Hardness
The Mohs scale measures gemstone hardness on a scale from one to ten. Diamond reigns supreme at a perfect 10, while Moissanite closely follows at around 9.25 to 9.5, making it the second hardest gemstone, just behind natural diamond.
Brilliance
The brilliance of a gem is gauged by its refractive index. Moissanite outshines natural diamonds in brilliance, boasting a refractive index of 2.65 to 2.69! while natural diamonds measure at 2.42.
Fire
When assessing a gem's fire dispersion, Moissanite surpasses natural diamonds, scoring at .104! compared to a natural diamond's .044.
Chemical Compound
Natural diamonds is almost 100% carbon whereas a Moissanite is made of silicon carbide.
Social Impact
Natural diamonds have a notorious history of being coined the terms Blood Diamond and conflict Diamonds. Which are diamonds mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, an invading army's war efforts, terrorism, or a drug cartel activity. The term is used to highlight the negative associations of the diamond trade in certain areas, or due to its easy transport used as currency to fund various illegal activities.
Ultimately there is not a 100% guarantee that although there's paperwork and there's a paper trail that even then one can't guarantee if the natural diamond has been involved in illicit activities and or conflict; only because it does exchange hands from one human to another. Therefore, many opt for Moissanite because it's lab produced and conflict-free.
Environmental Impact
Mining is the extraction of minerals in this case natural diamonds and other geological materials of economic value from deposits on the earth mining can adversely affect the environment by inducing loss of biodiversity soil erosion and contamination of surface water groundwater and soil mining can also trigger the formation of sinkholes. Furthermore, it affects the natural habitat and animal life surrounding the mining sites. Those that do not support that cause then might opt Moissanite as it's created in the lab and does not create that type of environmental negative impact.
Price
Moissanite is 20 to 40 times less than natural diamonds. To put it in perspective, 1 carat Moissanite to a 1 carat natural diamond is anywhere between the low $200s to the mid $300s versus 1 carat diamond $8,000- $10,000.