1 Carat Cushion Cut Diamond Price

A natural 1 carat cushion cut diamond has a median price of $2,570 across our index, and a lab-grown one has a median of $515. Those figures come from current listings in November 2026, covering cushions from 1 to 1.5ct, taking the best available price for each stone, in USD. Most natural cushions in that range sit between $1,379 (the 10th percentile) and $5,402 (the 90th). Lab-grown runs from $205 to $1,194. Same shape, same size, and a five to one gap between them.

For the wider picture across every shape at this weight, our pillar on how much a 1 carat diamond costs covers it. This piece sticks to cushions. They behave differently from rounds and ovals, and that difference is where the savings are.

Five to one

Here's the full band for 1 to 1.5ct cushions.

Origin	Stones	P10	Median	P90	Median USD/ct	Listed at 2+ retailers	Certified
Natural	61,141	$1,379	$2,570	$5,402	$2,412	31%	39%
Lab-grown	83,495	$205	$515	$1,194	$460	36%	45%

The lab-grown median sits 80% below natural. Per carat, that's $460 against $2,412.

Look at the spread as well as the middle. A natural cushion at P90 costs close to four times one at P10. In lab-grown, P90 is almost six times P10, which sounds wilder than it is: that whole band fits inside $989. And what drives each band is completely different. Lab-grown spread comes down to carat weight, cut and who's selling. Natural spread comes down to colour, clarity and cut quality that nobody grades for you.

There are also more lab-grown cushions on the market at this size than natural ones, 83,495 against 61,141. Plenty of supply on both sides. Nobody needs to rush.

Why cushions come in cheap

Among the popular fancy shapes, natural cushions are the cheapest per carat. That's no accident. The softened square outline follows the shape of a lot of rough crystals closely, so cutters keep more weight from the rough. Better yield means a lower cost per finished carat. Demand plays a part too. Ovals and other elongated shapes have taken most of the fancy shape attention lately, and cushions haven't had the same pull.

The catch? The word 'cushion' covers a huge range of stones. GIA doesn't give fancy shapes an overall cut grade, so a square cushion with big, chunky antique style facets and an elongated 'crushed ice' cushion full of tiny sparkles end up under the same label. Put them side by side and they look nothing alike.

Some cushions are also cut deep to hold on to weight. A deep 1.1ct stone can face up like something smaller, so you pay for carats you never see. That's the hidden cost behind the cheap per carat figure. Always check the measurements, not just the weight. We set cushions against pears, marquise and hearts in our fancy cuts lab versus natural breakdown if you're still choosing a shape.

Inside the natural band

Natural stock bunches up in a tight block: G to I colour, VS1 to VS2 clarity. These are the five most stocked natural cells at this size, with the saving against the G VS1 benchmark.

Colour	Clarity	Stones	Median	Saving vs G VS1
G	VS1	2,296	$2,865	Benchmark
G	VS2	2,240	$2,618	$247 (8.6%)
H	VS1	1,940	$2,677	$188 (6.6%)
H	VS2	1,776	$2,518	$347 (12.1%)
I	VS1	1,982	$2,317	$548 (19.1%)

The steps aren't even, and that's the useful bit. At VS1, going from G down to H saves $188. Going from H down to I saves $360, nearly twice as much. Clarity moves less: VS1 to VS2 is $247 at G and only $159 at H.

So I colour looks like the bargain. On a round, it often is. On a cushion, be careful.

Cushions hold colour more than brilliant rounds. The deeper pavilion and broad facets hold on to body colour, and elongated cushions show warmth at the corners where the stone is thickest. An I cushion in a platinum or white gold setting can read slightly creamy in daylight. In yellow or rose gold you'll never notice, and I VS1 at $2,317 is a very sensible buy.

Clarity is the other way round. A brilliant cushion with crushed ice faceting hides inclusions well, so VS2 is nearly always eye-clean and even some SI1 stones get away with it. Antique style cushions with bigger, open facets are less forgiving. They act more like a window. If the listing has proper magnified images, use them; if it doesn't, don't buy that stone.

Our natural 1 carat cushion price page tracks these cells over time, so you can see whether the step from H to I is holding.

Lab-grown grades barely move the price

This is where cushions get strange. Here are the eleven most stocked lab-grown cells.

Colour	Clarity	Stones	Median
D	VVS2	16,779	$469
E	VS1	11,657	$520
E	VVS2	11,165	$510
D	VS1	10,777	$505
D	VVS1	5,810	$437
F	VS1	4,028	$546
E	VS2	3,774	$498
F	VVS2	3,270	$529
D	VS2	2,621	$493
E	VVS1	2,448	$459
G	VS1	1,779	$549

D VVS1, which on paper is the best grade in the table, has the lowest median at $437. G VS1, the lowest grade here, has the highest at $549. Higher grade, lower price. The data isn't broken. Lab growers turn out top colour, high clarity cushions in huge volume, and the D VVS2 cell alone holds 16,779 stones. Supply that deep pushes prices down. Our read on the inversion is that the lower grade cells carry a different mix of carat weights and sellers, which pulls their medians up.

Across all eleven cells, colour and clarity shift the median by $112. The full lab-grown band is $989 wide. Grade is a rounding error. What you're actually paying for in a lab cushion is weight, cut, face up size and a certificate.

So don't let anyone charge you extra for D over F in a lab-grown cushion. At this size, the market won't support that premium, and a retailer asking for one is pricing off the old natural grade ladder. Our lab-grown 1 carat cushion page shows how flat the grade curve has become.

Same stone, different price tag

In our index, 31% of natural cushions and 36% of lab-grown cushions at this size are listed at two or more retailers. Same stone, same certificate, different price tag.

The reason is simple. A lot of online jewellers don't own the stones they show you. They pull listings from the same supplier feeds, and each one puts its own markup on top. One retailer might sell a given G VS2 cushion at a slim margin while another quietly adds a few hundred dollars. The stone doesn't change. Only the asking price does.

Every figure in this post uses the best available price for each stone, so our medians are already the cheapest ask in the market. A shopper who visits one retailer and buys there will often pay more than the median we quote. That's the point of comparing across retailers, and it's why our where to buy page for natural 1 carat cushions ranks retailers on price for this exact spec.

Certification is the bigger trap. Only 39% of natural cushions and 45% of lab-grown cushions at this size carry a certificate in our data. Less than half. An uncertified natural cushion at $1,500 isn't a bargain next to a certified one at $2,500. It's an unknown. You can't compare grades that were never independently checked, and an unverified colour grade on a cushion, a shape that already shows colour, is a gamble we wouldn't take.

How we'd buy one

For a natural 1 carat cushion, H VS2 is the value cell. At $2,518 it sits just under the overall median, it's well stocked with 1,776 stones, and it's eye-clean in most brilliant cushions. In yellow or rose gold, drop to I VS1 and keep the $200 or so.

We wouldn't pay for G VS1. That $347 over H VS2 buys a colour step most people can't see face up and a clarity step that crushed ice faceting hides anyway. And we'd skip VVS clarity in natural cushions altogether at this size; the premium buys something you can only see under a loupe.

For a lab-grown 1 carat cushion, the rule is even simpler. Insist on a certificate, then choose on cut, proportions and face up measurements. Take D to F and VS1 or better, since the grade costs you basically nothing. If a lab cushion around 1ct is priced well above $1,194, it's in the top 10% of the market. Ask what you're getting for that, because it's rarely the grade.

One rule covers both: buy the stone, not the shop. If a stone is listed at more than one retailer, the price difference is pure markup.

What we're watching

Three things. First, whether the natural H to I step stays this wide. A $360 jump is generous, and if it narrows, I colour stops being such an easy call. Second, how much lower lab-grown cushions can go when the most stocked cell is already under $500 and the best grades are the cheapest. Third, certification. Fewer than half the cushions at this size have a certificate, and we'd like to see that number climb.

Until then, the number to beat for a natural 1 carat cushion is $2,518 for H VS2, and for a lab-grown one it's $515.