Brilliant Earth vs Blue Nile: Here’s Which One is Better

When it comes to buying your perfect engagement ring, there’s a lot to consider. Brilliant Earth and Blue Nile are two popular choices for many couples. Both offer conflict-free diamonds and a wide range of loose gemstones to pick from. You’d also have to consider which engagement ring would pair well with your wedding rings. As you can tell, there’s a lot of similarities between the two and picking one can be difficult. So in this buyer’s guide, we’ll unpack these two ethical diamond retailers and find out which one is better.

Bottom Line Recommendation

This one was a really close race. But if we consider things like affordability, having a large selection of both natural and lab diamonds, great customer service, and top-tier diamond quality, we would recommend Blue Nile. With over 190,000 diamonds, 24/7 customer support, affordable prices, and their signature triple-graded Astor Collection, it’s no wonder why so many couples choose Blue Nile for their perfect engagement ring.

	Blue Nile	Brilliant Earth
Year Founded	1999	2005
Website	Very comprehensive, intuitive, & easy to use	Very comprehensive, intuitive, & easy to use
Customer Support	24/7 support via live chat, WhatsApp, phone, and email. 20 showrooms across USA	24/7 support via live chat, phone, and email. 37 showrooms across USA
Selection	11,000 lab diamonds, 190,000 diamonds altogether, and Signature Astor Collection	80,000 lab grown diamonds and 91,000 natural diamonds
Price	More affordable	More expensive
Return Policy	30 day return policy and 1 year free resizing	30 day return policy and 60 day free resizing
Warranty Policy	Lifetime warranty on manufacturing defects with complimentary cleaning & inspections	Lifetime warranty with free prong tightening, re-polishing, rhodium plating, & cleaning services at an additional cost
Shipping Policy	Free overnight shipping with orders over $1,500	1-5 business days
Upgrade Policy	Free lifetime diamond upgrades if new piece is 2x price of old ring’s trade-in value (for both lab and natural diamond)	Free lifetime diamond upgrades if new piece is 2x price of old ring’s trade-in value (if natural diamond), or 1.5x if lab diamond
Jump to Site	Visit Blue Nile	Visit Brilliant Earth

Here’s what we’ll cover in this guide
• Pricing • Selection • Diamond Quality • Customer Service • Shopping Experience • Brilliant Earth on Reddit • Blue Nile on Reddit • Return Policy • Warranty Policy • Shipping Policy • Upgrade Policy

Brilliant Earth Overview

When it comes to your own engagement ring, there’s nothing quite like a stunning diamond center stone.

And if you’re in the market, Brilliant Earth diamonds have you covered.

Not only do they offer a wide selection of diamonds, but they also offer ethically sourced diamonds from conflict free places.

The best part is designing your own ring where you get to choose everything from the diamond to the band and setting.

Read also: Blue Nile Review: Everything You Need to Know Before Buying

And one unique feature that Brilliant Earth offers over other online diamond retailers in the jewelry industry is they offer a service plan that covers lost diamonds up to 0.25 ct.

Read also: Clean Origin vs Brilliant Earth: This Might Surprise You

Blue Nile Overview

If you’re in the market to take your sparkle game to the next level, you’ve probably heard of Blue Nile.

They’ve definitely made a name for themselves by offering an impressive selection of over 190,000 diamonds and other gems.

But one thing that sets them apart is their Astor Collection which are their highest quality of triple-graded diamonds in the diamond industry

They also offer plenty of transparency on every diamond by providing detailed information including the cut, clarity, and certification.

Not ready to commit to a traditional mined diamond? No problem – they also offer plenty of loose gemstones and lab created diamonds.

And to take things a step further, they offer a huge library of educational content to inform customers on the benefits of their diamonds and how to make smart shopping decisions.

Read also: Clean Origin vs Blue Nile: Which Diamond Retailer Is Better?

Pricing

In this section, we’ll take a look at which diamond retailer has the more affordable diamond.

The best way to compare pricing between Brilliant Earth vs Blue Nile is to use two diamonds with similar characteristics.

The diamond we’ll be comparing will have the following characteristics:

• Cut: Ideal

• Clarity: VVS1

• Color: F

• Carat weight: 1.00 ct

• Shape: Round

• Type: Natural diamond

Let’s take a look at this diamond from Brilliant Earth:

This diamond above from Brilliant Earth retails for $7,010.

Read also: Brilliant Earth vs James Allen: What’s The Better Diamond Retailer?

Whereas this diamond above from Blue Nile retails for $6,867.

That’s a $143 difference.

It might not be much, but the diamond from Blue Nile ships much faster than the one from Brilliant Earth.

So if you want your diamond to show up fast, we’d say the more affordable and quicker diamond from Blue Nile is an obvious choice.

Read also: James Allen vs Blue Nile: Which One Is Right For You?

Selection

Brilliant Earth has a large selection of both lab grown diamonds and natural diamonds.

At the time of this writing, Brilliant Earth has 80,000 lab created diamonds and 91,000 loose natural diamonds

On the other hand, Blue Nile has around 190,000 loose diamonds with 11,000 of them being lab diamonds.

If having access to a wide variety of diamonds are important to you, it’s important to know whether you want natural diamonds or lab diamonds.

Read also: This Diamond Cut Will Make Your Ring Sparkle The Most

If lab diamonds are your preference, we’d suggest Brilliant Earth as they have a much larger selection.

But if you prefer natural diamonds, then Blue Nile takes the win here.

Diamond Quality

Both Brilliant Earth and Blue Nile are well-known amongst online diamond retailers to offer high quality diamond rings.

And a huge factor of diamond quality comes down to the 4 C’s (cut, clarity, color, and carat weight).

You can check out our beginner’s guide here on the 4 C’s and how to use them to find high quality diamonds.

But one thing that really blew us away in terms of diamond quality is Blue Nile’s Astor Collection.

The diamonds in this collection are “Independently Dual Graded”.

This means the diamonds are graded for triple excellence in their cut, symmetry, and polish from industry experts which include the GIA, GCAL, and GemEx.

Read also: GIA vs IGI: What’s The Difference?

Naturally, these diamonds will come at a higher price but they are 100% worth it, especially if you plan to have your engagement ring as an heirloom to pass on to future generations.

Customer Service

Both Blue Nile and Brilliant Earth offer comparable customer services.

For starters, Blue Nile offers the option for shopper to book 1-on-1 consultations with diamond experts.

And you can reach out to their team for support 24/7 via WhatsApp, phone, live chat, and email.

Read also: Buyer Beware! Unveiling Blue Nile Engagement Ring Complaints

On the other hand, Brilliant Earth also offers 1-on-1 consultations with diamond experts.

And they also offer 24/7 customer support via phone, live chat, and email.

All in all, both diamond retailers offer the same services across the same channels.

The only difference is that Blue Nile offers an extra WhatsApp number for people to reach out to.

Shopping Experience

Brilliant Earth and Blue Nile both offer amazing online and in-store shopping experiences.

If you prefer to shop in person, Brilliant Earth currently has 37 showrooms across the United States.

Whereas Blue Nile has 20 showrooms across the United States.

And both Blue Nile and Brilliant Earth offer similar services at their showrooms where you can request 1-on-1 support and browse a selection of engagement rings.

The only difference is Blue Nile offers visitors a Diamond Experience Program, where people can experience the brilliance of their signature Astor diamonds in person.

Aside from that, it’s a pretty standard showroom.

So if convenience and being located close to a physical diamond showroom is a high priority for you, we’d recommend Brilliant Earth since there’s a higher chance they’re located closer to you.

But if a Blue Nile showroom is closer to you, we’d strongly suggest checking out their Astor diamonds in person.

If you’re in the market for a diamond engagement ring but prefer to shop online…

… or perhaps you have a very busy schedule and it’s difficult to make time to walk into a showroom…

… or even if you want to shop in secret to avoid ruining your surprise proposal…

Online shopping is the way to go.

Both Blue Nile and Brilliant Earth have wonderful online shopping experiences and make the process to purchase a diamond ring very simple.

They break it down into steps where you can start off with picking a diamond, and then a setting to pair with your diamond.

There’s also plenty of educational posts on their website to help you make better decisions and guide you no matter where you are in the buying process.

Brilliant Earth on Reddit

This is where things get a bit tricky for Brilliant Earth.

While most things look good on paper for them, many of the reviews we’ve found on Reddit weren’t exactly the be

And these aren’t old posts. Both of these comments were made within the last year.

Maybe it turns out 24/7 customer service looks good in theory, until you actually come across an issue and really need them to help.

We can’t speak for all experiences at Brilliant Earth but this is definitely something to consider.

Blue Nile on Reddit

Return Policy

Brilliant Earth and Blue Nile both offer a no-questions-asked 30 day return policy with free return shipping

The only difference is that Brilliant Earth offers a 60 day free resizing policy and Blue Nile offers a free 1 year resizing policy.

Warranty Policy

Brilliant Earth offers free lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects on all their fine jewelry.

However, if you’re looking for extra services like re-polishing and cleaning services, those are an additional cost with their Extended Protection Plan.

Blue Nile offers lifetime warranty on manufacturing defects with complimentary cleaning & inspections.

Read also: Everything You Need To Know About Blue Nile’s Warranty

Shipping Policy

Brilliant Earth offers free FedEx shipping for orders in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia. Deliveries in the US can take between 1-5 business days.

Blue Nile offers free overnight shipping for order $1,500 or more.

Upgrade Policy

Both Brilliant Earth and Blue Nile offer a free lifetime diamond upgrade program and will give you the trade-in value of your engagement ring to use towards a new piece.

For Brilliant Earth, the new piece must be at least 2x your old engagement ring’s trade-in value if it’s a natural diamond.

If your old engagement ring has a lab grown diamond, then the new piece must be at least 1.5x your old engagement ring’s trade in value.

On the other hand, the new piece from Blue Nile must be at least 2x your old engagement ring’s trade-in value. And this applies for both natural and lab grown diamonds.

Final Verdict

This one was a really close race. But if we consider things like affordability, having a large selection of both natural and lab diamonds, great customer service, and top-tier diamond quality, we would recommend Blue Nile. With over 190,000 diamonds, 24/7 customer support, affordable prices, and their signature triple-graded Astor Collection, it’s no wonder why so many couples choose Blue Nile for their perfect engagement ring.