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

Shopping for your perfect diamond ring is exciting yet overwhelming. You’re stressed when it comes to finding the perfect gemstone or diamond that’s right for you – so you start researching online and come across Brilliant Earth vs James Allen. These two popular diamond retailers promise the best quality at fair prices. But which one should you really choose? In this buyer’s guide, we’ll take a deep look into the pricing, quality, shopping experience, customer service, and more to help make that decision easier!

Bottom Line Recommendation
If we had to pick between James Allen vs Brilliant Earth, we’d go with James Allen. They have a strong history of quality craftsmanship, one of the largest selection of diamonds and gemstones we’ve ever seen, spectacular 24/7 customer service, an impressive online shopping experience, and plenty of positive reviews from communities on Reddit, all within an affordable price range.

Read also: The Truth Behind James Allen: Know This Before You Buy

	James Allen	Brilliant Earth
Year Founded	2006	2005
Website	Very comprehensive, intuitive, & easy to use	Very comprehensive, intuitive, & easy to use
Customer Support	24/7 support via live chat, phone, and email	24/7 support via live chat, phone, and email
Selection	250,000+ diamonds with HD video + 360 degree detail	80,000 lab grown diamonds and 91,000 natural diamonds
Price	Very affordable	More expensive
Return Policy	30 day free return policy and 1 year free resizing with free return shipping	30 day return policy and 60 day free resizing
Warranty Policy	Lifetime warranty with free prong tightening, re-polishing, rhodium plating, & cleaning services	Lifetime warranty with free prong tightening, re-polishing, rhodium plating, & cleaning services at an additional cost
Shipping Policy	2-4 days	1-5 business days
Upgrade Policy	Lifetime upgrades for 100% of the diamond value as long as new purchase is 2x the price of original diamond	Lifetime upgrades for 100% of the diamond value as long as new purchase is 1.5x of original diamond value (if natural) or 2x if lab created
Jump to Site	Visit James Allen	Visit Brilliant Earth

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

Brilliant Earth

With a wide selection of natural and lab diamonds, Brilliant Earth put more emphasis on ethically sourced diamonds and preset diamond rings.

For couples that want engagement and wedding rings with conflict free diamonds, Brilliant Earth is a great choice.

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: Best Cartier Ring Alternatives Under $1000

James Allen

With possibly one of the largest selections of loose natural diamonds and lab grown diamonds, James Allen gives you many unique ways to build your own engagement ring in an easy way.

Simply pick from a loose diamond from one of their 250,000+ diamonds, and pick a unique setting.

Pair that simplicity with their quality craftsmanship, impressive customer service, one-of-a-kind online shopping experience, and unbeatable prices, it’s no wonder why so many shoppers pick James Allen to find and build their perfect ring.

Read also: James Allen vs Tiffany: The Answer May Surprise You

Pricing

In this section, we’ll take a look at two natural diamonds – one from Brilliant earth and one from James Allen.

We’ll compare the price of the two diamonds with similar characteristics to see which one is more affordable.

The characteristics are the following:

• Cut: Super Ideal/Excellent

• Clarity: VVS1

• Color: E

• Carat weight: 1.00 ct

• Shape: Round

• Type: Natural diamond

This diamond above from Brilliant Earth retails for $7,680.

Whereas this diamond above from James Allen retails for $6,900.

That’s a whopping $780 difference!

Read also: 10 Stunning James Allen Eternity Rings

Selection

In this section, we’ll look at how many natural diamonds and lab grown diamonds each retailer offers.

At the time of writing this, Brilliant Earth offers over 80,000 lab grown diamonds and over 91,000 natural diamonds.

On the other hand, James Allen has a large selection of over 250,000 diamonds with most of them being natural diamonds.

You’ll also find plenty of fancy colored diamonds if you’re looking for something a bit more unique.

Read also: Best Engagement Rings For Small Hands

Read also: Best Engagement Rings For Big Hands

Diamond Quality

When it comes to the quality of diamond jewelry, the answer can be a tough one.

There isn’t always a hard and fast rule when it comes to the quality of a diamond because quality is so subjective.

That’s why when gemologists and diamond experts refer to the quality of a diamond, they’re really referring to the 4 C’s of the diamond.

We have a whole guide you can check out over here that explains what the 4 C’s are.

The 4 C’s give us a very equal level playing field for people to determine the quality of a diamond and it only makes sense to compare diamonds with the same carat weight, clarity, cut, and color.

When you’re shopping at different online diamond retailers, both James Allen and Brilliant Earth have high quality diamonds.

You really can’t go wrong picking between the two options.

But if we factor in the number of loose diamonds you can choose from and the price, James Allen is the clear winner here.

With over 250,000 different diamonds to pick from at an affordable price point, James Allen has the better quality diamonds.

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

Customer Service

A huge part of buying engagement rings is the customer service. After all, no one wants to buy from people who are rude or always ghosts you.

Brilliant Earth currently has 37 locations spread across the United States where you can walk in during certain hours of operation and receive 1-to-1 support.

If you choose to shop online for your engagement ring, you can get in contact with Brilliant Earth’s customer service team 24/7 via phone, live chat, or email.

On the other hand, James Allen offers something very similar to Brilliant Earth, but they focus more on the online experience.

This means that James Allen doesn’t have many physical showrooms. In fact, they only have two at the time of this article.

Read also: Looking For a James Allen Store Location? Here’s Where to Find Them

But they really go all out for their online customer service.

James Allen’s customer service team offers shoppers a toll free number, live chat, email, and real-time diamond inspection, all 24/7.

We really like the bonus 24/7 real-time diamond inspection because you can be anywhere in the world in any time zone about to propose, and you can easily ask a diamond expert a question without any hassle.

Shopping Experience

The shopping experience for something as valuable as a diamond engagement ring is as important as the ring itself.

After all, if you’re going to spend all that money on a diamond ring, it’s likely you’d want a memorable experience to go with it.

If you prefer to shop in-store for your natural or lab created diamonds, we’d recommend Brilliant Earth since they have multiple locations and convenience plays a big role in the shopping experience.

However, if you prefer to shop online, which is in fact very popular nowadays, then James Allen is your best option here.

James Allen has perfected the digital shopping experience by offering customers a VR Try On feature, real-time diamond inspection, 360-degree high definition video, and 40x magnification to spot any flaws and inclusions on all their diamonds.

Read also: How To Use James Allen’s Virtual Ring Try On Feature

Not to mention you can reach out to their customer support team 24/7.

Did we mention you can get all this without breaking the bank?

Read also: The Dark Side of James Allen: Unveiling Complaints

Brilliant Earth on Reddit

James Allen on Reddit

Read also: James Allen vs Clean Origin: Head-to-Head Comparison

Return Policy

Brilliant Earth offers a no-questions-asked 30 day return policy and 60 day free resizing policy.

If for any reason, you’re not happy with your diamond rings from Brilliant Earth, you can simply return them within 30 days for a full refund or an exchange.

James Allen also offers a no-questions-asked 30 day return policy with free return shipping.

But unlike Brilliant Earth, James Allen offers a 1 year free resizing policy, which is always a great bonus to have.

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

Warranty Policy

James Allen offers a lifetime warranty with free prong tightening, rhodium plating, re-polishing, and cleaning services.

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.

Read also: Everything You Need to Know About The James Allen 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.

James Allen offers free worldwide shipping on orders over $50, and deliveries are 2-4 days.

Read also: James Allen vs Kay Jewelers: Here’s Which One We Recommend

Upgrade Policy

Both Brilliant Earth and James Allen offer free lifetime diamond upgrades 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, and it must be a mined 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, James Allen requires that the new piece is at least 2x your old engagement ring’s trade-in value for both mined and lab grown diamonds.

Recap
If we had to pick between James Allen vs Brilliant Earth, we’d go with James Allen. They have a strong history of quality craftsmanship, one of the largest selection of diamonds and gemstones we’ve ever seen, spectacular 24/7 customer service, an impressive online shopping experience, and plenty of positive reviews from communities on Reddit, all within an affordable price range.