Short answer: worth it if you are on a screen more than six hours a day, or if evening screen time is making it harder to fall asleep. Probably not worth it if you are hoping to cure eye strain, because the evidence there is weaker than most sellers admit.
We sell these, so read that with the appropriate suspicion. But we would rather you buy a pair that helps than return one that did not.
Here is what they cost in Canada, and how to decide.
Not sure what they actually are, or whether they work? Start with what blue light glasses are and what the research says.
What Blue Light Glasses Cost in Canada
The range is wide. Roughly $20 at the bottom and $400 at the top, for a lens that in most cases does a very similar job.
Where you buy matters more than what you buy.
An optometrist or optical chain will usually add a blue light coating to a prescription lens order. In Canada that typically lands somewhere between $80 and $200 on top of your frame. You are paying for the appointment, the fitting, the lab work and the shop.
A designer frame with a blue light coating runs higher, often $180 to $400. The filter is the same. You are paying for the name on the arm.
Big box retailers like Walmart and Costco sell non prescription pairs far cheaper, usually in the low tens to low forties depending on what is in stock that week.
Online specialists like us sit in a similar band, generally $20 to $60.
We are deliberately not quoting exact competitor prices here. They change constantly, and a post full of specific numbers goes out of date within months. That is exactly what happened to the earlier version of this article, which sat online for years quoting prices that were no longer real.
Walmart, Costco and Amazon: What You Actually Get
A lot of people price check these three before buying anywhere else. Fair enough. Here is the honest comparison.
Walmart carries non prescription blue light glasses in most locations, usually near the reading glasses. Cheap, and you can try them on, which is a real advantage. The trade off is a small selection, no information about how much blue light the lens actually filters, and staff who cannot answer that question.
Costco Optical is a different thing. Their pricing on prescription lenses with a blue light coating is genuinely competitive, and if you need vision correction anyway, that is often the sensible route. You need a membership, and it involves an appointment.
Amazon is the cheapest and the most variable. You can spend $15 and get something perfectly fine, or something with no meaningful filter at all. Filtering claims on listings are frequently unverifiable. We wrote a longer piece on whether Amazon blue light glasses are any good.
The pattern across all three: you can pay very little. What you usually cannot get is a clear answer about what the lens does.
Why the Same Lens Costs $25 or $250
Three things drive the price, and only one of them affects your eyes.
1. The filter itself. This is the cheap part. A blue light coating adds very little to the cost of manufacturing a lens. That is the uncomfortable truth behind a $200 upcharge at an optical shop.
2. Prescription work. If the lens has to correct your vision, that is real cost. An exam, a measurement, a lab, a remake if it is wrong. Non prescription glasses skip all of it, which is most of the price difference between $30 and $200.
3. The frame. Materials, hinges, adjustable nose pads, brand. This is where the rest of the money goes, and it affects comfort and durability rather than filtering.
So a $250 pair is usually a prescription lens in a nice frame with a filter added. A $30 pair is a filter in a decent frame. If you do not need vision correction, you are choosing between those two on comfort and looks, not on eye protection.
So Are They Worth It?
Depends entirely on why you are buying. Here is our honest split.
Worth it if:
- You are on a screen six or more hours most days
- You use a phone, tablet or laptop in the last hour before bed and find it hard to wind down
- Screen glare bothers you, particularly in a bright office or a dark room
- You want something under $50 rather than a $200 coating upsell
Probably not worth it if:
- You are hoping to cure eye strain. The research does not clearly support that, and we are not going to pretend otherwise
- Your screen time is a couple of hours a day. You likely will not notice much
- Your eyes hurt badly, your vision has changed, or you get frequent headaches. See an optometrist first, not us
- You have not tried the free fixes yet. Screen brightness, monitor distance and night mode do more than most people expect. We compared glasses directly against screen settings in this post
The strongest case is sleep rather than eye comfort. Evening light exposure affects when your body wants to sleep, and that effect is better supported than the eye strain claims. More on that in our piece about light and sleep.
What We Charge
Every pair on this site is under $50. Our range runs from the low twenties to the high forties, and shipping is free anywhere in Canada with no minimum order.
We are not quoting individual prices here, because we did that in the previous version of this post and it was wrong within a year. The live price is always on the product page:
- Men's blue light glasses
- Women's blue light glasses
- Kids blue light glasses
- Computer glasses
- Everything we sell
What you get for that: a clear lens filtering 85% to 90% of blue light, no prescription needed, free shipping to every province and territory, and 25 days to send them back if they are not right.
What you do not get: a prescription, magnification, or a promise that this fixes eye strain.
How to Spend the Least and Still Get Something Decent
If cost is your main concern, four things actually matter.
Skip prescription unless you need it. This is the single biggest saving available. If your vision is fine, a non prescription filter does the same job on blue light for a fraction of the price. Our guide to non prescription blue light glasses in Canada covers the difference.
Check the shipping before you compare prices. A $19 pair with $12 shipping costs more than a $28 pair shipped free. This catches people out constantly.
Do not pay extra for a higher filtering number without checking the lens colour. Very high filtering figures usually come from an amber tint, which distorts colour. Clear lenses at 85% to 90% are a better trade for most people.
Buy a case. A $6 to $17 case makes a $30 pair last years instead of months. We keep cases and cleaning cloths here.
For what the filtering numbers actually mean, read how to test blue light glasses.
Common Questions
Why do optical shops charge so much for a blue light coating?
Because it is sold as an add-on to a prescription order, where the pricing is built around the exam, the lab and the store. The coating itself is inexpensive.
Are cheap blue light glasses any good?
Often yes, if the seller tells you what the lens filters. The problem with the cheapest options is not the price, it is that many listings make filtering claims with nothing behind them. Price is a poor signal here in both directions.
Do I need a prescription to buy these?
No. Everything we sell is non prescription. No eye exam, no appointment. If you already wear prescription glasses, these do not replace them and cannot be worn over them.
Are computer glasses and blue light glasses different products?
No, they are two names for the same thing. Reading glasses are a different product, because those magnify. We explained that difference here.
What if I buy a pair and notice nothing?
Send them back. You have 25 days. See our refund policy. We would rather take the return than have you keep something that did not help.
How do I know which pair to get?
Email us with how many hours you are at a screen and what your setup looks like. We will name two frames and tell you why.
About the author
Jesse Robert has spent five years working in blue light eyewear and started BlueLightGlasses.ca in 2022. He is not an optometrist, and these guides are not medical advice.
He writes them himself, and he will tell you when blue light glasses are not the answer.
Questions about fit or filtering? Email us and a person will reply.
