By Ari Gold · August 18, 2026
Lab-Grown Fancy Color Diamond Prices in 2026: A Complete Guide by Color, Intensity & Carat
By Ari Gold, Founder of Icestore — 25+ years in diamonds, fancy color specialist Last updated: August 2026
For most of history, a fancy color diamond was a gem reserved for royalty, collectors, and auction houses. Vivid pinks and blues are among the rarest natural objects on earth, and a single carat can sell for six figures. Lab-grown technology has quietly rewritten that story. Today you can own a certified vivid pink, blue, or yellow diamond for roughly the price of a white one.
This guide gives you real, current pricing — not estimates. Every number below is drawn from our live inventory of 59,288 certified lab-grown fancy color diamonds, spanning 135 color variations, all ten shapes, and prices from $381 to $380,800, graded by IGI, GIA, and GCAL. I've organized it the way buyers actually shop: by color, by intensity, and by carat — and I've added the things a grading report won't tell you.
How much does a lab-grown fancy color diamond cost?
In 2026, a 1-carat certified lab-grown fancy color diamond typically costs $800–$1,100, with entry-level stones starting around $400. Price climbs mainly with carat weight — a 2-carat stone commonly runs $1,500–$2,400, and 3-carat-plus stones move into the thousands. The color you choose matters less than most people expect, which is the single biggest surprise for buyers coming from the natural-diamond world.
Lab-grown fancy color diamond prices by color
Here's where each color family starts and what a typical one-carat stone costs today. "In stock" reflects our current inventory across all carat weights; the price columns show the 1.00–1.49 ct band so they're directly comparable.
| Color | In stock | Starts around | Typical (1 ct) | Premium end (1 ct) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pink | 21,545 | $650 | $1,050 | $2,150 |
| Yellow | 17,834 | $600 | $800 | $1,300 |
| Blue | 13,034 | $550 | $800 | $1,300 |
| Green | 5,759 | $600 | $1,000 | $1,400 |
| Brown | 582 | $700 | $950 | $1,250 |
| Orange | 271 | $600 | $950 | $1,400 |
| Red & Purple | 257 | $900 | $1,050 | $2,400 |
Entry prices (any carat): Blue and Green from ~$400, Pink and Yellow from ~$450, Orange and Brown from ~$500, Red & Purple from ~$800.
A few quick answers by color:
- How much is a lab-grown pink diamond? Pinks are our deepest category — 21,545 in stock. A one-carat pink typically runs ~$1,050, starting near $650, with premium stones around $2,150. Browse lab-grown pink diamonds.
- How much is a lab-grown blue diamond? A one-carat blue typically costs ~$800 and starts near $550 — the best value in the vivid hues. See lab-grown blue diamonds.
- How much is a lab-grown yellow diamond? The classic canary. One carat typically ~$800, from ~$600. See lab-grown yellow diamonds.
- How much is a lab-grown green diamond? One of the rarest hues in nature, here from ~$600 with a one-carat typical near $1,000. See lab-grown green diamonds.
- Brown, orange, red and purple are smaller, specialist categories — brown, orange, and the rarest of all, red (reds start around $800 and are the scarcest color even in the lab).
Does color intensity change the price?
This is where lab-grown breaks the rules of natural diamonds. In the mined world, intensity is everything — a Fancy Vivid pink can cost many multiples of a Fancy pink, because vivid saturation almost never occurs in nature. In lab-grown diamonds, saturation can be controlled during growth, so the intensity premium is modest — and sometimes it disappears entirely.
Median price of a one-carat stone (1.00–1.49 ct) by intensity:
| Color | Fancy | Intense | Vivid | Deep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pink | $900 | $1,000 | $1,100 | $850 |
| Yellow | $700 | $750 | $950 | — |
| Blue | $850 | $850 | $800 | $1,000 |
| Green | $1,000 | $1,150 | $950 | $700 |
Look closely: pink and yellow carry a small step-up for vivid, but blue and green vivids currently cost no more than their fancy counterparts. That's not a data error — it's the lab-grown reality. Ample supply of high-saturation stones has flattened the premium that makes natural vivids so astronomically expensive.
The practical takeaway: don't overspend chasing the top intensity grade. In lab-grown fancy color, your budget is far better spent on carat weight and cut quality — you can often get a vivid stone for near the price of a fancy one.
How lab-grown fancy color prices scale with carat
Carat weight is the true price driver. Here's the median price for our flagship vivid colors as size increases:
| Color | 1.00–1.49 ct | 1.50–1.99 ct | 2.00–2.99 ct | 3.00–4.99 ct | 5.00 ct+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vivid Pink | $1,100 | $1,400 | $1,950 | $2,750 | $6,000 |
| Vivid Blue | $800 | $1,100 | $1,500 | $2,400 | $6,350 |
| Vivid Yellow | $950 | $1,250 | $2,400 | $2,950 | $5,650 |
| Vivid Green | $950 | $1,150 | $1,700 | $2,800 | $6,200 |
Notice the curve isn't linear — a 2-carat stone costs more than twice a 1-carat, and a 5-carat vivid steps up sharply again. Larger crystals are harder to grow with even, consistent color, so size and saturation compound. Even so, a five-carat vivid lab-grown color diamond in the $6,000 range would be a genuinely unattainable stone in nature.
What else moves the price
- Shape. Round costs the most per carat because cutting a round wastes the most rough. Fancy shapes — oval, pear, marquise, emerald, cushion — deliver more visible size for the money, and elongated shapes look larger face-up. All ten shapes are available across the color range.
- Clarity. Because a saturated body color masks small inclusions, you can usually step down a clarity grade in fancy color diamonds without any visible difference — a real place to save.
- Certification. Our stones are graded by IGI, GIA, and GCAL. A report matters most here for one reason: it confirms the color grade and origin independently, so you know exactly what you're paying for.
Lab-grown vs. natural fancy color: the value story
This is the number that reframes everything. Natural fancy vivid pinks and blues routinely sell for six figures per carat at auction, and truly vivid saturation is one of the rarest phenomena in gemology. A lab-grown vivid pink of the same size, color, and brilliance sits in our inventory around $1,100. The stones are chemically and optically identical diamond — the only difference is origin.
For a buyer, that means colors that were historically off-limits — a vivid blue engagement ring, a pink for a milestone, a green as a one-of-a-kind statement — are now accessible without the collector's budget.
What I check before a fancy color diamond earns a place in our collection
A grading report tells you the color grade. It doesn't tell you whether the stone is beautiful. After 25 years working with color, here's what I look for — and what I'd want you to know:
- Even color distribution. Some color diamonds show their saturation unevenly, concentrated near the culet or in one zone. I select stones whose color reads full and consistent across the face-up view.
- Two "vivid pinks" are not the same stone. Intensity grades cover a range, and overtone (a secondary hue — purplish, orangey, brownish) dramatically changes how a color feels. A pure pink and a brownish pink can carry the same grade and look worlds apart. This is exactly the judgment a report can't capture and a photo can't fully convey.
- How the color behaves in real light. Fancy color should stay vivid and alive across daylight, indoor, and evening light — not wash out or go dark.
- Cut in service of color. In fancy color, the cut is tuned to maximize the color, sometimes at a slight cost to white-light brilliance. Balancing the two is the art.
If you're choosing your first color diamond, this is where a conversation is worth more than any spec sheet.
Frequently asked questions
What's the cheapest lab-grown fancy color diamond? Blues and greens start around $400, making them the most accessible vivid colors to own.
Is a lab-grown fancy color diamond a "real" diamond? Yes — it's identical diamond in every physical and optical property; the difference is that it was grown rather than mined. It's graded by the same labs (IGI, GIA, GCAL).
Which lab-grown color holds the most value / is rarest? Red is the rarest color even in the lab and our smallest category; it starts around $800 and climbs quickly.
Should I pay more for "vivid"? Usually not by much. In lab-grown, vivid carries little to no premium over fancy for several colors — spend the difference on carat or cut instead.
Ready to choose your color?
Every stone in this guide is certified, photographed, and available with 360° video, free shipping, and 30-day returns. If you'd like a hand narrowing 59,000 diamonds down to the one, I offer private, no-pressure consultations — it's the part of this work I enjoy most.
Book a consultation with Ari → · Browse all lab-grown fancy color diamonds →