And that’s not good.
It looks like something created around the turn of the millennium. And what’s worse, the features are limited, the information is lacking, and the options are few. So, if you want to “customize” anything other than a diamond ring, this is where you will do that. For example, if you are shopping for diamond stud earrings.
However, the options are minimal, and you cannot pick the diamond you would like, even though Jared Jewelry does offer a selection of loose diamonds. You can only choose specific ranges, which, by the way, lack key pieces of diamond quality information.
Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry Shopping Experience Summary
In our comparison of the shopping experiences at Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry, we have found that Brilliant Earth delivers regardless of customizing jewelry, buying loose diamonds, or searching for pre-set jewelry.
Conversely, the online shopping experience at Jared Jewelry was only positive when searching for loose diamonds or customizing rings. It was severely lacking when looking for anything else. Brilliant Earth clearly wins this round.
Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry: Sustainability
Brilliant Earth, along with Vrai and Pandora, are leaders in sustainability and ethical diamond retail. But what about Jared Jewelry? In the following, we’ll compare Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry to learn who provides the more sustainable diamond options.
Brilliant Earth Sustainability
Brilliant Earth is wholly committed to sustainability, ethical practices, and eco-friendliness. It was founded to offer conscious diamond consumers a better choice of ethical diamonds and to challenge the diamond industry to positively impact society.
A Diverse Selection of Ethical Diamonds
Brilliant Earth offers a wide range of diamonds, including both mined and lab-created. While we believe that lab-grown diamonds are invariably the ethical choice, we’re happy to report that Brilliant Earth also offers a selection of ethically mined diamonds, an improvement over traditionally mined diamonds (even if it’s sometimes an enigma).
Sustainable Lab-Grown Diamonds
But more importantly, Brilliant Earth also sells sustainably graded lab-grown diamonds produced using sustainable energy sources and following specific guidelines. While the selection is still somewhat limited, it puts us on par with other sustainable diamond industry leaders, such as Vrai.
Brilliant Earth’s commitment to sustainability extends beyond diamonds. They take great care to limit their environmental impact, using sustainable and carbon-neutral packaging and recycled metals in the production of jewelry.
Read more about their commitment to sustainability in our Brilliant Earth review.
Jared Jewelry Sustainability
When it comes to sustainability, Jared Jewelry falls short compared to Brilliant Earth. Compared to Brilliant Earth, Jared Jewelry does not advertise diamond sustainability. Jared has published a few pages about sustainable and conflict-free sourcing on their website, but they do not go in-depth and seem more like an afterthought.
Jared mainly refers to Signet’s being a signatory to various protocols that, at best, limit sustainability issues.
Unlike Brilliant Earth, Jared Jewelry does not actively promote sustainability. They do not push lab-grown diamonds, the more sustainable diamond choice, nor do they go out of their way to ensure sustainable practices from sourcing to packaging.
Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry: Shipping and Returns
Shipping
Both Brilliant Earth and Jared Jewelry offer competitive options.
- Brilliant Earth provides free shipping with FedEx on all US, Canadian, UK, and Australian orders.
- Jared Jewelry offers free 2nd-day delivery with UPS on all orders.
Shipping should be complimentary on high-ticket purchases such as diamonds, so it’s great to see that both Brilliant Earth and Jared Jewelry ship free, though we would have liked to see free overnight delivery.
Returns
Brilliant Earth and Jared Jewelry offer 30 days of free returns, including free return shipping. Again, this is industry average and should be expected, but Jared stands out here compared to many of its mall-favorite peers.
Brilliant Earth vs. Jared Jewelry: Pros and Cons
Below we have listed the pros and cons of Jared Jewelry vs. Brilliant Earth for you to better decide between the two.
What We Like About Brilliant Earth (Pros)
What We Don’t Like About Brilliant Earth (Cons)
What We Like About Jared Jewelry (Pros)
What We Don’t Like About Jared Jewelry (Cons)
More Diamond Seller Comparisons And Reviews
At LabGrownCarats.com, we review diamond sellers with a particular focus on lab-created diamonds. We hope to help you find the best places to purchase diamond jewelry and the perfect lab-grown diamond. We compare diamond sellers in our vs. reviews to help you decide between specific jewelers – should you be split.
Read our review of Brilliant Earth vs. Vrai to learn which sustainable diamond jewelers are better.
