Live inventory · computed 14 October 2026
The emerald cut is the shape where a fixed budget buys the most visible stone, and the one where clarity matters most. Both of those are consequences of the same thing: it is a step cut, not a brilliant.
Lowest listed today
$230
0.31 ct Emerald · Natural
Computed from all 24,754 matching listings in our tracked inventory. The range is the 25th to 75th price percentile of that set, the same definition used across this site. Both types are included: 14,742 natural and 10,012 lab-grown. The 12 shown below are 7 natural and 5 lab-grown, each labelled.
The 12 lowest-priced stones in this set - 7 natural and 5 lab-grown, drawn in proportion to what is actually available.
Natural
0.31 ct Emerald
H · VS2 · Very Good $230
Natural
0.33 ct Emerald
G · VS2 · Good $240
Natural
0.40 ct Emerald
I · SI1 · Good $250
Natural
0.31 ct Emerald
H · VVS1 · Good $250
Natural
0.35 ct Emerald
F · SI1 · Good $250
Lab-Grown
0.32 ct Emerald
D · VS1 · Very Good $250
Natural
0.34 ct Emerald
H · VS1 · Good $260
Natural
0.42 ct Emerald
H · SI1 · Good $260
Lab-Grown
0.34 ct Emerald
D · VS2 · Very Good $260
Lab-Grown
0.32 ct Emerald
E · VVS2 · Very Good $260
Lab-Grown
0.34 ct Emerald
D · VS2 · Fair $260
Lab-Grown
0.38 ct Emerald
F · VS2 · Ideal $260
Prices and availability come from the retailer's live listing and change without notice. We earn a commission if you buy through these links, which is disclosed in full here and never affects which diamonds are shown or how they are ranked.
An emerald cut has long open facets and no dense sparkle pattern to break up what you see through them. An SI1 that is genuinely eye-clean in a round can be visibly included in an emerald of the same grade. This is the one shape where you should look at the actual stone photograph rather than trusting the clarity letter.
Emerald cuts range from nearly square to distinctly elongated, and two stones of identical weight can look like different shapes entirely. There is no correct ratio - it is a preference - but it will change how the stone looks far more than a colour grade will.
Emerald cuts trade at a discount to rounds of the same weight, and the shape retains more of the rough, so the price per carat is lower. That is why $4,000 reaches further here than in almost any other shape.
The median listing price is $1,500 right now, across 24,754 matching diamonds in our tracked inventory. The middle half of the market sits between $960 and $2,340. The lowest currently listed is $230. Every figure here is recomputed from live listings each time the page loads, so it will not match a screenshot taken last week.
24,754 listings match this search in our tracked inventory as of 14 October 2026. Of those, 14,742 are natural and 10,012 are lab-grown. Inventory changes continuously, so this number moves.
Both. Of the 12 shown on this page, 7 are natural and 5 are lab-grown, and each card says which it is. We do not blend the two into a single average price: at the same carat weight and grades a lab-grown stone costs substantially less, so averaging them together produces a number that describes no diamond anyone actually buys.
Higher than you would need in a round of the same budget. An emerald cut is a step cut: long open facets, no dense sparkle pattern, and therefore nothing to visually break up an inclusion. An SI1 that is genuinely eye-clean in a brilliant can be visibly included in an emerald. Treat the clarity letter as a starting filter and the photograph as the actual decision.
Two reasons, both structural. Cutting a round brilliant wastes considerably more of the original rough crystal, and demand for rounds is far higher than for any other shape. Emerald cuts retain more of the rough and face less competition for it, so the price per carat is lower. That is why a $4,000 budget reaches further in this shape than in almost any other.