Do you want to straighten your smile without the inconvenience and noticeability of metal braces? Are you interested in saving thousands of dollars compared to traditional orthodontics? If so, check out AlignerCo or SmileDirectClub, two companies that deliver clear aligner treatment directly to their customers.
Home aligners let you straighten your teeth without ever visiting a dentist or orthodontist. AlignerCo and SmileDirectClub are two of the most popular options in Canada, and they’re two of our top picks as well. This comparison guide will walk you through their similarities, differences, and unique details to find out which one is the right choice for you.
Table of Contents
Overview & Recommendation: SmileDirectClub Wins
These are both reputable companies that deliver quality products and satisfying results. That said, SmileDirectClub has some distinct advantages that make them a better option for most of our readers, such as:
- Convenient Treatment Startup: SmileDirectClub has several retail locations across Canada where you can schedule a free scan to get your treatment started. These SmileShops are a quick and convenient alternative to an at-home impression kit.
- Generous Refund Policy: SmileDirectClub offers prorated refunds for the return of any unused and unopened aligners. Within the first 30 days, you can return your aligners for a full refund (minus the cost of the impression kit). Clear aligners are custom made, so a generous refund policy is rare.
- Lifetime Guarantee: SmileDirectClub covers your smile for life. If your teeth ever shift after treatment — even years later — SmileDirectClub will provide the aligners you need to correct it. All you need to do is stay on top of wearing and replacing your aftercare retainers, and they’ll take care of the rest.
Is SmileDirectClub Right for You?
SmileDirectClub occupies the top spot on our list of the best home teeth alignment companies in Canada, and AlignerCo comes in at #3. Both companies offer effective, quality remote treatments. But it’s hard to beat SmileDirectClub’s convenient treatment start up, comprehensive guarantees, and wealth of experience.
Effectiveness Comparison
SmileDirectClub and AlignerCo both provide customers with high-quality clear aligners made without BPA or phthalates. Neither one can match the significant, complex tooth shifts of Invisalign and other in-office treatments, but if you’re looking to make smaller, cosmetic changes, they’re both highly effective, and SmileDirectClub goes slightly further in their teeth-moving power.
AlignerCo Effectiveness
SmileDirectClub Effectiveness
- Uses materials from Raintree Essix, a reputable manufacturer, to produce their aligners.
- No longer requires you to submit photos of your teeth every two weeks.
- Trims their aligners to match your gum line, sacrificing some effectiveness.
- Once partnered with Align Technology to manufacture aligners, but now produces them in-house.
- Requires you to submit photos of your teeth every 90 days.
- Aligners overlap the gums, increasing their power.
Provider Expertise and Oversight
You won’t meet with a dentist or orthodontist in person during treatment, but that doesn’t mean you’ll miss out on their expertise. AlignerCo and SmileDirectClub both have teams of licensed dentists and orthodontists who review and approve every treatment plan. You don’t get to pick your doctor like you would with Invisalign, but you can be confident that there’s an expert behind your aligners.
And these dental teams don’t just help design your treatment — they oversee it too, reviewing photos of your teeth at regular intervals to make sure you’re progressing as planned. AlignerCo no longer requires you to email photos of your teeth every two weeks but gives you the option, and SmileDirectClub asks you to upload photos to their mobile app every 90 days. This remote monitoring is crucial for diverting minor issues before they can negatively affect your progress, so even though AlignerCo’s oversight takes more work, it gives you more consistent oversight.
Manufacturing Quality
AlignerCo aligners use plastics from RaintreeEssix, a reputable company that first started producing clear aligners back in 2005, long before the first at-home alignment company opened its doors. SmileDirectClub once had a manufacturing partnership with Align Technology — the makers of Invisalign — but now they produce their aligners in-house. Their proprietary Comfort Sense technology uses a progression of soft, medium, and firm plastics for more comfortable shifts.
Both produce quality aligners, and neither use any BPAs or phthalates.
Aligner Cut
To make their aligners more discreet, AlignerCo scallops them to match your gum line. This seems ideal at first glance, as it makes your aligners slightly less visible — but it can also make them less effective.
SmileDirectClub trims their aligners slightly, but they still overlap your gums. This overlap might be slightly visible, but it serves as an anchor for your aligners, allowing them to exert up to 4X more force on your teeth.
Affordability Comparison
All at-home aligners are more cost-effective than in-office options like Invisalign, but costs vary among home aligner companies too. And this is where AlignerCo really shines, not just in this side-by-side comparison, but also among the rest of its competitors.
When comparing costs, the price tag isn’t everything. You’ll also want to consider payment plan options, where both companies offer some flexibility. Even though SmileDirectClub has respectable prices, AlignerCo goes above and beyond to provide affordable, accessible treatment.
AlignerCo Affordability
SmileDirectClub Affordability
- $1,635 sticker price ($1,735 for NightOnly aligners).
- Offers frequent discounts on their website.
- The full price includes one set of aftercare retainers.
- Includes free whitening when aligners are purchased outright.
- The impression kit costs $75, but they’ll refund it if you purchase aligners.
- Offers multiple financing plans, including one with no credit check.
- $2,700 sticker price for all-day or night-only aligners.
- The full price doesn’t include free retainers. You’ll need to purchase them separately for $125.
- Includes free “bright on” whitening.
- Impression kits cost $65, and in-office scans are free.
- Financing requires a down payment but not a credit check.
Sticker Price
AlignerCo’s pricing for all-day alignment undercuts SmileDirectClub’s sticker price by an impressive $1,065, and their night-only aligners are $965 cheaper. Plus, AlignerCo includes your first set of retainers in its sticker price, while SmileDirectClub charges an additional $125. SmileDirectClub’s free whitening is included in all aligner packages (AlignerCo only includes it when the buyer skips financing) and in-office teeth scans are nice bonuses, but they don’t come close to closing this huge pricing gap.
Payment Plan Options
If you don’t have thousands of dollars to pay for your treatment upfront, both companies present other options.
AlignerCo has two different payment plans — one that requires a credit check and one that doesn’t:
- The SmileFlex plan teams with PayBright to provide an installment plan for twelve monthly payments of $137 with no down payment or interest. However, this option requires a credit check, so not everyone qualifies.
- The SmileFlex Easy plan requires a $395 down payment followed by six monthly payments of $246. This plan does not require a credit check, and it costs a total of $1,871.
SmileDirectClub’s one payment plan option requires a deposit of $300, followed by 26 monthly payments of $115. It doesn’t require a credit check, but includes interest and comes out to $3,290 overall.
While we appreciate both companies providing payment plans without credit checks, SmileDirectClub’s option ends up costing you a whopping $590 more than the up-front price. AlignerCo’s SmileFlex plan doesn’t cost any more than their standard sticker price, and SmileFlex Easy only costs around $236 more.
Free Extras
Many companies in the home teeth alignment industry offer free bonus items to give you more bang for your buck, and that’s the case with these companies. AlignerCo provides a free set of retainers (SmileDirectClub charges $125 per set) plus whitening (only when aligners are purchased outright), and SmileDirectClub includes free whitening solution and free professional teeth scans.
Convenience Comparison
Many people choose home alignment over traditional orthodontics because it’s a lot more convenient. After all, companies like AlignerCo and SmileDirectClub can save you tons of time compared to regularly visiting your dentist or orthodontist’s office.
Yet SmileDirectClub does more to provide a convenient treatment than any other home aligner company. From a nighttime-only option to relatively fast turnaround times and physical locations that make startup easy, no one else can touch their level of convenience, including AlignerCo.
AlignerCo Convenience
SmileDirectClub Convenience
- No retail locations that provide in-office teeth scans, so you’ll need to purchase an impression kit.
- Takes 7–8 weeks to design, produce, and ship your aligners.
- Their NightOnly option allows you to only wear aligners for ten hours per day.
- On average, treatment lasts 4–6 months (or 6–8 for NightOnly aligners).
- Has eight office locations in Canada where you can get free teeth scans. They also sell impression kits.
- Takes 4–6 weeks to design, produce, and ship your aligners.
- Nighttime Aligners only require ten continuous hours of daily wear.
- On average, treatment lasts 4–6 months (or around ten for Nighttime Aligners).
Getting Started
A home aligner company’s licensed dentists can’t create an effective treatment without evaluating your teeth. For most customers, this means using an impression kit to make molds of their top and bottom dental arches. However, impression kits can be difficult, especially since most customers have never used one before.
If you choose AlignerCo, taking impressions at home is your only option. The company provides video chat support to walk you through the process, which helps, but the process can still be tricky.
To address that problem, SmileDirectClub established eight different physical locations across Canada where you can get a free dental scan instead. At these SmileShops, a trained professional will administer a quick, easy, intraoral scan, then send the images to the dental team. They also sell impression kits, but if you live near a SmileShop, teeth scans are a much easier way to get started.
Turnaround Times
After you submit your impression kit or teeth scan, each company will get to work on your proposed treatment plan. SmileDirectClub will turn this around within 72 hours of receiving your impressions/scans, while AlignerCo takes around three weeks to send your preview.
After you approve this plan, SmileDirectClub will take 4–6 weeks to produce and ship your aligners, and AlignerCo takes around the same. So if you choose AlignerCo, you’ll be waiting a couple of weeks longer to begin treatment.
Treatment Times
On average, SmileDirectClub and AlignerCo customers wrap up their treatment in 4–6 months, which is pretty standard for home aligners. However, it’s much quicker than in-office options like Invisalign, which usually take 12–18 months. Remember, however, that at-home aligners typically handle milder misalignments that don’t take as long to correct, while in-office treatments usually take on more severe cases, often accounting for their longer treatment time.
Nighttime-Only Option
If you don’t want to wear clear aligners for 22 hours every day, these companies both provide the option to only wear aligners at night. You’ll just pop them in after dinner, wear them for ten continuous hours, and that’s it. These night-only plans extend your treatment timeline by a few months, but if you have frequent social engagements or work meetings, the tradeoff could be worth it.
SmileDirectClub’s Nighttime Clear Aligners take about ten months to align your smile, while AlignerCo’s NightOnly option takes 6–8 months on average.
Appearance Comparison
All clear aligners keep a much lower profile than traditional braces (or even ceramic braces), but that doesn’t mean that they’re all identical. In fact, clear aligners can look fairly different from company to company. SmileDirectClub and AlignerCo aligners each have their own benefits and style, and appearance is a highly subjective category, so which looks better depends on your tastes and preferences.
AlignerCo Appearance
SmileDirectClub Appearance
- Uses smooth, transparent, shiny plastic.
- Scallops their aligners to match each customer’s unique gum line.
- Doesn’t incorporate any attachments.
- Reasonably stain-resistant.
- Uses frosted, translucent, textured plastic.
- Their aligners slightly overlap your gums.
- Doesn’t incorporate any attachments.
- Reasonably stain-resistant.
Aligner Material
Some companies craft their aligners from transparent, shiny plastic while others have a textured, frosted appearance. AlignerCo, for example, says that their clear, shiny aligner material is less noticeable than competitors. On the flip side, SmileDirectClub maintains that their aligners’ frosted, textured surface looks more natural. Your teeth are porous, which gives them a matte surface, and frosted aligners can provide a better match, while smooth aligners can reflect light, making your teeth look unnaturally shiny.
But this often depends on personal preference. Some customers actually prefer shiny material because they like the way it makes their smile gleam. You’ll need to consider your preferences and decide which material you like better.
Aligner Cut
SmileDirectClub cuts their aligners straight across the gums. This gives them extra power, because they can leverage the gums to exert more force, but it also leaves some visible plastic covering your gums. AlignerCo scallops each aligner to match the customer’s gum line, sacrificing some effectiveness for a less noticeable design.
Attachments
In some cases, fully in-person treatments like Invisalign and ClearCorrect will include small attachments affixed to the surfaces of the teeth, which help their aligners exert more force. While these attachments can increase effectiveness, they also make the aligners more noticeable. AlignerCo and SmileDirectClub don’t include attachments on any of their aligners, maintaining their low profile.
Stain Resistance
SmileDirectClub and AlignerCo produce aligners that are at least somewhat resistant to staining, but we would still never advise eating or drinking (besides plain water) while wearing them. You wouldn’t want to stain one of your aligners and still have to wear them until you’re ready for your next set!
Customer Experience Comparison
You won’t have any in-office appointments with a dentist or orthodontist during home aligner treatment, so customer support is extremely important. If you have questions — or in the unlikely scenario that something goes wrong — you need to know that your alignment company has your back.
It’s tough for any fully remote service to replicate the personalization and intensiveness of hands-on care, but it appears that both provide solid customer service, even though they each have room to grow.
AlignerCo Customer Experience
SmileDirectClub Customer Experience
- Offers support via phone, email, and webchat, will also respond to messages on social media.
- Receives excellent customer reviews.
- Doesn’t offer refunds, but after treatment, you can apply for a $250 refinement if you’re unhappy with your results.
- Does not have a warranty or lifetime guarantee.
- Offers support via phone, email, webchat, and mobile app. Will also respond to messages on social media.
- Has received mixed customer reviews.
- Provides full refunds within 30 days of starting treatment, prorated refunds after that, and refinements if your results don’t match your preview.
- Puts a lifetime warranty on your smile.
Support Options
SmileDirectClub is available 24/7 on a variety of support platforms — phone, webchat, video chat, and email. You can also reach out via their mobile app, which could be simpler and easier. AlignerCo provides all the same options, minus the app. They don’t list their hours, but say that their webchat is available 24/7. And if you’re having difficulties with your impression kit, you can schedule a video call where a representative will walk you through the process.
Responsiveness and Helpfulness
We’ve had good luck with both companies’ customer service teams, but it’s important to evaluate whether our experiences line up with those of most customers.
SmileDirectClub’s customer support has received mixed reviews over the years. The amount of negative feedback grew significantly around 2017 as SmileDirectClub attempted to rapidly grow its business, creating inconsistencies in their customer support. Over the past few years, however, SmileDirectClub has been dedicated to improving their customer support issues, and based on more recent reviews, it seems like it’s working.
As a younger company with a much smaller customer base, AlignerCo can provide more personalized support for each customer. Online reviewers consistently praise the company’s responsiveness, helpfulness, and attention.
Satisfaction Guarantee
Both companies offer refunds for your impression kit if they determine that you’re not a good candidate for their treatment. And that’s where AlignerCo’s refund policy ends.
SmileDirectClub takes it further, issuing full refunds for any reason within the first 30 days of treatment. After that, they’ll provide prorated refunds for unused and unopened aligners at any time. If that wasn’t enough, their Lifetime Smile Guarantee promises to create new aligners if your teeth ever shift down the road, as long as you purchase two sets of retainers per year and wear them as prescribed.
If you diligently follow your aligner plan, it’s rare that you’ll be dissatisfied with your results. But occasionally, it happens. At the end of your treatment, if your smile doesn’t match your original preview, either company will create refinement aligners to make it right. However, AlignerCo might charge you an extra $250 for them, while SmileDirectClub will provide them for free.
Company Backgrounds
AlignerCo Company Background
SmileDirectClub Company Background
- Founded in 2019.
- Dug out a niche as the most affordable home aligner option.
- Still small, but has a growing customer base and branches in the US, UK and Australia.
- Founded in 2014.
- Largest home aligner company in the industry.
- Has transformed over 1.5 million smiles to date.
When they hit the market in 2014, SmileDirectClub was one of the very first home aligner companies available. They helped to build the industry from the ground up and, since their founding, they’ve transformed over 1.5 million smiles, expanded to multiple countries, and opened hundreds of SmileShops. Now, they’re a booming company with thousands of employees, the largest of all the home aligner companies we reviewed.
AlignerCo entered the scene in 2019 but counters their inexperience with incredibly affordable prices — the lowest in the industry. Most impressively, they haven’t sacrificed product quality in pursuit of affordability. Customers flocking to AlignerCo for their cost-effectiveness are finding highly-effective treatment and excellent support as well. They might be relatively young, but they operate under the name Straight My Teeth in the UK and SmilePath in Australia, so they’ve already got experience straightening smiles on three continents.
Which Home Teeth Aligner Should You Use?
These are both great companies with plenty of similarities, so it wouldn’t surprise us if you haven’t decided yet. To close out this comparison, let’s take a quick look at a few scenarios in which your preferences might tilt one way or the other.
Choose AlignerCo if You Are:
Searching for the lowest prices available along with reliable products and excellent customer service, and don’t mind working with a newer company.
Choose SmileDirectClub if You Are:
More comfortable purchasing from the most well-established brand name with top-notch convenience and comprehensive treatment guarantees. Bonus points if you live near a SmileShop location.
We Recommend SmileDirectClub for Most Readers
Both of these companies are solid options, and we’re confident that you’ll get quality products and satisfying results from either one. Still, due to their high level of experience, convenient SmileShops, and guarantees at every stage of treatment, we think SmileDirectClub is the better option for most of our readers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I choose SmileDirectClub or AlignerCo?
These are both strong companies that deliver quality products and results. That said, we think that SmileDirectClub’s experience, convenience and comprehensive guarantees make them the right choice for most of our readers.
How do I get started with SmileDirectClub or AlignerCo?
With either company, you’ll start the process by providing high-quality images of your teeth. If you choose AlignerCo, this means purchasing an impression kit, making molds of your teeth at home, and mailing them to the company. SmileDirectClub gives customers the option of using an at-home impression kit or scheduling an appointment at one of their SmileShops for an in-person teeth scan.
What are customers saying about SmileDirectClub and AlignerCo?
AlignerCo only has hundreds of reviews compared to SmileDirectClub’s thousands. But while nearly all of AlignerCo’s reviews are positive, SmileDirectClub’s are more of a mixed bag. They receive plenty of positive feedback, but they also have some customer complaints about inconsistent support and long response times.
What is the most effective clear aligner company?
It’s tough to contend with Invisalign. As a comprehensive in-office treatment that can incorporate orthodontic attachments, their aligners can handle just about any condition, no matter how severe. Their primary in-office competitors — ClearCorrect, SureSmile, and 3M Clarity Aligners — are just as effective.
How do I know which option is right for me?
We recommend carefully examining each company’s effectiveness, affordability, convenience, appearance, and customer support. By evaluating each one’s performance in these categories, you can find the company that best suits your needs and budget.
Will home aligners work for me?
It all depends on your specific misalignments. Home aligner companies can typically only fix moderate crowding and spacing problems, while anything beyond that is best treated by traditional orthodontics.
How do SmileDirectClub and AlignerCo compare to Invisalign?
These three companies all use clear aligners to straighten your teeth. However, Invisalign requires frequent in-person visits to a dentist or orthodontist, and it also costs much more than either SmileDirectClub or AlignerCo.
That said, Invisalign can fix a much wider variety of alignment problems than any at-home aligner company, because your dentist or orthodontist can use attachments to generate more significant shifts.
How long does home aligner treatment take?
For most companies, the average treatment time is six months. However, your treatment might be longer or shorter depending on your condition’s severity and how diligently you follow your prescribed wear schedule.
Does insurance cover home aligners?
Some dental insurance companies in Canada cover home aligners, but usually only up to 50% of the total cost. For more information, contact your insurance provider.
Are home aligners safe?
Yes! We understand that the concept of aligning your teeth at home might sound daunting, but it’s a perfectly safe process. You will still be using an alignment plan created by qualified dental professionals, and you can always contact customer support if you have any questions or concerns.
Do home aligners hurt?
Some people mention minor discomfort when first switching to a new set of aligners. Other than that, you will probably experience very little pain or discomfort at all throughout the entire process.
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