This is the question we are asked more than any other, and most of the answers online are written by someone who sells only one of the two. We sell both, so this guide is written to help you decide rather than to push you in a direction.

Updated August 2026 with the current price gap, the new GIA reporting system for laboratory-grown diamonds introduced in October 2025, and what the latest market data actually shows about value retention.

What the two have in common

A laboratory-grown diamond is a diamond. That is not marketing language, it is chemistry: both are pure crystallised carbon with the same cubic structure, the same hardness of 10 on the Mohs scale, the same refractive index and the same dispersion. Both sparkle identically, scratch identically, and wear identically over decades.

There is no visual difference. None. A gemmologist with a loupe cannot tell them apart, and neither can we – identification requires specialist equipment that detects growth patterns and trace elements invisible under magnification. Anyone who claims they can spot a lab-grown diamond by eye is mistaken.

This matters because it removes an entire category of worry. If you choose laboratory-grown, nobody will look at your hand and know.

The one real difference: how they were formed

A natural diamond crystallised in the earth’s mantle between roughly one and three billion years ago and was carried towards the surface by volcanic activity. Each one is geologically unique and finite.

A laboratory-grown diamond is produced in a matter of weeks, by one of two methods:

• HPHT (High Pressure High Temperature) reproduces mantle conditions using a press.
• CVD (Chemical Vapour Deposition) grows the crystal layer by layer from carbon-rich gas in a vacuum chamber.

Everything else – price, availability, resale behaviour, certification – follows from this single difference in origin. It is worth being clear about that, because most of the arguments made on both sides are really arguments about scarcity.

The price gap in 2026, and why it keeps widening

The discount has moved dramatically. Laboratory-grown diamonds cost roughly 30% less than natural equivalents around 2016, about 60% less by 2021, and industry sources now commonly cite figures between 75% and 85% depending on size and quality.

The reason is straightforward: production capacity has grown enormously while natural supply has not. Growing a diamond has become cheaper and faster every year, and that trend has no obvious reason to reverse.

What this means in practice for an engagement ring budget:

• The same budget buys a substantially larger laboratory-grown centre stone – frequently two to three times the carat weight.
• Or it buys the same size in laboratory-grown with far more spent on the setting, the diamond work and the craftsmanship around it.
• Or it buys a smaller natural stone of genuinely fine quality rather than a larger commercial-quality one.

That third option deserves more attention than it usually gets. If you want a natural diamond, the current market rewards buying better rather than bigger.

Certification: the two are no longer graded the same way

This is the most significant change since we first published this guide, and most buyers are unaware of it.

On 1 October 2025, the GIA stopped applying the traditional 4Cs grading scale to laboratory-grown diamonds. Instead of a colour and clarity grade, laboratory-grown stones now receive an overall descriptive assessment:

• Premium – D colour, VVS clarity or better, excellent polish and symmetry, and for round brilliants an excellent cut grade.
• Standard – meets a combination of those criteria, with at least a very good cut grade for round brilliants.
• Stones below the Standard threshold receive no assessment at all.

The reasoning is that more than 95% of laboratory-grown diamonds now fall within a very narrow band – D to F colour, VVS to VS clarity – which makes fine-grained grading close to meaningless. When almost everything is nearly colourless and nearly flawless, the grade stops distinguishing anything.

What this means for you: if you are comparing a laboratory-grown stone with a GIA report issued before October 2025 against one issued after, you are reading two different systems. Ask which report you are looking at. And be aware that a “D VVS1” laboratory-grown diamond is a far less remarkable claim than the same grades on a natural stone.

Natural diamonds continue to be graded on the full 4Cs scale. If you want to understand what those grades actually mean, we cover them in how to understand diamond quality.

Resale and value: what we can honestly tell you

We are jewellers, not financial advisers, and we will not tell you that either type of diamond is an investment. What we can do is describe how the market has actually behaved.

Laboratory-grown diamonds have very limited resale value today. Because production keeps expanding and prices keep falling, a stone bought now will almost certainly be replaceable more cheaply later. Buy laboratory-grown for what you get on the day, not for what it might be worth.

Natural diamonds have not been a one-way bet either. De Beers reported first-half 2026 revenue of $1.6 billion, down from $2.0 billion a year earlier, with the average realised rough price falling 32% to $105 per carat. The market has split by quality: demand for larger, higher-quality natural stones has stayed resilient, while smaller and commercial-quality goods have been under sustained pressure.

So the honest summary is this. A fine, certified, larger natural diamond has held its position considerably better than a commercial-quality one, and better than any laboratory-grown stone. But “better than the alternatives” is not the same as “an appreciating asset”, and anyone presenting a diamond of any origin as a financial product is overselling it.

Buy the ring because you want to wear it. That is the only reasoning that reliably holds up.

The ethical and environmental question, without the marketing

Both sides overstate their case here, so it is worth separating what is settled from what is contested.

Natural diamonds

The Kimberley Process and subsequent industry reforms have made conflict diamonds a marginal problem in the legitimate supply chain rather than the norm they once were, though the system has real critics. Mining also supports substantial employment and public revenue in producing countries such as Botswana and Namibia – a point rarely acknowledged in the sustainability argument. Every stone we sell is certified conflict-free.

Laboratory-grown diamonds

No mining, no displaced earth, no mine site to rehabilitate. But growing a diamond is extremely energy-intensive, and the environmental footprint depends almost entirely on the electricity source. A stone grown on renewable power in a country with a clean grid and one grown on coal-fired power are not remotely equivalent, and most producers do not disclose which applies.

Treat “eco-friendly” claims on laboratory-grown diamonds with the same scepticism you would apply to any other product making them. If sustainability is your main reason for choosing laboratory-grown, ask for the energy source specifically.

Which one is right for you?

Rather than a recommendation, here is the decision as we actually walk through it with customers in Antwerp.

Laboratory-grown makes more sense if

• Size on the hand is your priority and the budget is fixed.
• You want an unusual shape or proportion – an elongated cushion, a large emerald cut – where the natural equivalent would be prohibitive.
• You are buying a piece that will be worn hard, or a second set, or earrings and pendants where carat weight reads at a distance.
• You are untroubled by the fact that the stone is reproducible.

Natural makes more sense if

• The origin story matters to you – that this specific stone formed over a billion years and cannot be made again.
• You expect the ring to be inherited, and you want it to hold some value across generations.
• You would rather have a smaller stone of genuinely fine quality than a larger one of average quality.
• You are buying a coloured diamond, where natural rarity is dramatic and the price difference is justified by something real.

There is no wrong answer, and there is no version of this where one choice is more “real” than the other. They are different products serving different priorities.

How we sell both at OROGEM

We are based in the Antwerp diamond district, with direct access to one of the world’s most important diamond centres, and we source both categories from that network.

• Full disclosure, always. Every stone is identified as natural or laboratory-grown on the invoice and in the certificate. There is no scenario in which you are unsure what you bought.
• Certification on both. Natural stones come with GIA, IGI or HRD reports; laboratory-grown stones come with the applicable laboratory documentation.
• The same workshop. Setting, craftsmanship and finishing are identical regardless of the stone’s origin. We do not build cheaper rings around laboratory-grown diamonds.
• Comparison in person. If you can visit Antwerp, we will put both in front of you under the same light. Most customers find the decision becomes obvious within a few minutes.

Browse our laboratory-grown diamond rings or the Verdissimi laboratory-grown collection, read the engagement ring buying guide, or talk to us about a tailor-made ring with either type of centre stone.