VisionPrices

How much do contact lenses cost a month and a year?

Across 87 contact lenses sold in the United States, a typical lens costs $39.26 a month for both eyes, or $477.66 a year. The cheapest we track works out at $13.32 a month for both eyes. Prices checked 10 hours ago.

By wearing schedule and type

Both eyes. The first figure in each box is the median: half the lenses of that kind cost less, half cost more.

ReplacedSphericalToricMultifocal
Daily
$46.28 / month
$563.07 / year
from $28.00 / month
14 lenses
$63.32 / month
$770.39 / year
from $46.58 / month
11 lenses
$76.52 / month
$930.99 / year
from $55.52 / month
9 lenses
2-week
$23.00 / month
$279.83 / year
from $16.00 / month
5 lenses
Cheapest: SofLens 38
$29.60 / month
$360.13 / year
from $28.00 / month
3 lenses
$39.26 / month
$477.66 / year
from $32.50 / month
3 lenses
Monthly
$16.50 / month
$200.75 / year
from $13.32 / month
12 lenses
Cheapest: PureVision 2 HD
$24.00 / month
$292.00 / year
from $18.44 / month
11 lenses
Cheapest: Biofinity Toric
$27.98 / month
$340.42 / year
from $20.30 / month
9 lenses

10 coloured, weekly and multifocal toric lenses are counted in the total above but not in the table.

Daily against monthly lenses

  • Spherical: a typical daily lens is $46.28 a month for both eyes and a monthly one $16.50, $29.78 more for the daily. A 2-week lens comes in at $23.00.
  • Toric: a typical daily lens is $63.32 a month for both eyes and a monthly one $24.00, $39.32 more for the daily. A 2-week lens comes in at $29.60.
  • Multifocal: a typical daily lens is $76.52 a month for both eyes and a monthly one $27.98, $48.54 more for the daily. A 2-week lens comes in at $39.26.

A daily lens needs no case or cleaning solution; a 2-week or monthly lens does, and that cost is not in these figures.

What toric and multifocal lenses add

  • Daily: against a spherical lens at $46.28 a month for both eyes, toric $17.04 more and multifocal $30.24 more.
  • 2-week: against a spherical lens at $23.00 a month for both eyes, toric $6.60 more and multifocal $16.26 more.
  • Monthly: against a spherical lens at $16.50 a month for both eyes, toric $7.50 more and multifocal $11.48 more.

What these figures do not include

  • Shipping. It varies by store and by order size; each lens’s own page lists the stores and their terms.
  • The estimated checkout price is what the retailer advertises plus any non-optional charge its own published terms document. Shipping, sales tax and manufacturer rebates are not in it.
  • The eye exam and contact lens fitting, which a prescription needs and which no store we track sells.
  • Cleaning solution and lens cases for 2-week and monthly lenses.

Insurance, HSA, FSA and rebates

These are the prices you pay without vision insurance. Whether a store accepts an HSA or FSA card is decided at that store’s checkout.

Manufacturer rebates are not taken off these figures. Where a rebate applies, the lens’s own page shows it against a year’s supply bought at one store.

How we worked this out

Each lens counts once, at the lowest price we found for it across the stores we track in the United States, so a lens that many stores sell is not counted many times. Lenses out of stock at every store are left out.

A month is 30 days of wear for one eye, which is how every lens page on this site quotes it. Both eyes is twice that. A year is 365 days of wear for both eyes, so it is the monthly figure for both eyes times 365 and divided by 30, not a count of whole boxes.

We do not sell lenses, so a store’s own page is the final word on price and stock. How we rank stores is on our about page.