There are a few things in life that you just can’t go without, prescription glasses being one of them depending on the quality of your natural vision. But an unfortunate part about needing glasses is that they can also be expensive. Luckily, gone are the days where you have to visit a local store every time you want a new pair. In some cases, you can even grab new prescriptions online. So, if you’re looking for the best place to buy prescription glasses online, we’re here to help.
While AR glasses are perhaps the most exciting type of eyewear, it’s your everyday eyewear that matters most. Glasses are one of the most important purchases you can make because not only do they impact the way you see the world, but the style you choose impacts the way the world sees you. Eyewear is an essential healthcare need, but can also be incredibly expensive, if not outright unaffordable for many people. Luckily there are several places to buy prescription glasses online that save you a ton of money without compromising on quality or style. Read on while we take you through the best place to buy prescription glasses online.
Best Places to Buy Prescription Glasses Online
Best Low-Cost Option: Peepers
- Best for: Everyone, adults
- Styles: Prescription, readers, blue light, sunglasses
- Good to Know: Low-cost and budget-friendly
A fourth generation family run company, Peepers was born out of the desire to create light-spirited, upbeat eyewear. Potentially, the best place to buy prescription glasses online, Peepers carries a wide assortment of prescription and non-prescription lenses. These include readers, blue light, progressives, and sun glasses. Peepers carries countless options for those who prefer standard or neutral frames, but where Peepers shines is in its wide array of colorful, unique, and vibrant choices. Customers can choose from bright orange, rainbow gradients, translucent colors, and animal prints to name just a few. Perhaps even more enticing is that blue light glasses start as low as $29, and progressives start as low as $39. Peepers offers both polarized and standard options for sunglasses, too. The company offers virtual try-on through its website so you can preview your new specs before bringing them home. Peepers is undoubtedly one of the best sources for low-cost, high-quality eyewear, especially if you like to match your glasses to your outfit or to your mood.
Best Style and Selection: GlassesUSA
- Best for: Everyone, adults, kids
- Styles: Prescription, eyeglasses, designer, blue light, sports, sunglasses
- Good to Know: Massive variety and selection
The largest online eyewear retailer, Glasses USA is on a mission to ensure that people can get high-quality glasses without paying exorbitant prices. Corrective eyewear is a health necessity, and Glasses USA strives to ensure that it isn’t a financial burden. Glasses USA offers single-vision lenses, multifocal lenses, Rx sunglasses, sports glasses, kids glasses, contact lenses, digital protection, anti-reflective coatings, and just about anything else that pertains to supporting your vision needs. Every order includes single-vision lenses at no additional cost, free shipping and returns, as well as a 365-day warranty. Glasses USA carries their own affordable in-house brands as well as popular designer brands, including Gucci, Chloé, and Prada, which are always 100% authentic because Glasses USA is a certified reseller. The company also offers virtual try on, so you can see yourself in your frames before you place your order. Glasses USA accepts vision insurance, too, so if your benefits include vision, you may be able to get a brand new pair of specs at no out of pocket cost to you.
Best Value Prescription Option: Lens Direct
- Best for: Everyone, adults
- Styles: Prescription, readers, blue light, sunglasses, lens replacements
- Good to Know: Has contacts available too
Contact lens wearers and glasses wearers alike should head over to Lens Direct to save big on everything they need for perfectly corrected vision. It offers some of the best value options to buy prescription glasses online. At Lens Direct, you can save up to 40% on contact lenses when compared to prices at your eye doctor’s office, and traditional eyewear prices start at only $59. Lens Direct offers free shipping on all orders over $49, and you can also choose to subscribe to your favorite contact lenses to make sure you never run out again. Subscriptions help you save even more money because your first auto refill order is discounted by 20% and every subsequent refill saves you 5% off Lens Direct’s already low prices. Lens Direct offers eyeglasses, sunglasses, blue light blocking glasses, and lens replacements, which allow you to replace your lenses without investing in a brand new pair of frames, saving you even more money. All you have to do is place an order for lens replacements and Lens Direct will send you a box. Mail back your frames, and Lens direct will mail you back your glasses looking good as new.
Best Thoughtful Selection: Baxter Blue
- Best for: Everyone, adults, kids
- Styles: Prescription, reading, blue light, sleep, sunglasses
- Good to Know: Sustainable and biodegradable options
Baxter Blue has quickly become one of the most popular brands associated with the best blue light glasses. The brand’s mission centers around helping people live healthily despite the increasing presence of screens and technology in our lives. With screens taking up so much of our time, it’s important to make sure we’re addressing our eye health, which is why blue light glasses are a must. Baxter Blue is as concerned with sustainability as they are with eye health. Baxter Blue makes every effort to make its designs, packaging, and shipping as sustainable as possible. The brand also sells sunglasses that feature polarization that provides 100% production from UVA and UVB rays as well as blue light filtration and an anti-reflective coating. Even if you’re just scrolling on your phone as you go about your day, these glasses will keep your eyes protected. Baxter Blue also offers eyewear for kids as well as biodegradable glasses, which are the most earth-friendly option on the market.
Best Fashion and Designer Prescription: Warby Parker
- Best for: Everyone, adults
- Styles: Prescription, eyeglasses, sunglasses
- Good to Know: Try on up to five frames at home
There’s no denying that Warby Parker is one of the most well known eyeglasses brands in the United States, and for good reason. With Warby Parker, you can select up to five pairs of frames online and have them sent to your home for an in-person try on session before selecting which pair or pairs you’d like to purchase. Don’t care for any? No problem, they’ll send you more. Warby Parker discounts your second pair by 15%, making it even more compelling to grab two or choose one standard pair and one pair of prescription sunglasses. Warby Parker accepts vision insurance, so the brand’s combination of affordable prices and your insurance plan may allow you to get super cool frames for no out of pocket cost. Contact wearers can also take advantage of Warby Parker’s excellent pricing, as the company carries their own in-house brand as well as several varieties from Acuvue and Alcon. If you happen to leave near a brick and mortar Warby Parker location, you can make an appointment for an eye-exam and order your new glasses all in one fell swoop.
Most Unique Style: Ambr Eyewear
- Best for: Everyone, adults
- Styles: Prescription, blue light, gaming, sunglasses
- Good to Know: Stylish yet minimalist
A company spawned from the desire to own functional, yet stylish computer glasses, Ambr Eyewear is family owned and operated with origins in Dublin, Ireland. The brand allows you to buy prescription glasses online in a wide variety of styles, as well as prescription and non-prescription sunglasses, and blue light glasses, all of which are available for virtual try on via the Ambr Eyewear website. Prices start as low as $66, making these trendy and high-quality frames affordable to just about everyone, and the wide variety styles means that it’s difficult to not to fall in love with at least one pair, if not several. Ambr Eyewear’s lenses are known for significantly reducing eye strain, with results noticeable after just one wear. Even more interesting are Ambr Eyewear’s gaming glasses, which are perfect for those who spend hours on end playing games on computers and television screens alike.
Best for Any Budget: 39 Dollar Glasses
- Best for: Everyone, adults, kids
- Styles: Prescription, readers, sunglasses
- Good to Know: Select pairs are available for home try-on
As you may have guessed by the brand’s name, 39 Dollar Glasses offers a wide selection of eyeglasses at unbeatable prices, which complete pairs available for as low as $39. The company offers prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses for men, women, and children at prices that are up to 70% less than retail prices. Alternatively, if you have a pair of frames you already love, you can have the lenses updated and replace by 39 Dollar Glasses for a fraction of the cost of new ones. 39 Dollar Glasses also sells contact lenses from several popular brands, and will send you reminders to let you know when your prescription is about to expire. Try out all of 39 Dollar Glasses’ frames virtually through the brand’s website, and measure the distance between your pupils with AccuPD, the online tool that ensures your glasses will be made perfectly for you the first time. Every purchase comes with a worry-free guarantee, allowing you up to thirty days to return your glasses at no cost to you.
How to Buy Prescription Glasses Online
If you’re here, you might also be wondering what you should look for when selecting glasses to buy online, prescription or not. The first thing to think about, of course, is your prescription if you have one. You must make sure the lens rating matches what your eye doctor has recommended. Going outside of those boundaries can mean you’ll have difficulty seeing even while wearing the glasses, and that’s no good.
The next thing to consider is the style. How will you be using the glasses, or rather what activity will they prove most useful for? Do you need reading glasses? Do they need to offer a blue light filter because you spend a lot of time near a computer? There are a lot of questions to ask here, so much that we could probably go on for a long time, but ultimately, you’ll know what you need the glasses for, and that’s precisely how you should be selecting a pair. It doesn’t hurt to grab an extra pair or two for other activities if you need them.
Finally, the fashion or overall appearance of the glasses is another big concern. You want them to match your outfits, personal style, and personality, and no one wants to walk around with ugly frames — that’s no fun. Take some time to consider what kind of glasses look best on you, and which you feel most comfortable in.
If you’re not sure what you’ll need, what looks best, or how comfortable the glasses will be then, by all means, take advantage of the try-at-home providers. Some of the eyewear providers allow you to try on a pair, or several, at home before making a final purchase — Warby Parker lets you try on up to five pairs at home, for example.
Can You Try Glasses You Order Online?
When looking for the best place to buy prescription glasses online, your biggest worry is probably whether you’re buying the right ones for you. Luckily, all the sites listed above help you with your purchase. Some retailers allow you to virtually see what you would look like. It’s done via your webcam, allowing you to ‘add’ the glasses to your face and seeing if the style suits you. While it’s not the same as seeing how they feel around your nose and cheeks, it’s a great way to check the style suits you. Alternatively, many companies offer free returns or a ‘try on’ service so you can receive the glasses in person and check out how they fit and look on your face for real. Check your options before you order but there’s always a way to ensure you don’t end up with a pair that’s no good for you.
Should You Buy Prescription Glasses Online?
Prescription glasses feel so much more complicated than standard eyeglasses or sunglasses, right? It’s an understandable concern when considering the best place to buy prescription glasses online compared to going in-store, but you get good service online. As mentioned previously, all the best places offer great returns policies if you’re not happy with the quality of the lenses. This won’t be an issue though as the retailers above are experienced in their field and know how to provide customers with great glasses for less. As skilled as an in-store alternative, you get the same level of service without paying extra. Each online retailer will still follow your prescription just as with other places that sell eyeglasses.
How We Selected the Best Places to Buy Prescription Glasses Online
With so much sponsored content out there these days, even on Digital Trends, it’s understandable that you might question where these providers came from? Did they pay for placement? Do they deserve to be on the list? Fret not, for our panel of experts spent hours researching the best glasses, not just looking at the eyewear available but also the shopping experiences these brands provide, too.
Rest assured, if it’s on the list it absolutely deserves to be here and should provide you with one of the best online experiences competitively. Of course, we do spend time researching and updating our content — including this article — so if anything ever changes you’ll know.
