What are the barriers standing between you and the orthodontic treatment you need? If you’re like many adults, price is at the top of the list. Because they deliver clear aligners directly to you, at-home aligner services offer more affordable treatment than in-office options like Invisalign — but two companies stand higher than most others in affordability: NewSmile and AlignerCo.
Both companies let you straighten your teeth without breaking the bank. But between NewSmile and AlignerCo, which one is the better option for you? This comparison guide covers all the details, positioning you to make the best decision for your smile.
Table of Contents
Our Review Methodology
Smile Prep’s reviews are prepared and presented from the perspective of a well-informed consumer. Our starting point for all of our reviews is a careful survey of a company’s marketing claims and available third party customer reviews. We rely on the accuracy of company claims and do not independently verify them. Our reviews use this information to help our readers get information about the available options in a centralized location. You can learn more about our review process by checking out our publishing principles.
NewSmile vs. AlignerCo: Overview
If you’ve got a mild or moderate misalignment, NewSmile and AlignerCo are both probably viable options — plus, they’re two of the most affordable ones out there. But that doesn’t mean they’re identical. They each have unique prices, products, and advantages.
| NewSmile | AlignerCo | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | All-Day: $1,595 Nighttime: $1,695 | All-Day: $995 Nighttime: $1,195 |
| Financing | All-Day: $180 down, 36 monthly payments of $74 Nighttime: $190 down, 36 monthly payments of $78 | All-Day: $335 down, 6 monthly payments of $135 Nighttime: $445 down, 6 monthly payments of $150 |
| Advertised Treatment Plan Length | All-Day: 4–6 months Nighttime: 8–10 months | All-Day: 4–6 months Nighttime: 6–8 months |
| Startup Options | Impression kit | Impression kit |
| Nighttime Option | Yes | Yes |
| Aligner Kit Includes | Aligners, whitening, one set of retainers | Aligners, whitening, one set of retainers |
Our Recommendation
We think both companies deliver quality care and products, but if we have to give one the nod, it’s NewSmile. Here’s why.
- Free Refinements: If you wear your aligners as directed and complete your check-ins, yet your smile doesn’t match your treatment preview, NewSmile will issue refinement aligners for free. AlignerCo charges $200 extra for each refinement.
- Positive Customer Reviews: Neither company has a ton of customer reviews, but NewSmile appears to have a higher percentage of positive ones, and many of AlignerCo’s are from people who are just beginning the process.
Is NewSmile Right for You?
Everyone has different teeth, budgets, and priorities, so the best smile for you is unique to your particular circumstances. But if you have a mild-to-moderate misalignment, NewSmile might be a solid choice. We read up on their treatment scope, affordability, convenience, appearance, and customer support, and scored them 4.3/5 overall.
Scope of Treatment Comparison
NewSmile and AlignerCo both offer clear aligner therapy that you’ll handle 100% from the comfort of your own home. They’ve helped thousands of customers smile with confidence — and based on the reviews, many are satisfied with their results. But to benefit from any clear aligner option, your misalignments must fall within their scope of treatment.
NewSmile Treatment Scope
AlignerCo Treatment Scope
- Treats mild-to-moderate cosmetic concerns.
- Focuses primarily on the front 6–8 teeth in either arch.
- Requires bi-weekly photo check-ins.
- Treats mild-to-moderate cosmetic concerns
- Mostly moves the front 6–8 teeth in either arch.
- Requires bi-weekly photo check-ins.
What NewSmile and AlignerCo Treat
NewSmile’s website doesn’t offer a lot of details on their treatment scope. However, we spoke to a representative, and they told us their aligners can treat the following issues:
- Mild-to-moderate crowding
- Mild-to-moderate spacing
- Mild-to-moderate overbite and overjet
- Localized crossbite
- Limited underbite
- Limited open bites
Additionally, their representative said their aligners help stop damage caused by bruxism (aka, tooth grinding).
How does this compare to AlignerCo’s abilities? The two are pretty similar. According to their website, AlignerCo can typically address the following issues:
- Mild-to-moderate crowding
- Mild-to-moderate spacing
- Mild-to-moderate overbite or overjet
- Limited underbite
- Localized crossbite
Both companies primarily focus on moving the frontmost 6–8 teeth in either arch. However, there might be cases where they can move others. To know exactly what they can — or can’t — do for your smile, you’ll need to complete an impression kit.
What NewSmile and AlignerCo Customers Say
The older a company, the more reviews you’ll find online, making it easy to see how well those scope of treatment claims match reality. NewSmile and AlignerCo are both younger than some competitors, so they don’t have quite as many reviews. Of the ones we found, though, customers who reported their specific misalignment often said they received treatment for crowding or gaps in their teeth, not bite issues.
Clinical Oversight
A concern many people have with remote aligners is the lack of in-person oversight. Most companies aim to make up for this with remote check-ins. Both NewSmile and AlignerCo have you check in via an app every 14 days, uploading photos of your smile for their team to assess. If their team notices anything wrong, they will provide feedback and may alter your wear schedule. We don’t consider remote oversight as robust as in-person office visits, but it can still be reassuring to have eyes on your smile every couple of weeks.
Quality of Materials
At-home aligners cannot incorporate attachments, and that means all their force comes from their plastic. NewSmile and AlignerCo both use orthodontic plastic from Raintree Essix. They manufacture premium plastics that have been used by aligner companies since 2005, so we’re confident in the quality of their materials.
Affordability Comparison
Even if your aligners can treat your condition, it won’t matter much if you can’t afford them. NewSmile and AlignerCo stand out for their low price points, flexible financing options, and free extras. Not only are they thousands cheaper than traditional orthodontics, but they’re also two of the most affordable at-home aligner options.
NewSmile Affordability
AlignerCo Affordability
- $1,595 sticker price ($1,695 for their Night Aligners).
- Includes your first set of aftercare retainers.
- Includes free whitening solution.
- Their impression kit costs $49, but it’s included when you choose their Fast Track plan.
- Offers two financing plans — one with a credit check and one without.
- The sticker price is $995 ($1,195 for NightOnly).
- The initial payment includes the first set of aftercare retainers.
- Includes a free whitening kit if you choose the SmileAdvantage or SmileFlex payment plans.
- Their impression kit costs $75, but it’s free if you pay for your aligners upfront or enroll in a financing plan.
- Multiple financing options — one requires a soft credit check, the other requires a down payment.
Sticker Price
Let’s kick things off with the most important detail: sticker price! NewSmile has two prices, depending on if you use their all-day system or want nighttime-only aligners: $1,595 and $1,695 respectively. AlignerCo’s all-day treatment is $995, while their NightOnly aligners cost $1,195.
Bonus Items
You might think those sticker prices are already pretty enticing, but the bonus items each company includes make them even better. Both include one set of aftercare retainers, which normally cost $149 (NewSmile) or $199 (AlignerCo), plus whitening products, so you can brighten and straighten your smile at the same time.
Financing Options
Both options let you enroll in a financing plan rather than pay for treatment outright, and both companies offer plans that don’t require credit checks, so everyone qualifies. Here’s how they compare for all-day treatment.
| NewSmile Plan (Affirm) | NewSmile Plan (HFD) | AlignerCo SmileFlex | AlignerCo SmileFlex Easy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Down Payment | None | $180 | None | $335 |
| Monthly Payments | $58 | $74 | $83 | $135 |
| Term Length | 36 months | 36 months | 12 months | 6 months |
| Credit Check? | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Total Cost | $2,088 | $2,884 | $995 | $1,145 |
Because each of their nighttime-only plans cost more, the financing plans look slightly different. Take a look:
| NewSmile Plan (Affirm) | NewSmile Plan (HFD) | AlignerCo SmileFlex | AlignerCo SmileFlex Easy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Down Payment | None | $190 | None | $445 |
| Monthly Payments | $64 | $78 | $99.5 | $150 |
| Term Length | 36 months | 36 months | 12 months | 6 months |
| Credit Check? | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Total Cost | $2,304 | $2,998 | $1,195 | $1,345 |
Just be sure to check the terms before you sign up for a payment plan. Depending on the interest, it could cost you a lot more in the end.
Convenience Comparison
Lower prices are one big draw for remote aligners over traditional treatment, but another is convenience. They let you avoid regular office visits and free up your schedule. But there is more to convenience than seeing the doctor, and we think these two have taken measures to give each customer a smooth, streamlined treatment.
NewSmile Convenience
AlignerCo Convenience
- They don’t have any in-person locations in the US at the moment.
- They say their average treatment plans are 4–6 months long (or 8–10 months for Night Aligners).
- Takes 7–8 weeks to design, produce, and ship your aligners.
- Night Aligners only require ten consecutive hours of daily wear.
- You’ll need to complete the impression kit to start treatment.
- They claim their average treatment plan length is 4–6 months, or 6–8 months for NightOnly.
- Takes around five weeks to design, produce, and ship your aligners.
- Their NightOnly plan only requires ten hours of aligner wear per day.
Getting Started
The first step for any clear aligner treatment is getting physical molds or digital scans of your teeth. Your provider’s dental team will use these to determine if you are a candidate for treatment, and if so, begin designing your aligners.
Some remote aligner companies have physical locations where a technician will provide intraoral scans. While we are not dental professionals, our team has reviewed studies which show these scans can be more accurate and more comfortable than impressions. At the moment, however, NewSmile and AlignerCo do not. You will need to order their kits and take impressions at home, then ship them back. We think it’s nice that you can complete the process from home, but some customers have a hard time making dental molds on their own and require multiple tries to get it right.
NewSmile’s impression kit costs $49, and AlignerCo’s costs $75, but both companies will include it in the cost of your treatment if you pay for everything upfront.
How Long Does Treatment Take?
In-office treatments like Invisalign often take 12–24 months. At-home options typically take less time — but that’s primarily because they only treat minor misalignments, which don’t take as long to correct. NewSmile and AlignerCo claim to have the same average treatment plan lengths: 4–6 months with standard wear (22 hours a day).
Nighttime-only plans usually take longer, since you’ll wear your aligners for fewer hours per day. AlignerCo’s says their NightOnly plan usually lasts 6–8 months, and NewSmile claims their Night Aligners often take 8–10 months.
Turnaround Times
So, you’ve mailed in your impressions and the company says you’re a candidate for treatment. Great! But you won’t find your aligners on your doorstep the next day. AlignerCo will take about two weeks to send your treatment preview, then another three to manufacture and ship your aligners. With NewSmile, the entire process takes around 7–8 weeks, which is slightly longer than many other companies, including in-office options like Invisalign.
What About Nighttime-Only Treatment?
Clear aligners might be convenient, but some customers find that removing them, cleaning your teeth, and replacing them every time you eat can get annoying. Every meal, every snack, every time you drink anything besides plain water, you repeat the ritual.
Nighttime-only aligners circumvent this issue. You wear them for ten continuous hours — no removing them for any reason. Brush, floss, and put them in after your last meal, then take them out before your first meal of the next day. Not all companies offer this option, but NewSmile and AlignerCo do.
Appearance Comparison
If there is one feature that brought clear aligners to fame, it’s their practically invisible appearance. While all aligners look the same at a glance, there are subtle differences in most companies’ designs. Even though AlignerCo and NewSmile make almost identical aligners, you might find that one suits your tastes and preferences better than the other.
NewSmile Appearance
AlignerCo Appearance
- Uses smooth, transparent, shiny plastic.
- Scallops aligners to match the gum line.
- They cannot incorporate attachments.
- Uses a smooth, transparent, shiny plastic.
- Scallops their aligners to match your gum line.
- Cannot use supplemental attachments.
Aligner Material
There are plenty of choices for clear, dental-grade plastic, some of which look better than others. We think textured, translucent, matte plastic is usually the most natural-looking, since it most closely matches the clarity and porosity of the enamel.
NewSmile and AlignerCo both use smooth, transparent plastic, which can reflect light and, in our opinion, look artificially shiny. Some people like this extra shine in their smile, while others prefer a more natural look.
Aligner Cut
Aligners that overlap the gums may have improved force transfer and stress distribution, according to this study. However, we think the scalloped cut NewSmile and AlignerCo use can be more discreet. Scalloped cuts hide the edge of the aligners in the gum line, making it harder for other people to realize you are wearing them.
Supplemental Attachments
Dentists and orthodontists can add tiny attachments to your teeth to help Invisalign, ClearCorrect and other in-office aligners improve their retention and orthodontic tooth movement. But these attachments can also make the aligners more visible. Since their application requires in-person care, they are a non-issue with NewSmile and AlignerCo.
Patient Experience Comparison
Remote treatments don’t provide any one-on-one interaction with your doctor. How you feel about your treatment in the end rests heavily on your provider’s customer support team and company policies. In our view, NewSmile and AlignerCo are less individualized than in-person care, but they appear to be dedicated to delivering a great experience, and NewSmile goes slightly further to ensure it.
NewSmile Patient Experience
AlignerCo Patient Experience
- Offers support via phone and email. They will also respond to messages on social media.
- Requires photos/videos of your teeth for check-ins every two weeks.
- Will provide refinement aligners if your end results don’t match your treatment preview.
- Provides standard support options, including webchat and video chat.
- Your oversight is all remote, via bi-weekly check-ins.
- You can request a $200 refinement if you followed your plan and aren’t satisfied with your results.
Communication Channels
When you need help or have questions, you reach out to the customer support team. You can reach either company by phone, email, and social media. They also offer video chats for assistance with their impression kit, and AlignerCo has a webchat feature you can message anytime.
NewSmile is available Monday–Saturday from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm PT and Sunday from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm PST. AlignerCo has slightly better hours: 9 am to 6 pm ET, seven days a week.
Virtual Check-Ins
This might sound like a remote consultation, but it’s really just submitting photos of your teeth. You won’t get to engage directly with one of AlignerCo or NewSmile’s dentists, but their team will provide feedback on your photos, telling you when to proceed to your next aligner set and adjusting your wear schedule if anything looks off.
Refund & Warranty Policies
The industry standard for refund policies is that you can only get one if you change your mind before opening your impression kit or if the company decides you aren’t suited to treatment. This is the extent of NewSmile and AlignerCo’s refund policies.
But if you look in the mirror at the end of treatment and your smile doesn’t match your treatment preview, NewSmile will create refinement aligners to “help you achieve the results of your original Treatment Preview.” That’s only if you followed your wear schedule and completed all your virtual check-ins, though. Otherwise, you may need to pay extra. AlignerCo also offers refinement aligners, but for an extra $200, and only if you followed treatment instructions well.
Company Overviews
The battle between NewSmile and AlignerCo is one of budget-friendly providers. NewSmile is the younger of the two. In 2020, they began selling aligners in Vancouver, and they launched in the US shortly after.
NewSmile is a fully remote treatment that addresses cosmetic alignment issues. This means it can close small gaps, add some space where there is mild crowding, and in very limited cases, correct bite issues that don’t involve the jawbone. It cannot move molars, so it only corrects issues in the front six to eight teeth. You check in virtually throughout treatment and many customers finish treatment in 4–6 months (or 8–10 with nighttime treatment).
AlignerCo is very similar. It’s fully remote, strictly treats cosmetic issues, and includes remote monitoring. Founded in 2019, it’s also a young company, and has the same average treatment times. However, AlignerCo undercuts NewSmile’s already low prices by about $600.
What Are Customers Saying?
One of the best ways to see what a certain treatment entails is to see what actual customers say about it. We’ve dug through online reviews of NewSmile and AlignerCo to see what real users think.
NewSmile
Some companies in this industry have hundreds or even thousands of reviews; that’s not the case for NewSmile, as they’re a newer and somewhat smaller company than some other options.
They don’t have a wealth of online reviews, but many of the reviews we could find were positive and enthusiastic. NewSmile’s customers generally love the quality of their aligners, as well as the friendliness of their support team. Those who did register complaints mainly expressed disappointment with delayed turnaround times and issues with manufacturing defects — although these complaints are few and far between.
Here are some quotes from videos submitted by real customers, along with links to a couple of their full video reviews below:
We have full video reviews from a few different NewSmile customers, and you can watch them all on our YouTube channel.
AlignerCo
AlignerCo is a younger company than some of their competitors, but they still have a solid number of customer reviews online. Unfortunately, many of these reviews come from people who are very early in the process — we found a lot that only covered the impression kit video chat. It’s nice to know that AlignerCo’s support team is helpful early on, but that also makes it tough to get a full view of their customer experience.
That said, most customers have glowing reviews for AlignerCo. Many say it’s a great value for the price, praise the responsiveness of the customer support team, and love how easy the whole process is.
However, some reviewers were frustrated that their results didn’t match their treatment preview, and that AlignerCo made them pay $200 for a refinement — or multiple refinements. Others noted that AlignerCo’s customer support was responsive, but constantly trying to upsell them. Still, the positive reviews outweigh the negative ones.
Both of these customers sent us multiple videos covering their entire AlignerCo experiences, from unboxing to retainers. You can watch them all on our YouTube channel.
Which Should You Choose?
In our opinion, NewSmile and AlignerCo are both excellent companies that deliver great results. But while both are solid options, one will be a better fit for your goals and expectations.
Who Should Consider AlignerCo?
AlignerCo is good for those who:
- Need the absolute lowest price.
- Want multiple financing options.
- Prioritize providers with more experience.
Who Should Consider NewSmile?
NewSmile is good for anyone who:
- Wants some great bonus items.
- Wants low monthly payments.
- Is worried about having to pay for refinements.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get started with NewSmile or AlignerCo?
Head to their websites. You need to choose the type of aligners and payment option, then place your order. Or, you can order an impression kit without committing to an aligner plan.
How much do NewSmile and AlignerCo cost?
NewSmile has different prices for their all-day system and nighttime-only aligners: $1,595 and $1,695 respectively. AlignerCo’s all-day treatment is $995, while their NightOnly aligners cost $1,195.
What are NewSmile and AlignerCo customers saying?
Overall, both companies have positive reviews. Customers are happy with their low prices, solid results, and speedy treatment times.
How long do NewSmile and AlignerCo take?
Both companies say their average treatment plans are 4–6 months with their all-day plans. NewSmile claims their Night Aligners take 8–10 months on average and AlignerCo says their NightOnly option usually lasts 6–8 months.
Can I wear my aligners only at night?
Yes! Both NewSmile and AlignerCo offer nighttime treatment.
What conditions can NewSmile and AlignerCo treat?
They mostly treat mild-to-moderate cases of crowding and spacing in the front six to eight teeth.
What is the cheapest clear aligner company?
Among the companies we’ve reviewed, AlignerCo is the most affordable, and NewSmile is a close second.
Does insurance cover clear aligners?
Sometimes. Insurance companies are more likely to cover in-office treatment than remote options. They also don’t usually cover cosmetic corrections and are hesitant to pay for adult orthodontics in general. Talk to your provider to learn more about your coverage limits.
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