Hubble Contacts Review 2023: Good value or bad choice?

At Innerbody Research, we extensively test each health service we review, including Hubble. All told, our team has spent over 53 hours testing and researching Hubble and their competitors to provide an accurate, unbiased analysis of how they stack up, free of marketing jargon and gimmicks.

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers make more informed decisions to live healthier lifestyles. We evaluate the service based on adherence to quality, the latest medical evidence and health standards, and a simple question: would we buy the product or service ourselves if it weren’t part of our job, and would we recommend it to family and friends?

Additionally, like all health-related content on this website, this guide was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy.

Rating: 9.5/10

Hubble offers some of the lowest prices on daily contacts anywhere. Their subscription model is convenient and easy to calculate, with a yearly supply of contacts costing just $468. That includes shipping, but not your state’s taxes. You’d be hard-pressed to find better prices for the service they provide.

Rating: 6.5/10

Unfortunately, Hubble keeps their costs low by relying on outdated material for their contact lenses. Some customers report discomfort with regular use, and extended wearing can lead to severe complications. Still, there are plenty of users who report no issues, even with years of consistent use. However, from a health and safety perspective, we can’t rate them any higher than this for quality.

Rating: 6/10

Hubble offers one type of lens in one size. You can adjust along a typical spectrum of power to ensure they can accurately correct your vision, but this only matters if your eye matches the contacts’ base curve and diameter, which are set in stone. That means most people with astigmatism can’t use their service, nor can those who require multifocal lenses. Fortunately, Hubble has a sister site — ContactsCart — where these customers can find admirable savings.

Rating: 9.0/10

Hubble makes up for a lot of their selection and quality shortcomings in the customer care department. They have one of the most straightforward websites to navigate that our testers have come across, allowing them to move through the ordering process with incredible speed.

Their representatives via chat, email, and phone were responsive and intelligent, and our wait times on the phone rarely exceeded three minutes. We also find it very convenient that they verify your prescription on your behalf, calling your optometrist directly. This service saves you the hassle of digging out your prescription, photographing it, and uploading it on your own time.

Benjamin Cogan and Jesse Horwitz founded Hubble in New York in 2016. They are self-described “long-term users of contact lenses” who wanted to make single-use contact lenses — AKA dailies — simpler and cheaper to purchase. Thanks to an aggressive social media campaign and a superbly designed website, the company quickly garnered social media attention and investment capital.

Rather than reselling contacts made by established brands (such as Acuvue or SofLens), Hubble outsources the manufacturing process to St. Shine Optical, an FDA-approved facility located in Taiwan.

Hubble has a sister site as well — ContactsCart — where you can buy your favorite brands of contact lenses at a discounted price (20% off your first order) and with free shipping.

Hubble also offers glasses in designer-quality frames that are durable and reasonably priced. They can’t quite compete with the likes of Zenni and some other providers in terms of cost, but if they have a style you like, they might be able to save you some money compared with a larger chain.

Hubble’s business model utilizes a subscription that delivers a one-month supply of daily disposable contact lenses (60 lenses total) to your doorstep every 28 days.

The service costs $39/month, plus applicable sales tax and $3 for shipping and handling. This is a remarkably attractive offer for daily contact lens wearers, who often pay between $25 and $45 for one box of 30 lenses (and use two boxes per month). If that describes you, then Hubble could easily save you between $100 and $600 each year.

Conversely, if you wear monthly or bi-weekly contact lenses, then Hubble’s subscription may be more than what you currently pay. Here’s a quick breakdown of costs compared with a competitor:

As you can see, the savings start to add up as the year goes on. For first-time customers, the company also offers a trial period that delivers an initial 15-day supply (30 contact lenses) for just $1. That brings the cost of your first year with Hubble down even further.

Hubble’s offer starts to show some cracks around the edges once you look at the contacts themselves.

Contact lenses have three different measures that optometrists use to fit them to your eye and eye condition.

• Power/sphere is in charge of the actual vision correction.
• Diameter depends on the size of your cornea.
• Base curve addresses the shape of the cornea.

In their contact lenses, Hubble offers powers ranging from -0.50 to -12.00 and +0.5 to +6.00. These levels will work for most cases of near- or farsightedness. Additionally, Hubble’s contacts have a base curve of 8.6 and a diameter of 14.2 that the company claims should fit “most eyes” but does not correctly fit all. And wearing the wrong diameter or base curve will increase your chances of discomfort and dryness. Poorly fitted contacts will also be more likely to move out of position during the middle of the day.

Those with astigmatism or those in need of multifocal lenses will often see additional parameters like cylinder, axis, and addition. Hubble states that their lenses may be appropriate for those with mild astigmatism with a cylinder of 1.00 or less. Still, they recommend speaking with your optometrist at length about this before trying Hubble.

Even if your astigmatism is mild enough to wear their lenses comfortably, there’s no control for the axis of your astigmatism or safeguards in place if you progress past 1.00 during the valid course of your current prescription.

An additional source of controversy regarding Hubble contact lenses comes from the material they use. Hubble uses methafilcon A, an older material that most major brands have discontinued.

The main issue with methafilcon A is that it has lower oxygen permeability (or Dk/t value) —the material allows less oxygen into the cornea than other materials. The material used by Hubble has a Dk/t value of 18, while most current 1-day lenses range between 21 and 28. Many contacts reach well beyond these numbers, ranging into triple digits.

The lower the Dk/t value, the higher the chance for an adverse reaction due to corneal anoxia. These reactions can range from mild dryness to corneal abrasions or ulcers. One study found that a Dk/t value of 19.8 was the absolute minimum to avoid complications; again, methafilcon A offers a Dk/t of only 18.

That said, many people have used methafilcon A contacts for years without problems — the material has been in use since the late 1980s. But some customers have reported that Hubble contacts can feel itchy or cause irritation towards the end of the day.

Hubble’s contact lenses are FDA-approved, but newer lens materials provide more oxygenation to your cornea. They also happen to be more expensive, of course.

If you are interested in Hubble as an economical and convenient choice but concerned and unsure how your eyes will respond to the material, you should try the $1 15-day trial. If methafilcon A irritates your eyes or you don’t want to use it, you can still get 20% off your first order of familiar high-end brands, with free shipping, from Hubble’s sister site ContactsCart.

Just like many other budget-oriented online merchants, Hubble does not take insurance coverage directly. If your insurance plan allows it, you can use your receipts from Hubble to make an out-of-network claim and recoup at least some of the cost.

On the other hand, Hubble Contacts does make it pretty easy to pay using a Health Savings Account or a Flexible Savings Account — as long as it links to a major credit card (such as VISA, Mastercard, or Discover). They also accept PayPal.

Thanks to smart design choices and their one-size-fits-all approach, ordering contacts from Hubble is remarkably simple. The part that involves you can be completed in five minutes or less if your prescription matches Hubble’s contact diameter and base curve.

Things can get bogged down if your prescription isn’t a match, necessitating a trip to your optometrist to get a prescription with the proper numbers on it. And there’s no guarantee that your optometrist would do this for you. Base curve and diameter aren’t chosen randomly; they have to do specifically with your eye’s anatomy. If your eyes need contacts whose base curve and diameter are significantly far from the standard sizes that Hubble uses, you might not be a candidate for their lenses.

Head to the Hubble homepage. You can find their offer for a 15-day trial right there. That will direct you to a page where you can select that offer and also get a glimpse of some of the popular brands you can find on ContactsCart.

Once you select the trial offer on this page, it will scroll down automatically to a spot where you will enter your prescription information. You will need to enter your prescription power for each eye just as it appears on your prescription. This will be a 3-4 digit number ranging from -12.00 to +6.00, moving in increments of 0.25.

You’ll then enter your doctor’s information, which Hubble needs to verify your prescription. You’ll enter your home state first and then your doctor’s name. As you enter their name, a list of doctors will populate automatically, and you can choose your doctor from that. If you don’t see your doctor listed, you can choose to enter their information manually.

Finally, you will need to add your shipping address and payment information to complete the order. At this point, your part in the process is done: you will need to wait while Hubble verifies your prescription and confirms the order. This verification usually takes less than eight hours, but the time and day you place your order may influence your wait time, especially if your optometrist keeps short hours. Hubble advertises a wait time of 2-3 days. Once confirmed, Hubble will notify you of your first shipment, which should arrive within 5-10 days via USPS.

The US classifies contacts as medical devices that require a prescription. This means that Hubble is obligated to ensure that your contact lens prescription is genuine.

Though we did not experience problems during our testing, several doctors have reported that Hubble uses an automated, pre-recorded call asking the doctor to confirm that you are their patient. In some cases, doctors claim that Hubble never contacted them at all.

To reiterate, we experienced no such problems in testing, and Hubble representatives informed us that they would spend 2-3 days on a prescription confirmation process, attempting to verify through your optometrist’s office. If they fail to verify your prescription, they’ll notify you about the next steps. You may need to email an image of the prescription or facilitate communication between your doctor and Hubble.

If Hubble successfully verifies your prescription, you’ll receive an email notifying you that it has shipped.

So what would happen if you got the wrong contact lenses? Hubble doesn’t accept returns, but in case of a mistake on their part, you can contact them via email or call their customer service line at 1-844-334-1640. Our tester found it exceptionally easy to get through to representatives, and they were friendly, helpful, and well-informed.

Hubble applies a $3 shipping fee to every delivery, except for the initial trial box. They use USPS Standard Economy Shipping, which usually takes 5 to 10 days. Those shipments recur every 28 days despite containing 30 pairs of contacts. We think this is a clever setup, as it helps ensure you never run out if you drop, tear, or otherwise render a contact lens unsuitable for use. Remember that this means your billing date will creep up through the months, recurring every 28 days instead of every 30.

ContactsDirect is probably the best place to go for those with insurance who want to use their coverage to save as much money as possible. They work with many providers, have an enormous selection of brands and styles, and offer additional savings for one-year supplies.

There are some insurers that ContactsDirect doesn’t accept, and Eyeconic is a great place to go if you have your plan with them. Namely, these are VSP, Cigna, and MetLife. Remember, though, that Eyeconic doesn’t accept the other companies you can find on ContactsDirect. Otherwise, their selection is comparable, but their prices are slightly higher per box.

Lenscrafters is a reliable company that’s been around for a long time, starting in brick and mortar locations before migrating online. They don’t have the best base prices, but they accept several popular insurance providers and offer additional savings to AAA and AARP members, as well as military veterans.

Uninsured customers — or just those who don’t like going to the eye doctor — can get a prescription online from doctors at Lensabl for only $25. After that, they have some reasonable prices, but they don’t accept insurance. We would also urge anyone with coverage or the money at hand to visit an optometrist in person. There are additional tests that are crucial to eye health and that an online interface cannot provide. If you’re curious, you can read all about Lensabl in our complete review.

Lens.com offers a good selection and moderately low prices, but they also promise significant post-purchase rebates. If you can afford to pay full-price upfront for your contacts and wait to fill out and send in a rebate form, Lens.com will send your rebate in the form of a prepaid Visa card. For some, this is a great way to save extra money and put it toward other future purchases. For others, it’s an inconvenient system that isn’t worth the wait. Ultimately, it’s up to you whether you think it’d be a good fit.