VS1 vs VS2 Diamond Clarity: What VS Means, What You Can See and What It Costs

By Cameron Malakan, owner of Clairamor and third-generation jeweler · Published February 15, 2023 · Updated October 7, 2026

VS stands for Very Slightly Included: the two clarity grades, VS1 and VS2, where a skilled grader finds a diamond's inclusions under 10x magnification only with effort, more effort for VS1 and a little less for VS2. In a round, an oval and most other brilliant cuts, both grades are clean to the naked eye at every size we sell, so the difference between them is a line on the grading report rather than something anyone sees on the hand. In Clairamor's picker on October 6, 2026 the step from VS2 to VS1 cost $27 to $35 for a D-color round or oval at 1 and 2 carats, and at 1.5 carats the VS1 round was the cheaper stone. The one place VS1 earns its keep is the emerald cut, whose open step-cut facets show what a brilliant hides. One more fact turns the usual advice upside down: in lab-grown diamonds VS2 is the rare grade. Of the 33,669 diamonds between 1 and 3 carats in our picker that day, 1,033 were VS2 and 6,216 VS1, while more than three quarters were VVS or Internally Flawless. This guide covers what the two grades mean, what a grader sees and what you can, which shapes need VS1, what every clarity grade cost at 1, 2 and 3 carats that day, how to check a VS stone before you buy, and where the money does more good than a higher grade.

VS1 and VS2 at a glance

What VS clarity means

Diamond clarity is graded under 10x magnification on the Gemological Institute of America's eleven-grade scale, which IGI, the laboratory behind most lab-grown reports, uses as well. The grader maps the stone's inclusions, the tiny crystals, feathers, clouds and pinpoints inside it, and its blemishes, the marks on its surface, and weighs five things about them: their number, their size, their relief (how much they stand out against the diamond around them), their nature, and their location. GIA's own summary of the VS grades is that the inclusions "are observed with effort but can be characterized as minor"; GIA's 4Cs guide splits the pair more finely, describing minor inclusions that range from difficult to see at 10x for VS1 to somewhat easy for VS2. The grade is finalized only under the loupe, which is the point to hold on to: the VS grades are defined by what a trained eye finds at ten times magnification, not by anything you see at arm's length.

VS sits in the middle of the scale. Above it are the two Very, Very Slightly Included grades, VVS1 and VVS2, where a skilled grader struggles to find anything, and Internally Flawless and Flawless at the top. Below it are the Slightly Included grades, SI1 and SI2, where the inclusions are noticeable at 10x and some begin to show to the naked eye, and the Included grades, I1 to I3, where they are obvious. The names are confusing because three of the tiers say "included" in slightly different ways, so the simple version is this: VVS is barely findable, VS is findable with effort, SI is easy to find. Some retailers write VS+ to mean VS2 or better, which is exactly the range Clairamor's picker lists: every stone we sell sits at VS2 or above, and our guides to VVS1 clarity and SI diamonds cover the grades on either side, and our overview of the diamond clarity scale walks through all eleven grades.

VS1 vs VS2: what is actually different

One grade, and the difference is the effort it takes a grader to find the inclusions. In a VS1 the grader has to hunt: the inclusions are small, often off to the side, often visible only from certain angles or through the pavilion, the underside. In a VS2 they are found more readily: a little larger, a little more central, a little more contrast, or simply more of them. Both are "minor" in GIA's language, and in both the grader is working at ten times magnification. What decides which of the two a stone receives is the whole picture the five factors make, so two VS2 stones can look quite different under the loupe: one with a single faint cloud near the table's edge, another with a few pinpoints spread across it.

Sparkle and durability belong in that table because they are the two things people worry clarity might affect. At VS neither is touched. Sparkle comes from the cut, the angles and proportions that send light back out of the top of the stone, and our picker lists only Very Good cuts or better; an inclusion small enough to earn a VS grade is far too small to interrupt that light in any way the eye can register. Durability is a question for the larger inclusions in the lowest grades, and GIA notes that certain inclusions, especially near the girdle, can make a stone more vulnerable; a VS inclusion is minor by definition, and a VS diamond is as hard and as tough as any other.

Can you see a VS2 inclusion?

In a brilliant cut, almost never. "Eye-clean" is the trade's term, not GIA's, for a diamond whose inclusions cannot be seen with the naked eye at the distance people actually look at a ring, about six to twelve inches, in ordinary light. A round, oval, cushion, radiant, pear, marquise or moval is a brilliant: dozens of small facets that break the light into flashes and break an inclusion into fragments of reflection, so a pinpoint or a faint cloud that a grader can find at ten times disappears into the sparkle at one. That is why our oval, radiant and marquise guides all say the same thing, that a VS2 is clean to the eye at any size we sell, and why VS1 or VS2 is where the money on clarity should stop for those shapes.

Four things decide the exceptions, and the grade alone tells you none of them. The first is the type of inclusion: white pinpoints, small feathers and faint clouds vanish, while a dark crystal or a dark speck stands out against a bright stone, and in lab-grown diamonds the dark ones are the tiny specks of non-diamond carbon that CVD growth can leave, or a speck of metal flux from HPHT growth. The second is position: an inclusion under the table, the large flat facet on top, sits in the window everyone looks through, while one near the girdle can be covered by a prong, a bezel or the rail of a hidden halo. The third is size of the stone: the facets grow with the carat weight, so the same grade gives a larger window in a 3 carat stone than in a 1 carat. The fourth, and the biggest, is the faceting itself. GIA puts it plainly: inclusions are typically easier to see in an emerald cut than in a round brilliant, because of the emerald cut's long, rectangular facets.

So the honest answer to "can you see a VS2?" is: not in a brilliant of any size we sell, very rarely in a pear's open table or a chunky cushion's larger facets, and sometimes in an emerald cut, where a VS2 inclusion that sits under the table can be visible from arm's length and even a dark, central VS1 can show in a large stone. Our emerald cut guide walks through that in detail, because it is the shape where clarity is part of the look.

Which shapes need VS1

The rule follows the faceting. Brilliants hide, step cuts show, and the shapes in between sit in between. Here is the clarity we would choose for each shape we set, the same advice our shape guides give.

Two notes on the table. First, "whose video is clean" is not a figure of speech: every stone in our picker has a video, and watching it face-up in ordinary light, turning, for a minute, is the check that settles the question for a pear or an emerald cut better than any grade can. Second, the setting moves the line a little. A bezel or a hidden halo covers the girdle and the edge of the stone, which is where many VS inclusions sit, while a four-prong solitaire leaves the whole outline open; if you have a VS2 you love whose only inclusion is at the edge, a bezel setting will hide it completely.

What VS1 and VS2 cost

Very little, and far less than the grades above VS. The diamonds in our picker run heavily to D color (of the 8,587 rounds between 1 and 3 carats on October 6, 2026, 5,456 were D, 2,303 E, 748 F and 80 G), so to compare clarity on its own we held the color at D and took the least expensive stone at each grade, for round, oval and emerald cut, at 1, 2 and 3 carats. Every stone is lab-grown, Very Good cut or better, with an IGI, GIA or HRD report.

Least expensive D-color stone of each shape, weight and clarity grade in Clairamor's picker on October 6, 2026, lab-grown, Very Good cut or better; 1 ct means 1.00 to 1.10 carats, and so on. Prices are the stone alone.

Three readings. First, up to 2 carats the step from VS2 to VS1 is the cheapest decision in the ring: $32 for a 1 carat round and $27 for a 2 carat, $35 and $31 for the ovals, and at 1.5 carats the least expensive VS1 round was $33 cheaper than the least expensive VS2. In lab-grown that is noise, the difference between two stones on a given day rather than a premium for the grade. Second, at 3 carats the step widened to $364 for the round and $260 for the emerald cut, while the oval's stayed at $26. With only eight D VS2 rounds between 3.00 and 3.10 carats listed that day, the round's gap says more about which stones were available than about the grade, and a 3 carat VS2 round is still clean to the eye; the emerald cut is the one shape where VS1 is worth having at that size, so there the money buys something. Third, above VS the steps get real as the stone gets bigger: a 1 carat D round cost $53 more at VVS1 than at VS1, but a 2 carat cost $522 more and an Internally Flawless $1,026 more, for a difference that no one, including a jeweler without a loupe, will ever see on the hand. The ladder is not always in order, either: the 1 carat VVS1 oval and the 2 carat VVS1 emerald cut were each cheaper that day than the VS1 beside them, which is what a market looks like when the grades are this close.

The practical rule that follows, for a brilliant cut, is to shop by size and budget and let clarity fall where it falls between VS2 and VVS1, rather than paying for a grade. If you filter our picker by clarity alone, without fixing the color, the least expensive 2 carat round that day was a G VS1 at $1,204, a G VVS2 was $1,228 and the cheapest VS2 was a D at $1,336, because the colors and grades in the feed do not line up neatly. Our lab-grown diamond pricing guide explains what moves the numbers, and the price calculator estimates any combination of grades.

Why VS2 is the rare grade in lab-grown

In mined diamonds the clean grades are the scarce ones. GIA's own words are that diamonds with few or no clarity characteristics are rare, and because rarity drives price they cost more; that is why the old advice for natural stones is to buy VS2 or SI1 and put the savings into size. Lab-grown diamonds flip the supply. They are grown under controlled conditions, so far more of them come out with few inclusions, and the market prices them accordingly; GIA's own reason for dropping color and clarity grades from its lab-grown reports in 2025 was that more than 95 percent of lab-grown diamonds entering the market fall into a very narrow range of color and clarity. Our picker on October 6, 2026 showed it plainly. Across round, oval, cushion, emerald, radiant, pear, marquise and moval stones between 1 and 3 carats, D to G color:

VVS1 was the most common grade we list and VS2 the least, about one stone in thirty-three. That changes how to shop. In a mined diamond, choosing VS2 is a way to save money; in a lab-grown one, it is often not even the cheapest stone at a given size, because there are so few VS2s that the least expensive stone of a weight can as easily be a VS1 or a VVS2. It also means there is nothing to be gained by looking below VS2: the stones that grade lower are not in our picker at all, and the few percent it costs to stay above SI is the cheapest insurance in the ring. Our guide to SI diamonds explains why we stop there.

On an IGI or HRD report, VS1 and VS2 mean exactly what they mean on a mined diamond: the same 10x standard, the same five factors. GIA is the exception. Since October 1, 2025 its lab-grown assessment describes a stone as Premium or Standard instead of grading it, and VS sits right on its line: Premium needs VVS2 or better along with D color, Excellent polish and symmetry and, in a round, an Excellent cut, a VS1 or VS2 stone can be Standard at best, and a stone below VS2 gets no assessment at all. Most stones in our picker carry IGI reports, and our guide to diamond certification companies explains the change. What differs between lab-grown and mined stones is the kind of inclusion a grader finds. A lab-grown diamond's are usually pinpoints, small feathers and faint clouds; CVD growth can leave tiny dark specks of non-diamond carbon, and HPHT growth an occasional speck of the metal flux the crystal grew in. At VS these are far too small to see, and none of them changes the hardness or the wearing life of the stone. Our page on lab-grown vs natural diamonds covers the rest of the comparison.

VS against its neighbors: SI1, VVS2 and VVS1

VS2 vs SI1. One grade apart, and the more important line on the scale. A VS2's inclusions are minor and found with effort; an SI1's are noticeable at 10x, and whether an SI1 is eye-clean depends on the particular stone, which is why SI is a grade to buy only after seeing the stone. In lab-grown the saving is small, so we start at VS2 and leave SI out.

VS2 vs VVS2. Two grades apart. Both are clean to the eye in a brilliant cut; in an emerald cut, VVS2 is the safe choice where VS2 is not. On October 6, 2026 the VVS2 cost $169 more than the VS2 for a 2 carat D round and $143 more for a 2 carat D emerald cut, which is worth paying for the emerald and not for the round.

VS1 vs VVS2. One grade apart, and the most finely balanced comparison on the scale: VS1 inclusions are difficult to see at 10x, VVS2 inclusions very difficult. To the eye they are the same stone in every shape we sell. At 2 carats the VVS2 was $142 more for a D round, $127 more for a D oval and $58 more for a D emerald cut.

VS1 vs VVS1. This is the comparison people search for most, and our VVS1 guide covers it on its own. In short: VVS1 is two grades higher, both are eye-clean, and from 2 carats in a round, and 3 carats in every shape, the premium for VVS1 is where clarity starts to cost real money: $522 for a 2 carat D round that day, and $642 to $1,156 at 3 carats.

How to check a VS diamond before you buy

A VS grade tells you the inclusions are minor; it does not tell you what they are or where they sit, and for a pear, a chunky cushion or an emerald cut that is the part that matters. Five checks, all of which our picker lets you make before you buy.

1. Read the grade and the lab. The clarity grade sits in the grading results on the report, and every stone we list carries a report from IGI, GIA or HRD. Compare stones on reports from the same lab where you can, since each lab applies the scale with its own graders; our guide to diamond certification companies explains how to verify a report number online.
2. Read the plot. Larger stones carry a clarity plot, a diagram of the diamond seen from the crown and from the pavilion, with a symbol for each inclusion. Anything drawn inside the table outline is in the window; anything at the girdle can be hidden by a prong or a bezel. The plot shows position, not size, so a mark under the table on a VS1 report can still be invisible to the eye.
3. Read the comments. A line such as "clarity grade is based on clouds that are not shown" means a haze of tiny pinpoints earned the grade rather than a single inclusion. At VS that haze is faint; it is worth knowing about in a large step cut, where it can soften the long flashes.
4. Watch the video. Every stone in our picker has one. Watch it face-up, turning, in ordinary light, for a minute. If you can find the inclusion on the video without the plot, you will find it on the hand; if you cannot, neither will anyone else.
5. Match the stone to the setting. An inclusion near the girdle disappears under a prong, a bezel or a hidden halo rail; one under the table stays in view in every setting.

Where the money does more good

Once a diamond is eye-clean, a higher clarity grade does not make it sparkle more, look whiter, face up larger or wear better. Cut does the first, and our picker lists only Very Good cuts or better; color does the second, and our color scale guide shows where it starts to matter, mostly in large stones in white metal; carat weight does the third, and our carat size chart shows how much face each step buys; and the setting and the metal do the fourth. Put in numbers from October 6, 2026: the $522 between a 2 carat D VS1 round and a D VVS1 would have paid for the step from our $950 solitaire to the $1,450 pavé band, or for platinum instead of 14k gold with more than $300 to spare. That is the trade worth making, because it is one you will see every day, and our guide to the 4Cs puts the four grades side by side.

There are still good reasons to go above VS. A large emerald cut is one, and the grade is part of the look there. Matching a stone you already own is another, if you are pairing a new diamond with an heirloom in a three stone ring. And some people simply like knowing the report says VVS1 or Internally Flawless, which is a fair preference that lab-grown pricing makes affordable at 1 carat, where the step from VS1 to VVS1 was $53. The point is to choose it knowingly, as a line on a report, rather than because a salesperson implied a VS stone was a compromise. It is not.

Where Clairamor fits

Every diamond in our picker is lab-grown, D to G in color, IF to VS2 in clarity and Very Good cut or better, with an IGI, GIA or HRD report, a face-up photo and a video, so clarity is never a risk you are managing; on October 6, 2026 that was more than 33,000 stones between 1 and 3 carats across the shapes we set. The setting is priced separately, so a $950 round solitaire in 14k gold with a 2 carat D VS2 round at $1,336 was a $2,286 ring that day, and the same ring with a VS1 $2,313. 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. Pick the shape first, then the size that fits the hand and the budget, then let clarity be the last decision.

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Frequently asked questions

What does VS mean in diamond clarity?

VS stands for Very Slightly Included. It covers two grades, VS1 and VS2, where a skilled grader finds minor inclusions under 10x magnification with effort, more effort for VS1 and less for VS2. They sit fifth and sixth of GIA's eleven clarity grades, below VVS2 and above SI1, and in most brilliant cuts both are clean to the naked eye.

What is the difference between VS1 and VS2?

One grade, decided under the loupe. GIA describes VS1 inclusions as difficult to see at 10x and VS2 inclusions as somewhat easy; a VS2's are usually a little larger, more numerous or more central. To the naked eye the two look the same in round, oval, radiant, marquise and crushed ice cushion cuts. The difference matters mainly in emerald cuts, pears and chunky cushions from 2 carats.

Is VS2 clarity good for an engagement ring?

Yes. A VS2 diamond's inclusions do not affect sparkle or durability, and in most brilliant cuts it is eye-clean at every size Clairamor sells. It is the lowest grade we list, and the right choice for a round, oval, radiant, marquise, moval or crushed ice cushion. For a pear, watch the video first; for an emerald cut, choose VVS2 or a VS1 whose video you have watched.

Can you see the inclusions in a VS2 diamond?

Under a 10x loupe, yes; that is how the grade is given. With the naked eye, almost never in a brilliant cut, because the facets break an inclusion up into sparkle. In an emerald cut, whose long step-cut facets act like windows, a VS2 inclusion under the table can be visible from arm's length, which is why we suggest VVS2 or a clean VS1.

Is a VS1 diamond worth it over a VS2?

Up to 2 carats it costs so little in lab-grown that it rarely matters: on October 6, 2026 the step from VS2 to VS1 was $27 to $35 for a D-color round or oval at 1 and 2 carats, and at 1.5 carats the VS1 round was cheaper. It is worth choosing on purpose for a pear, a chunky cushion from 2 carats or an emerald cut.

How much more does a VS1 diamond cost than a VS2?

Very little up to 2 carats. On October 6, 2026 the least expensive D-color round in Clairamor's picker was $651 at VS2 and $683 at VS1 for 1 carat, and $1,336 and $1,363 for 2 carats. At 3 carats the step was $364 for a round, $260 for an emerald cut and $26 for an oval.

Which is better, VS2 or VVS2?

VVS2 is two grades higher: its inclusions are very difficult to find at 10x, a VS2's somewhat easy. In most brilliant cuts both are clean to the eye, so VS2 is the better value; in an emerald cut VVS2 is the safe choice. On October 6, 2026 a 2 carat D-color VVS2 cost $169 more than a VS2 round and $143 more than a VS2 emerald cut.

Is VS2 good enough for an emerald cut?

Not as a rule. An emerald cut's long step-cut facets show what a brilliant hides, so a VS2 inclusion under the table can be visible from arm's length, especially from 2 carats. Choose VVS2, or a VS1 whose video you have watched face-up and turning in ordinary light. The step costs little in lab-grown: $85 from VS2 to VS1 for a 2 carat D emerald cut.

What does VS+ clarity mean?

VS+ is a retail shorthand, not a laboratory grade. Most sellers use it to mean VS2 or better, so a VS+ stone could be VS2, VS1, VVS2, VVS1 or Internally Flawless; always read the actual grade on the report. Every diamond in Clairamor's picker is VS2 or better, so all of our stones would fall within VS+.

Does GIA grade lab-grown diamonds VS1 or VS2?

Not since October 1, 2025. GIA now describes a lab-grown diamond as Premium or Standard instead of grading its color and clarity: Premium needs VVS2 or better with D color, a VS1 or VS2 stone is Standard at best, and below VS2 there is no assessment. IGI and HRD still print VS1 or VS2, as do GIA reports issued before the change.

Are VS2 lab-grown diamonds rare?

In our picker, yes. Of the 33,669 lab-grown diamonds between 1 and 3 carats on October 6, 2026, only 1,033 were VS2, about 3 percent, against 6,216 VS1 and more than 26,000 VVS or Internally Flawless. Lab-grown diamonds are grown under controlled conditions, so far more come out with few inclusions, which is the opposite of mined diamonds.

Does VS clarity affect a diamond's sparkle?

No. Sparkle comes from the cut, the angles and proportions that return light through the top of the stone, and an inclusion small enough to earn a VS grade is far too small to interrupt it in any way the eye can register. Clairamor's picker lists Very Good cuts or better, so a VS1 or VS2 stone sparkles exactly like a VVS one.

Related reading

• 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 clarity: understanding the grading system
• Diamond color scale: D to Z chart, what you can see and what each grade costs
• Diamond carat size chart: every shape at every weight
• Emerald cut engagement rings: clarity, ratio, settings, sizes and prices
• Oval engagement rings: ratios, the bow-tie, settings, sizes and prices
• Radiant cut engagement rings: ratios, sparkle, 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
• Solitaire engagement rings: the complete guide to prongs, heights, shapes and prices
• Diamond certification: GIA vs IGI and the other labs
• How to buy a lab-grown diamond
• Lab-grown diamond pricing guide