To develop and validate a holography based vision simulator for the demonstration of expected postoperative vision corresponding to monofocal and multifocal intraocular lenses (IOL) to cataract patients before surgery. An artificial eye model is used to measure the optical performance of different IOL types. The resultant aberrations and degradations are then modeled using phase holograms and shown to subjects on a holographic display. We measure the contrast and resolution loss, halos around the light sources, and point spread function (PSF) corresponding to three different IOLs. We tested the holography based vision simulator on 13 healthy subjects and 6 cataract patients. Monofocal, bifocal, and trifocal IOLs exhibited a contrast decrease of 5%, 42%, and 45% and a resolution limit of 4.49, 4.00, and 4.00 lp/mm (using 0.05 MTF criteria), respectively. Monofocal IOLs have the best resolution and contrast at the optimal focus distance, and multifocal lenses offer extended depth-of-field but exhibit prominent halos and reduced contrast/resolution. We confirmed that the visual functions of IOLs could be successfully modeled using phase holograms and simulated using a holographic display without using a physical IOL. Patients can experience the effects of different IOL options prior to surgery, which helps with IOL selection, expectation management, and patient satisfaction.