Diamond Clarity Chart: All 11 Grades From Flawless to I3, What You Can See and What Each Costs

By Cameron Malakan, owner of Clairamor and third-generation jeweler · Published February 3, 2023 · Updated October 12, 2026

Diamond clarity is the grade for what is inside a diamond and on its surface: the crystals, feathers, clouds and pinpoints a grader finds under a 10x loupe. GIA's scale runs eleven grades from Flawless to I3, and every laboratory that matters grades to it. The grade that matters on the hand is simpler: VS2 and above are clean to the naked eye in every brilliant cut at every size Clairamor sells, SI1 often is, and SI2 and the I grades usually show. We list IF through VS2 only, and in lab-grown the grades cost what the chart below says: on October 12, 2026 a 1 carat round in our picker was $651 at VS2 and $773 at Internally Flawless, and a 2 carat $1,199 at VS2 and $2,228 at IF, so clarity is the C that moves a lab-grown price most and the one where the money buys the least you can see. This guide is the chart, grade by grade, with GIA's own words for what the grader sees, what you see, and what each grade cost in our inventory that day; then how clarity is graded, how it reads by shape and size, how it pairs with color, how lab-grown clarity differs from mined, how to read the plot on a report, and which grade to buy.

Diamond clarity at a glance

The diamond clarity chart: all eleven grades

The chart runs from the top of the scale to the bottom. The middle columns are GIA's own description of what a trained grader sees at 10x and what that means on a hand in daylight; the price columns are the least expensive stone of each grade in Clairamor's picker on October 12, 2026 for a 1 carat and a 2 carat round, D to G color, with the setting bought separately. The grades we do not list have no price, because we do not sell them.

Grade descriptions from GIA's clarity scale, which evaluates every diamond at 10x magnification. Prices are the least expensive round of that grade in Clairamor's picker on October 12, 2026, D to G color, between 1.00 and 1.49 carats and between 2.00 and 2.49 carats, before the setting; the stones are a 1.03 E IF, 1.10 F VVS1, 1.02 G VVS2, 1.00 D VS1 and 1.00 D VS2, and a 2.04 E IF, 2.02 F VVS1, 2.03 G VVS2, 2.04 G VS1 and 2.03 G VS2. Flawless lab-grown stones exist but our picker's top grade is Internally Flawless.

Read it from the bottom up and the chart says one thing: the naked eye stops seeing inclusions somewhere around SI1, and from VS2 upward the grades describe what a grader finds with a loupe, not what anyone sees in a ring. That is why the price column runs the way it does, from $651 to $773 for a 1 carat round across five grades that look the same on the hand, and from $1,199 to $2,228 at 2 carats, where the top grade costs $1,029 more than the entry grade for a difference no one will see. Our guides to VS1 vs VS2, VVS1 and SI diamonds take each band of the chart on its own; this page is the whole scale.

What clarity is and how a diamond is graded

A diamond grows as a crystal, and almost every crystal traps something on the way: a smaller crystal of another mineral or of diamond itself, a tiny break the trade calls a feather, a haze of pinpoints too small to resolve that reads as a cloud, a needle, a line of twinning where the crystal changed direction as it grew. Those are inclusions, the characteristics inside the stone or reaching its surface; blemishes are the marks on the outside, a polish line, a nick on the girdle, an extra facet, a natural, which is a patch of the original crystal skin left by the cutter. Clarity is the grade for both, and the grader assigns it by weighing five things: how many characteristics there are, how big they are, where they sit (under the table in the center of the stone counts for more than at the edge under a prong), what they are (a dark crystal counts for more than a white pinpoint), and their relief, which is how much they stand out against the diamond around them. Every stone is judged at 10x magnification, with a loupe or a microscope set to that power, and the grade describes what the grader finds at 10x, never what the eye finds at arm's length, which is why the lower half of the chart above exists at all.

The scale is GIA's. The Gemological Institute of America introduced its grading system in 1953, and before it jewelers used words like "eye-clean" and "slightly imperfect" that meant different things in different shops; the eleven grades gave the trade one language, and IGI, HRD and GCAL, the laboratories whose reports you will meet alongside GIA's, grade clarity on the same eleven grades, at the same 10x, by the same five factors. On a report the grade sits with the color, cut, polish and symmetry, and on larger stones it is accompanied by a plot: two drawings of the diamond, face-up and from below, with a symbol for each inclusion and blemish the grader recorded, so you can see what the grade is made of before you see the stone. One change to know about: since October 1, 2025 GIA no longer grades the color and clarity of lab-grown diamonds; its lab-grown report describes a stone as Premium (VVS2 or better, D color, Excellent polish and symmetry, and an Excellent cut on a round) or Standard, and a stone below VS2 gets no assessment. Our diamond cut grade guide does for the cut grade what this chart does for clarity. Our guide to the 4Cs puts all four grading scales on one page with a price on every step. IGI still grades every lab-grown stone to the full scale, which is why nearly every report in our picker is IGI's, and our certification guide explains the two laboratories side by side. Every stone we sell is certified by IGI, GIA or HRD, and if a report is not showing on a listing we will send it.

What each grade looks like on the hand

Flawless and Internally Flawless. Nothing inside the stone at 10x; the only difference between the two is that an IF has a surface blemish or two, usually a polish line or a small natural on the girdle, that a cutter could remove by taking a little weight off. In a ring the two are the same stone, and they are the same stone as the four grades below them. Flawless is rare in any diamond because polishing itself leaves marks; our picker's top grade is IF, and on October 12, 2026 it was one stone in five of the 1 to 3 carat diamonds we listed.

VVS1 and VVS2. Inclusions so small that a skilled grader has trouble finding them at 10x: on a VVS1 report the plot is nearly empty, often a single pinpoint found only from the pavilion, and on a VVS2 the grader can usually find them face-up through the crown with the loupe. To the eye, identical to IF; our VVS1 guide goes through what the grade means and whether it is worth paying for, and the short answer is that it is a grade for the report. VVS1 was the most common grade in our feed that day, 29 percent of the 1 to 3 carat stones, with VVS2 at 29 percent too, which says something about how clean grown crystal runs.

VS1 and VS2. Minor inclusions a grader finds with effort at 10x, a small crystal or feather at VS1, something a little larger, more numerous or more central at VS2. In a brilliant cut, which is every shape but the emerald cut, both are clean to the naked eye at every size we sell, because the facets break the view of the interior into hundreds of flashes and an inclusion the size of a VS2's disappears among them. In an emerald cut, whose long flat facets are windows, a dark VS2 inclusion under the table can show, which is why that shape gets its own rule. VS2 is the lowest grade we list, the entry point of our picker, and the one that gives the best value per carat; the VS1 vs VS2 guide has the two grades priced against each other shape by shape.

SI1 and SI2. Noticeable at 10x, and this is the band where the naked eye starts to take part. An SI1 in a round, oval, cushion or radiant under about 1.5 carats is usually clean, because the inclusion is still small relative to the stone and the sparkle covers it; from 2 carats the stone's facets are big enough that the same inclusion sits in open view, and an SI2 at any size often shows a mark, a dark crystal or a cloud that dulls one patch of the stone. SI grades are where a video and the plot stop being optional and become the purchase decision; our SI diamond guide explains how to buy one well. We do not stock them, because at lab-grown prices the step up to VS2 costs so little that there is no reason to manage the risk.

I1, I2 and I3. Obvious inclusions, visible without a loupe, that in GIA's words may affect transparency, brilliance and durability. An I1 has a visible crystal or feather that a setting can sometimes hide; an I2 is cloudy or marked in a way the eye reads at once; an I3 is included across the stone, and a large feather can be a structural weakness, the one case where clarity is about more than looks. These grades are sold, in mined diamonds at low prices and in jewelry where the stones are small, but they are not engagement ring grades, and they are not in any lab-grown feed we would list.

Clarity by shape and size

The grade on the report is the same whatever the shape, but how much of an inclusion you can see depends on the facets in front of it and on how big the stone is, so the grade to buy changes with both. This is the advice our shape guides share, and it comes from the same place: brilliant cuts hide, step cuts show, and every carat makes the facets larger and the hiding worse.

Size works against clarity in every shape, for a simple reason: an inclusion is a fixed size and the facets grow with the stone, so a pinpoint that is lost among the flashes of a 1 carat round sits inside a single larger facet of a 3 carat and has fewer neighbors to hide behind. That is why SI1 is often clean under 1.5 carats and usually not from 2, why a chunky cushion wants VS1 from 2 carats, and why the emerald cut, the one step cut we sell, wants VVS2 or a VS1 you have checked on video at every size. In lab-grown, where the step from VS2 to VS1 was $5 to $33 for a round or an oval at 1 and 2 carats on October 12, 2026, and VS1 to VVS2 cost little more, the grades are cheap to climb relative to the stone exactly at the sizes where climbing matters, so the rule is easy to follow. Our carat size chart has every shape at every weight.

Diamond color and clarity chart: the two grades together

Clarity and color are graded separately and bought together, and people search for them as one chart, so here they are as one: the least expensive 2 carat round in our picker on October 12, 2026 at each color we stock and each clarity we list. We stock D to G, the colorless range, and our color scale guide runs the whole D-to-Z chart with what each letter looks like in a ring.

Least expensive round between 2.00 and 2.49 carats at each color and grade in Clairamor's picker on October 12, 2026, Ideal to Very Good cut, before the setting. Every stone in the chart looks the same on the hand: D to G all read white at this size in every metal, and VS2 to IF are all clean to the eye in a round.

Two readings. Across a row, color barely moves the price: at VS2 the four colors ran from $1,199 to $1,353, a $154 spread, and at VS1 from $1,204 to $1,368. Down a column, clarity does: a D runs from $1,343 at VS2 to $2,389 at IF, a $1,046 spread, and the step from VVS2 to VVS1 alone is $359 at D and $279 at G. So of the two grades, clarity is the one that charges you for the report and color the one that charges you for almost nothing, and the chart's corner to buy from is the bottom left: a G at VS2 or VS1, which that day were the two cheapest 2 carat rounds we had and indistinguishable on the hand from the $2,389 D IF in the top right. The only caveat is color in a long shape: an oval or emerald cut above 2 carats in platinum can show a trace of warmth at G where a round would not, which the color guide covers, and it costs little to move to E or F there.

What clarity costs in lab-grown

The table is the least expensive stone at each grade in our picker on October 12, 2026, D to G color, for the three shapes that read clarity most differently, at 1, 2 and 3 carats. Read along a row to see what each grade adds; read down the VS2 column against the IF column to see what the whole scale costs.

Least expensive stone of each grade in Clairamor's picker on October 12, 2026, D to G color, Ideal to Very Good cut, in the windows 1.00 to 1.49, 2.00 to 2.49 and 3.00 to 3.99 carats, before the setting. The colors and grades in a feed do not line up neatly, which is why a VVS2 is sometimes cheaper than the VS1 beside it; the 3 carat oval VVS1 is a 3.91 carat stone.

Three readings. The first is that up to VS1 clarity is nearly free: VS2 to VS1 was $32 for the 1 carat round and $5 for the 2 carat, and in five of the nine rows the cheapest VVS2 was below the cheapest VS1, because grown crystal is so clean that the middle grades compete on price rather than rarity. The second is that the money starts at VVS1 and runs away at IF, and faster as the stone grows: the step from VVS2 to IF was $117 for a 1 carat round, $1,000 for a 2 carat and $1,340 for a 3 carat, $1,963 for a 3 carat emerald cut, for a difference that cannot be seen without a microscope. The third is what that buys instead. At 2 carats the $1,029 between a VS2 round and an IF round would pay for our $950 solitaire with change, or for the step from 2 carats to 3 at VS2 with $486 to spare; a bigger stone is visible from across a room and an IF grade is visible on a certificate. Our lab-grown diamond price guide explains what moves these numbers and the price calculator estimates any combination.

Clarity in lab-grown vs mined diamonds

A lab-grown diamond is graded for clarity exactly as a mined one is, by the same laboratories, at the same 10x, on the same eleven grades, and the grade means the same thing. Our lab-grown vs natural diamond guide covers everything else the two share, and what each costs. What differs is the inside of the stone. A mined diamond grew over a billion years in the mantle and trapped whatever was there: other minerals, garnet and olivine and sulfides, as well as feathers from the strain of its journey to the surface, and most mined stones in jewelry stores sit in the VS to SI bands, as GIA notes on its own clarity page. A grown diamond forms in weeks in a chamber, and its inclusions are its own: an HPHT stone can carry small dark flecks of the metal flux it grew in, which is why a magnet will sometimes move a heavily included one, and a CVD stone can carry dark pinpoints and, in a lower grade, graining or a faint cloudiness from the layers it was built up in. None of that shows at the grades we sell; it is why the grades exist. Two things follow. Lab-grown runs cleaner on average, which the mix in our feed shows: on October 12, 2026 the 40,531 stones between 1 and 3 carats in our picker were 20 percent IF, 29 percent VVS1, 29 percent VVS2, 18 percent VS1 and 3 percent VS2, so the grades a mined-diamond buyer pays dearly for are the ordinary stock of a lab-grown feed and VS2 is the scarce one. And lab-grown stones are not clarity-enhanced: the laser drilling and fracture filling used to improve some low-grade mined diamonds have no place in a feed that starts at VS2, and a report from IGI, GIA or HRD would note any treatment if it had been done. The one administrative difference is GIA's: since October 1, 2025 it describes a lab-grown stone as Premium or Standard rather than grading it, so a GIA-graded lab-grown report is an older report, and the IGI reports that carry nearly every stone in our picker are the ones with the grade on them. Our moissanite vs lab-grown guide covers the other comparison people make, and the certification guide the laboratories.

How to read the clarity plot and check a stone

1. Find the grade and the plot on the report. The grade is one line; on larger stones the plot below it is two drawings of the diamond, face-up and from the pavilion, with a symbol for each characteristic: a dot for a pinpoint, a small circle for a crystal, a jagged line for a feather, a dotted outline for a cloud, a straight line for a needle. The key is printed beside it.
2. Read position before size. The plot shows where an inclusion is, not how big it is, so a symbol under the table in the middle of the face-up drawing matters more than three at the edge, which a prong or the crown facets will cover. A VS1 with one central mark can be less attractive than a VS2 with two at the girdle.
3. Watch the video. Every stone in our picker is listed with one. Look at the center of the stone as it turns; if you can find the inclusion on the video without the plot, you will find it on the hand, and if you cannot, neither will anyone else. On an emerald cut, look for a dark spot under the table or a milky patch, which is a cloud.
4. Compare reports from the same laboratory. The scale is shared, but a grade is a judgement, and two laboratories can land a stone one grade apart; comparing an IGI VS1 to an IGI VS2 tells you more than comparing it to a GIA VS2.
5. Check the inscription. The report number is laser-inscribed on the girdle, invisible to the eye and readable with a loupe, so the stone and the report can be matched; any jeweler can show it to you, and we will.

Which clarity grade should you buy?

For a lab-grown diamond, buy the lowest grade that is clean in your shape at your size and spend the difference on the stone itself. In a round, oval, radiant, marquise, moval or crushed-ice cushion that is VS2 or VS1 at every size we sell; in a pear, VS1 or a VS2 whose video is clean at the point; in a chunky cushion from 2 carats, VS1; in an emerald cut, VVS2, or a VS1 whose video you have watched. VVS1 and IF are grades for the report, and the only reasons to buy them are the reasons people do: an emerald cut over 3 carats where the windows are large, a wish for the top of the scale for its own sake, or a stone whose VVS1 happens to be the cheapest listing that day, which in our picker is not rare. If you are choosing between a higher clarity grade and a bigger stone at the same money, the bigger stone wins every time, because carat is the one C that shows from across a room and clarity above VS2 is the one that never does; if you are choosing between clarity and color, buy the clarity you need and let the color be whatever the best stone is, since D to G all read white. The honest answer to "which clarity is best" is therefore not Flawless; it is VS2 or VS1, graded by a laboratory, with a video you have watched.

Where Clairamor fits

Every diamond in Clairamor's picker is lab-grown, graded IF to VS2 for clarity and D to G for color, Ideal to Very Good in cut, listed with its measurements, its IGI, GIA or HRD report and a video, so there is no grade in our inventory that is not clean to the eye in a brilliant cut, and the decision you are left with is the one that matters: the shape, the size, and whether you want the report to say VS, VVS or IF. On October 12, 2026 there were 40,531 stones between 1 and 3 carats to choose from, and a 1 carat round started at $651 and a 2 carat at $1,199. Every setting price on our site is the setting without the center stone, from $950 for the solitaire in 14k gold; every ring carries a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects, comes with an appraisal for insurance, and includes one complimentary resize within 100 days for clients in the USA; and every stone is certified, with the report sent on request if a listing is not showing it. Buy the clarity your shape needs, buy the size you want, and let the report be the last thing you look at rather than the first.

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Frequently asked questions

What is diamond clarity?

Clarity is the grade for a diamond's inclusions, the crystals, feathers, clouds and pinpoints inside it, and its blemishes, the marks on its surface. A grader examines the stone at 10x magnification and weighs the number, size, position, nature and relief of what is found, then assigns one of eleven grades from Flawless to I3. The grade describes what a loupe finds, not what the naked eye sees.

What are the diamond clarity grades in order?

Best to worst: Flawless (FL), Internally Flawless (IF), Very, Very Slightly Included (VVS1 and VVS2), Very Slightly Included (VS1 and VS2), Slightly Included (SI1 and SI2) and Included (I1, I2 and I3). GIA introduced the scale in 1953 and IGI, HRD and GCAL grade to the same eleven grades at the same 10x magnification. Clairamor lists IF through VS2 only.

Which diamond clarity is best?

Flawless is the top of the scale, but the best grade to buy is the lowest one that is clean to the eye in your shape and size: VS2 or VS1 in a round, oval, radiant, marquise, moval or crushed-ice cushion, VS1 in a pear or a chunky cushion from 2 carats, VVS2 in an emerald cut. Above that the grades differ on the report, not on the hand.

Is VS1 or VS2 better?

VS1 is one grade higher: its inclusions are smaller or better placed under the loupe. On the hand the two are the same in every brilliant cut, and in lab-grown the step is cheap: on October 12, 2026 a 1 carat round in Clairamor's picker was $651 at VS2 and $683 at VS1, a 2 carat $1,199 and $1,204. Take VS1 for a pear or an emerald cut.

What clarity grade is eye-clean?

VS2 and above in every brilliant cut at every size Clairamor sells, which is why VS2 is the lowest grade it lists. SI1 is often eye-clean in a round, oval, cushion or radiant under about 1.5 carats and often not from 2 carats; SI2 usually shows a mark, and the I grades always do. An emerald cut shows more at every grade, so it wants VVS2 or a checked VS1.

Is it better to have a bigger diamond or higher clarity?

A bigger diamond, once the clarity is clean to the eye. Carat shows from across a room and clarity above VS2 shows only on a report. On October 12, 2026 the $1,029 between a 2 carat VS2 round and a 2 carat IF round in Clairamor's picker would have paid for the step from 2 carats to 3 at VS2 with $486 to spare, or for the $950 solitaire itself.

How much does diamond clarity affect price?

In lab-grown, more than any other grade. On October 12, 2026 a 2 carat round in Clairamor's picker ran $1,199 at VS2, $1,204 at VS1, $1,228 at VVS2, $1,469 at VVS1 and $2,228 at IF, while D against G at one clarity differed by $154 at most. The money starts at VVS1 and climbs fastest at IF: a 3 carat round was $1,742 at VS2 and $3,179 at IF.

What is the difference between diamond clarity and color?

Clarity grades what is inside and on the stone, from Flawless to I3; color grades how much warmth the stone shows, from D, colorless, to Z. Both become invisible at the top of their scales: D to G all read white in a ring, IF to VS2 all read clean in a brilliant cut. In lab-grown, clarity moves the price far more than color does.

Are lab-grown diamonds graded for clarity the same way as mined diamonds?

Yes: the same eleven grades, the same 10x magnification, the same laboratories. Lab-grown stones run cleaner on average, as Clairamor's picker shows: of the 40,531 stones between 1 and 3 carats on October 12, 2026, 20 percent were IF, 29 VVS1, 29 VVS2, 18 VS1 and 3 VS2. Since October 1, 2025 GIA calls a lab-grown stone Premium or Standard instead of grading it; IGI still grades to the scale.

What inclusions do lab-grown diamonds have?

Their own kinds. An HPHT stone can carry small dark flecks of the metal flux it grew in, and a CVD stone dark pinpoints or, in a lower grade, graining or faint cloudiness from the layers it was built up in; neither carries the mineral crystals a mined stone traps in the mantle. At the grades Clairamor sells, IF to VS2, none of it shows on the hand.

What is the clarity plot on a diamond report?

Two drawings of the diamond, face-up and from the pavilion, with a symbol for each inclusion and blemish the grader recorded: a dot for a pinpoint, a circle for a crystal, a jagged line for a feather, a dotted outline for a cloud. It shows position, not size, so one mark under the table can matter more than three at the edge; read it first, then watch the video.

Does Clairamor sell SI or I clarity diamonds?

No. Every diamond in Clairamor's picker is graded IF to VS2 for clarity and D to G for color, with an IGI, GIA or HRD report and a video, so every stone is clean to the eye in a brilliant cut before you start choosing. At lab-grown prices the step up to VS2 costs so little that there is no reason to manage the risk of a visible inclusion.

Related reading

• VS1 vs VS2 diamond clarity: what VS means, what you can see and what it costs
• VVS1 diamond clarity: meaning, VVS1 vs VS1, and is it worth it?
• SI diamonds: what slightly included means and whether they're worth buying
• Diamond color scale: D to Z chart, what you can see and what each grade costs
• Diamond carat size chart: 0.5 to 5 carats in millimeters, on the hand and in lab-grown prices
• Round brilliant engagement rings: cut grade, sizes, settings and prices
• Emerald cut engagement rings: clarity, ratio, settings, sizes and prices
• Oval engagement rings: ratios, the bow-tie, settings, sizes and prices
• Pear shaped engagement rings: ratio, the point, bow-tie, settings and prices
• Cushion cut engagement rings: square vs elongated, sparkle, settings, sizes and prices
• Moissanite vs lab-grown diamond: the honest comparison
• Diamond certification: GIA vs IGI, and how to read a report
• Lab-grown diamond prices in 2026: what a lab-grown diamond costs by carat, shape, color, clarity and cut
• Diamond price calculator
• Lab-grown vs natural diamonds: what is the same, what is different and what each costs in 2026
• Diamond cut grade chart: Ideal vs Excellent vs Very Good, what each costs and how a diamond is cut
• The 4Cs of diamonds: cut, color, clarity and carat, with the grading charts and what each grade costs