Diamond Price Chart 2026: Lab Grown Fell 84% in Nine Years, Natural 40%
Ten years of one carat prices from Paul Zimnisky, Rapaport and StoneAlgo. Lab grown fell from 83 percent of the natural price in 2016 to 22 percent in 2025. At five carats today, it costs under 2 percent.
The author is the founder of Draco Diamond, which sells lab grown diamond jewellery. Market prices are in US dollars, from the sources cited below. Draco prices are in Canadian dollars, read October 13, 2026. Shares, per carat figures and running totals are Draco's arithmetic from those sources.
Lab grown fell 84 percent in nine years, natural 40
Between early 2016 and early 2025, the price per carat of a one carat lab grown diamond fell 84 percent. A natural one carat fell 40 percent over the same nine years. The lines began close together and ended far apart.
One carat diamond price per carat, natural against lab grown, 2016 to 2025
US dollars per carat, generic round, one carat, VS clarity. Quarterly estimates, dashed where none were published, mid 2023 to 2024.
Source: Paul Zimnisky Diamond Analytics, via Quartz, August 2023, and CNBC, March 2025. Analyst estimates, not transactions. Not adjusted for inflation.
The series comes from diamond industry analyst Paul Zimnisky. It tracks a generic, unbranded round of one carat and VS clarity, so both lines describe the same kind of stone.1
His quarterly figures run from 2016 to mid 2023, and a March 2025 report carried his numbers for the first quarter of 2025. The dashed segment spans the gap. No point is invented to fill it.2
| Quarter | Lab grown | Natural | Lab share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2016 | $5,450 | $6,538 | 83% |
| Q4 2018 | $3,675 | $6,325 | 58% |
| Q4 2020 | $1,943 | $5,850 | 33% |
| Q4 2022 | $1,425 | $5,605 | 25% |
| Q2 2023 | $1,480 | $5,300 | 28% |
| Q1 2025 | $845 | $3,895 | 22% |
Read as a share, the change is starker. Lab grown cost 83 percent of the natural price in early 2016 and 58 percent at the end of 2018. It cost 33 percent at the end of 2020 and 22 percent by early 2025.
An independent measure agrees. Bain put the retail price of a one carat lab grown diamond at 35 percent of natural in 2020. This series shows 33 percent at the end of that year.3
This diamond price chart uses US dollars as published, without adjusting for inflation. In real terms, both falls are deeper than the lines show.
How far have natural diamond prices fallen since 2015?
By about half at wholesale. Chaining Rapaport's yearly changes for one carat diamonds puts its index roughly 53 percent below the January 2015 level by October 2026. Most of the fall came in 2023 and 2024.
| Period | One carat change | Since January 2015 |
|---|---|---|
| 20154 | Down 5.8% | Down 5.8% |
| 20165 | Down 5.0% | Down 10.5% |
| 20176 | Down 5.3% | Down 15.3% |
| 20187 | Up 0.7% | Down 14.7% |
| 20198 | Down 5.3% | Down 19.2% |
| 20209 | Up 5.8% | Down 14.5% |
| 202110 | Up 17.4% | Up 0.4% |
| 202211 | Down 10.7% | Down 10.4% |
| 202312 | Down 20.6% | Down 28.8% |
| 202413 | Down 23.1% | Down 45.3% |
| 202514 | Down 9.9% | Down 50.7% |
| 2026, January to July15 | Down 6.4% | Down 53.8% |
| August 202616 | Up 0.5% | Down 53.6% |
| September 202617 | Up 0.3% | Down 53.5% |
The index averages the 10 percent best priced asking offers for GIA graded rounds, D to H in colour and IF to VS2 in clarity, on Rapaport's trading network. It measures the trade, not the jewellery counter.14
The 2021 boom erased six years of decline. By December that year, the one carat index stood about where it began in 2015.
Then it broke. The index fell 10.7 percent in 2022, 20.6 percent in 2023 and 23.1 percent in 2024, the three worst years in this record. From January 2024 to August 2026 it fell from 5,981 points to 3,880, a drop of 35 percent.1215
The latest readings point the other way. The index rose 0.5 percent in August 2026 and 0.3 percent in September, its second monthly gain in a row.1617
Zimnisky's estimates agree with the index over the same window. From early 2016 to early 2025 his natural series fell 40 percent. Rapaport's index, chained over the same nine years, fell about 42 percent.
Lab grown lost most of its price after 2018
Until mid 2018, lab grown sold at less than a third off the natural price. Then the discount jumped, and over the following years it kept widening. About three fifths of the nine year fall came after 2018.
The jump has a date. In September 2018, De Beers began selling lab grown jewellery under its Lightbox brand at $800 per carat. Earlier that year, a one carat lab grown stone cost about $4,200 against $6,000 for a mined equivalent.18
In Zimnisky's series, lab grown fell from 68 percent of the natural price to 55 percent in that one quarter. It never returned.
Bain's retail measure shows the same steps. A one carat lab grown diamond of G colour and VS clarity sold for 65 percent of a natural one in 2017, 50 percent in 2018 and 2019, and 35 percent in 2020.3
The falls carried on at wholesale. Edahn Golan Diamond Research measured a 26 percent drop in lab grown wholesale prices in 2025, with three carat rounds down 32 percent.19
This year the wholesale line flattened. One to three carat rounds rose about 2 percent in the third quarter of 2026. Retail has not followed: the average one carat asking price fell 20 percent in the three months to October 14.2021 The case for and against a floor is set out in will lab diamond prices keep falling.
From December 2023 to October 2026, StoneAlgo's average one carat lab grown asking price fell 31 percent, from $732 to $502. From January 2024, the natural average fell 7 percent, from $4,099 to $3,820.222324
What does a diamond cost today, carat by carat?
At one carat, a lab grown diamond averages $502 and a natural one $3,820, on StoneAlgo's asking prices for October 14, 2026. The gap grows with every carat after that.
| Size | Natural | Lab grown | Lab share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 carat | $3,820 | $502 | 13.1% |
| 2 carats | $17,338 | $1,024 | 5.9% |
| 3 carats | $41,016 | $1,604 | 3.9% |
| 5 carats | $117,776 | $2,121 | 1.8% |
The table shows the price of the whole stone. Divide by weight and the two markets move in opposite directions.2421
Price per carat by size, natural against lab grown
StoneAlgo average asking price divided by carat weight, October 14, 2026. US dollars.
Source: StoneAlgo price indexes, read October 14, 2026. Price per carat is Draco arithmetic.
A natural diamond's price per carat rises more than six times from one carat to five, from $3,820 to $23,555. A lab grown diamond's stays between $424 and $535 at every size.
That is why the share falls so fast. Lab grown costs 13 percent of natural at one carat, 6 percent at two, 4 percent at three and under 2 percent at five.
"From 1 carat to 5, a natural diamond's price per carat rises more than 6 times. A lab grown carat stays between $424 and $535. Size is where the gap opens."
Garrett McMartin, Founder, Draco Diamond
These are averages of live listings across shapes, colours and clarities, not matched stones. One carat lab grown listings run from $245 to $1,273, and natural ones from $805 to $9,850.2124
Wholesale sits far below both. In the third quarter of 2026, lab grown wholesale prices ranged from $73 to $142 per carat, and a one carat D VVS stone traded at $87.20 The full breakdown is in lab grown diamond price per carat.
Supply set the lab grown line. Demand set the natural one
The two lines answer to different forces. Lab grown prices follow production, and production has grown fast. Natural prices follow demand for a mined stone, and lab grown now competes for the same buyer.
Volume tells the lab grown story. Global lab grown jewellery sales passed $8 billion in 2024. In 2025, lab grown made up 16 percent of diamond jewellery purchases, up from under 3 percent in 2020.25
Price followed volume down until it met the cost of production. Edahn Golan reported that Chinese HPHT factories stopped cutting prices once rough reached about $10 per carat.19
On the natural side, the competition shows up at the engagement ring. In The Knot's 2026 study, 61 percent of engagement rings had a lab grown centre stone.26
The natural index's two worst years, 2023 and 2024, coincided with that shift. Its 2026 recovery is small so far: 0.8 percent over August and September.1617
Lab grown has not ended demand for natural. It has split one market into two, each with its own price logic and its own buyer.
How to read a diamond price chart without being misled
Every diamond price chart answers a narrower question than it seems to. Before trusting a line, check what is priced, at which level of the trade, in what unit and on what date.
A chart of one carat rounds says little about a three carat oval. Find the shape, weight and grade behind the line, and compare like with like.
Wholesale, retail asking and sold prices are different numbers. Rapaport's index tracks trade asking prices; StoneAlgo tracks retail listings. A wholesale carat can cost a small fraction of a retail one.
Natural price per carat climbs steeply with size, so a two carat stone costs far more than two one carat stones. Lab grown price per carat barely moves with size.
A line that joins two sources, or bridges missing years, can invent a trend. A sound chart marks its gaps, as the dashed segment above does.
Lab grown retail prices fell 20 percent in the three months to October 14, 2026, so a chart a year old can mislead. Most charts are in US dollars and not adjusted for inflation.
This page follows those rules. Each line carries one source and one specification. Gaps are marked, not filled. Every figure carries its date.
Two cautions remain. Zimnisky's series is an analyst's estimate, not a record of sales. StoneAlgo's averages move with the mix of stones listed on a given day, so a single reading can swing.
Index points and dollars are not the same thing either. Rapaport's figures are index points, so the useful number is the change, not the level.
For a buyer, size is where the chart pays off
The most useful line for a buyer is the size curve. A natural five carat averages $117,776. A lab grown five carat averages $2,121, less than a natural one carat.
Lab grown retail prices may still fall, so buy a piece to wear, not as a store of value. The same caution applies to natural, whose wholesale index has lost about half its value since 2015.
Set in jewellery, the numbers change again. Across 133 white lab grown pieces in the Draco catalogue, the median carat costs CAD 672 set in 10K gold, about US$473.2728 The method is in the lab diamond price index.
Most of those carats sit in multi stone pieces such as tennis bracelets. Rings run higher, at a median of CAD 880 per carat for engagement rings.
Every Draco piece carries 30 day returns, the Lifetime Authenticity Guarantee, free resizing, and free insured worldwide shipping to 25 markets, delivered duty paid with nothing collected at the door, and signature on delivery. Each piece is IGI certified, E to F colour and VS2 or better, and ships with its report, which can be verified free at IGI.org.
Browse lab grown diamond tennis bracelets, earrings and rings, or design a ring in the ring builder.
Prices, answered
How much have lab grown diamond prices dropped?
On Paul Zimnisky's estimates, the price per carat of a generic one carat lab grown round fell 84 percent between early 2016 and early 2025, from $5,450 to $845. Retail has kept falling since: StoneAlgo's one carat average fell 20 percent in the three months to October 14, 2026, to $502.
Have natural diamond prices gone down?
Yes, by about half at wholesale since 2015. Rapaport's one carat index fell 20.6 percent in 2023, 23.1 percent in 2024 and 9.9 percent in 2025. It then rose 0.5 percent in August 2026 and 0.3 percent in September.
What does a 1 carat diamond cost in 2026?
On October 14, 2026, StoneAlgo's average asking price for a one carat natural diamond was $3,820, with listings from $805 to $9,850. A one carat lab grown diamond averaged $502, with listings from $245 to $1,273. Shape, colour and clarity explain the ranges.
Why does a bigger natural diamond cost more per carat?
Large natural diamonds are far rarer than small ones, so price per carat climbs with size: from $3,820 at one carat to $23,555 at five, on StoneAlgo averages. Lab grown price per carat stays between $424 and $535 at every size.
Will lab grown diamond prices keep falling?
Wholesale may have found a floor. One to three carat rounds rose about 2 percent in the third quarter of 2026, per Edahn Golan Diamond Research, after a 26 percent fall in 2025. Retail has not followed yet, so buy for the piece, not for a forecast.
Is a diamond price chart in US dollars useful in Canada?
Yes, with a conversion. At the Bank of Canada rate of 1.4222 on October 13, 2026, a $502 lab grown carat is about CAD 714. Draco prices are in Canadian dollars and ship delivered duty paid, so nothing is collected at the door.
References
- Quartz, Prices of natural vs. lab-grown diamonds, chart data by Paul Zimnisky Diamond Analytics, August 17, 2023.
- CNBC, republished by NBC New York, More couples are choosing lab-grown diamonds over natural stones, March 10, 2025.
- Rapaport News, Lab-Grown Prices Have Slumped, Bain Says, February 8, 2021.
- Rapaport Magazine, 2015 Diamond Price Review, January 1, 2016.
- National Jeweler, Diamond trade optimistic for 2017, January 5, 2017.
- Rapaport, Diamond Prices Steady in December, January 2, 2018.
- Rapaport, Diamond Trade Records Cautious Growth in 2018, January 3, 2019.
- Rapaport, Diamond Prices Stable After Year of Declines, January 7, 2020.
- Rapaport, Diamond Prices Firm After Supply Declines, January 5, 2021.
- Rapaport, Diamond Prices End the Year on a High, January 4, 2022.
- Rapaport, Diamond Prices End Year With Decline, January 3, 2023.
- Rapaport, via Business Wire, Rapaport Press Release: Diamond Trade Cautious at End of Year, January 2, 2024.
- Rapaport, via Business Wire, Rapaport Press Release: Diamond Market Stable but Cautious, January 7, 2025.
- Rapaport, via Business Wire, Rapaport Press Release: Diamond Market Cautious at Start of Year, January 6, 2026.
- Rapaport, via Business Wire, Rapaport Press Release: Diamond Prices See Best Month Since Before Tariffs, August 4, 2026.
- Rapaport News, Diamond Price Recovery Broadens Further in August, September 2, 2026.
- Rapaport News, Small Diamonds Lead Price Gains in September, October 6, 2026.
- Reuters, republished by FashionNetwork, Lab-grown diamond prices slide as De Beers fights back, December 21, 2018.
- Edahn Golan Diamond Research, Lab-Grown Diamond Wholesale Prices Down 26% in 2025, Signs of Stabilization Emerge, accessed October 14, 2026.
- Edahn Golan Diamond Research, Was the Bottom Reached? Lab-Grown Wholesale Prices Rise in Q3 2026, October 7, 2026.
- StoneAlgo, Lab grown diamond price indexes, 1, 2, 3 and 5 carat, accessed October 14, 2026.
- StoneAlgo, via the Internet Archive, 1 carat lab grown diamond prices, archived December 22, 2023, December 22, 2023.
- StoneAlgo, via the Internet Archive, 1 carat diamond prices, archived January 9, 2024, January 9, 2024.
- StoneAlgo, Natural diamond price indexes, 1, 2, 3 and 5 carat, accessed October 14, 2026.
- Edahn Golan Diamond Research, Lab-Grown Diamond Statistics: Background, Trends, Prices (updated August 2026), accessed October 14, 2026.
- JCK, Lab-Grown Diamonds Take Command of the Engagement Ring Market (The Knot Real Weddings Study 2026), February 25, 2026.
- Draco Diamond, Lab Diamond Price Index 2026, October 13, 2026.
- Bank of Canada, Daily exchange rates, US dollar to Canadian dollar, October 13, 2026.
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