If your teeth are no longer as straight as you’d like them to be, you’re in luck – there are now a ton of low cost, clear teeth aligner options. Some you can get online without an in person visit, others require a trip to see an orthodontist. But they are all much cheaper than traditional braces – and in general, a lot easier to deal with. Let’s compare and review the cheapest teeth aligners to find the best one for your mouth.
Jump ahead to the cheapest teeth aligner chart – or read on to learn more about how these work and what your options are.
What are the cheapest teeth aligner brands?
Let’s compare the cost of these clear aligners companies and help you see which ones are the cheapest.
What’s the most affordable clear aligner company?
Starting at just $1,145, AlignerCo seems like the clear winner when it comes to the all-in cost, coming out hundreds to thousands of dollars cheaper than the other low-cost alternatives like Smile Direct Club, Byte, and Candid. That said, Fin vs Fin readers can click here to save $150 on NewSmile, bringing the total cost down to $995, and making it the cheapest aligner option on the market.
That said, while NewSmile and AlignerCo offer the lowest cost, more expensive options like Byte, Smile Direct Club, or Candid are all much more affordable than more traditional clear aligner solutions like Invisalign.
If you’re curious to learn more about AlignerCo, read this recently published review comparing Byte vs AlignerCo to see how they stack up.
How do aligners work to straighten your teeth?
If you had braces when you were younger, then you probably already know the general idea of how dentists and orthodontists use treatments to move around your teeth. However, clear aligners are a bit different than those awkward braces you remember – and some of the brands do not require an in person orthodontist visit, which means you’ll have a few, new steps in your journey to a better smile. Let’s review the steps to a better smile:
Step-by-step teeth straightening overview with low cost aligners
First, most brands have you take an online quiz / medical questionnaire to review your teeth and make sure you are fit for treatment.
Next, if you are going with an option that doesn’t require an in person orthodontist visit, they’ll mail you an “impression kit.” Basically, you’re going to chomp down on a puddy that creates a mold of your teeth. Then you ship the impression kit back to the company.
An orthodontist or technician, depending on the company, will review your custom mold and will use it to create a personalized correction program for your particular situation.
The company will mail you your clear aligners, with instructions on how to use them, how long to wear them on a daily basis, and when to switch to the next one.
You then wear the aligners on the schedule that they tell you to, likely one each two or so weeks before switching to the next. They will be labeled so you know how to switch and when. Each clear aligner will push your teeth into a slightly better position. Sometimes it’s easy to see what the straightening strategy is, while other times, it may not seem like anything is happening for a month or more. But hang in there! You have to trust in the process, and it’s important you don’t deviate too early.
Some of the brands have check ins, usually online or through an app. Although, with companies like Invisalign, you will be asked to go in person to see an orthodontist periodically to review progress. And since medical professionals are not cheap, this adds a lot to the cost. The cheapest ones typically don’t require this kind of in person visit — which not only keeps the cost down, but also saves you time and inconvenience.
When you are done with your straightening treatment — usually after six to eighteen months — some of the companies have you wear a retainer, usually at night. This is to help keep your teeth from slowly sliding out alignment.
How do cheap aligners compare to traditional braces?
Relative to the braces you likely had when you were a kid, today’s low-cost aligners are less painful, way more discrete (read: less embarrassing), and don’t require an orthodontist to install a ton of metal in your mouth. On the flip side, if you have extremely crooked teeth or other more serious medical/dental problems, they may not be appropriate for you, and seeing a traditional orthodontist may be the best course of action.
Other major differences between traditional braces and clear aligners is the cost and amount of time you need to use them to get real results. Braces typically take about two years, while even the cheapest teeth aligners on the market today only take six to eighteen months.
Finally, those expensive and painful braces stay in your mouth for the entire treatment. Low-cost aligners are more like the retainers you may have had – you can take them out! Some of the brands encourage you to remove them when eating particular foods, which means you can actually enjoy some of the meals you were forbidden to eat when you had braces, like popcorn, gum and hard pretzels. Yum.
If you’re willing to pay a tiny bit more, Byte is a very reasonably priced option at just $1,895 all-in. That includes the impression kit and a retainer post alignment. The brand has thousands (potentially even millions) of happy customers and really positive reviews online, which sadly can’t be said for other players in the space. Their product also works faster than AlignerCo and other competitors. So if you’re looking for a more battle tested solution with a lot of promising results, byte is a real bargain. They also make it easy to get started with an impression kit for just $14.95.
Use this link at checkout to take advantage!
Impression kit cost comparison
The low cost aligner vendors also require you to take an impression of your bite using an impression kit that they’ll mail to you (assuming you don’t go to an in person clinic for a mouth scan.) These impression kits usually cost something – here are the prices by brand:
| Best Teeth Aligner Brand | Impression kit cost |
| Invisalign | In person scan only |
| Smile Direct Club |