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Reviewed/ Jackson Ruckar
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Credit:
Reviewed/ Jackson Ruckar
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Eyebuydirect has a wide selection of frames and fast delivery, but we were even more impressed with its level of size inclusivity that was difficult to find at other retailers. Read More
We love the durability and quality of the glasses we ordered, however, it’s Warby Parker’s mobile app, preference quizzes, and try-on services that make it one of our favorites. Read More
An easy-to-navigate online retailer with a wide assortment of frames and sunglasses at low price points. Read More
GlassesUSA has a wide variety of options, including designer brands, but we don't recommend using its mobile app and were disappointed by the lenses we received. Read More
Pair Eyewear's approach to traditional glasses is truly unique and fun, offering consumers a way to switch up their look as often as they please. Read More
Glasses are a necessary part of daily life for millions of people, and prescription lenses allow us to see clearly and overcome vision challenges such as astigmatism, far- and near-sightedness, and other ocular complaints. Wearing eyeglasses is also a fantastic way to express personal style.
In a recent article, The Vision Council found that estimated the U.S. optical industry to be $65.6 billion in 2023. With so much money in the vision industry, there are plenty of storefronts to buy glasses online. All the choices can be a bit overwhelming, especially if you’re shopping for the first time.
Fortunately, we’re here to take the guesswork out of the process. To find the best places to buy glasses online we tested top retailers to determine where to shop for the latest styles, high-quality eyewear, and a pleasant and easy shopping experience. We found EyeBuyDirect as the best place to buy glasses online. The retailer offers everything that most other brands have, with the bonus of a wider range of prices, styles, and sizes. Its website, policies, and try-on services ranked consistently high, and its glasses met all of our expectations and performed well overall when we tested them.
If you’re an indecisive buyer and looking for a brand that offers many ways to help you choose the best pair of glasses, we recommend Warby Parker. From a preference test to virtual and at-home try-on features, you won’t have trouble finding the perfect pair.
The wide selection of glasses helped make EyeBuysDirect our choice for the best place to buy online eyeglasses.
The Warby Parker glasses are both durable and stylish.
Home try-on program
Specific sizing
High-quality glasses
Less-than-pleasing packaging
Fast shipping
Many frame options
Virtual Mirror isn’t helpful
Possible discoloration on glasses
Extensive variety
Easy ordering
Flimsy build
Extra charges can add up
Gorgeous packaging
Consistent prices
Moderate selection
Comfortable
Easy ordering process
Trendy styles
Glasses don't feel snug
Hard to clean
Fantastic packaging
Luxurious products
Small selection
Too many hurdles while ordering
Choosing the right pair of eyeglasses when you're shopping online takes a few extra steps than picking one up at your eye doctor's office.
Some people will always prefer the experience of going in to have their glasses fitted, but a lot of online shops offer at-home try-on selections, so you can test out frames before you buy.
There are a few advantages to buying glasses online, even beyond the relative convenience of exploring eyewear options from your device. For one thing, glasses purchased online often cost less than the frames you would encounter at your local optician’s—they’re also usually more numerous, in a wider array of styles.
Prescription: Have your prescription ready to go. Opticians are required by law to give you a copy of your prescription upon request, which most online glasses retailers require. Some online glasses retailers will actually save you a trip to the optician. Warby Parker, for example, has brick-and-mortar stores where you can get your eyes looked at, but it also offers prescription renewal via an at-home eye test, which will save you an extra trip later down the line. In any event, we recommend going to an eye doctor and ensuring that your prescription is up-to-date before you start online glasses shopping.
Fit: Ensure that wearing your glasses throughout the day doesn’t trouble you, and be sure that the lenses aren’t discolored or over-magnify your eyes to the point that it’s noticeable (if you prefer).
Shipping: Keep an eye on shipping rates and timelines before purchasing. We find that most retailers take about two weeks for your order to arrive. If you’re unsatisfied with your purchase, be sure to ship your glasses back to the retailer within their preferred return window so that you can receive a full refund, store credit, or a replacement pair.
Unlike bopping down to your local optician’s office, shopping for glasses online does require a little bit of prep work, beyond just having your prescription on hand. It’s important to have some criteria in mind before you start shopping for glasses. Knowing the length of your nose bridge, your prescription, your pupillary distance (the measurement in millimeters between the center of one pupil to the center of the other), and your general face shape will prevent you from being disappointed when the glasses arrive.
Some online glasses retailers won’t produce your lenses until they have a prescription printout from a doctor or they verify with your doctor that your prescription information is correct. If you haven’t had an eye exam in a while, some stores will be able to verify aspects of your prescription, but, again, we recommend going to an eye doctor ahead of exploring online glasses options.
In addition, knowing your own shopping habits will make the process much easier. If you’re willing to wait for a home try-on program and prefer a tactile experience before purchasing, keep that in mind as you’re checking out the online glasses sites we reviewed in this guide.
If you’re looking for trendier pieces at low price points, having realistic expectations for what you’ll receive will make narrowing down your buying options easier. Likewise, if you know that you want a more durable product that lasts, spending more money on glasses from brands like Warby Parker might suit you better.
The answer varies from retailer to retailer. Warby Parker and GlassesUSA, for example, allow users to submit their insurance information to see if their eyewear is covered by their plan or FSA account.
EyeBuyDirect employs a more standard model for filing a claim for reimbursement post-purchase. It also offers ways for customers to save if they’re out of network and allows HSA and FSA funds to be used for frames and lenses.
You can check out the various insurance policies covered by each online glasses retailer on the respective websites.
After some dedicated deal-hunting, retailers like EyeBuyDirect, Firmoo, and Zenni have some of the best prices we’ve seen. Most online glasses retailers have seasonal sales, so several places, like EyeBuyDirect, are running spring sales right now on individual or multiple pairs of glasses.
EyeBuyDirect is our top pick, with Firmoo ranked third overall, so we do recommend checking the selection at those places if you’re shopping on a budget.
After researching online, we chose eight retailers based on their breadth of selection, how easy it was to order from their websites, and what other features they offered including apps, accessories, internal try-on features, and more. Before we began testing, we spent a lot of time researching the frame options available at each retailer, combing through their selection, and seeing what was available.
To determine the best places to buy glasses online we worked with Reviewed’s senior scientist to develop a set of testing criteria and questions to ask. Things we looked for included: What are the available styles and brands of glasses? How easy is it to input your prescription? Did the frames that arrived look like the images on the website? Do the glasses fit based on your understanding of their description from the website? Would you wear them again, and could you wear them every day?
When buying online, it’s important that a company provides transparency and ease of access to information, so we weighed the online features heavily alongside the actual glasses when the packages arrived. We tested our glasses over several weeks, wearing them while working, while reading, and while out and about.
Isabelle Kagan
Senior Editor, Commerce
Isabelle Kagan is currently a Senior Commerce Editor at Reviewed, part of the USA Today network.
Madison Durham
Senior Staff Writer, Partner Content
Madison Durham is the Staff Writer for Partner Content at Reviewed. She joined Reviewed after two years of freelancing in the streaming and tech spaces; she has been published in Polygon, Screen Rant, and USA Today. She previously worked in textbook publishing. In her spare time, she writes (somehow), reads, games, and thinks up new worlds for TTRPGs.
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