Are Lab Grown Diamonds Worth It? An Australian Jeweller's Answer

Yes, if you are buying a ring. No, if you are buying an asset. Almost every argument about lab grown diamonds gets confused because those two questions are answered as though they were one, and they are not.

I make engagement rings in a Southbank studio in Melbourne, and we sell lab grown diamond and moissanite. We do not sell mined stones. So take the recommendation with that in mind, and pay closest attention to the section further down where I set out when a lab grown diamond is the wrong choice, because that is the part I have no commercial reason to write.

Jarod Guthrie Moissanite Engagement Rings · Updated August 2026

What "worth it" actually means here

There are two ways to judge a purchase like this. One is whether the thing does the job you bought it for, at a price that is fair for what went into it. The other is whether it will be worth something later.

A lab grown diamond scores extremely well on the first and badly on the second. So does a mined diamond, on the second, which almost nobody selling mined diamonds mentions. If you decide based on the first question, you will be happy. If you decide based on the second, you should not be buying jewellery at all, in either material.

Why lab grown diamonds are cheaper

They are cheaper for one reason: supply is not constrained.

A mined diamond exists in whatever quantity the earth produced and the market has been managed carefully for decades to keep that quantity feeling scarce. A lab grown diamond is made in a reactor over roughly two to twelve weeks. When demand rises, capacity is added. Since 2020 a great deal of capacity has been added, mostly in India and China, and prices have fallen substantially as a result.

That is the whole mechanism. It is not a quality difference. Lab grown stones are graded by the same laboratories against the same 4Cs, with the same D to Z colour scale, the same clarity grades, and the same cut grading. They are the same material: carbon in the same crystal lattice, 10 on the Mohs scale, refractive index 2.42. A gemmologist needs spectroscopic screening equipment to tell them apart, not a loupe.

What that means for your budget in practice: the same money buys meaningfully more stone. Our lab grown diamond designs start at AU$1,350, and the money moves with carat, colour, clarity and metal, not with a brand markup. You can see the range on the lab grown diamond engagement rings collection.

Why choose a lab grown diamond

Five honest reasons, in the order I think they matter.

Size and grade for the budget. This is the real one. A budget that would have bought a well cut stone under a carat in mined will comfortably clear a carat in lab grown, with better colour and enough left over for a setting that is actually built properly.

You can spend correctly instead of compromising. With a mined stone, most buyers have to give something up: colour, or clarity, or size, or the setting. With lab grown you can buy an excellent cut grade, a colour and clarity that will never bother you, and still put real money into the metal. Cut grade is the only line on a certificate that changes how a stone looks from across a room, and being able to buy it without flinching is worth more than an extra tenth of a carat.

It is verifiable. Every lab grown diamond we set is IGI certified and laser inscribed on the girdle with its report number. You can look that number up on IGI's own site before you pay. Ask for it. Ask for it from anybody, including us. What an IGI certificate tells you covers how to read one.

The environmental case, with a caveat. Growing a diamond is essentially an electricity problem: a reactor held at very high temperature for weeks. If that electricity comes from renewables, the footprint is genuinely low. If it comes from a coal fired grid, which much of the world's production capacity does, it is not. Anyone claiming a carbon neutral stone should be able to tell you what the claim rests on and who audited it. I make no such claim about our stones. What I will say is that our delivery is carbon offset, Australia wide, insured and signature required.

No sourcing anxiety. The Kimberley Process addresses conflict financing. It does not certify labour conditions or environmental practice at the mine, and plenty of buyers do not want to spend an evening working out what that distinction means. With a lab grown stone the question does not arise.

When a lab grown diamond is the wrong choice

I would talk four kinds of buyer out of this.

You want a stone with resale or heirloom provenance. If part of the reason you are spending the money is that the ring should still be worth something in thirty years, or should carry weight as an object handed down, a lab grown diamond will not deliver that. Prices in the category have fallen since 2020 and there is no scarcity story underneath them to arrest that. Be aware, before you conclude that mined solves it, that a mined solitaire from a chain retailer does not hold its retail value either, for reasons set out further down in the FAQ. But the narrow category of things that genuinely do appreciate, fancy coloured diamonds, Argyle pinks after that mine closed in 2020, signed period pieces, is a mined category, and if that is what you are after you should be buying there and not from me.

You are buying an antique or period specific setting. If the ring is a Victorian, Edwardian or Art Deco mounting, the stone of the era is the point. Old mine cuts and old European cuts were cut by hand for candlelight, with small tables, high crowns and open culets, and they behave differently in the light from a modern brilliant. Dropping a modern lab grown round brilliant into a hand engraved Edwardian mounting looks exactly like what it is. If period authenticity matters to you, buy the period stone.

The origin genuinely matters to you emotionally. Some people want a stone that formed over a billion years underground. Told that the material is chemically identical, they nod, and they still feel differently about the ring, and they will still feel differently in ten years. That is not irrational and I am not going to argue anyone out of it. If you suspect that is you, or that is your partner, do not let a price argument make the decision. The ring is worn every day by someone who has to like it.

You want the largest possible stone for the smallest possible number. If maximum visual size per dollar is the actual brief, moissanite does that better than lab grown diamond does, and it is a different material with more fire, not a cheaper diamond. Our moissanite designs start at AU$800. Rather than sell you a smaller lab diamond, I would rather you read moissanite vs lab grown diamond and pick properly.

What to actually check before you buy one

The stone is the easy part. Certificates make stones comparable, which means the market prices them tightly and there is not much room for anyone to cheat you on a graded stone. The setting is where the money is quietly saved and where rings fail.

• Ask for the IGI or GIA report number, and look it up yourself.
• Buy cut grade before carat. Excellent cut, every time.
• In rounds and ovals, G or H colour and VS2 clarity is invisible on a hand. In emerald and asscher cuts, spend the money on clarity instead, because step cuts hide nothing.
• Ask how thick the shank is at the base. Under about 1.8mm, on someone who works with their hands, you are looking at a reshank inside a decade.
• Ask what happens when a claw wears. Every claw wears. The answer should not involve posting the ring overseas.
• Ask about resizing. Fingers change. Ours includes one free resize within three months of purchase, up to four sizes either way, or two sizes on a pavé ring, and additional resizes start at $80. Every ring carries a lifetime warranty on craftsmanship and on the optical properties of the stone.

So, is it worth it

For most people buying an engagement ring in Australia in 2026: yes, clearly. You get diamond, at the size and grade you actually wanted, with a certificate you can verify, and you free up budget for a setting that will survive being worn every day. That is a good trade.

The condition is that you buy it as jewellery. Judge it the way you would judge a well made piece of furniture or a good coat: does it do the job, is it built properly, will it still be right in fifteen years. Those are answerable questions and lab grown diamond answers them well.

If you want to see stones in person, we take appointments at the Southbank studio. If you are not in Melbourne, we run design consultations by video call and send a free ring sizer before anything is cast. Either way you can book an appointment.

FAQ

Are lab grown diamonds cheaper than mined diamonds?

Yes, substantially, at the same carat, colour, clarity and cut. The gap has widened since 2020 as production capacity grew. The saving comes from supply, not from a quality difference.

Are lab grown diamonds real diamonds?

Yes. Same crystal structure, same hardness at 10 on the Mohs scale, same optical properties, graded on the same scales by the same laboratories. The distinction is where the carbon crystallised, not what it is.

Will people know it is lab grown?

Not by looking. Identification requires spectroscopic screening in a laboratory, or reading the laser inscription on the girdle under magnification. Whether you tell people is your call, and most of our clients simply do.

Do lab grown diamonds scratch or chip?

They are 10 on the Mohs scale, so nothing you meet in daily life will scratch one. Diamond does have cleavage planes, which means a hard knock at the wrong angle can chip any diamond, lab grown or mined. Setting design matters more than the stone here: a bezel or a well made claw with proper coverage protects the girdle where it is vulnerable.

Is a lab grown diamond a good investment?

No, and neither is a mined one bought at retail. Read do lab grown diamonds hold their value before you let anybody tell you otherwise.