Ashes into diamonds: what it costs, and how much of them is in it

You can send a company a cup of somebody’s ashes and, the better part of a year later, get back a diamond. It is not a scam in the sense of a fake stone. It is a genuine diamond. What you are actually buying, though, is a little more complicated than the brochure, and the price is a lot more complicated than the stone.

Nothing here is a reason not to do it. If wearing a stone made from your mother is the thing that helps, it is worth a great deal, and nobody gets to grade that. The point is to do it knowing exactly what the money goes on.

The short version

• It is a real diamond. Lab-grown, by the same high-pressure or vapour process as any other lab diamond. The FTC dropped “natural” from its definition of a diamond in its 2018 Jewelry Guides; lab-grown stones count, as long as they are disclosed as lab-grown.
• A 1-carat memorial diamond starts around $6,020 to $15,000 among the published prices below. An ordinary 1-carat lab-grown diamond averaged about $665 across retailers when we checked.
• Only some of the carbon is them. Cremated remains are mostly bone mineral, with somewhere around 0.5% to 4% carbon left in them. At least two vendors say openly that they add generic carbon. One says it never does.
• It takes roughly 3 to 12 months, depending on who you use. Ash requirements vary; check the amount before you send any.

Who charges what

These are the published prices on each company’s own site, rechecked 30 October 2026, in US dollars. Algordanza’s starting price is for a rough, uncut stone; the others are for loose cut stones. Where a vendor gives a range, colour and cut are what move it.

Carat size versus price

The lowest published price at each size tells you more than a single “from” price. These are loose, brilliant-cut stones: Lonité’s amber and Heart In Diamond’s orange-yellow. Heart In Diamond sells size bands, so its quarter-carat tier is 0.20–0.34 ct and its half-carat tier is 0.45–0.64 ct.

Heart In Diamond also sells a smaller 0.10–0.19 ct stone from $1,770. Its one-carat tier reaches $14,450 in black; Lonité’s one-carat price reaches $11,500 for colourless. Eterneva lists the same price for every colour at a given size. See each linked price list above before ordering; a different cut can change the quote.

What the quoted price buys

• Eterneva: the loose stone, a collection kit with prepaid shipping to its lab, progress updates, engraving and its certificate of authenticity. A jewellery setting costs extra; ask whether an outside grading report or your chosen cut adds a fee.
• Lonité: the brilliant-cut loose stone, collection kit and shipping both ways. A jewellery setting, optional independent IGI report and laser inscription cost extra; those optional services can each add one to two months.
• Heart In Diamond: the loose stone, cutting and polishing, its own certificate and international delivery. A setting, engraving, independent certificate, sales tax and any import duties are extra. Pear, oval, emerald and marquise cuts carry listed surcharges.

The clock starts at different points: Heart In Diamond says around 90 days after suitable material arrives; Eterneva says roughly 7–10 months for the process; Lonité says 9–12 months for a one-carat stone through delivery. Ask for a written delivery estimate that includes shipping and any setting work.

Things the table flattens that you should know:

• LifeGem charges the same for colourless and blue. Pink and red are a separate, cheaper list ($9,999 at 1 carat). A second stone of the same size is a few hundred dollars less each, which matters if the family wants one apiece.
• Eterneva lists the same price for every colour at a given carat size. Its pages differ on whether specialty cuts add a fee; get the exact cut and price in writing.
• Algordanza publishes a starting price of $2,999 for a rough, uncut0.30-carat stone. A cut stone costs more; larger sizes are quoted on request. Its FAQ says 250 g of ashes is usually sufficient, while its homepage recommends 500 g; ask which applies to your order.
• Heart In Diamond is the fastest and has the widest ranges. Orange-yellow is the cheapest colour, while black is the dearest at one carat. Selected cuts add 10% to 30%.
• Lonité lists seven colours, from amber at the bottom of its range to “purely colorless” at the top. Its 3-carat stones run $28,500 to $40,500.

How much of the person is in the diamond?

This is the question the whole category lives or dies on, and the honest answer is: some, and nobody can prove how much.

Cremation burns off almost all the carbon in a body. What comes back is bone, mostly a calcium phosphate mineral. The small amount of carbon left is carbonate trapped inside that mineral, roughly 0.5% to 4% by weight, according to McGill University’s Office for Science and Society. Archaeologists who study cremated bone go a step further: it is not even clear that all of that carbon started out in the person, because burnt bone can take some up from the fire.

The vendors disagree with each other about what they do with it, which tells you plenty:

• Eterneva says it grows the stone from your person’s carbon, a microscopic diamond seed and generic carbon, and that about 15% of the carbon is theirs. It calls rivals’ “100%” claims a marketing gimmick.
• Algordanza says the opposite: that it is the only company guaranteeing 100% of the carbon comes from the ashes or hair, with no generic carbon added.
• Heart In Diamond says that if you send less than the stated amount, it makes up the difference with generic carbon.
• LifeGem and Lonité do not say either way.

And there is no test you can run on the finished diamond to settle it. McGill’s piece is blunt about this: once the stone exists, there is no method that tells you what share of its carbon came from the ashes. You are trusting the paperwork.

Here is our view. A memorial diamond is a lot like a relic, or a locket with a curl of hair in it. What it holds is a trace of the person plus the story of where it came from, and the story is what does the work. That is fine. It just is not worth $14,000 more than an ordinary lab stone, and nobody selling them is going to say so in the consultation.

Where the money goes

An ordinary 1-carat lab-grown diamond averaged about $665 across nearly 165,000 retail listings tracked by CaratRadar the week we wrote this. Lab diamond prices have fallen hard as production has scaled. Memorial diamond prices have not.

Some of the difference is real work. Extracting and purifying a gram or so of carbon from a cup of bone is a genuine lab process. Every stone is a one-off batch, and it has to be tracked so the right person goes to the right family. The rest of the difference is that it is your mother, and the companies know it. That is the markup. It does not make anyone who pays it a fool; it makes the price a choice rather than a fact.

If you are going to do it, do it like this

• Buy small. The price climbs much faster than the stone grows. At LifeGem, going from about 0.2 carat to 1 carat multiplies the price by more than five. A 0.2 carat stone is still unmistakably a diamond on a ring or a pendant.
• Get the carbon answer in writing. Ask what share of the carbon came from the remains, whether generic carbon was added, and what certificate of origin you will get.
• Ask what happens to the rest of the ashes. They need half a cup or more. Find out whether the unused remains come back to you, and how they are shipped.
• Ask what the price includes. These are loose-stone prices. Cutting style, a setting, a certificate and shipping may all be extra.
• Ask what happens if it fails. Find out whether you get a refund, a second attempt, or nothing, and when a deposit stops being refundable.
• Don’t buy it the week of the funeral. The ashes keep. The offer will still be there in six months. A decision this size deserves a clear head and a second opinion. The funeral home’s brochure is not one.
• Buy direct. You never have to buy memorial merchandise through the funeral home, whatever is in the brochure; a middleman only adds a cut. The FTC Funeral Rule even bars them from charging a fee to handle an urn you bought elsewhere. Our Funeral Rule guide has the rest.

Cheaper ways to wear them

If what you want is to carry them with you, a diamond is the most expensive way to do it by a very long way. Our cremation jewellery guide covers the rest of the range, from pendants you fill yourself to glass with the ashes fused inside. Ourstainless ash pendant review covers the $20 version, which holds a real pinch of them rather than a percentage of a percentage.

And if the actual wish is “I want a diamond and I want it to mean them”, there is nothing wrong with buying an ordinary lab stone for a few hundred dollars and having it set next to a small ash compartment. It is honest about what it is. Plenty of people would call that the more romantic version.

Pet ashes

Yes, a diamond can be made using pet ashes or fur. Eterneva, Lonité and Heart In Diamond explicitly offer this. Algordanza refers pet orders to its specialist partner, Semper Fides. Confirm the price and which company will handle the remains before sending them.

The one practical difference is volume. A cat or a small dog returns roughly 20 to 60 cubic inches of ash after cremation. Heart In Diamond asks for at least 100 g; Lonité asks for 150 g, and Eterneva asks for half a cup. A small pet may produce less than a provider requires. Check the minimum before you send anything. If the pet’s remains fall short, ask whether the provider adds generic carbon to make up the difference and whether that is acceptable to you, because the carbon question applies here the same way it does for human ashes.

If you are still working out what to do with a pet’s ashes more generally, ourguide to pet ashes covers the full range of options and costs.

Common questions

How much do ashes to diamonds cost?

Published entry prices start at $1,400 for a 0.25-carat Lonité amber stone and $1,770 for a 0.10–0.19-carat Heart In Diamond stone. A one-carat stone starts at $6,020 to $15,000 across the listed providers. Colour, cut and carat size change the quote; settings and some certificates cost extra.

What is the cheapest ashes to diamonds service?

Lonité starts at $1,400 for 0.25 carats. Heart In Diamond starts at $1,770 for 0.10 to 0.19 carats and is the fastest of the group at around 90 days. On a per-carat basis Lonité is cheaper at the small end; Heart In Diamond is faster. Which is “cheapest” depends on whether size, speed, or price per carat matters more to you.

Can you make a diamond from pet ashes?

Yes. Eterneva, Lonité and Heart In Diamond take pet ashes or fur; Algordanza refers pet orders to a specialist partner. Small pets may return less ash than a provider asks for, so confirm the amount, price, turnaround time and whether any other carbon is added before you order.

Spending money will not make this hurt less, and spending nothing is not the wrong answer. If the grief is louder than the shopping, our support page lists people you can talk to tonight.

Sources: the linked provider price lists in the comparison table, plus their ash requirements and turnaround FAQs; Eterneva’s statements on generic carbon and its guide to authentic memorial diamonds; Algordanza’s 100% claim on its English-language homepage; McGill University Office for Science and Society, “These Diamonds Are Made From the Deceased” (Jonathan Jarry, 2022), on the carbon content of cremated remains and the impossibility of verifying it; Snoeck & Schulting, “Fire and Bone” (EXARC, 2013), on carbonate in cremated bone; FTC 2018 Jewelry Guides revision on lab-grown diamonds; CaratRadar 1-carat lab-grown price tracker (updated 2026-10-12). All checked 2026-10-13. Provider prices rechecked 2026-10-30. Prices change; confirm before you send anything.