We rank dental savings plans on four criteria in this order: real total price, network size, what actually gets discounted, and speed to use. Prices come from each carrier's own listings, re-checked at every update. Careington 500 Series currently ranks first, though Humana and Aetna Dental Savings cost less for one person. No plan pays for placement.
This page explains the method behind the rankings. The ranked results themselves live on best dental savings plans, with side-by-side pricing on compare all plans.
Dental Savings Guide ranks dental savings plans on four criteria, always in the same order: price (the real lowest complete rate), network size (whether a dentist near you participates), what actually gets discounted (cleanings through crowns, implants, and dentures), and speed to use (activation in about 3 business days). The criteria are published on our best dental savings plans page, and no plan pays to change them.
| Order | Criterion | What we check |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Price | The real lowest complete rate an individual can pay, not a teaser rate. |
| 2 | Network size | How likely you are to find an in-network dentist near you. |
| 3 | What actually gets discounted | Whether discounts reach routine cleanings as well as crowns, implants, and dentures. |
| 4 | Speed to use | A savings plan should activate in days, not months. |
These four factors match our published evaluation note word for word in substance. We publish the order the factors are applied, not numeric weights, because the weights shift with each buyer's situation.
Careington 500 Series ranks first: one of the largest U.S. discount dental networks, 20-60% advertised savings, $12.95/mo individual ($129/yr plus a $20 one-time enrollment fee), couple and family tiers, and activation in about 3 business days. Humana Dental Savings ($6.99/mo) and Aetna Dental Savings ($7.99/mo) cost less for a single person if price matters more to you than network breadth.
Here is the full ranking as it stands today. Prices and network figures below come from our verified plan data; the ranking applies all four criteria together, so the editorial rating alone does not set the order.
| Rank | Plan | Editorial rating | Individual price | Network | Advertised savings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Careington 500 Series | 4.4/5 | $12.95/mo ($129/yr plus a $20 one-time enrollment fee) | One of the largest U.S. dental networks | 20-60% |
| 2 | Humana Dental Savings | 4.0/5 | $6.99/mo (priced per applicant) | 135,000+ network dentists | 20-40% |
| 3 | 1Dental Care 500 (Careington network) | 4.3/5 | $175/yr single, $229/yr household of 3+, billed annually | Runs on the Careington network, one of the largest in the U.S. | 20-60% |
| 4 | Aetna Dental Savings | 4.2/5 | $7.99/mo individual | 262,000+ provider locations | 15-50% |
| 5 | Cigna Dental Savings | 4.1/5 | $8/mo individual | ~110,000 in-network dentists | 15-40% |
Plan data verified carrier-direct July 2026. Advertised savings ranges are the carriers' own claims; actual discounts vary by dentist and procedure.
Aspen Dental Savings is reviewed separately because it fails the network-size criterion by design: the $49/yr membership works only at Aspen Dental offices, roughly 1,000-plus locations, rather than an open network where any participating dentist accepts the card. A closed office list cannot be compared fairly against the Careington network or the Cigna dentist count, so Aspen gets its own review instead of a rank.
If you live near an Aspen office and like their pricing, our Aspen Dental savings review covers what the $49/yr membership includes.
No. Dental Savings Guide earns referral commissions when a reader enrolls through links on the site, disclosed in the footer of every page, but commissions do not buy placement. That is why Careington can rank first while this site says plainly that Humana and Aetna Dental Savings cost less for one person, and why DentalPlans.com is described as a marketplace competitor rather than a recommended plan.
Every price comes from the carrier's own published rates and is re-checked at each update. The current table reflects plan data verified carrier-direct in July 2026, with page updates through August 2026. When a carrier changes pricing mid-year, the affected pages get corrected before anything else ships, because a stale price is worse than no ranking at all.
Dental Savings Guide ranks dental savings plans on four criteria, always in the same order: price (the real lowest complete rate), network size (whether a dentist near you participates), what actually gets discounted (cleanings through crowns, implants, and dentures), and speed to use (activation in about 3 business days). The criteria are published on our best dental savings plans page, and no plan pays to change them.
Careington 500 Series ranks first: one of the largest U.S. discount dental networks, 20-60% advertised savings, $12.95/mo individual ($129/yr plus a $20 one-time enrollment fee), couple and family tiers, and activation in about 3 business days. Humana Dental Savings ($6.99/mo) and Aetna Dental Savings ($7.99/mo) cost less for a single person if price matters more to you than network breadth.
Aspen Dental Savings is reviewed separately because it fails the network-size criterion by design: the $49/yr membership works only at Aspen Dental offices, roughly 1,000-plus locations, rather than an open network where any participating dentist accepts the card. A closed office list cannot be compared fairly against the Careington network or the Cigna dentist count, so Aspen gets its own review instead of a rank.
No. Dental Savings Guide earns referral commissions when a reader enrolls through links on the site, disclosed in the footer of every page, but commissions do not buy placement. That is why Careington can rank first while this site says plainly that Humana and Aetna Dental Savings cost less for one person, and why DentalPlans.com is described as a marketplace competitor rather than a recommended plan.