many different pairs of prescription glasses displayed next to each other

Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

The best online prescription glasses we tested

Best online prescription glasses: Eyebuydirect

Best budget online prescription glasses: Zenni

Best online prescription activewear glasses: Roka

Best online prescription glasses with virtual try-on: Target Optical

Ordering a pair of glasses online used to be something you did as a last resort, a way to pick up a budget pair or try something new without breaking the bank. But with more fashion-forward brands offering online storefronts than ever, trusted brick-and-mortar opticians launching web shopping platforms and the industry as a whole embracing the idea, it’s easy to get that new look or prescription with a few clicks.

But while a wider variety ultimately benefits the online eyeglasses shopper, it makes it harder to determine which retailers are worth buying from. We get it. Many of us here at CNN Underscored often rely on these same online retailers for new glasses (and we’d be lying if we said we didn’t also buy the best sunglasses online, too).

So, we decided to test a total of 23 of the most popular online prescription glasses retailers. We spent months shopping, measuring, ordering and wearing the results for work, workouts and everyday use. In the end, we found four we recommend as the best online prescription glasses, whether you’re looking to save money, find something specific or want access to the widest range of styles.

Eyebuydirect

Best online prescription glasses

Eyebuydirect underscored best glasses product card

A huge selection of name and house brands and great try-on tools make it easy to find what you want, and the retailer made us a great pair of glasses. A short return period is the only real downside.

From $6 at Eyebuydirect

Zenni

Best budget online prescription glasses

Zenni underscored best glasses product card

With the lowest prices on average and an ever-expanding catalog of frames and lenses, Zenni’s the least expensive way to get great glasses online. You’re locked into store credit after 14 days if you don’t like your glasses, but there’s a lot to choose from.

From $7 at Zenni

Roka

Best online prescription activewear glasses

Roka underscored best glasses product card

It’s hard to find great performance frames even at most optical shops, and Roka’s stylish, lightweight, nonslip glasses are great for anybody active.

~~$215~~ From $130 at Roka

Target Optical

Best online prescription glasses with virtual try-on

Target is known to be a one-stop shop for everyday needs like groceries, beauty items, clothing and more. Now, you can add glasses, sunglasses and contact lenses to your list. Users can even schedule eye exams at Target Optical and best of all, it accepts most insurance plans.

$121 at Target

Best online prescription glasses: Eyebuydirect

Underscored best glasses online Eyebuydirect product shot — Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

With a mix of affordable house brands and good deals on a range of premium brands, Eyebuydirect offers flexible, complete search tools and a shopping process that is smooth and easy to navigate, with superior VR/AR try-on tools. If you’re looking for value comparable to Zenni’s but want the option of browsing familiar names, it’s hard to beat Eyebuydirect.

Eyebuydirect’s collection is huge, which means you’ll find both a wide range and a lot of variations on similar themes. The search tools let you filter effectively by enough criteria that you can narrow things down quickly.

Basic single-vision prescriptions are very inexpensive (well under $100), while pricing for a fully loaded pair, before discounts, runs about $400 for house brands ($100 more than Zenni) and in the $500 to $600 range for branded options like Ray-Ban. This is still very affordable compared to many brick-and-mortar opticians and high-end retailers, where you’d spend in the neighborhood of $1,000 for a similarly spec’d pair but not far off major discount retailers like Costco.

Eyebuydirect’s try-on tools are the most complete and easy to use of all of the eyeglass retailers we tested. A full-featured viewer works with your live webcam, an uploaded still image or a recorded video, and lets you enter your PD measurement and even adjust the fit of the virtual frames on your nose, which we didn’t encounter anywhere else — it really makes the fitting experience better and gave us the best sense of how the frames might look when worn.

Like most low-cost online retailers, Eyebuydirect doesn’t directly accept insurance, but the site provides a simple way of applying for reimbursement from a wide range of vision insurance plans, potentially saving you money even over other lower-cost online retailers, depending on your plan’s out-of-network coverage.

Two-day delivery (one day faster than even Zenni’s express service) is available for a select range of frames, with single-vision prescriptions — it’s about the cheapest way to get a pair of glasses in a hurry. With regular shipping, we got our glasses in nine business days.

Interestingly, and perhaps understandably given the need to keep down costs, you don’t get a case with your Eyebuydirect glasses — just a cardboard box. If you’ve bought glasses in the past this is probably welcome (since there’s definitely a drawer full of excess cases somewhere in your house), but it can be a little inconvenient if you’re new to eyewear.

You have only 14 days to return your glasses if you don’t like them, which is one of the shortest return periods of any online glasses retailer we looked at. That said, you do get a full refund — unlike Zenni, where you get a 30-day window but only store credit — so if you don’t like their styles, you can easily recoup your investment and shop elsewhere.

While overall Eyebuydirect’s frames are of good quality and comparable to everything else in the under-$300 price range that we saw, some of the more basic plastic frames we checked out did feel a bit cheap in comparison with Zenni’s similarly priced frames. We don’t expect they’d fail in use or anything, but if you want a luxury feel you might not want to select the least expensive frames on offer here — Zenni has a slight edge here at the low end.

One flaw in Eyebuydirect’s ordering system — which most people might not find an issue, admittedly — is that it doesn’t flag multifocal prescriptions that are out of spec for a given frame until you’ve made your way through most of the ordering process (and the alert doesn’t give enough clear advice on what to do or what’s wrong). We’d prefer to see this alert earlier in the process.

Best budget online prescription glasses: Zenni

Underscored best glasses Zenni product shot — Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

Zenni’s pricing has always been hard to beat but as the company has expanded its range of styles and options, it’d be hard to recommend that online glasses shoppers looking to save money go anywhere else. Zenni also has the best shopping tools and prescription management of any of the online glasses retailers we looked at, and its prescription entry tool was the most flexible of the bunch, even letting you manage multiple orders for different members of a family. If Zenni’s styles work for you, you really can’t lose.

Zenni has been a consistently popular choice because it sells a full-featured pair of glasses for significantly less on average than its competitors. It’s possible to get a pair with all the fixings — premium, high-index progressive lenses, with the latest Transitions XtraActives photochromic treatment and a full suite of protective coatings — for under $300, even before coupons or discounts. Plus, the company has made the shopping and ordering process among the most straightforward of every retailer we looked at for this review.

The company’s offerings have expanded over time, and while styles tend toward bright, fun colors and fashion-forward looks, you can get anything from classic wire rims to wraparound nylon activewear models at this point. Everything is well made, with quality fittings like spring hinges employed across the line. That said, Zenni’s glasses don’t have the fine-tuned, substantial feel you’d get from a luxury frame — Zenni’s acetate finishing is not always up to the level of a Moscot or Salt frame, for instance — but at the price is a whole lot of bang for the buck. The pairs we received were all solidly built, with no creaking or looseness, and adjustments were easy to make where needed. Nothing feels cheap here.

The prescription data entry tool is simple and straightforward (it was surprisingly obscure on several competitor sites), and we found it easy to place orders for multiple prescriptions for different people within the same order, which was not the case for the great majority of eyeglass retailers we checked out. There’s also great account-based record-keeping, which regular customers will appreciate, making it easy to revisit past orders, reorder and keep prescriptions organized. On tools and pricing, Zenni sits comfortably at the top of the heap.

Zenni offers a limited selection of frames with single-vision prescriptions with a “Fast Frame” three-day delivery guarantee. But even outside of the models covered by the two-day offer, shipping is very fast. We received one of our orders, a pair of progressive, photochromic curved exercise glasses — a tall order for most manufacturers — in seven business days, and the others within two weeks.

While Zenni will make almost anything, there are limits — for instance, it’s optically challenging to make progressive prescriptions in a highly curved lens, and to avoid distortion most manufactures don’t make stronger prescriptions (+/- 4.00 or above) in that format.

Zenni’s main downside is that though you can receive a full refund if you return your glasses within 14 days of delivery, its 30-day return policy is less generous, with customers receiving store credit toward another pair of Zenni frames. If you find after trying them on that you don’t like the overall look or feel of Zenni’s frames or lenses and you wait longer than two weeks, you’re out of luck. That said, the typically low prices offset the potential loss (and the range of styles is broad enough you’ll likely be fine with one of the looks, at least as a spare pair), but it’s worth keeping in mind.

Annoyingly, Zenni doesn’t put measurements on their frames. While it’s easy to look these up in your account on the Zenni site, it’s nice to have the numbers handy if you ever want to look elsewhere. Like the return policy, it seems calculated to keep you in the Zenni ecosystem, which is understandable from the company’s perspective but is not particularly consumer-friendly.

Best online prescription activewear glasses: Roka

Underscored best glasses Roka product image — Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

Roka has carved out an interesting niche. It offers a small number of fashionable styles, but all with an activewear focus. With lightweight nylon frames, replaceable (and adjustable) nonslip nose pads and arm contact points used in all the frames the company sells, these glasses are always ready for action. The range of styles is more limited than most of the online eyeglass brands, but the focused approach is much like the one Apple’s taken with the Apple Watch Ultra: These glasses are meant to be high-end fitness devices you can wear all the time.

We’ve been running and cycling and doing outdoor chores for several months using a pair of Roka’s Hamilton frames and we’ve found them as comfortable and nonslip as claimed, comparing very favorably with mainstream performance models from Oakley, Tifosi and other specialist brands. They’re also stylish and have great optical clarity, as good as anything we saw from any of the makers we tested.

The replaceable “Geko” nose pads (you get three sizes in the box, much like you might with silicone ear tips for earbuds) make a difference in getting a secure nonslip fit even when you’re sweaty — they stay put, even when running or cycling on a hot, humid day, a challenge for every other frame we tried. The three sets of nose pads made it easy to get a good fit, and there are a few millimeters of variation available.

Roka has a 30-day return policy, though it deducts a $20 restocking fee (waived if you’re returning because the company didn’t get your prescription right). This isn’t that significant a cost given the relative expense of the glasses themselves, so we consider it a reasonably good policy in the context of the brands we reviewed for this piece.

Roka is relatively expensive compared to many of the other brands we checked out, with a fully decked-out pair of photochromic progressives costing around $750. While this is probably offset for most potential buyers by the fact it’s actually pretty hard to find good performance eyewear even at most brick-and-mortars, especially if you don’t like the sci-fi look of Oakely’s offerings, keep in mind that you won’t save a ton of money over the in-store experience.

Best online prescription glasses with virtual try-on: Target Optical

Target Optical is one of the most convenient and easy-to-use websites to buy eyeglasses. We liked its wide selection of brands at various prices for all budgets, including Ray-Ban, Oakley and Armani Exchange. Users can even choose a buy now, pay later program (including Afterpay or Affirm) for their perfect pair. We especially appreciated Target Optical’s sustainable frame options using bio-based materials.

But what made Target Optical truly stand out was the helpful shopping guide and excellent Virtual Mirror tool. Both help frame-wearers get a full view of how glasses will fit, all from the comfort of their home. All the virtual try-on options are thorough and user-friendly, too. If you’re indecisive but don’t want to make the trek to your local Target, the Virtual Mirror saves the day.

After giving your camera access to Target Optical, the Virtual Mirror takes under two seconds to upload your glasses onto your screen. You can choose from the live try-on, picture mode or video mode options to get the best feel of your frames. We appreciated how quickly you could switch between lenses and colors, all while moving to see how the frames would fit on your face.

Once you settle on your preferred pick, you can choose from single-vision, progressive, non-prescription or frame-only options. The website then directs users to the prescription uploading process, which offers four options: fill it in online, upload an image, have Target call your doctor or send it later. You can also select from three lens types: clear, blue-violet light filtering or transitions light responsive treatment, which means the lenses will adapt to changing light conditions. Users also have three options for lens thickness: enhanced slim (index 1.50), premium thin (index 1.59) or superior extra thin (index 1.67).

Target Optical accepts various insurance plans and all shoppers need to do is select their in-network carrier along with a few details, and the insurance benefit is directly applied to the purchase.

We ordered the Vogue Eyewear frames in transparent with SV ComfortLight, currently listed at $121. We also signed up for the worry-free protection plan, considering the low cost of $35. To clarify, Target Optical offers it for one year (beginning on day 91 from the date of purchase) for unlimited repair and replacement, starting at $35 for single-vision lenses. We liked that all purchases can be taken to any Target Optical location for services.

Target shoppers can even order a pair online and pick it up at any store, along with free fittings, adjustments and cleanings anytime. Target also offers a full refund for all customers within 90 days of purchase, no questions asked and with no return shipping costs.

Overall, we loved the glasses, which were sturdy, high-quality, fashionable (thanks Vogue!) and better yet, reasonably priced for a luxury brand. We felt that what we ordered online was exactly what we received in the mail thanks to the Virtual Mirror tool. There were no surprises or unfulfilled expectations to report.

How we tested

We began by researching the online eyeglass retail landscape and putting together a list of the best-regarded and most popular premium and discount online-first retailers as well as mainstream and luxury brick-and-mortar opticians that offer a full online shopping experience without requiring a store visit.

While doing this round of research, we got an eye exam from a local provider, so we could begin with a fresh prescription. The ophthalmologist we saw provided PD along with the prescription, so we were able to begin the process with all the data we needed.

We obtained two prescriptions, both progressive: one for general distance viewing and the other for mid-range/computer/desk use. Where it was possible to order two or more pairs with separate prescriptions in a single purchase we attempted to do so. Once we arrived at our final list, we then went ahead and placed at least one order with each retailer.

Testing specifics

General style: Since we can’t account for everyone’s sense of style, we ordered frames in styles, shapes and materials that we were accustomed to, including a range of wire, acetate, nylon and rimless models.
Frame variation offered: We noted the differences between the most affordable frames offered (which were often standard lens thickness and no additional coatings) and their premium frames (with high-index lenses and the full complement of additional coatings offered).
Order experience: We made careful notes of what it was like to go through the order process, trying out any virtual fitting tools across a range of styles, noting whether the site allowed for easy shopping of and comparison between multiple styles and reading through each site’s range of educational and informational material to assess its usefulness.
Remote fitting availability: When they were offered, we made appointments for and took advantage of remote fitting services. Since we were looking for the most generalizable experience, we did not use any brick-and-mortar resources.

How to shop for online prescription glasses

If you’re like us, you wear glasses every day. And since choosing a pair of frames has mostly to do with your style, it’s great that there are a ton of good online retailers, since you get broad access to an endless range of looks.

All the retailers we looked at for this review were able to deliver a well-cut prescription in a timely fashion. Thus, in our testing, we focused on which retailers provided the best overall retail experience, ensuring that we’d get a great pair of frames built with a perfectly executed prescription and the options we’d requested, comparable to what we’d get from a brick-and-mortar optician.

What did we find? Online shoppers are spoiled for choice and anyone who lives outside a major urban center will likely find a bigger range of styles and fits online than they will locally. We’ve zeroed in on the best of the bunch, and no matter what you’re looking for and what size your budget is, we should be able to point you in the right direction.

Will I save money?

That depends. If you shop around online, you will likely save money versus purchasing at your local optician — though exactly how much depends on a few factors.

If you have a simple prescription — single vision, below +/- 4.00 — and don’t want an ultra-thin lens or special coatings or tints, you’ll likely spend around $100. Should you need something more complex, you’ll spend more, though likely less than you would on brand-name pairs at a local optical shop.

You do give up the benefits that come with in-person fitting, dispensing and adjustments, though these matter less if you have a straightforward single-vision prescription. Depending on your budget, it may well be worth spending more to have access to a knowledgeable professional.

If you’re interested in brand names, you should watch for sales, coupons and discount codes as you would with other online shopping. Throughout our testing, we found discounts of up to 40% off the price of our orders. Many retailers also offer second pairs at a steep discount.

An open question is insurance, which can cover a significant amount at most brick-and-mortar opticians, narrowing the gap significantly with online offerings. That said, depending on your coverage and where you shop, you might get a break on your online order. Insurance plans typically cover one pair of glasses per year (though generally only a portion of the cost, usually around $100).

Most low-cost retailers — Zenni, for example — don’t accept insurance (it’s not in-network with any plan). Some (GlassesUSA, for instance) ease the process of asking for out-of-network reimbursement via many plans with convenient links to the necessary forms.

You’ll have the easiest time with insurance if you go with the brick-and-mortar hybrids or retailers associated with the big optical corporations. LensCrafters and Glasses.com are in-network providers for several popular insurance plans (and are sibling brands of EyeMed). VSP, another major insurer, runs its own online store, Eyeconic.

Get your prescriptions and measurements in order

If you plan to buy glasses online, you can get an eye exam anywhere, receive a prescription and use it wherever. The FTC’s Eyeglass Rule requires any eye doctor you see to provide you with a prescription. Easy enough.

But you need another measurement to get a pair of glasses made accurately: your pupillary distance (PD) — the distance between the centers of your pupils. While the optometrist and ophthalmologist we saw locally were happy to provide this number, this can be more difficult to obtain, especially if you get your eye exam through a doctor whose practice is housed within or linked to a dispensing optician. Dispensing opticians have long argued that the PD measurement is part of the fitting process and not part of the prescription, and most states have not defined it as such, putting it in a gray area.

Since it’s difficult to be precise, many online glasses retailers have made taking a PD measurement even simpler, offering tools within their browser and mobile apps to take these measurements, typically based on webcam or phone camera photos taken with a reference card in the frame. We tried these in every case they were available, and each time got a measurement that corresponded with our ophthalmologist-provided PD (we visited an independent doctor who does not dispense).

Pupillary distance asymmetries are more important to get just right if you wear progressives (and your PD will be slightly different for distance and close-up vision, making for a more complicated measurement). If you’ve got a complex prescription you may want to consult an independent ophthalmologist to ensure you have the most precise measurement.

If you do wear progressives or bifocals, you may want to look for one of the few online retailers (Caddis and Alexander Daas for example) who take an additional measurement to set the segment height and lessen the chance that you’ll have to send them back for adjustment. This typically involves sending you a sample frame to try on and having you submit a photo of you wearing them. Retailers who sell online but have brick-and-mortar locations (Warby Parker, LensCrafters/Glasses.com) can provide this service in person as part of a traditional in-person fitting.

Think about what kind of lenses you want

Transition lenses and other light-reactive or “photochromic” lens formulations have existed since the mid-1960s. While they’ve had a reputation for dowdiness they do come in handy if you drive or spend time outdoors and don’t want to carry around an extra pair of glasses.

Older versions of the technology never quite got clear indoors, and for that reason many have avoided them, not wanting to look like they were Hollywood stars pretending to stay incognito (one Underscored staffer dismissed a pair out of hand, saying, “Who are these for, Elton John?”). The bigger issue affecting their usefulness is that most formulations don’t get dark in the car (because of UV protection film applied to windshields), keeping them from working in one of the most useful applications for sunglasses.

New formulations do solve this problem. We suggest looking out for a shop that offers Transition’s XtraActive treatment, which in our testing darkens quickly in a car (and, to some extent, indoors in brightly sunlit rooms). We haven’t found it offered widely yet, but it’s worth it if you’re in and out of the car or on and off a bike during your day.

Other online prescription glasses we tested

Modern styles shipped at breakneck speed: Hip Optical

hip-optical-ellis-joe-cnnu (1).jpg — Joe Bloss/CNN Underscored

Hip claims to have the “fastest optical lab in America,” and while I don’t have the resources to confirm, the speed at which we received our pair was impressive. We finalized everything on a Friday morning and had our glasses delivered on Monday. Completing the process over two business days without paying extra for expedited shipping is a huge benefit if you need new specs instantly.

We purchased our pair at what Hip advertised as a summer sale price of $99.99, and that’s ultimately what we paid at checkout. No hidden upcharges, surprise fees or shipping expenses. There were options for upgrades — including ultra-thin lenses, UV-changing tints and blue-light blocking features — but we passed on them all.

As for the glasses themselves, Hip offers several modern styles all for the same price. There’s variety in color, material and shape. I opted for the Ellis in shale, a clear blue-gray acetate frame in a panto shape — round eyes with flat tops. Included in our purchases was a solid rectangular case that felt sturdy and looked sleek.

For all the options Hip gives its shoppers — as of this writing, there were 138 men’s frames and 174 women’s frames, many of which were available in multiple color variants — the brand makes it a challenge to whittle down the options. That is, there are no filters when browsing. If you want rectangular green frames, for example, you’ll have to dig through the catalog and find them. Plenty of online glasses retailers make it far easier to navigate your search.

Providing our prescription was also a curious process at Hip. We placed our order and paid without having to input any details. Instead, Hip emailed and texted us asking to send a photo of both our prescription and pupillary distance. The former was easy enough because it’s written on a slip from our optometrist. The latter was uncomfortable. Hip instructed we submit a photo holding a credit card under our nose and above our upper lip, with the magnetic strip facing out. Most of our credit cards have their number printed on that side. Should we include our social security number for good measure too?

Once we had all the necessary information, Hip never confirmed that it interpreted our photos correctly. Its response to the submission was a cookie-cutter automated reply, and the box that arrived days later had no receipt. It took some time for our eyes to adjust to the new lenses, which left us wondering if everything was made right.

The most frustrating part of the Hip shopping experience was the appearance of the glasses. We were excited about them because the listing online was exactly our style. But when they arrived, the word “HIP” in large silver block letters was featured on each side near the hinges — which, by the way, were not spring hinges like Hip claimed to have in every frame. There had been no such branding in any of the pictures online. Hip’s strengths — various styles that ship quickly and don’t cost a ton — are admirable. But its drawbacks are bothersome enough that we don’t think we’d return as a customer. We’ve made several purchases at our top pick, Eyebuydirect, where we’ve spent less than $100 and been satisfied.

Great choice for progressive bi-focal prescriptions: 39dollarglasses

39dollarglasses_inline_cnnu_reshoot 2.jpg — Suzanne Kattau/CNN Underscored

39dollarglasses is a doctor-owned prescription eyewear retailer whose customer service department and optical lab are located in Hauppauge, New York. The website offers new eyeglasses, sunglasses and contacts, and even lets you re-lens your existing frames. It offers eyewear for women, men and kids, and has prescription glasses starting at $39, which isn’t surprising given the brand’s name.

Every pair of ordered glasses includes custom prescription lenses featuring 100% UV protection, a 100% worry-free guarantee and fast delivery. The glasses are also custom-crafted in the USA and any order over $99 ships for free.

The steps we took from start to finish were mostly easy. We first requested a copy of our latest prescription from our optometrist then measured our pupillary distance (PD) before selecting frames that could accommodate a progressive lens. The 39dollarglasses site then let us preview how the frames would look using a tool on its website. All we needed to do after that was enter our billing information. Easy peasy.

To be extra sure of our PD, we used the AccuPD shopping tool listed on the 39dollarglasses website. Per its instructions, we placed a credit card on our forehead, just above our eyes, and held it there while we accessed the AccuPD tool using our smartphone’s camera. We followed the instructions and it measured our PD as 59.5mm. Figuring the most accurate measure was the average of those two measurements, we decided to use a PD of 60mm. (The 39dollarglasses.com website states that most adults’ PDs are between 55 and 65 so we felt very average and comfortable that our PD of 60 was accurate).

The site offers other shopping tools to simplify the buying experience, including its ExactFit Virtual Try-On tool, which measures your face size and tells you exactly which frames may fit you. It then virtually places the frames on your face so you can see how they look. All you need to use ExactFit is a smartphone or a computer with a camera.

Once ExactFit measured our face, we could search the website for frames, sorting the selection by Price, Best Seller and Newest. We could search by gender, total frame width, frame color, lens tint, frame shape, frame type (material) and temple (arm) length.

The site does offer a Home Trial program which lets you choose up to 5 frames to test before making a final decision. We opted out of Home Trial and instead picked just 1 frame (this saved us from spending the $10 Home Trial fee).

Although we picked the most affordable frame offered ($39 as the website’s name suggests), when we selected “progressives (no-line bifocals),” an additional $80 was added to the cost. Since we already own a good pair of eyeglasses but have never owned prescription sunglasses, we figured it was time to try them out.

So, we opted for thin polycarbonate sun lenses, namely, the “Tinted UltimateView Light & Thin Polycarbonate Progressive Sun Lenses (Lens Package: KI),” which cost an additional $9.95. Scratch-resistant and UV Coating was added free of charge so in total, to purchase a progressive pair of prescription sunglasses off a site called 39dollarglasses, our pair of progressive no-line bifocals cost $129.

But this is still a great price for anyone who’s owned a pair of prescription no-line bifocals and sunglasses. Of course, these same frames would have cost $39 had it been a simple, non-progressive prescription for eyeglasses. The sunglasses arrived via FedEx in two days with no problems and fit perfectly, and the entire ordering process from start to finish was straightforward.

Though you may request a full refund on your original order if you return the merchandise within 30 days after delivery, the shipping charges are non-refundable. And there are limitations regarding multifocal lenses (progressives and bifocals).

Progressive and bifocal lens orders may be exchanged or remade one time at no cost within the first 90 days after delivery. Any changes to an order before shipping will count as the allowed free exchange or remake. If a full refund is requested, you have the option of applying it to either your original credit card or your in-store EyeBucks account, less a 30% restocking fee.

A wide selection and helpful shopping tools: GlassesUSA

Underscored best glasses GlassesUSA product shot — Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

GlassesUSA, a sizable online retailer that’s part of Optimax, one of the big international eyewear companies, offers a huge selection. With a ton of familiar name brands along with house brands such as Muse, Ottoto and Revel, there’s likely to be something you’ll like here, whether you’re looking for oversized aviators or chunky acetate, retro or futuristic.

GlassesUSA has a group of helpful shopping tools that begin with a style quiz that aims to point you in the right direction based on some questions about what you’re currently wearing, along with your stylistic and brand preferences. It got us in the ballpark effectively but you can fine-tune to be as general or specific as you like.

GlassesUSA also provides interesting tools like a prescription scanner that lets you scan your existing glasses (assuming they’re up-to-date) if you don’t have a copy handy. The GlassesUSA virtual try-on tool asks you to place crosshairs on your pupils to take a virtual PD measurement, then to enter your actual PD if known — this made for about the most accurate sizing of any of the virtual try-on tools we tested, in line with Eyebuydirect’s great tool.

Pricing is often low, so long as you take advantage of the company’s frequent sales and discount codes. If you sign up for an account you’ll get daily coupon offers — a blessing and a curse if you like to save money but don’t like marketing emails. The discount codes can save you a lot of money; we regularly saw 40% off or buy-one-get-one-free offers that amounted to very significant savings. If you’re interested in any of GlassesUSA’s frames, you’ll want to sign up for an account and keep an eye on the site’s coupons and promotions page.

We received our pairs in two weeks, about on average for the retailers we tested. We liked the glasses from GlassesUSA as the fit and finish were excellent overall and the prescriptions were cut accurately. The sizing was exactly in line with the virtual try-on, too.

If you sign up for an account, GlassesUSA is very persistent about getting your business. At one point after browsing while logged in, a representative called us on the phone to offer a coupon — it was a good offer, but some shoppers may find such policies overly aggressive.

With great virtual tools and useful search, GlassesUSA has made it very easy to comparison shop its huge selection, and it’s easy to find a great pair of glasses whether you’re interested in house brands or premium names. Abundant discount codes keep the prices low, but you’ll get a lot of them.

At-home try-ons and fun styles: Warby Parker

Warby Parker Underscored best glasses product image — Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

The brand most people think of when they think of buying glasses online, Warby Parker is an independent online retailer (with an expanding brick-and-mortar presence) that offers a range of house-branded stylish frames. The overall look tends toward retro styles — if you’re into chunky acetate, there’s a lot to choose from.

Warby Parker built its reputation on its home try-on program: Before the practice was widely adopted the company made it easy to try things on in person even if you don’t live near a Warby Parker location. Once you’ve found some frames you’re interested in (you can follow the site’s advice about finding the best width for your face to begin narrowing things down) you put together a list of up to five frames, place a no-cost order, and the company will send out a home try-on kit of frames with clear lenses for you to check out (you can repeat the process once you return them if nothing ends up working out).

The virtual try-on tool in the Warby Parker app (this one is much better than the tool available on the desktop site, which is fairly limited) gave us a good idea of what might work for us, so we requested a home try-on kit of five likely candidates aiming for a range of sizes that would give us an idea of the overall dimensions of Warby Parker stuff, then picked one and went ahead and placed an order. Warby Parker doesn’t do any photo-based fitting based on the home-try-on; the samples are strictly intended to give you a better idea of what fits and how it’ll look.

Warby Parker is an in-network provider for many insurance plans and provides links to apply for out-of-network reimbursement for many others. The company estimates you can save an average of $100 on a pair of glasses each year by using insurance, bringing its average prices down significantly, especially for single-vision prescriptions.

Like most of the retailers we checked out, pricing ranges from inexpensive (especially for basic single vision) to middle of the pack if you need anything more elaborate. A complete pair of glasses with a single-vision prescription with standard coatings costs roughly $100. If you order a high-index progressive prescription with the full suite of coatings and a photochromic lens you’ll probably come in a bit over $400.

Warby Parker’s design approach is minimal to a fault, and the site’s clean look does a nice job setting off the frames visually and is in keeping with the overall aesthetic, but makes some important information a little more obscure than we’d like.

Also, the shopping approach is very much mobile-first: the desktop browser version of the site’s virtual try-on tools can give you a general idea of how a frame might look, but they are much less developed than those within the Warby Parker mobile app (which does a pretty good job). We’d love to see these features brought more in line (the company has plans to do this in the coming year), and fuller information for each frame supplied in both the browser and mobile versions of the shop.

As the pioneering independent direct-to-consumer online glasses brand, Warby Parker continues to maintain an interesting curated selection of stylish frames, at fair prices relative to bigger chains. Shopping tools are minimal, though the impact is offset a bit by its very useful home try-on kit and the option of visiting a store for fittings if you like.

Retro looks at a reasonable price: LensDirect

Underscored best glasses LensDirect product shot — Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

LensDirect is an independent retailer best known as an online contact lens retailer (the company has been in that business for decades) but it’s moved into glasses as well, offering a small, well-curated lineup of house-branded frames tending toward chunky, retro styles.

Both pairs of glasses we got from LensDirect — a retro-styled chunky acetate frame and a Wayfarer-like sunglass frame — were of very high quality throughout (though the first pair arrived damaged and needed replacement — more on that below). Lenses were accurately cut, the finish of the frame was excellent and fit corresponded reasonably well with what we expected from given sizing and virtual try-on tools.

Pricing is middle of the range for online shops; a basic pair with single-vision lenses, no tints and standard coatings starts at $74; progressives with high-index photochromic lenses will end up in the $400 to $500 range depending on style and specifics — at least before discounts. As with many of the shops we looked at, you’ll want to look out for special offers, sales and coupon codes — the savings can be pretty significant, knocking $100 or more off the final cost.

LensDirect also offers a lens replacement service; the company will take a frame you own (with some limitations) and replace the lenses (costs range from $59 up to just over $300, depending on prescription type, tints and coatings). Although we didn’t test this, they’re an alternative if you own expensive frames you already like that aren’t overly worn.

Since we received a damaged frame, we did need to deal with LensDirect’s customer support, and we were impressed with its handling of the situation. Every representative we interacted with was very responsive and helpful.

We didn’t love LensDirect’s prescription upload system — you upload a PDF or photo of your prescription, and once you’ve placed the order an optician contacts you by email to confirm. There’s not a good way to look back at your order to confirm that the order’s gone through with the data you intended, however. (Zenni and Eyebuydirect, for example, make all of the information you’ve entered available at every point in the process.)

This led us to making an error as we initially tried to place an order for two separate pairs of glasses with two different prescriptions and managed to order both with the same prescription, leaving no record anywhere of the second Rx.

LensDirect has a great range of styles and offers great-looking vintage looks at a very reasonable price once discounts are rolled in. The shopping experience is a little clunkier than our top recommendations, but we were easily able to find frames that really suited us and felt the resulting glasses were among our favorites of the group.

Easy returns and at-home try-ons: Liingo

Underscored best glasses Liingo product shot — Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

Liingo offers an excellent home try-on program, and we felt it was a great option that gave us a good idea of what we wanted. Plus, if you’re unhappy, it has a generous return policy: 60 days, twice as long as most online glasses retailers, and they cover shipping.

Liingo has solid search and shopping features, a well-thought-out virtual try-on tool that provides useful feedback on fit as well as a general guide to what size ranges will work (this was accurate in our testing, recommending a “medium” width in our case — a general recommendation, but certainly correct in the company’s sizing). A smartphone app lets you scan your current glasses (assuming you’re happy with them) to generate a prescription if you don’t have one.

We requested a sample kit and ended up ordering three pairs from it, though after checking out the sample kit we decided on different frame colors. The pairs we received were very high quality (on par with Warby Parker’s offerings and GlassesUSA’s house brand Muse lineup), with spring hinges, securely fitted lenses and a solid finish save for a couple of barely perceptible tooling marks.

Prices are relatively low: Basic pairs including single-vision prescriptions start at well under $100, and fully decked-out progressives with photochromic lenses will run you in the neighborhood of $400.

Liingo isn’t in-network with any insurance provider, but the company will assist you with the proper forms and an itemized receipt to submit for out-of-network reimbursement (of course you’ll want to check to make sure what your vision coverage includes).

Liingo gives you a 60-day return period, with full refunds — the longest of any of the retailers we looked at, which should give you more freedom to experiment with the frames on offer.

High-performance glasses at a low price: Tifosi

Tifosi Swank SL frames Underscored best prescription glasses — Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

Tifosi has supplied affordable performance glasses to athletes for the past two decades, and their high-value, durable sunglasses and prescription pairs have been favorites of cyclists, runners and golfers. While the brand has typically sold via specialty sporting goods stores and some optical shops, it has recently branched out into direct-to-consumer sales and, recognizing the limited range of options available to those looking for corrective sports glasses online, has recently begun selling prescription pairs online.

Most importantly for many buyers, Tifosi can produce good-quality performance eyeglasses at a lower cost than most. Single-vision glasses start at $90, while single-vision sunglasses start at $120.

Our order — with progressive prescription, Fototec photosensitive lenses and antifog and antireflective coatings — was a little pricier, coming to $370 in total, mostly due to the prescription itself. It’s not quite as inexpensive as Zenni (though Tifosi’s glasses are of noticeably nicer fit and finish), but it’s cheaper than Roka (albeit not as stylish or quite as well built).

Ordering is simple and straightforward — you choose from the range of options (mostly sunglass color choices, though Fototec lenses are only available in a gray tint).

It’s difficult to make wraparound-style curvatures work with a strong prescription (in excess of +/-4.00, which is what this reviewer wears — a reasonably good test for the limits of lens manufacturing), so we went with the most curvature we could get. The site does indicate clearly the range of prescriptions curved styles can handle, most of which top out as expected around +/-4, aside from the Swick, which can handle a broader range of corrections, from +6.00 to -4.00.

Styles tend toward generous coverage — totally appropriate given that these are intended for active use before fashion — and the SLs were very effective running and cycling in windy, misty and rainy conditions. The half frames and well-cut optics gave us a clear view of the road surface and various fitness trackers, watches and computers, and the frame design directed sweat out of the way very effectively.

While we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Tifosi to anyone looking for an inexpensive performance-oriented prescription sunglass, there are some things to keep in mind.

First, while Tifosi offers a wide range of styles in nonprescription sunglasses, only a limited subset of those — 12 models — are available for prescription order. That said, the available styles should cover the needs of most people looking for sports sunglasses.

The customer experience is bare-bones compared to competitors who specialize in direct-to-consumer glasses. There aren’t any virtual try-on tools or fitting guides here. There’s not that much to direct you beyond basic measurements (which are not accessible directly from the prescription page — you’ll have to look for each frame’s non-RX page to find them) and indications of the range of pupillary distances appropriate for each pair (three of the available RX styles are meant for smaller faces).

Delivery time is slow compared to competitors. Tifosi estimates three weeks for orders; ours arrived in four — on the long side for online prescription glasses in our experience, with most competitors delivering in two weeks or less.

Cool looks for grown-ups: Caddis

Underscored best glasses Caddis product shot — Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

Caddis has, in the past, addressed the needs of fashionable Gen Xers and Boomers with a line of quirky readers, and introduced prescription lenses more recently. The overall aesthetic is chunky, oversized and fun, with bright colors and fanciful touches — extreme coastal grandmother, if your grandmother promoted indie shows in Portland.

We liked that once we ordered our frames, we were sent a sample along with instructions for taking a photograph for proper fitting (this is, as mentioned above, particularly helpful for setting segment height for progressive lenses). The resulting glasses we received were of very high quality and smooth finish, with a premium feel compared to frames that cost much more. The lenses were well-cut, with a wide field of vision from distance to reading (the oversized lenses are nice for reading).

As befits the older crowd Caddis addresses, the company’s single-vision pricing is high. It’s more favorable on the high end: high-index photochromic lenses, even with a progressive prescription, top out at just over $500. If you like Caddis’s style, you’ll get your money’s worth.

Caddis has an impressive range of styles and colors, but the great majority run towards the chunky and oversized; if you’ve got a small or narrow face, you might be out of luck. The Caddis site features a ton of beautiful product photography, but the shopping experience is still a work in progress. If you browse the prescription glasses collection you won’t find any measurements — they’re only given for readers. Luckily the same frames are used for both sides of the operation, which you might not realize at first unless you do some poking around.

The brand doesn’t try to be all things to all people, so options are somewhat limited, but if you like the aesthetic you can’t really go wrong with Caddis’s frames, which back up their looks with solid builds and quality optics.

A huge range of options with in-store backup: LensCrafters

Underscored best glasses Lenscrafters product shot — Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

As one of the biggest optical chains in the US, LensCrafters probably needs no introduction. If you’ve ever purchased glasses, you’ve probably bought a pair from the Luxottica-owned brand. It’s moved into online retail now, providing an overall similar experience to its sibling online-only brand Glasses.com, but with the bonus of a hybrid approach that takes advantage of its brick-and-mortar locations to get you an exam or a fitting. The site seems built more as an entry to LensCrafters’ in-person shopping than a standalone experience (which, of course, is why Glasses.com exists).

Shopping tools are very complete and usable. The site has a wealth of informational content on pretty much every aspect of eyewear and eye care, along with the full suite of things we like: clear, easy-to-find, complete measurements for each frame; virtual try-on tools; a tool to mark favorites while shopping for easy comparison; and more. And while the company doesn’t offer samples for try-on, for many frames it will direct you to a local LensCrafters shop where you can try on in person

LensCrafters is big on options. As you might expect given how big LensCrafters is, you get a ton of options for lens types, coatings, tints and such. Where some smaller retailers offer two choices of Ray-Ban lens tints, you’ll find five at LensCrafters.

Pricing is in line with what you’d expect in store. Basic prescriptions in house-brand frames are available for $100, while premium-brand frames with progressive prescriptions and all the fixings can run in the $600-$800 range. Discount codes are readily available, however.

LensCrafters is one of the few online retailers we checked out that is in-network with a number of vision insurers, including sibling brand EyeMed. This makes it easier to save around $100 on one pair per year (the typical allotment via vision coverage), since you won’t have to apply for reimbursement as with most online opticians.

LensCrafters’ site gives you a ton of options, but it’s a little clunky considered on its own. But it makes a lot of sense as a tool for getting set up to visit a brick-and-mortar LensCrafters shop with a clear plan of action.

LensCrafters styles for the online-only shopper: Glasses.com

Underscored best glasses Glasses.com product shot — Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

Glasses.com is the web-only retail storefront for the Luxottica brands. The offerings are similar to LensCrafters’, though you’ll find a more streamlined experience and different models on sale between the two shops.

As you shop, you’ll want to pay attention to sales and special offers, which can reduce prices by a significant amount. We waited for a 50% off lenses offer, which we were able to couple with a 20% off total coupon, bringing the price of a pair of Ray-Bans with all available options down to a very reasonable price — not quite in the Zenni range, but competitive with online-first retailers like GlassesUSA and Warby Parker.

Glasses.com is an in-network provider for a range of major insurance plans (including EyeMed, its sibling Luxottica company). so depending on your coverage you may be able to save without having to put in for reimbursement.

If you like LensCrafters’ selection, don’t plan on visiting a physical store and want a slightly slicker online shopping experience, Glasses.com gives you that, along with a discount structure more like other online-only direct-to-consumer brands.

Cheeky, chunky styles and straightforward pricing: Eyebobs

Underscored best glasses Eyebobs product shot — Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

The quirky Minneapolis shop — which came to national attention as the supplier of heroic host Bernard’s readers on the Westworld series — offers a range of interesting styles with high-quality material, great fit and finish and refreshingly straightforward styles.

Like Caddis, Eyebobs dug in on quirky, fun looks, with a selection of frames ranging from the chunky to the downright sculptural in a broad spectrum of colors to match (or clash productively) with any ensemble. Even the names are fun.

Since the looks on offer can be fairly extreme, Eyebobs has plenty of assistance to walk you through the process. A quiz gets you in the ballpark, and a virtual try-on tool (a little clunky on the site, but very accurate via the mobile app) gives you a preview of how the frames might look on your face.

If that’s not sufficient, Eyebobs has a team of personal stylists to assist you. During the shopping process, you can set up a free appointment to talk through some frames that might suit your tastes (even if you might not think so at first).

Pricing is simple and reasonable, if not cheap. All of Eyebobs’ frames (save for designer collaborations like the current Lake & Harriet line) are priced the same: Readers are $95, sunglasses $135, basic single-vision pairs start at $245 and pairs made with all of the possible options (high-index photochromic progressives) top out at $485.

Eyebobs’ personal stylist service has some scheduling glitches and we found it impossible to actually get in touch with a stylist. It’s not clear from the email invitation that you need to log into the site and confirm your appointment, or where to obtain the meeting address itself. It’s a great idea, but the implementation needs work.

If you’re looking for something that grabs attention, whether with bright colors or sculptural shapes, Eyebobs has you covered. Good shopping and fit tools, fair pricing and a simple process make it easy to experiment.

Endless colors and customizable frames: Pair

Pair Glasses and accessories Underscored — Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

Pair takes a modular approach to style, catering to those who like to change things up with a limited number of “Base Frame” styles that can be dressed up with a larger variety of affordable, magnetically attached “Tops” (including everything from plain-vanilla sunglass clip-ons to comics and brand tie-ins).

Pair’s glasses are very affordable — Base Frames are $60, and Tops start at $25. The Tops, which attach magnetically to the Bases, don’t alter the basic look of the frames but give you a fun, affordable way to experiment with colors and patterns or to match your eyewear to the rest of your outfit, even if you change things up significantly every day.

Since there isn’t a huge variety of choices on offer for the frames (13 variants, three of which are only available in smaller sizes for kids), selection is pretty simple. Sizing and frame measurements are clearly indicated, and the process of choosing a frame, selecting lens type and coatings and adding as many Tops as you like with your order is clean and straightforward. After we ordered, turnaround time was speedy; we received our finished pair in 11 days.

You won’t find much in the way of interesting frame shapes or weights — the overall aesthetic of the Base Frames is pretty vanilla, and the visual interest comes mostly from the colorful Tops. Pair offers only a baker’s dozen base frames (three are kid-specific; the other 10 cover traditional men’s and women’s styles — square, rectangular and rounded styles, plus a couple of semi-cat-eye shapes).

Luxurious retro-cool classics and great customer service: Moscot

Moscot Dahven glasses Underscored — Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

Moscot is a New York City institution and its quirky, chunky retro glasses have long been favorites of actors, musicians, influencers and other celebs. Like many brick-and-mortar brands, the company has turned its attention to online sales, and now its frames are available direct to consumers, with a fully built-out shopping experience that rivals some online retail specialists.

Moscot’s frame styles tend toward classic, retro looks, though typically at heavier weights than you might expect — if you like chunky frames you’ve come to the right place. Most frames are available in a range of interesting earth tones, tortoiseshell finishes and translucents, most of them in the company’s signature heavyweight acetate, though some wire styles are available as well.

But back to our sample pair. The Dahven’s build quality is impressive. There’s not a rough edge to be found anywhere on the heavy acetate frames, the hinges are smooth and the careful build is evident in the way the arms lay perfectly flat when you fold the glasses — no slight misalignments as you might find on cheaper glasses, and everything is fitted perfectly, without creaking or rubbing. The lenses are accurately cut and of perceptibly high clarity and optical quality.

Moscot’s online shop combines some of the best features of remote shopping with the kind of personalized attention you’d get at a good optician. Onsite, you get fitting tools including a well-executed 3D virtual try-on (on iOS), a handy sizing guide, tons of images of each frame in multiple sizes on a diverse set of models and plenty of measurements to work from.

What’s even better, however, is the personalized service. Online chat is staffed with actual human beings — the company’s “Frame Fit Specialists”’ — who get back to you quickly with answers to questions. This is something we didn’t see everywhere, and that makes a difference in negotiating the range of styles on hand.

You can also schedule a virtual style and fit consultation via video call. While the quality of these calls varied considerably among competitors, the specialist I worked with at Moscot was helpful — even surprisingly so. I provided a bunch of information on what I thought I was looking for and he recommended a frame, color and size I wouldn’t have considered, which turned out to be perfect. This was the best, most in-store-like experience of any “online” retailer we looked at for this review.

Plus, the turnaround time for our order was speedy — we had our sample pair of glasses in seven business days, the fastest of the online retailers we tried.

However, these can be expensive glasses. Single vision pairs with standard lenses start at around $420, and if you need a progressive prescription and want photosensitive lenses, a fully spec’d pair can cost around $1,100 — about what you’d expect to pay in a good optical shop (largely because Moscot is a good optical shop).

Elegant looks to fit almost anyone: Jins

Underscored best glasses Jins product shot — Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

Jins, a Japanese brand with New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles retail stores, concentrates on classic looks in wire and plastic, generally offering similar styles in standard and oversized versions. While more and more brands offer low-bridge fits nowadays, Jins has focused on flexible, inclusive fitting more than any other brand we ran across. Many of its acetate frames have adjustable nose pads and several others are offered in multiple fit options.

Jins’ range of fit is impressive. While our acetate frames fit out of the box without adjustment, they offered a lot more range than many similar models we looked at from other manufacturers given the addition of large adjustable nose pads as used on many wire and browline styles. This makes the frames a little bulkier, but if you’ve had trouble finding a good fit, it is likely worth it and the streamlined styles are very accommodating.

Pricing is relatively inexpensive, with single-vision pairs available starting at $90; progressive photochromics can run between $330 and $430, depending on frame selection. They also come with a 30-day warranty.

If you’re in need of stylish frames with a low nose-bridge fit, you’ll find a treasure trove of options at Jins. Just be aware that frames go out of stock quickly and be flexible on colors and styles and you’ll likely find a frame you’ll like.

High-end luxury styles from home: Alexander Daas

Underscored best glasses Alexander Daas product shot — Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

Alexander Daas, a California-based high-end optician with a celebrity following, has moved into full-service online retail, offering its house brand and a full range of other luxury brands. It’s not cheap and is about as expensive as you’d expect given the lineup — but it makes a great pair of glasses. If you’re interested in high-fashion brands and your local doesn’t carry them, Alexander Daas can provide those options at a distance. It isn’t for everybody, but it’s an interesting option for high-quality frames.

While the site experience is minimal, ordering is straightforward, with clearly laid-out options for choosing lens materials, coatings and so forth. Prescription entry is via upload of an image — not our favorite sort of system, but customer service is very responsive and followed up by email to confirm within a day.

Also, once we placed our order, we received a pair of sample frames of the style we’d ordered, along with instructions on taking a photo to set segment height (we ordered a progressive prescription). We followed the directions, submitted photos and got a confirmation from an optician the same day. The finished glasses arrived in just over a week.

The shopping experience is mostly basic. You don’t get elaborate search tools, just filtering by brand, material and style. The idea is that you’ll be choosing primarily on aesthetics. Given the brand’s emphasis on carrying a range of fits (and they advertise their broad selection of frames with narrow sizes meant for people with smaller faces), it would be nice to see full measurements and a tool to search by size (or better yet, a virtual try-on feature).

Pricing is on par with high-end brick-and-mortar opticians. Frames begin at around $240 before lenses and range up past $700, so once you add your prescription and whatever tints and coatings you need, it’s easy to end up north of $1,000.

When you need new specs in a hurry: Overnight Glasses

Overnight-glasses-frames-CNNU-best-glasses — Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

As the name implies, Overnight Glasses promises prescription glasses on an incredibly tight turnaround — as fast as 24 hours — along with significant discounts. It’s a compelling proposition for anyone who needs glasses in a pinch (and what glasses-wearer hasn’t found themselves in such a situation?).

The Overnight Glasses site has a clean, structured checkout process with good information provided all along the way. Visually the store is quite basic, but the company does a great job presenting the available options. And you’ll find tons of options, including four choices — in 4-, 6.5-, 13- and 19-foot optimized focal distances for various activities ranging from fine detail tasks on up — for midrange “desktop” office progressives, where other online vendors typically offer only a single option.

Prices are average — simple single-vision complete glasses can be had for under or around $100, though our order, which included brand-name frames and premium progressive lenses with blue light coatings — came in at $435 total.

As for the overnight delivery part, overnight shipping is available for single vision; ordering progressives (as we did in testing) gets you a production estimate with overnight shipping once the production process is done.

You’ll find a range of of Luxottica-associated major brands here — Ray-Ban, Oakley and so forth — though it’s not as broad a selection as you would at LensCrafters or Eyeconic (as you’d expect from a site that emphasizes quick shipping, the catalog is somewhat more focused than at larger retailers). That said, you’ll find a solid range of mainstream styles in popular shapes and colors, though if you’re looking for something out of the ordinary you might have a more difficult time.

While the shopping and ordering process was smooth, we had an issue with Overnight Glasses once our order was in. A manufacturing issue held up our order and we got the glasses later than expected.

Initially, our progressives were estimated at a four-day turnaround, with overnight shipping. Several days after ordering, however, we were notified that the company had encountered a manufacturing delay. We did get a prompt communication from the site regarding the delay, and several days later, we received a note that our order was ready for shipping. Once shipped, we received the order a day later than expected.

While it’s impossible to guarantee ship dates these days and we understand that (and it is probably impossible to generalize from our experience), the extended timeframe turned out to be around the 7-10 days we’ve encountered with most manufacturers.

That said, communication was clear, and after we received the order we got an offer from the company that they would be glad to offer a backup pair (single-vision) to make up for the delay, which is appreciated.

A range of brands and an easy way to use vision insurance: Eyeconic

Eyeconic-skaga-frames-CNNU-best-glasses — Michael Berk/CNN Underscored

Eyeconic is the online retail brand of vision care giant VSP; meaning you’ll get access to a huge range of VSP-associated brand-name frames — and if you have VSP, MetLife, or Cigna vision coverage it’s easy to use your insurance to get your new glasses. So if you have a vision plan and your tastes run towards major brands, Eyeconic is worth a look.

The shopping experience is smooth, with a well-designed search by pretty much any criterion you’d want to consider, from frame shape and color to brand, material, price and so on. A speedy and cleanly designed virtual try-on tool that works well on desktops (a bit of a rarity) is available for various frame types.

Since Eyeconic is a VSP brand, you’ll find offerings for tons of big-name frames, from vision specialists like Ray-Ban to Persol to designers like Tom Ford and Lanvin and Paul Smith, sportswear names such as Nike and Oakley along with lots of house brands and smaller names. You’re likely to find frames to suit a range of tastes, though if you’re looking for more of a statement frame — whether in-your-face, avant-garde or retro — you might not come across exactly the look you want.

The sample we received — in 9 business days, a day ahead of our projected delivery date, always a nice surprise — was very well made, with cleanly cut lenses precisely to our wearer’s prescription, feature and coating specifications. Fit was accurate and matched expectations given fitting tools (the specific sample we ordered was not included in the virtual lineup, but other similar frames with near-identical sizing from the same brand were, so we resorted to those when testing to get a sense of what to expect from the brand (in this case, Skaga).

Pricing is on par with what you’ll find at major brick-and-mortar retailers as an average single-vision complete will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 to 200. Our test pair with advanced progressive lenses and blue light coating came in at just over $500 — but we’ve found throughout testing that if your prescription is at all challenging (progressive, corrections for astigmatism, etc.), you do seem to get what you pay for in stepping up from the budget brands in terms of lens quality.

Gamer-inspired styles and a focus on blue-light protection: Gunnar

Initially making a splash on “Shark Tank,” Gunnar has since offered a line of glasses featuring blue-light-blocking coatings aimed squarely at gamers, tech folks and similar digital power users. Styles run toward the techy and nerd culture, so you get a lot of futuristic shapes.

The Gunnar site is well laid out, with virtual fit tools and lots of information on the company’s lens technologies. It’s easy to find what you want and everything is clearly illustrated. If you’re into blue-blockers, you won’t have any trouble finding what you like here.

We selected the company’s most popular lens, an amber tint designed to block 65% of blue light at a wavelength of 450 nanometers — you can also get a clear blue-blocker that cuts out a claimed 35% of blue light at the same wavelength — in a prescription meant for computer use. We wore them for a month of computer-related tasks — so for the better part of every workday. Gunnar is interesting in that it offers a choice of blue-light tinting like this; we didn’t come across any other direct-to-consumer brand that provided these options.

The prescription was accurate and the glasses were comfortable once we adjusted them to preference. They were reasonably lightweight for acetate, good-looking, and had convenience features like spring hinges, which are always good to see in an everyday pair.

The lenses are nice and contrasting, and give everything a sunny, warm look with a distinct yellow cast. The blue-blocking effect is quite noticeable when looking at the glasses but it’s pleasant as long as you’re good with the look. And while in actuality the tint is reducing the amount of light you’re getting, the perceived effect is that your surroundings are brighter.

Pricing is value-focused, though not bargain basement, so Gunnar is on par with other direct-to-consumer prescription glasses offering similar quality and products. Pricing begins at just under $200 for a complete pair, while our test sample (a pair of progressive lenses with 65% tint) came in at $343.

Bold, stylish frames and a focus on giving back: Diff Eyewear

Diff Eyewear is a stylish, direct-to-consumer glasses brand built on a charitable-giving approach, similar to that taken by sneaker brand Toms: Diff contributes a percentage of each sale to vision-focused charities. Currently, the company works with Sightsavers, which provides eye examinations, surgery, glasses and medication to the developing world. It’s a good mission, so we checked the styles on offer to see if they’re as attractive as the company’s efforts.

Diff offers a wide range of good-looking frames in up-to-date styles, mostly in chunky acetates. Diff has an even broader selection of sunglasses, so the styling tends toward the big and bold, with lots of big cat eyes and geometric shapes. If you’re looking for special-occasion frames or the sort of glasses wearer who likes to switch it up, you’ll find a lot to choose from.

Women’s selections are much more plentiful than men’s (the latter get mostly updated vintage through 1980s looks), though everything comes in a lot of colorways. Several frames we looked at came in a half dozen finish choices, which is more than we’ve seen from most online retailers.

Pricing is on the reasonable end, with many frames priced in the $119 to $139 range and complete pairs starting at just under $200. Our test pair, which had progressive lenses, came in at $374 — around average for the retailers we’ve been looking at. Delivery time was around average as well; we had our finished pair in hand 12 business days after ordering.

The site is relatively basic compared to most of the retailers we’ve looked at. There aren’t any virtual try-on tools, though each pair is well photographed and shown worn by models in representative poses that make it easy to see what you’re getting. That said, at this point in time, potential purchasers probably expect more in terms of shopping ease, though given that a lot of the styles on display are oversized and may make more sense as an accent or special-occasion pair than a daily driver, that’s probably OK.

On a similar note, checkout is simple. There’s no tool during the process to collect your prescription info and store it for future or multiple orders. Rather, you upload a PDF of your prescription for review by a Diff optician. While this works fine in our experience (we were contacted quickly by a representative to confirm details), we’d prefer to see an online tool that lets us enter our data and check it ourselves. Even if someone follows up, it’s nice to feel confident that you’ve gotten the data right the first time.

More recommendations

We tested bidets for 3 months — we’re never going back to standard toilets

I tried the new Hoka Ora Recovery Slide 3 sandals and they’re bliss for tired feet

We tried the viral Amazon travel backpack — and it lives up to the hype

The best paper shredders in 2024, tested by editors

The best headphones for sleeping in 2024

Best plant identification apps for mobile in 2024, tested by our editors

I’m a trail runner and tried Teva’s sock-like running sandals with Hoka-level comfort

The best robot vacuums of 2024, tested by editors

The best iPads in 2024, tried and tested

Note: The prices above reflect the retailers' listed price at the time of publication.

Suzanne (Harnos) Kattau

The best online prescription glasses in 2024, tested by editors