Best place to buy progressive glasses online

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• Shopping for glasses at brick-and-mortar stores usually means a limited selection and high prices.
• Online glasses companies tend to offer more variety, lower costs, and easy-to-use virtual try-ons.
• We rounded up seven places to shop for affordable and stylish prescription glasses online, below.

Anyone who wears glasses knows how painful the process of finding a new pair can be; it's a real struggle.

Often you'll find yourself in a chain retailer with a single wall of options to choose from, and a store clerk rushing you to decide all while trying to sell you on a pseudo-discount.

Once you pick out a frame, lenses, and additional options, the total can be surprisingly expensive, regardless of what kind of "sale" is going on. But since you're shopping for glasses in the first place, there's a good chance you need a new pair and will buy them anyway.

Luckily, there's a great solution to the limited style options and outrageous prices when shopping for new eyewear: buying online. Just like anything else you'd traditionally buy in-person, the internet is now the best place to pick out some new specs and save money. The online stores below can help you find glasses that fit both your style and facial structure without having to leave your home. 

Here are the best places to buy affordable prescription glasses online in 2022:

Warby Parker

Warby Parker is one of the most well-known places to buy glasses online — and it's not just because of great marketing. Warby Parker understands not everyone likes shopping the same way and has fully structured its business to be simple for everyone.

Its biggest benefit is the Home Try-on service. After answering questions about your face shape, preferred glasses shape, color, and material, you're able to choose a handful of frames that get sent to your home. Once they arrive, you have five days to make a decision and return the sample frames. Whether you buy one pair, multiple pairs, or none at all, the at-home service is free so long as you return them on time.

If you prefer to shop in-store or you need help with adjustments after receiving your order, Warby Parker has a handful of brick-and-mortar locations.

The brand also has a selection of extended sizes to help accommodate people with narrower or wider heads. 

Insurance: Warby Parker accepts insurance for prescription glasses, prescription sunglasses, and eye exams. You can find a list of providers here and specific directions for how to apply for reimbursement. Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) or Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) that are linked to major credit card companies can also be used to purchase glasses. 

Read our full review on Warby Parker's at home-try on service.

Read our review on Warby Parker's extended sizing glasses collection.

Zenni

Zenni got its start by producing glasses in-house but has since expanded to offer popular brand names, too. The brand has a huge selection of glasses that you can sort by gender, age, material, style, shape, and price. The site is designed so you see the glasses you're interested in rather than mindlessly scrolling through thousands of SKUs online.

While adult frames are broken into styles for men and women, the kids' sections are organized into sub-sections for boys, girls, little kids, pre-teens, and teens. The selection is plentiful — which is in stark contrast to notoriously small kids' sections in brick and mortar glasses stores.

Its resource library of guides is robust and demystifies all your questions about the costs of wearing glasses, why you might want to consider progressives, and many more topics. 

Zenni Frame Fit allows you to upload a picture of yourself and try on glasses virtually, instead of looking in a mirror at a reflection that you probably can't see clearly.

Insurance: Zenni does not accept insurance, but can provide you with the information necessary for a reimbursement. However, it does accept FSA and HSA dollars for prescription eyewear, sunglasses, and eyewear accessories.  

YesGlasses

YesGlasses is an online-only company that offers an array of stylish frames from its in-house brand. Prices start at $39, including prescription lenses.

If you're not set on owning a specific brand, YesGlasses is a great place to shop for a new pair. Many of its designs closely resemble the classic and contemporary styles you're probably looking for from name brands and designers. 

On top of the many frame options, YesGlasses offers a solid selection of lens options like anti-blue light prescription lenses, thin and ultra-thin lenses, and even polarized, tinted, mirrored, and gradient sunglasses. It makes it easy to understand the differences between the options, and which ones you should choose based on your prescription and intended use. 

It offers a virtual try-on service, which is admittedly not as good as a home try-on, but it will give you a good idea of what the frames will look like on your face.

Insurance: YesGlasses accepts Health Savings Accounts (HSA) or Flexible Spending Accounts(FSA) for purchasing prescription eyeglasses or sunglasses, as long as your FSA or HSA account is affiliated with a major credit card. For all other insurance, YesGlasses can provide a detailed copy of the invoice so you can request reimbursement through your insurance provider.

Read our full review on YesGlasses prescription eyewear.

Felix Gray

If you regularly use a computer or smartphone for hours a day, you'll definitely want a pair of blue-light blocking glasses — and Felix Gray is one of the best places to buy them. The brand incorporates blue-light blocking technology in all of its designs, whether prescription, sleep, or sunglasses. 

Starting at $95 for non-prescription and $145 for glasses with prescription lenses, Felix Gray is practically guaranteed to be more affordable than brick-and-mortar stores. 

While Felix Gray doesn't offer thousands or even hundreds of glasses to choose from, the frames that are available are unisex and easy to love, regardless of your personal style.

Though, with Felix Gray's simplicity also comes a lack of lens options. You won't get any extra options at checkout for polycarbonate or hi-index lenses. For most people that won't be a deal-breaker, but if you have an exceptionally strong prescription, you'll probably want to shop somewhere that will allow you to get thinner lenses, even if it's at an extra cost.

Insurance: Felix Gray accepts insurance from several major providers and FSA/HSA dollars so long as they are connected to a major credit card company.

Read our full review on Felix Gray prescription glasses here.

Read our full review on Felix Gray sleep glasses here.

Westward Leaning

Westward Leaning produces stylish unisex frames and prides itself on using sustainable materials, utilizing ethical business practices, and regularly donating proceeds to provide free eye exams and glasses to children in low-income areas. 

They're not the cheapest glasses online (our review pairs averaged around $300 with prescription lenses), and the brand doesn't take insurance, but there is tangible value in them. The glasses are handmade and built to last, and considering you won't find such unique designs anywhere other than expensive designer luxury brands, they're worth the money to some people.

You won't get to add on specific lens options, so if you need blue-light blocking glasses or you have a strong prescription and want thinner high-index lenses, Westward Leaning isn't where you'll want to shop for your everyday glasses. If fashion is at the forefront of your concerns, you'll have no problems finding something unique and eye-catching. 

Read our full review on Westward Leaning here.

EyeBuyDirect

EyeBuyDirect was made to offer truly affordable prices all the time. Frames start at $10 and lenses start at $20 (before applying sales promotions). All of its glasses and sunglasses are available with a variety of prescription options, including single-vision distance, reading lenses, Transitions lenses, progressives, and bifocals. 

Originally, EyeBuyDirect only offered frames from its own in-house brand, but has since expanded to include top eyewear brand names. More recently, EyeBuyDirect also added a virtual try-on feature to help you see the glasses on your face before buying them.

Right now you can save up to 50% on over 1000 styles.

Insurance: EyeBuyDirect does accept FSA and HSA dollars for prescription eyewear and sunglasses purchases. EyeBuyDirect doesn't take insurance, but they will provide you with detailed receipts that you can submit to your insurance provider in case you're eligible for reimbursement. However, we've found that the site's incredibly low prices make them a far better deal than the difference you'd pay at other places that do accept insurance.

Read our full review on EyeBuyDirect here.

Amir Ismael

Senior Reporter, Insider Reviews

Amir Ismael is a senior reporter for Insider Reviews, Insider's e-commerce branch of the service journalism team. As a collector of sneakers and fashion, Amir is passionate about all things related to style. He's covered everything including the industry's shift to producing more sustainable clothing, the most comfortable loungewear, all of the best places to shop for affordable business casual attire, and more. He's used his expertise in footwear and the footwear industry to review all kinds of shoes from sportswear giants, well-known casual brands, and startups. Amir's coverage also includes eyewear, watches, and grooming products like electric razors and men's skincare. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Amir has led Insider Reviews' face masks coverage with thoughtful recommendations based on CDC guidelines, expert opinions, and his own testing. During his time at Insider, Amir previously handled deals of the day coverage, and worked as a generalist writing hundreds of reviews ranging from phone cases and headphones to bed sheets and blenders, and has also covered major shopping holidays including Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. Before joining the Insider Reviews team in 2017, worked as a freelance writer for Complex Sneakers and Sole Collector where he contributed to daily sneaker news and release dates, feature-length articles, and interviews with artists, designers, and athletes. Amir graduated from William Paterson University in 2015 with a degree in journalism and public relations. Say hello to Amir at or on Instagram @amirjismael. Learn more about how our team of experts tests and reviews products at Insider here. Learn more about how we test style and beauty products.

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