Material · 5 min read · Updated 2026-08-28
This is the question we field most often, and the answer is not "the same thing, only cheaper". Both are born in a lab. That is where the similarity stops.
They are made of different things
A lab diamond is a diamond. Pure carbon, structurally identical to a mined one, grown in weeks in a machine rather than over millions of years underground. Any test will read it as a diamond, because it is one.
Moissanite is a different material entirely: silicon carbide. It was first found in nature in meteorite fragments, but never in quantities anyone could set into jewelry, so every stone sold today is grown.
So moissanite is not a fake diamond and not a diamond simulant sold under a nicer name. It is its own gemstone, with its own optics.
The sparkle is different, and you can see it
Moissanite splits light more strongly than diamond does — roughly twice as much. The result is more rainbow flash as the stone moves under a light.
Some people come looking for exactly that. Others find diamond calmer and whiter. Neither is more correct; it is taste, and it is worth seeing in person before deciding.
One practical note: the difference shows most on larger stones. Under a carat, most people cannot tell without a loupe.
Hard enough to wear daily
Diamond is a 10 on the Mohs scale, the top of it. Moissanite is 9.25 — below that, but still above sapphire and ruby.
For everyday wear that gap matters less than it sounds. What ruins rings is rarely a scratch on the stone; it is a knock to the setting and a claw nobody ever checked.
The prices are far apart
This is where the difference is felt. A lab diamond costs far less than a mined one, and moissanite costs far less again — typically a fraction of a lab diamond at the same size.
Which means the same budget buys either a small lab diamond or a much larger moissanite. Plenty of our buyers choose the second and put the difference into a better setting.
How to tell them apart
Cheap diamond testers work by measuring heat conduction, and moissanite happens to conduct heat much like diamond. Those testers can misread it. A moissanite tester measures electrical conductivity instead and is not fooled.
Optically, moissanite splits light in two. Look through the top of the stone with a loupe and the facet edges on the far side appear doubled. Diamond does not do this.
Every stone we sell arrives with a GRA certificate stating what it is. We have never sold moissanite as diamond, and we will not.