Gems are beautiful and highly-priced rare mineral stones used in making jewellery whereas crystals are pure substances that have arranged molecules.

A crystal will not always be a gem whilst a gemstone could be a crystal.

Gems can have an organic base such as amber or mineral bases like diamond or ruby. On the other hand, crystals are solids that are composed of atoms and molecules arranged in a regular order, which may extend in three dimensions. These are the objects which have well-arranged geometric shapes.

Gems can be precious or semi-precious objects that are used in jewellery. As an illustration, the precious gemstones are diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald.

The classification of Gems is dependent on the chemical composition and the crystal structure of gemstone while crystals can be classified as cubic, tetragonal, rhombohedral, hexagonal, orthorhombic and monoclinic.

When the value of crystals and gems gets compared, the latter ones are more expensive. The crystals are different from the gems when get compared according to the hardness, refractive index, specific gravity, fluorescence and durability. Different gems and different crystals have different properties.

Crystals and gems also have difference according to their colours. When compared, the gems come in different colours shades such as red, blue and green. On the other hand, the colours of crystals vary according to the transmission of light through them.

If gems and crystal get compared according to the order of magnitude, Crystals would come first followed by gemstones because they come in various shapes/sizes and can be used in various settings while gemstones are used for making human adornment only.

Another greater difference is, gemstones are generally used in making jewellery and decoration pieces whilst crystals are the minerals that are used in various applications like jewellery, healing, vases, scientific purposes, etc.