While both online furniture giants answer the search for stylish home goods, AllModern is a carefully selected subset of its parent company, Wayfair. AllModern offers a curated shopping experience focused exclusively on modern, contemporary, and mid-century design, while Wayfair is a massive marketplace covering every imaginable style, price point, and product category for the home.
Let's compare everything you need to know to decide whether the focused boutique or the endless aisle is right for your home.
AllModern: The Curated Modern Furniture Retailer
As a Wayfair-owned brand, AllModern carves out a niche by offering a tightly edited collection of modern furniture and decor. It caters to design-conscious shoppers who appreciate a clean, minimalist aesthetic and don't want to endlessly scroll through items that don't match their style. The brand simplifies the shopping process by pre-selecting pieces that fit a distinct contemporary vibe.
- Product mix: A comprehensive selection of home furnishings, including sofas, dining sets, beds, lighting, rugs, and decor, all adhering to a modern aesthetic.
- Style/vibe: Exclusively modern, with a strong focus on mid-century modern, Scandinavian, and minimalist designs. Think clean lines, neutral color palettes, organic shapes, and natural materials like wood and metal.
- Price point: Mid-range and accessible. Sofas typically fall between $500–$1,500, dining tables are in the $300–$1,200 range, and modern accent chairs can be found for $150–$600.
- Quality: Quality is generally consistent across its curated selection. Materials often include solid woods, engineered wood, metal frames, and performance fabrics designed to withstand daily life while maintaining a sleek look.
- Fit & Sizing: Many pieces are well-suited for urban living, with options for apartments and smaller homes. You'll find compact sectionals, apartment-sized sofas, and C-shaped side tables that are functional for modern layouts.
- Shopping Experience: The website is clean, intuitive, and easy to navigate. By removing non-modern items, the experience feels less overwhelming and more like shopping at a specialized design boutique.
- Sustainability: The brand makes an effort toward responsible sourcing, with some products featuring eco-friendly materials like FSC-certified wood and low-VOC finishes.
AllModern is the perfect destination for shoppers who know they want a modern look and appreciate a streamlined shopping experience without choice overload.
Shop AllModern: allmodern.com
Wayfair: The Everything Store for Home
Wayfair is one of the largest online destinations for home goods, operating as a vast marketplace with millions of products from thousands of different suppliers. Its core strength lies in its sheer volume and variety, offering everything from farmhouse sinks to bohemian tapestries and industrial coffee tables, all in one place. Its powerful search and filtering tools are essential for navigating its massive catalog.
- Product mix: An almost endless inventory of home items. This includes furniture, rugs, and lighting, but also extends to large appliances, outdoor structures, home improvement items, and even pet supplies.
- Style/vibe: Completely eclectic and all-encompassing. No matter your preference - traditional, coastal, modern, rustic, glam, or industrial - you will find countless options on Wayfair.
- Price point: Extremely varied, catering to every budget. You can find sofas for under $300 or designer pieces costing thousands. Frequent markdowns, "Open Box" deals, and daily sales are central to its pricing strategy.
- Quality: Quality is highly variable and depends entirely on the specific product and manufacturer. Items range from budget-friendly pieces made with MDF and particleboard to high-end furniture crafted from solid hardwood. Reading customer reviews is critical when shopping on Wayfair.
- Fit & Sizing: With millions of products, Wayfair offers furniture scaled for every possible space, from tiny apartments to sprawling suburban homes. Its detailed filtering tools allow you to search by specific width, height, and depth.
- Return policy: Most items can be returned within 30 days of delivery for a refund or store credit, though return shipping fees usually apply to furniture.
- Sustainability: Sustainability practices vary widely across the thousands of brands sold on the site. Wayfair has made internal efforts to improve, but shoppers need to research individual product certifications.
Look to Wayfair when you want the largest possible selection, the most competitive pricing, and items for every part of your home renovation journey.
Shop Wayfair: wayfair.com
AllModern vs. Wayfair Comparison
Price Comparison
Both retailers are known for competitive pricing, but their approach differs. AllModern offers consistent, mid-range pricing on modern styles, feeling like an accessible but design-focused brand. Its sales are typically tied to major holidays.
Wayfair, however, is built on a model of constant deals and a massive price spectrum. You can find extremely low-budget items alongside premium pieces. For shoppers who love to hunt for a bargain or have a very specific budget, Wayfair's dynamic pricing and frequent sales present more opportunities to save money across all product types.
Style & Aesthetic
This is the primary point of difference. AllModern is a specialist. Its entire catalog is dedicated to modern, mid-century, and Scandinavian design. This focused curation provides a cohesive and stylish experience for those committed to a specific look.
Wayfair is a generalist. It’s a repository of nearly every home decor style, from French country to coastal grandmother to ultramodern. While you can find modern pieces on Wayfair, you'll need to sift through many other styles to find them. AllModern does that curatorial work for you.
Quality & Construction
Because AllModern curates its collection, it maintains a more consistent level of quality. While not high-end luxury, its items generally offer good value for the price, utilizing materials like engineered wood, kiln-dried hardwood frames, and metal accents that align with modern design.
Wayfair's quality is a mixed bag. This marketplace model means you can find exceptional, long-lasting furniture as well as cheaply made, "fast furniture" that may not stand the test of time. Customer reviews, user-submitted photos, and detailed material specs are your best friends when trying to assess an item's durability on Wayfair.
Product Selection
Think of it as depth versus breadth. AllModern offers deep selection within one specific category: modern furnishings. You'll find hundreds of variations of a modern-style accent chair.
Wayfair offers incredible breadth across all categories. It sells millions of products, including things AllModern doesn't carry, like plumbing fixtures, decking, or major appliances. If you're undertaking a full home remodel and need more than just furniture, Wayfair is the more comprehensive destination.
Shopping Experience
Shopping on AllModern is a calm, focused experience. The clean user interface and edited assortment make browsing pleasant and efficient. It's easy to find what you're looking for without getting distracted or overwhelmed.
Shopping on Wayfair can be overwhelming due to its endless digital aisles. Its extensive search filters are a necessity, allowing you to narrow down options by color, material, dimensions, rating, and much more. It's a powerful tool for decisive shoppers but can lead to "choice paralysis" for those who aren't sure what they want.
Which One Should You Choose?
The right choice comes down to how you prefer to shop and what your design goals are.
Choose AllModern if:
- You are specifically looking for modern, mid-century, or Scandinavian furniture.
- You appreciate a curated, boutique-like shopping experience and are easily overwhelmed by too many options.
- You value design cohesion and want to ensure pieces from different categories will work well together.
- You want consistent, reliable quality in the mid-range price category without having to read dozens of reviews for every item.
Choose Wayfair if:
- You want the largest possible selection to find the perfect piece at the perfect price.
- You are on a tight budget and need access to the most affordable options on the market.
- You are furnishing a home with multiple different styles or are not committed to one specific look.
- You enjoy the "thrill of the hunt" and are willing to use filters and read reviews to pinpoint the best deals and quality items.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is AllModern owned by Wayfair?
Yes, AllModern is one of Wayfair's specialty retail brands. It operates alongside others like Joss & Main (glamorous and trend-forward styles) and Birch Lane (classic and traditional), all under the Wayfair umbrella. This means they often share logistics and customer service infrastructure.
Is AllModern or Wayfair cheaper?
Wayfair generally has more cheap options. Its vast marketplace includes many budget-friendly brands. AllModern focuses on the mid-range price point, offering good value for its specific modern aesthetic, but you are less likely to find rock-bottom prices compared to a broad search on Wayfair.
Which has better quality furniture?
AllModern is more consistent in its quality. By curating its selection, it maintains a certain standard across its products. Wayfair's quality varies dramatically from product to product, so shoppers must do their own research by carefully reading reviews and product specifications.
Can you find AllModern products on Wayfair?
Occasionally, you may see the same or very similar items sold on both sites, as they are part of the same company and sometimes use the same suppliers. However, AllModern's main value is that it isolates these modern pieces from Wayfair's broader catalog.
What are the return policies?
Both AllModern and Wayfair generally allow you to return most items within 30 days of delivery. For furniture and other large items, you will likely be responsible for return shipping costs. Always check the specific return policy for the item you're purchasing, as some - like clearance items - may be final sale.
Which is better for small spaces?
AllModern is excellent for small spaces because its modern aesthetic naturally lends itself to smaller-scale furniture perfect for apartments and condos. However, Wayfair's powerful search filters allow you to search for furniture by exact dimensions, which can be invaluable when trying to fit a piece into a specific nook.
Which platform is easier to shop on?
AllModern is easier for those who want a simple, visually-driven shopping experience within a specific style. Wayfair is better for users who are comfortable with using detailed filters to navigate a massive inventory to find exactly what they're looking for.
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