Trust surface
Where every figure on this site comes from
Every price here is one of three things, and the page always says which: a figure the provider publishes on its own site, with the date we read it; a figure a UK public body publishes, with the document named; or this site’s own estimate, labelled as an estimate. There is no fourth category. Where none of the three is available we print “not published” and leave the number out.
Chain prices were last read 3 November 2026. Full read dates: Boots Opticians read 3 November 2026; Vision Express and Asda Opticians 19 October 2026; Specsavers 2 October 2026; Optical Express 27 September 2026.
The opticians: each chain’s own page
No aggregator, no voucher site and no press report is used for a chain price. Each figure is read off the chain’s own page, and the bound is carried as the chain writes it: a “from” price stays a “from” price, an “up to” stays an “up to”. Where a chain publishes nothing for a service, that is recorded as not published rather than filled with a rival’s number or an average.
| Provider | Source page | Last read |
|---|---|---|
| Specsavers | specsavers.co.uk | 2 October 2026 |
| Boots Opticians | bootsopticians.com | 3 November 2026 |
| Vision Express | visionexpress.com | 19 October 2026 |
| Asda Opticians | opticians.asda.com | 19 October 2026 |
| Optical Express | opticalexpress.co.uk | 27 September 2026 |
One date is older than the rest and the reason is worth stating: specsavers.co.uk refuses automated requests from our server, returning HTTP 403 to both a plain fetch and a real browser. Its figures are therefore re-read by hand rather than on the same schedule as the others, and the Specsavers pages carry that older date openly instead of borrowing the newer one. Vision Express also contradicts itself on its own OCT page, which both says the scan is included at no extra charge and carries a line pricing it at £10 on top of a standard test; where a provider disagrees with itself we say so and follow its own price table.
The NHS layer: named documents
- England, eligibility. NHS free eye tests and optical vouchers guidance Source
- England and Wales, voucher values. NHSBSA HC11 voucher value schedule, bands A to H Source
- Scotland. NHS Inform free NHS eye examination for every resident Source
- Northern Ireland. HSC Business Services Organisation optical voucher values and sight test prices Source
- Optical practices in England. NHS Organisation Data Service, Optical Headquarters and Sites (eoptsite, eopthq), Open Government Licence. Drives the practice directory and every chain branch count on the site. Source
The practice register is a dated snapshot, not a live feed: the current one is 19 October 2026. Branch counts quoted anywhere on this site are counts of that snapshot for England, joined to each chain by its head-office ODS code. They are not company store totals and they do not cover Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, because the register this site carries does not.
What is our own estimate, and labelled as one
- Stage timings. The minute-by-minute breakdown of an appointment is our own guide. Three of the four chains publish an appointment length and one does not; the duration table shows which, and nothing is attributed to a chain that publishes no figure.
What we will not put a number on
- A named practice’s fee. The directory lists every optical practice on the NHS register in England, but it never prints a price for one. A practice’s own fee is its to publish, not ours to guess.
- A price a chain has withheld. Asda advertises an enhanced test with OCT at selected stores and publishes no price for it. That stays blank. The same goes for its standalone contact lens check and for every OCT figure at an independent practice.
- Independent and specialist fees. Independent practices and specialist clinics set their own fees and none publishes a national rate, so the site prints no range for a private sight test at an independent, or for a dry eye assessment, Humphrey perimetry or retinal photography where the chain publishes nothing. Those cells say “set by the practice” or “not published” instead of a guess.
- Personal patient data. The price chooser and the eligibility checker run entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is transmitted, logged or stored.
When figures change
A read date moves only when that provider’s own page has actually been read again. A price changes only when the provider changes it. The triggers we watch:
- A chain changes a published test, scan or contact lens fee
- A chain promotion on the eye test itself starts or expires
- The NHS or HSC changes eligibility, the sight-test fee or voucher values
- A new NHS optical-site register snapshot is published
Dates are not bumped for the sake of looking fresh. If a figure has not been re-read, its date says so.
Editorial position
This site is operated by Digital Signet, an independent AI-development studio. It does not sell eye tests, does not act as an optician-finder, does not run an optometry practice, and no payment changes where a practice appears or how it ranks. There are no affiliate links and no sponsor on the site today. An optician may sponsor it; a sponsor gets one labelled line, with no say over any price, ranking or page. The one way the site does earn is stated plainly: a practice may claim its own register page for nothing and then pay for an Enhanced listing, which adds its own description, services, hours and booking link in a panel labelled as supplied by the practice. It buys no position, no change to the register record and no change to a price published here. See who operates EyeTestCost.com for the operator and the wider network.
Editorial direction is set by Digital Signet's editor. Drafts are produced via Digital Signet's autonomous AI development methodology and reviewed against the editorial framework before publication.
Corrections
If a figure here is wrong, or a provider has changed a price we are still showing, tell us and it gets fixed: [email protected].