Article updated on April 2, 2024 at 1:30 PM PDT
Want to skip the hassle of shopping for contact lenses offline? Here are the best online contact retailers to help you get your next pair. Colored Contact Eye Lenses
With 4+ years covering health and eye care products, we consider availability, shipping and return policy to determine our roundup of best places to buy contact lenses.
To order any type of contact lenses, you'll first need a prescription from your doctor.
If your insurance policy covers vision care, check to see if the retailer you're considers accepts your insurance.
If your doctor prescribed a particular brand of contacts, it's best to stick with a retailer that offers that brand.
Be sure to double-check the retailer's return policy in case you need to make a return.
Eye care can be quite expensive. If you're shopping for contact lenses offline, you will not only have to pay more but also go through a time-consuming process. By shopping for contact lenses online, you can find higher savings and find a store that lets you use your insurance to help lower the cost. These retailers provide quality, affordable lenses to help you sort out your vision, whether you're looking to ditch your frames or just refill a low supply of contacts.
At CNET, we've covered vision care for years with extensive research and unbiased reviews. Here are our top picks of the best places to buy contacts online.
Read more: Best Online Glasses and Contacts Deals: Savings You'll Have to See to Believe
Warby Parker tops our roundup of best places to buy contact lenses online. As one of the most popular eyewear brands, Warby Parker offers a seamless and hassle-free buying experience. Additionally, the company carries most major contact brands. If you choose to buy your contact lenses at Warby Parker, you can buy in bulk to save money.
Warby Parker doesn't just sell affordable and stylish eyeglasses, the company sells contact lenses too. You can pick from Scout, Warby Parker's own contact lens brand, or get contacts from Acuvue, Biotrue, Air Optix, Dailies and other major brands. A three-month supply of Scout daily contacts (a total of 90 lenses) starts at $47, which is a good deal for daily contact lenses. Depending on where you shop and the brand you use, prices online can vary from $60 to $200. You can get a six-day trial pack of Scout contact lenses to see if you like them before committing to a full supply.
Depending on your vision insurance, you may be able to use your benefits to pay for your Warby Parker contacts purchase. If your insurance company doesn't directly work with Warby Parker, you can instead file a claim with your insurance to be reimbursed for any qualified orders.
GlassesUSA.com sells both contact lenses and glasses and will price-match other sellers. Like every other retailer on this list, GlassesUSA.com has all of the popular lens brands, including Acuvue, Biofinity and more, and offers free returns and free shipping on prescription lenses.
As one of the best-known contacts stores, 1-800 Contacts stocks all of the most popular brands, and you can even get hard contacts through its call center. One CNET editor praised the company for providing customer service that went above and beyond.
1-800 Contacts will price-match any competitor, so if you find a better price, you can let the company know and it will do its best to match it (with some restrictions).
Like Lens.com, you can text or email your contact lens prescription, which speeds up the ordering process. 1-800 Contacts also offers discount contact lenses for students and free shipping on all orders and allows you to update your prescription through an online test (only available for adults between 18 and 55 years old). You can also buy colored contact lenses from 1-800 Contacts. If you need to exchange your unopened lenses for any reason, 1-800 Contacts will cover the shipping cost.
A popular source for cheap contact lenses among my fellow CNET editors is ContactsDirect, because it often sends out coupon codes to customers. It has a wide selection of lens type options, including multifocal lenses, colored contacts, soft contact lenses for dry eyes and toric lenses for astigmatism.
ContactsDirect offers returns on products that were purchased within one year if your vision changes and you need a correction from your doctor. ContactsDirect also sells contact lens solution, as does 1-800 Contacts.
Lens.com's prices are often lower than other shops for prescription contact lenses. It has an impressive selection of brands -- including Acuvue, Air Optix, Dailies and Biofinity Toric for astigmatism -- plus it takes returns and covers the cost of shipping unopened boxes back.
Lens.com is an out-of-network provider of vision insurance, so you can't use your benefits to directly pay for your order. You can submit the receipt to your insurance company for reimbursement. (Always check with your insurance company to see what it covers.)
Eyeconic has a wide array of contact lens brands to choose from, including Acuvue, Air Optix, Biotrue by Bausch + Lomb and Extreme H2O. Like others on this list, it offers free shipping and free returns.
To narrow down our list of best places to buy contact lenses, we considered factors like:
Buying contact lenses online is just as safe as buying them from your eye doctor, as you get the same lenses you'd find at the optical shop. The process requires a little extra effort than getting them from your eye doctor, but you'll be rewarded with savings.
To get started, you just need to follow a few easy steps.
Pro tip: Right after your contact lens exam, it's almost always worth it to get a year's supply of your current prescription. Regardless of whether you're buying daily disposable contacts, monthly lenses or even multifocal contacts, buying in bulk will help you save money.
If your prescription changes sometime during that year, many of the retailers above will allow you to exchange unopened boxes with a new prescription. You don't have much to lose by buying a full-year supply. Although it can be a higher up-front cost, you'll save money compared to buying one box at a time.
If you are considering buying contacts online, keep these things in mind to ensure you make a safe purchase.
Yes. 1-800 Contacts is a real online retailer. They are accredited by the Better Business Bureau and all lenses are FDA-approved.
Most online retailers that sell contacts are safe. Just be sure that they fulfill your exact prescription.
No. It is illegal to sell contact lenses to anyone without a valid prescription.
Yes. Contact lenses are medical devices that require a prescription for you to purchase them -- either online or in person. Before you start shopping, you'll first need to get an eye exam and contact lens prescription from your optician or optometrist. An eye doctor can help you determine the best prescription lenses for your specific needs, whether that's daily contacts, soft lenses, hard lenses, lenses for astigmatism or multifocal lenses.
With so many stores to choose from, how do you pick where to buy your contacts online? Here are some things to consider:
Contact lenses can be expensive, but you can save money by shopping for contacts online.
Disposable contacts will cost you more money in the long run than a pair of glasses. For example, Acuvue Oasys, one of the most popular brands of soft lenses, averages around $25 to $40 for a box of 12 lenses at the stores above. That box of 12 is enough for three months (one lens per eye, thrown away every two weeks). That adds up to around $160 per year for contacts.
White Colored Contacts The full retail price for a 12-pack of Acuvue Oasys is listed as $90 on Lenscrafters.com, so you stand to save quite a lot of money by shopping around online.