Rare Carat Vs. Brilliant Earth- Which One Is Better?

If you are looking to buy diamonds, you are sure to have been overwhelmed at some point by the staggering number of brands that are out there. It can be difficult to make a choice, especially since buying diamonds is a serious and expensive business. However, if you narrow down your search to the top rated brands, you will come across Rare Carat and Brilliant Earth, among others.

Both Rare Carat and Brilliant Earth are widely known for their superb quality, sparkly diamonds, and both have millions of dedicated followers. So which of these should you go for?

To make matters easier for you, here is a comprehensive comparison of both these brands that entails all the information that you need to know to make a wise decision.

Table of Contents

About the Brands

Rare Carat

Rare Carat came out in 2016 as a marketplace (now claimed to be the number 1 marketplace) for diamonds. It is different from other brands in that it does not sell its own products, and instead acts as an aggregator. It displays diamonds from various retailers on its website and allows the customers to compare and contrast numerous diamonds from different vendors. This makes the purchasing experience smooth and much less complicated than usual.

Some of the retailers that you will come across on Rare Carat are Do Amore, Yadav and With Clarity.

Brilliant Earth

Brilliant Earth is a top tier, reputable diamond retailer that hardly needs any introduction. Introduced in 2005, the brand is known for its fine quality, ethically sourced gemstones and jewelry. Brilliant Earth has a huge inventory of both natural and lab grown diamonds that are certified by renowned labs and institutions, and thus are of an excellent standard. In addition, it also offers a variety of fine jewelry to its customers.

Their huge variety of available products is one of the key features that set it apart from the local dealers. I specifically talked about this at length in my comparison “Brilliant Earth Vs. Local Jewelers“.

Online Shopping Experience

Rare Carat

One of the most applaudable things about Rare Carat is their user-friendly website, which makes the overall shopping experience highly pleasant. Have a look for yourself:

Rare Carat Website

Once on their website, you are offered to either take a quiz or enter the specifications of the diamond that you are looking for, such as the carat weight, color, clarity and fluorescence, and most importantly, the price range.

Rare Carat then displays all the diamonds that meet your requirements along with their retailers. From there, you are directed to the specific retailer for further details and proceedings. Thus, navigating their website is more or less, a piece of cake.

Rare Carat also allows you to speak to their expert gemologists for advice and queries, which can help you in making the decision with complete satisfaction and peace of mind.

Brilliant Earth

Brilliant Earth makes your life a lot easier by providing access to everything; diamonds, gemstones and jewelry, all at one place. It gives you a multitude of options such as picking a diamond and a setting of your own choice, or choosing a pre-formed jewelry piece.

Brilliant Earth Website

If you are having trouble in making a decision, Brilliant Earth allows you to speak to one of their experts over live chat, or simply book an appointment on one click. The website is fairly simple to navigate, with drop down menus and filters such as carat weight, cut, shape, clarity etc to narrow and simplify your search.

Quality and Certification

Rare Carat

Despite having a diverse collection of diamonds from different retailers, Rare Carat works hard to ensure that each and every one of these meets a certain standard in terms of quality. Every retailer that applies goes through a strict screening process, where its diamonds are inspected for their quality. Only about 1 in 5 of these retailers are accepted.

Every diamond comes with a proof of authenticity and grading certificate. Since Rare Carat does not own these diamonds, you can be confident about their quality checks and reports being unbiased.

Brilliant Earth

Brilliant Earth is renowned for its superior quality diamonds. The brand takes special pride in the fact that all of its diamonds are ethically sourced, from socially and environmentally suitable mines. The whole process, from extraction to cleaning and polishing is carried out with utmost skill and craftsmanship, resulting in the final product being of premium quality.

All the diamonds of Brilliant Earth are graded and certified by reputable institutes such as the GIA and IGI.

It is important to mention, nonetheless, that customers have complained about the prong settings of Brilliant Earth falling apart, which is an area of concern.

Price and Value for Money

Rare Carat

As mentioned above, Rare Carat has diamonds from various retailers listed on its website. Therefore, it offers a wider price range for different diamonds that have similar specifications. For instance, this round diamond that is 1 carat in weight, with color F and clarity of VVS1 and has a retail price of $7001. On the other hand, here is another 1 carat round diamond with similar specifications that retails for $8005.

In summary, Rare Carat offers you a lot of options within your desired price range.

Brilliant Earth

Brilliant Earth falls among the high end brands, so it is not surprising that its diamonds have a high retail price. Although the difference is not very major, on average, Brilliant Earth diamonds have a higher cost than those on Rare Carat. This can be depicted by the fact that this diamond, which is very similar to the Rare Carat diamonds mentioned above with a size of 1 carat, F color and VVS1 clarity, costs a whopping $9830.

Return Policy And Customer Support

Rare Carat

Although Rare Carat does not have an independent return policy, it only associates with retailers that have a 30 days no-questions-asked return policy, which is quite generous. In addition, it also makes sure that the brands do not charge return shipping or restocking fees from the customers. Rare Carat also offers complementary resizing and other services, which is a huge plus.

The brand has an extensive customer support service, which includes experts and gemologists that guide and advise customers regarding their purchases. However, there have been some complaints regarding delayed responses from the brand to queries and concerns of the customers, which is something that needs to be addressed.

Brilliant Earth

Brilliant Earth offers a 30 days return policy, which allows you to get a full refund or exchange in case you do not like the product. Moreover, it also provides free return shipping for its customers.

Brilliant Earth allows its customers to reach out to sales representatives and experts via live chat and email, who respond to queries and complaints and also give advice regarding purchases. Moreover, it also allows you to book physical appointments for its stores all over the US.

All in all, the brand has excellent customer service.

Conclusion- Which One To Go For?

From the information that we have gathered so far, it is fair to say that both Rare Carat and Brilliant Earth are reliable and trustworthy brands. However, Brilliant Earth has an edge in that it extracts and sells its own diamonds and thus, can make better claims with regards to its products as compared to Rare Carat, which merely acts as a middleman. In addition, Brilliant Earth also has superior accreditations and customer service, which is a plus.