Buying tile online used to feel like ordering sushi from a gas station: technically possible, but emotionally risky. Thankfully, 2024 gave homeowners, designers, DIY warriors, and “I watched three renovation videos so now I’m basically a contractor” shoppers a much better way to find beautiful tile without driving to six showrooms and pretending to understand grout haze.
Today, the best places to buy tile online offer far more than a few beige squares and a checkout button. You can order samples, compare porcelain tile with ceramic tile, browse marble mosaics, test backsplash ideas, schedule design help, filter by room, and ship tile directly to your home. Some retailers are budget-friendly giants. Others specialize in handmade zellige, cement tile, artisan ceramics, luxury stone, or designer collections that make your powder room look like it has a passport.
This guide breaks down the 10 best online tile stores in 2024 based on selection, sample programs, style range, shipping convenience, customer experience, and overall usefulness for real-life remodeling projects. Whether you are planning a kitchen backsplash, bathroom floor, shower wall, laundry room refresh, fireplace surround, patio, or full-home renovation, these are the online tile retailers worth bookmarking before you commit to a cart full of rectangles.
How We Chose the Best Places to Buy Tile Online
The online tile market is crowded, shiny, and occasionally overwhelming. To keep this list useful, we focused on U.S.-based or U.S.-serving retailers with strong product variety, clear shopping tools, sample availability, realistic shipping options, and enough design credibility to help shoppers avoid the classic “looked white online, arrived toothpaste blue” disaster.
We also considered who each store serves best. A contractor buying 900 square feet of porcelain floor tile has different needs than a homeowner hunting for handmade green kitchen backsplash tile. The best online tile store is not always the fanciest one; it is the one that matches your budget, timeline, style, and tolerance for decision-making before coffee.
1. TileBar: Best Overall Online Tile Store
TileBar earns a top spot because it feels built for modern online tile shopping. The website is easy to browse, the selection is huge, and the styles range from clean subway tile to dramatic marble looks, terrazzo, mosaics, fluted tile, pool tile, and designer-friendly statement pieces. It is especially strong for kitchen backsplashes, bathroom walls, shower tile, and trendy-but-not-too-weird patterns.
Why TileBar Stands Out
TileBar is a favorite for shoppers who want style without showroom intimidation. Its sample program is one of the most convenient in the industry, making it easier to test color, texture, and finish at home before ordering full boxes. The site also offers design support, clear categories, and plenty of inspiration for people who know they want “something pretty” but cannot yet explain whether that means honed marble, glossy ceramic, or a tile that looks like it belongs in a boutique hotel lobby.
Best for: Stylish homeowners, backsplash projects, bathroom remodels, modern tile trends, and shoppers who want lots of samples before choosing.
2. Floor & Decor: Best for Budget-Friendly Large Projects
Floor & Decor is a powerhouse for anyone buying tile in serious quantities. If you are remodeling a bathroom, tiling an entryway, or covering a large kitchen floor, this retailer is hard to ignore. It offers a massive range of porcelain, ceramic, stone, mosaics, decorative tile, grout, trim, tools, and installation materials, which means you can buy almost everything for a project in one place.
Why Floor & Decor Is Great Online
The site lets shoppers filter by material, color, size, shape, room, style, and availability. That matters when you are choosing between 300 gray tiles that all claim to be “warm.” Floor & Decor also offers online samples for many products, plus physical stores in many U.S. markets, which is a major advantage if you want to see tile in person or pick up materials quickly.
Best for: Large floor tile orders, value pricing, DIY renovations, contractors, and shoppers who want both online convenience and store pickup options.
3. The Home Depot: Best for Convenience and Familiar Brands
The Home Depot is not the most boutique tile destination, but it is one of the most practical. It carries thousands of floor and wall tile options online, including porcelain tile, ceramic tile, natural stone, glass tile, peel-and-stick tile, mosaics, and popular brands such as MSI, Merola Tile, Daltile, and Ivy Hill Tile.
Why It Works for Everyday Tile Buyers
The big advantage is convenience. You can compare reviews, check local availability, order samples on many products, buy online, pick up in store, and return many eligible items through a familiar retail system. For homeowners who are already buying paint, tools, vanities, and a suspicious number of storage bins, adding tile to the same shopping ecosystem is wonderfully efficient.
Best for: Practical remodels, affordable tile, quick shipping, store pickup, and homeowners who want recognizable brands with lots of customer reviews.
4. Lowe’s: Best for Easy Sampling and DIY-Friendly Shopping
Lowe’s is another excellent online tile source for everyday homeowners. Its tile section includes floor tile, wall tile, backsplash tile, shower tile, outdoor tile, mosaics, and tile samples. The site is particularly useful for shoppers who want to compare finishes, shapes, and colors without getting lost in a sea of ultra-luxury options that cost more than the refrigerator.
Why Lowe’s Belongs on the List
Lowe’s makes tile shopping approachable. The product pages are easy to understand, sample availability is clearly presented for many items, and the store carries popular options such as marble-look porcelain, subway tile, patterned ceramic, wood-look tile, and budget-friendly mosaics. It is also a strong choice if you need matching grout, backer board, spacers, tools, and other installation essentials.
Best for: DIY homeowners, sample comparison, practical bathroom and kitchen tile, and shoppers who want online ordering with curbside pickup or delivery options.
5. Wayfair: Best for Variety and Decorative Tile
Wayfair is a surprisingly strong place to buy tile online, especially if you enjoy browsing. Its tile catalog includes ceramic, porcelain, glass, stone, mosaic, peel-and-stick, patterned, subway, marble-look, and outdoor options. The selection can feel like walking into a home improvement maze while someone hands you a coupon, but the variety is impressive.
What Makes Wayfair Useful
Wayfair shines when you want decorative tile, smaller project quantities, or fast comparison across multiple brands. Many listings include customer photos and reviews, which are extremely helpful for seeing how tile looks outside of perfect studio lighting. The site also allows filtering by sample availability, room, color, shape, installation location, and material.
Best for: Decorative tile, backsplash ideas, patterned tile, customer photo research, and shoppers who like broad selection with frequent sales.
6. The Tile Shop: Best for Design Help and Premium Selection
The Tile Shop offers a more curated experience than big-box retailers while still being accessible online. It carries porcelain, ceramic, glass, marble, travertine, slate, mosaics, luxury tile, trim pieces, and installation products. The overall feel is more design-forward, making it a good choice for homeowners who want their bathroom to whisper “spa retreat” instead of “rental upgrade completed at midnight.”
Why Design-Minded Shoppers Like It
The Tile Shop provides online and in-store design consultations, which can be incredibly helpful when coordinating floor tile, shower wall tile, niche tile, trim, and grout. Its sample program also lets shoppers test materials before placing a larger order. If your project has multiple tile surfaces that need to look intentional together, this retailer is worth exploring.
Best for: Bathroom remodels, design consultations, natural stone, curated collections, and homeowners who want expert guidance before ordering.
7. Bedrosians Tile & Stone: Best for Designer Looks and Trade-Friendly Projects
Bedrosians has long been known in the tile and stone industry, and its online presence makes it easier for homeowners and design professionals to browse collections from home. The company offers porcelain tile, ceramic tile, stone, slabs, mosaics, decorative tile, wall tile, flooring, and popular styles such as zellige-inspired looks, terrazzo effects, handmade-look ceramics, and large-format porcelain.
Why Bedrosians Is Worth Checking
Bedrosians is a strong pick when you want something more distinctive than standard builder-grade tile but still need a retailer with industry experience. Its collections often feel polished and designer-friendly, and the brand appears through its own channels as well as major retail partners. For homeowners working with designers, contractors, or architects, Bedrosians can be a smart online starting point.
Best for: Designer-style tile, porcelain collections, decorative wall tile, trade projects, and shoppers who want elevated looks without going fully custom.
8. Fireclay Tile: Best for Handmade American Tile
Fireclay Tile is a standout for shoppers who care about craftsmanship, color, and domestic manufacturing. Known for handmade ceramic tile, brick, and glass tile, Fireclay offers rich glazes, custom-feeling color palettes, and a design personality that is cheerful without becoming chaotic. It is the kind of place where “blue tile” becomes a 20-minute emotional journey through ocean, denim, fog, and sky.
Why Fireclay Feels Special
Fireclay is ideal for feature walls, kitchen backsplashes, bathrooms, fireplaces, and projects where the tile is meant to be noticed. Samples are central to the shopping process because handmade tile can vary in tone, texture, and surface movement. That variation is the charm, not a flaw, but it is something you want to see before covering a wall with it.
Best for: Handmade ceramic tile, colorful backsplashes, sustainable-minded shoppers, artisan finishes, and projects where tile is the star.
9. Clé Tile: Best for Artisan and Statement Tile
Clé Tile is for shoppers who want tile with soul, texture, history, and just enough drama to make guests ask, “Where did you find this?” The brand is known for artisan materials such as zellige, cement tile, terracotta, stone, and specialty collections. It is less about basic utility and more about creating spaces with personality.
Why Clé Tile Is Different
Shopping Clé requires a little more attention because many artisan tiles have natural variation, special installation requirements, and maintenance considerations. That said, the payoff can be spectacular. A Clé backsplash, shower wall, or fireplace surround can give a room a custom, collected-over-time look that mass-produced tile often cannot match.
Best for: Zellige tile, cement tile, terracotta, artisan interiors, statement walls, and design lovers who appreciate imperfect beauty.
10. Zia Tile: Best for Cement Tile and Moroccan Zellige
Zia Tile is another excellent online destination for bold, handcrafted, and globally inspired tile. The brand is especially known for cement tile, Moroccan zellige, cotto, limestone, and ceramic collections. If your dream kitchen includes a checkerboard backsplash, jewel-toned shower, patterned floor, or earthy handmade texture, Zia Tile deserves a serious look.
Why Zia Tile Makes the Cut
Zia Tile offers a strong mix of in-stock and specialty looks that feel curated rather than generic. The tile often has rich variation, especially in zellige and handmade materials, so samples and careful planning are essential. This is not the place to shop if you want every piece to look identical. It is the place to shop if you want your tile to look alive.
Best for: Cement tile, Moroccan zellige, patterned floors, handmade texture, colorful spaces, and homeowners who want memorable design.
Quick Comparison: Best Online Tile Stores by Project Type
Best for Kitchen Backsplashes
TileBar, Fireclay Tile, Clé Tile, Zia Tile, and Wayfair are excellent for backsplash shopping because they offer strong decorative choices, samples, and plenty of wall-friendly options.
Best for Bathroom Floors and Showers
Floor & Decor, The Tile Shop, Lowe’s, The Home Depot, and Bedrosians are especially useful for bathroom projects because they offer porcelain, ceramic, mosaics, shower-rated options, trim, and installation materials.
Best for Budget Projects
Floor & Decor, The Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Wayfair usually provide the broadest budget-friendly selection. They are good places to compare price per square foot and find tile that looks expensive without requiring you to sell a kidney on the black market.
Best for Luxury or Designer Tile
Ann Sacks could also be considered for luxury tile shoppers, especially trade professionals and homeowners seeking premium stone, ceramic, and designer collections. Among our top 10, The Tile Shop, Bedrosians, Fireclay, Clé, and Zia Tile offer some of the strongest design-forward options.
What to Know Before You Buy Tile Online
Always Order Samples First
Tile is one of those products that can look completely different in your own room. Light changes everything. A warm white tile may look creamy in sunlight and gray under LEDs. Glossy tile may feel glamorous online and blinding next to a window. Matte tile may look soft in photos and flat in a dark hallway. Samples are cheap insurance against expensive regret.
Check the Lot, Shade, and Variation
Tile is often produced in batches, and color or sizing can vary between lots. For full projects, order all the tile you need at once, plus extra. This is especially important for natural stone, handmade tile, zellige, cement tile, and high-variation porcelain.
Order Extra Tile
Most projects need overage for cuts, breakage, pattern matching, and future repairs. A common rule is to order 10% extra for straightforward layouts and 15% to 20% extra for diagonal patterns, complex rooms, or handmade materials. Future you will be grateful when one tile cracks and the product has not vanished into the discontinued-tile abyss.
Read Return Policies Carefully
Tile returns can be tricky. Samples may be non-returnable. Sale tile may be final sale. Freight shipping may not be refundable. Some retailers accept unopened boxes only. Before ordering, read the return policy like it owes you money.
Understand Shipping
Tile is heavy, fragile, and not impressed by wishful thinking. Small orders may ship by parcel. Larger orders may arrive by freight on a pallet. Confirm delivery requirements, inspection instructions, damage claim windows, and whether someone needs to be home. Also, inspect shipments before installation begins.
of Real-World Experience: Lessons From Buying Tile Online
The biggest lesson about buying tile online is simple: photos are helpful, but samples are the truth serum. A product image can show style, shape, and general color, but it cannot fully show texture, thickness, edge detail, reflectiveness, or how a tile behaves under your kitchen lights at 7 p.m. That is why experienced remodelers rarely skip samples. They tape them to the wall, lay them on the floor, move them near cabinets, check them in daylight, check them at night, and sometimes stare at them for three days like the tile is about to confess something.
Another practical experience is that tile size looks different in real rooms than it does online. A 2-by-8 subway tile may look delicate in a close-up photo but feel busy across a large shower wall. A 24-by-48 porcelain slab may look sleek and luxurious, but it may require a skilled installer, flatter walls, special tools, and fewer “my cousin can probably do it” assumptions. Online shopping makes it easy to fall in love with a look, but installation reality needs a seat at the table.
Shipping is another area where new buyers get surprised. Tile is not a throw pillow. It is heavy, breakable, and often delivered in boxes that seem personally committed to testing your upper-body strength. For big orders, freight delivery is common. That means you may need to coordinate a delivery appointment, inspect boxes quickly, note visible damage, and store the tile somewhere dry and safe. If you live in an apartment or have a steep driveway, think through logistics before the pallet arrives and becomes the neighborhood’s newest sculpture.
Budgeting also requires more than multiplying square footage by price per square foot. You need trim pieces, bullnose or edge profiles, grout, mortar, backer board, waterproofing, spacers, leveling clips, sealer, cleaner, and labor. Handmade tile, cement tile, marble, and zellige may also require special installation knowledge. The tile itself may be gorgeous, but the supporting cast matters. A beautiful shower with the wrong waterproofing is just an expensive indoor rain cloud waiting to happen.
One of the best online buying strategies is to narrow your search by project mood and maintenance tolerance. If you want easy cleaning, look closely at porcelain tile. If you want character and variation, explore handmade ceramic or zellige. If you want pattern, cement tile can be stunning, but it may need sealing and thoughtful care. If you want a timeless bathroom floor, marble-look porcelain may be more practical than real marble in a high-traffic family bathroom. In other words, do not just ask, “Is it pretty?” Ask, “Can I live with this after toothpaste, dog paws, coffee splashes, and actual humans enter the scene?”
Finally, order sooner than you think. Tile decisions often affect the entire renovation schedule. Cabinets, counters, plumbing, paint, and lighting can all depend on tile color and layout. If your chosen tile is backordered or special order, your project timeline can wobble like a poorly installed shelf. The smartest shoppers choose early, sample early, confirm stock, order overage, and keep records of product names, lot numbers, and receipts. It is not glamorous, but neither is trying to match discontinued shower tile two years later with a blurry phone photo and a prayer.
Conclusion
The best places to buy tile online in 2024 make remodeling easier, more creative, and far less dependent on wandering fluorescent-lit aisles while holding one sad sample board. TileBar is the best overall choice for stylish online shopping, while Floor & Decor is excellent for large and budget-conscious projects. The Home Depot and Lowe’s are reliable for convenience, tools, and familiar brands. Wayfair is great for variety and decorative finds. The Tile Shop and Bedrosians offer more curated, design-friendly selections. Fireclay Tile, Clé Tile, and Zia Tile are ideal when you want handmade beauty, artisan texture, and a space that does not look like everyone else’s Pinterest board.
Before you buy, remember the golden rules: order samples, check return policies, confirm shipping details, buy extra, and choose tile based on both beauty and real-life maintenance. Tile is not just decoration. It is a surface you will walk on, splash, scrub, admire, and occasionally blame when your renovation takes longer than planned. Choose wisely, and your home will thank you every single day.
Note: Product availability, sample offers, prices, shipping terms, and return policies can change. Always confirm current details directly with the retailer before placing a tile order.
