Warby Parker Review

Lens Quality
Frame Quality
Style and Selection
Customer Service
Cost

2019 Update: Since our initial review in 2016, we decided to re-evaluate Warby Parker to see if they’re still the best online glasses store around. Our most recent experience is in this color. Ratings have been updated to reflect the latest review.

About Warby Parker

Launched in 2010, Warby Parker has made some big waves in the online eyeglasses market. The startup got its initial idea from a very common experience for many: prescription glasses are just way too expensive.

After some research, they learned the reason is because the eyeglass market is really a monopoly. To change that, they came up with their own designs and engaged with customers directly, proving that they could provide high quality, more attractive prescription glasses at a fraction of the cost.

While still primarily an online company, Warby Parker has significantly expanded their offerings and store locations in the last few years. Now they have the best of both worlds – you can try glasses on at home for a few days, get an eye exam and prescription at one of their stores, plus have peace of mind that if you’re still not happy with your glasses, you can return them for a full refund.

Our Warby Parker Frames of the Month

Home Try-On Program

Naturally, the biggest roadblock for people thinking about buying glasses online is the fact that you can’t physically try a pair on the way you can in a regular optical store.

The company helped bridge this gap by offering their Home Try-On Program, where you can pick 5 different frames from their site that they ship to you to try for five days.

All completely free!

You can then pick which pair(s) you would like to order, and ship back the try-on frames with their prepaid return label. If you have no idea what styles will suit you, they have a handy little quiz to help you select your 5 try-on frames.

For more details, check out Brady Jordan’s experience with their Home Try-On Program:

Warby Parker Eyewear

Warby Parker sells prescription and non-prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses for men and women. They operate both online and in-store, with almost 100 stores nationwide, including 3 locations in Canada.

They design and make their own frames and lenses in-house. Each pair costs $95 or $145 including single-vision prescription lenses. Recently, they’ve added a few premium pairs for $195.

Non-prescription sunglasses are also $95 or $145. You can get select pairs with prescription sunglass lenses for an additional $80.

In some of their stores, you can also get an eye exam + prescription, children’s glasses, and even order contact lenses.

Buy One, Give One

The icing on the cake for Warby Parker is their amazing social responsibility. With their Buy One Give One program, they donate a pair of glasses for every pair sold to a nonprofit that trains men and women in developing countries to give basic eye exams and sell glasses to their communities at affordable prices.

Questions? Check out our Warby Parker FAQ

Our Warby Parker Review

In order to provide you with the best possible review, we put 5 pairs of eyeglasses and 5 pairs of sunglasses in different styles and materials through rigorous testing. We also scoured the internet to find out what people who own Warby Parker glasses and sunglasses were saying along with other experts.

Lens Options and Quality – 9.5/10

No matter where you get your glasses, good lenses should be durable, easy to care for, and made of materials that provide the best vision correction and comfort.

Warby Parker didn’t disappoint in any of these areas.

In our experience, their lenses have good clarity and visual sharpness. Prescription lenses are made out of polycarbonate, which are thinner and more impact resistant than the standard CR-39 (1.50-index) lens.

(You normally have to pay extra for polycarbonate at most opticals.)

They offer the following lens corrections:

Single-vision (near or distance – most people need this)
Progressive (no-line reading and distance correction)
Non-prescription or reading magnification

You can also get an even thinner lens if you have a stronger prescription (usually + or -4.0 or more) at an additional cost.

All prescription lenses are 100% UV-blocking, and include water-resistant, anti-glare and anti-scratch coatings.

Latest Review: I recently purchased Warby Parker’s Crane in Eastern Bluebird Fade with a distance prescription of -2.75 in my left eye and -2.50 in my right. They came with the polycarbonate lens (1.59-index) that are standard with every prescription.

The clarity and sharpness is excellent and my prescription is accurate. It did take me a little bit to adjust to my new prescription strength, but I’m happy with them. I’m also glad to have the anti-glare coating and UV-blocking.

The only thing I might fault them for is that they seem to smudge a bit, but that probably has more to do with my handling of my glasses.

OGR Tip: If Warby Parker can’t fill your prescription, you can get frames with demo lenses for 10% off. Give them a call at 888.492.7297, 9 a.m.–9 p.m. EST for this offer.

For our Warby Parker quality review, we ordered both prescription and non-prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses to accurately test the lens quality. We were impressed with both. While we haven’t personally experienced any issues, some people have reported that polycarbonate scratches more easily than CR-39.

If you experience any scratches or lens issues, the company offers a 365-day lens warranty and will replace your lenses for free within that time frame.

Additionally, if you live near one of their retail locations, you can stop in and they will buff any scratches out of your lenses for you on the spot.

The clarity on the sunglasses was pristine and offered ample protection from full sunlight. The eyeglasses also met the high quality standard and our prescription was accurate in all of the pairs.

Warby Parker offers both single-vision and progressive lenses (a.k.a. no-line bifocals). They also have light-responsive (transitional from light to dark and vice-versa) as well as blue-light filtering lenses.

Frame Quality – 10/10

Warby Parker frames fall into one of three categories: acetate (plastic), metal, or mixed material.

The acetate frames are the most economical at $95 including prescription single-vision lenses.

Their metal and mixed material glasses are generally more expensive at $145.

Latest Review: Warby Parker’s frames feel sturdy and well-made. I honestly can’t feel any difference between their glasses and those of designer brands. 

The plastic frames have a beautiful polish and strong, pliable hinges. The one thing that might be an issue, depending on your preference, is that they are pretty rigid. If you like a frame with more flex and give, a metal or mixed material frame might be a better choice.

Most of their metal frames are made out of stainless steel, or a combination of stainless steel and acetate. There are also a few premium pairs made from titanium, which is even lighter and more durable.

I really like their metal glasses a lot – they’re very lightweight and usually fit better because most of them come with adjustable nose pads.

One thing to note when ordering the Home Try-On is that the sample frames might not be perfect. I noticed a couple pairs were crooked when I put them on my face. I thought it was my face’s asymmetry at first, but saw that they were uneven when I placed the frames on a table and one arm tip didn’t touch the surface.

Don’t worry too much if you like a specific pair but the sample one seems imperfect.  You will receive a brand new frame if you place an order. 

Style and Selection – 9.5/10

Warby Parker was known for their retro hipster glasses when they first launched almost 10 years ago. They’ve since branched out and have a variety of frames like the aviator and wayfarer to the always sophisticated and timeless cat eye. 

In all, they probably have around 100 or so different styles available at any one time. Other eyewear companies might have hundreds of styles, but I find Warby Parker’s selection to be plenty to choose from and more manageable if you’re unsure what will look good on you.

They also work with celebrities and designers to create new looks and frames, many of which are limited time or seasonal collections.

A small selection of their frames come in a low bridge fit (sometimes called Asian fit).

Latest Review: In my most recent Home Try-On, I tried the Wilkie in a low bridge fit since I have a low nose bridge and a wide face. The larger nose pads held the frame more securely on my nose, but the frame itself was a medium width, so I ended up getting a wide frame to accommodate my face width.

Warby Parker is definitely on-trend with a lot of their frames. They get a lot of inspiration from various places, and their designs are fresh and hip. They might not have all the intricate detailing that designer frames have, but they’ve got lots of style nonetheless.

Note: Warby Parker does not carry designer frames. If you’re looking for brand name or designer eyeglasses, we recommend Glasses.com.

The biggest downside to their glasses is that you can’t customize them for the most part. For example, most of their sunglasses are pre-set in terms of the lens colors and coatings. Even though they have a few different tints and gradients (where the lens fades from darker at the top to lighter at the bottom) available, you can’t pick and choose the shade color or treatment for sunglasses.

Our Favorite Warby Parker Frames

Customer Service & Experience – 10/10

Warbyparker.com is clean and easy to navigate from any device, whether it be your laptop, tablet, or phone. Just click or tap on the Eyeglasses or Sunglasses option in the navigation bar, which will prompt you to select either Mens or Womens frames.

(Most frames are available for both men and women.)

From there you’ll see all the currently available glasses, which you can filter further by color, fit, shape, and material.

You can also toggle on the “Available for Home Try-On” option if you want to pick from frames that are available for Home Try-On.

If you have no idea what kind of glasses you want or like, they have a short quiz you can go through to help you pick frames that will suit you.

Ordering is simple if you’ve already done the Home Try-On, or even if you haven’t. The easiest way to provide your prescription when placing an order is to take a picture of it and upload during checkout  – this works especially well if you take the picture and upload your prescription directly from your smartphone.

I really like this because you don’t need to know how to read and enter your prescription in correctly.

(Most online eyewear companies require you to manually enter the appropriate data into each prescription field, which can be a little confusing.)

If you prefer, you can also provide your eye care professional’s phone number and they will call to request your prescription.

Their customer service is also top-notch. From our interactions with associates via live chat (which is open 9AM-9PM EST everyday) as well as in-store, our experience was always pleasant with friendly, helpful, and efficient service.

I wouldn’t hesitate to get in touch with them if you have questions about their frames, lenses, or your prescription.

Latest Review: All my interactions with Warby Parker’s associates were great. I hit them up via live chat with a couple questions one night, and it didn’t take long for someone to help me. 

My original order for the Wilkie low bridge frame was not a perfect fit, so I stopped into one of their stores to see if they could adjust the glasses to fit better. When I walked in, a friendly rep asked if I needed help.

I said I needed to adjust the frames I had purchased.

He brought me to an optician behind the main counter, who had me wear the glasses while he looked at how they sat on my face. I explained that they were sliding down my nose when I would look down, so he heated the temple arms up and bent them to curl around the backs of my ears more.

The adjustment helped, but I still felt like the glasses would still slide down my nose after a while. So I asked if it was possible to adjust the nose pads to be more flush with the sides of my nose.

Unfortunately, the only adjustments they could make were to the length and curvature of the temple arms.

He suggested that if this pair didn’t work for me, I still had time to return them for a full refund or get a different pair that did fit better.

So I went home and gave the glasses a few more days. In the end, I felt like they would continue to slide down my nose when I look down, so I went back and tried the Crane, which comes in a wide fit. This pair is very close to the Wilkie in shape (just slightly larger lenses), and while it does not come in a low bridge fit, it actually worked out better for me.

I was at the very end of the 30-day return/exchange period, so I went ahead and started the exchange process. They were very courteous and efficient with the process, and even asked if I wanted to keep the glasses case I received (a very nice case, so I did!).

In the end, I was happy with my exchange and have one last word for the wise from the experience: don’t be afraid to try out different frames that you might not expect to work for you.

In my case, a wider frame was what I needed over a low bridge fit.

In looking for others’ experiences, we came across some amazing stories. This gentleman experienced some serious above and beyond service from the company:

This woman received a handwritten note after her car was stolen with her glasses inside:

One of the best aspects of their customer service is their return policy. If at any point within the first 30 days you decide their glasses aren’t for you, they have a simple and free return process.

On top of that, if your lenses get scratched up within the first year of purchase, they will replace them at no cost.

Overall, Warby Parker’s customer service is tops in our book for how easy it is to place an order, make adjustments, or even get your money back if things don’t work out for you.

Cost – 9.5/10

While Warby Parker doesn’t offer the cheapest prescription glasses around, we think they offer the best value for the quality and service you receive.

You can get a well-made, stylish pair of prescription glasses for under $100 all-in. Unlike most other stores, taxes, fees, and shipping are included in the price.

In addition, you get a nice lens cloth and beautiful hard case to store your glasses.

Frames cost $95 or $145, and include single-vision prescription lenses. The most expensive pairs – made out of premium materials – top out at $195.

Sunglasses are a little more expensive. Non-prescription lenses start at $95, prescription lenses at $175, and progressive lenses at $375.

Latest Review: You can still get a pair of prescription glasses for under $100 all-in from Warby Parker. Their pricing hasn’t changed since they’ve been in business – it’s still $95 or $145 for most pairs, with a few premium frames available now for $195. 

Keep in mind that your final cost can be more if you choose specific lens options – such as getting a higher-index, i.e., thinner lens (+$30 for 1.67-index), getting prescription sunglasses (+$80), or adding a blue-light filter coating (+$50).

No matter what you choose, you’ll automatically get UV-blocking, anti-glare, and water-resistant coatings in all pairs at no extra charge.

I really like that the final cost is easy to calculate and includes everything, like shipping and taxes. My $95 prescription glasses were exactly that – $95.

As far as insurance coverage goes, the company is in-network under UnitedHealthcare insurance, in addition to some Spectera and Davis Vision plans. For all other providers, you can submit a receipt to your insurance company for out-of-network reimbursement.

As a reminder, you can also pay for your glasses with your HSA or FSA for all prescription eyewear purchases (including prescription sunglasses) and exams, as long as it is affiliated with a major credit card.

Best Cat Eye Frames

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking for affordable prescription glasses and don’t need designer or brand name frames, we think Warby Parker is an excellent choice. Especially if you’ve never bought glasses online before.

They make it easy to try on several pairs of glasses without committing to a purchase, with the convenience of their Home Try-On Program.

You get the best of both worlds with them being both an online retailer as well as having several store locations where you can get eye exams, free glasses adjustments, and even contact lenses.

On top of that, they are a socially conscious company that works to provide affordable vision care to those less fortunate, so you know your purchase is not only benefiting you, but others too.