Triple Excellent vs Very Good Cut: Is the Upgrade Worth It?

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Triple Excellent and Very Good sit one grade apart on the cut scale — but cut is the single biggest driver of how a diamond sparkles, so that one grade can be the difference between a stone that is alive and one that is merely fine. Here is exactly what separates them, whether the difference is visible, and when the upgrade is worth paying for.

Key takeaways

• Triple Excellent means Excellent polish and Excellent symmetry and an Excellent (ideal) cut grade — the top of the scale.
• Very Good is one step down: still bright, but returning slightly less light than an ideal stone.
• The gap is most visible on a round brilliant and under bright, direct light.
• Very Good can be a smart saving on some stones; on a hero centre diamond, Triple Excellent earns its keep.
• "Ideal" is a trade word, not a grade — on a GIA or IGI report the top grade is printed as Excellent.
• The AGS lab that coined "Ideal" closed at the end of 2022 and merged into GIA, so present-tense claims about AGS grading are out of date.
• Montare sets Triple Excellent as the floor — never below it.

What the cut grades actually mean

Cut is graded on a scale from Excellent (or "Ideal") down through Very Good, Good, Fair and Poor. It measures how well a diamond's proportions, symmetry and polish work together to return light to your eye. "Triple Excellent" is shorthand for a stone that earns the top mark in all three assessed areas — cut, polish and symmetry. "Very Good" typically means the cut grade, or one of the three, lands a single step below Excellent. For a fuller primer, see Triple Excellent cut, explained and how it ties back to table and depth.

One important note: a formal cut grade is assigned to round brilliants. Fancy shapes — ovals, emeralds, pears and the rest — are graded on polish and symmetry, with their proportions assessed separately, so "Triple Excellent" is clearest and most meaningful on a round.

What is a Very Good cut diamond?

A Very Good cut diamond is one graded a single step below the top of the cut scale. It returns most — but not all — of the light its shape is capable of returning, because either its proportions, its polish or its symmetry deviate slightly from ideal. On a laboratory report it appears simply as "Very Good" on the cut, polish or symmetry line.

In practical terms, a Very Good stone is a genuinely good diamond. Seen on its own, most people could not fault it, and it will look bright in ordinary light. What it will not do is perform at the very top of what the shape allows — and the shortfall becomes easier to see in two situations: beside an Excellent stone, and as carat weight climbs. It is a legitimate purchase, not a defective one; the question is only whether it belongs in the centre of the ring.

Excellent, Ideal and Triple Excellent

Shoppers comparing Very Good vs Ideal cut are usually comparing the same two rungs as Very Good vs Excellent — the labels just come from different places.

• Excellent is the top cut grade on a GIA or IGI report. It is the wording you will actually see printed on a certificate.
• Ideal is a trade term rather than a grade on most reports. It entered the vocabulary through the American Gem Society's AGS 0 scale and is still used loosely by retailers to mean "top of the scale". Worth knowing: AGS Laboratories closed at the end of 2022 and merged into GIA, which acquired its technology and facility. The AGS Ideal grade now survives only as a paid digital supplement to a GIA report, so any retailer describing AGS in the present tense as an independent grading authority is working from out-of-date information. It is also used a second way — to describe a stone whose table and depth fall in the ideal range for its shape.
• Triple Excellent is not a fourth tier. It means one stone earned Excellent three times over: cut, polish and symmetry.

So "Ideal vs Very Good" and "Excellent vs Very Good" describe one step on one ladder. The distinction that actually changes how a diamond looks is whether all three marks are Excellent, not which word the retailer prints.

Very Good vs Ideal cut

Very Good and Ideal are two different rungs on the same ladder, one step apart. "Ideal" describes the top of the cut scale; "Very Good" is the grade immediately beneath it. They are not two naming systems for the same thing, and they are not interchangeable.

The confusion is understandable, because "Ideal" is used in two different ways in the trade. It can mean the top cut grade — the thing a GIA or IGI report prints as Excellent. It can also mean a stone whose table and depth sit in the ideal range for its shape, which is a statement about proportions rather than an overall grade. Either way, a Very Good stone sits below it.

The practical answer when comparing the two: if a retailer is offering you an "Ideal" stone, ask what the certificate actually says. If the report reads Excellent for cut, polish and symmetry, the word is doing honest work. If the report reads Very Good anywhere and the listing still says Ideal, the word is doing marketing work instead.

Very Good vs Excellent cut

Excellent is the top cut grade; Very Good is one step below it. This is the same comparison as Very Good vs Ideal, using the wording that actually appears on the certificate.

The difference is a matter of degree rather than kind. An Excellent stone is cut to return close to the maximum light its shape permits, with crisp, well-defined flashes. A Very Good stone loses a little of that — usually because a proportion sits marginally outside the ideal window, or because polish or symmetry falls a grade. Neither stone is poorly cut.

Where it matters is the compounding effect. A diamond can be Excellent in cut but Very Good in symmetry, or the reverse. That is precisely why the trade uses the shorthand Triple Excellent — it is the only phrase that confirms all three marks are top of scale rather than just the headline one. A stone advertised as "Excellent cut" may still carry Very Good polish or symmetry, so it is always worth reading all three lines rather than the first.

Triple Excellent vs Very Good, side by side

	Very Good	Triple Excellent
Light return / brilliance	Strong	Maximum
Symmetry	Minor deviations	Excellent
Polish	Very good	Excellent
Fire & sparkle	Slightly softer	Crisp, lively
Typical price	Lower	Small premium
Best for	Side stones, budget-led builds	The centre diamond

Does the difference actually show?

Honestly, it depends on the stone and the setting. In a jewellery-store spotlight, a Triple Excellent round brilliant will out-sparkle a Very Good one — the light return is cleaner and the flashes are crisper. In everyday light the gap narrows, and a well-cut Very Good stone can look excellent. Where the difference reliably shows is at size: on a three-carat centre diamond there is simply more stone for the eye to read, so any softness in the cut is easier to notice. The bigger the diamond, the more cut quality matters.

Good vs Very Good cut

Very Good sits one rung below Excellent. Good sits one rung below Very Good — and that is where the visible drop-off begins in earnest.

Cut grade	What it does to light	Where you notice
Excellent / Ideal	Returns close to the maximum light the shape allows	Crisp, even flashes in any lighting
Very Good	Returns slightly less; minor proportion or symmetry deviations	Hard to fault alone; softer beside an Excellent stone
Good	Noticeably more light leaks through the pavilion	Duller centre, visible windowing as carat weight climbs
Fair / Poor	Substantial leakage; often cut to preserve weight	Flat or glassy even in bright light

The honest summary of Good vs Very Good: Very Good is a legitimate stone that most people would happily wear. Good is where you start paying for carat weight instead of beauty — the stone is heavier than it looks bright. On a 3ct centre diamond that compromise is difficult to hide, which is why Montare's floor sits well above it.

When Very Good is fine — and when to insist on Triple Excellent

Very Good is a sensible choice for melee and side stones, where the centre carries the show, or on a tighter budget where size or clarity matter more to you than the last few percent of brilliance. But for the centre diamond — the one stone everyone actually looks at — Triple Excellent is where your money works hardest. Cut outranks colour, clarity and carat for sheer visual impact, and the premium over Very Good is usually modest next to the total ring. On a hero stone, it is the upgrade we would always make.

Very Good vs Excellent on a lab-grown report

For lab-grown diamonds specifically, this comparison changed on 1 October 2025. GIA stopped printing individual grades on lab-grown reports and replaced them with two labels — Premium and Standard — and the cut line is drawn exactly where this article sits:

• Premium requires Excellent polish and symmetry, plus an Excellent cut grade on round brilliants.
• Standard accepts Very Good polish, symmetry and cut — alongside a much wider colour and clarity band.

In other words, on a GIA lab-grown report the Very Good/Excellent decision is now folded into a single word, and you can no longer read the individual grades that produced it. IGI made no such change and still grades lab-grown stones on the full scale, which is why every Montare stone is IGI certified — a fixed house standard needs the precise grades to be legible. The full breakdown is in what changed in GIA's lab-grown grading.

The Montare standard

That is why we do not offer anything below it. Every Montare centre diamond is Triple Excellent, with ideal table and depth for its shape — alongside D–E colour, VVS1–VVS2 clarity, a three-carat minimum, and IGI certification. The decision is made for you, in your favour.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Triple Excellent and Very Good cut?

Triple Excellent means a diamond earns the top grade for cut, polish and symmetry. Very Good is one step below in one or more of those areas — still bright, but returning slightly less light than an ideal stone.

Is Triple Excellent cut worth the extra money?

For the centre diamond, usually yes. Cut drives brilliance more than any other factor, the difference is most visible on a large stone, and the premium over Very Good is typically modest relative to the whole ring.

Can you see the difference between Very Good and Excellent cut?

Under bright, direct light and on a round brilliant, yes — a Triple Excellent stone sparkles more crisply. In everyday light the gap is smaller, but it becomes easier to see as carat size increases.

Does cut grade apply to fancy shapes?

A formal cut grade is assigned to round brilliants. Fancy shapes are graded on polish and symmetry with proportions assessed separately, so ideal table and depth ranges become the key measure of cut quality.

Is Very Good cut the same as Ideal cut?

No — they are two different rungs. "Ideal" is a trade term for the top of the cut scale, which appears on GIA and IGI reports as Excellent. Very Good is the grade immediately below it.

What is the difference between Good and Very Good cut?

Very Good returns slightly less light than an Excellent stone but still looks bright on its own. Good allows noticeably more light to leak through the bottom of the diamond, which reads as a duller centre and becomes easier to see as carat weight increases.

What is a Very Good cut diamond?

A diamond graded one step below the top of the cut scale, because its proportions, polish or symmetry deviate slightly from ideal. It returns most of the light its shape allows and looks bright on its own, but falls short of an Excellent stone beside one — and the gap widens as carat weight increases.

Is a Very Good cut diamond worth buying?

It can be, on a smaller stone or in a side setting where the diamond is not the focal point. On a large centre diamond the cut grade is doing most of the visual work, so the step up to Triple Excellent is usually the better place to spend.

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