Best Soap Calculators Compared: Features, Pros, and Cons

Soap calculators are essential tools for soap makers. They help ensure accurate lye and water calculations, make it easy to experiment with different oil blends, and provide a quick way to evaluate recipe qualities. But with so many options available online, choosing the right one isn’t always straightforward. Some calculators offer only the basics, while others are packed with advanced features. Some are simple to use, while others come with a learning curve.

So I thought I’d try to shed some light on the matter by reviewing some of the most popular soap calculators — the ones that consistently appear among the top results in related online searches.

Feature comparison Top

Soap calculator features		SC	TCL	SMF	LC	BB	TS	ML
	Dual lye support (NaOH & KOH)
	User defined lye purity (NaOH)
	User defined lye purity (KOH)
	Supports masterbatching
	Can use weights or percentages for oil quantities
	Can select weight unit (g/oz/etc.)
	Can specify lye concentration / water-to-lye ratio
	Mold size calculation
	Supports recipe resizing?
	Supports Superfatting?
	Automatic conversion of quantities when switching weight units or percentages
	Can select unit for each additive separately (g/oz/tsp/tbsp/etc.)
	Can calculate additives as % of oils/batch
	Can define stage for each additive (with the oils, at trace, etc.)
	Supports custom oils/additives
	Can rearrange/sort oils and ingredients
	Can automatically sort oils by quantity
	Automatic lye compensation for citric acid
	Automatic lye compensation for lactic acid
	Automatic lye compensation for ascorbic acid
	Supports water discount for ingredients
	Water discount automatically suggested for certain ingredients
	Results visible on same page
	Visual warnings and info for ingredients requiring special handling

User account / Free vs. Paid features		SC	TCL	SMF	LC	BB	TS	ML
	Can soap calculator be used without creating an account?
	Is lye calculation free?
	Supports recipe saving?
	Is it ad-free?
	Supports batches?
	Basic inventory?

Recipe management		SC	TCL	SMF	LC	BB	TS	ML
	Recipe list?
	Soap properties in recipe list
	Can input recipe notes?
	Can attach recipe image(s)
	Supports printable/downloadable QR code for each recipe?
	Recipe print options
	Can group ingredients by stage they are added at
	Supports ink-saving print mode (no-fill graph)
	Can show INCI names for oils/ingredients?
	At-a-glance soap properties with graph
	Supports recipe templates?
	Can duplicate a recipe?
	Can backup recipes / export recipes to excel?
	Recipes grouped in folders?

Extra features		SC	TCL	SMF	LC	BB	TS	ML
	Oil list sortable by property/fatty acid
	Multilingual
	Supports mobile devices? (responsive interface / native app)
	Documentation (contextual help texts, tutorials, videos)

Summary of findings Top

It is evident from the feature lists above that two soap calculators clearly stand above the rest:
The Cosmetics Lab Soap Calculator and SoapmakingFriend.
They are both full-featured, modern, polished applications, suitable for every soapmaking project, from basic to advanced.
Things that differentiate them:

• SoapmakingFriend, in its paid version, offers batch and inventory support.
• The Cosmetics Lab Soap Calculator offers a comparable feature set — and in some areas, it even outperforms SoapmakingFriend. It provides both a classic “all-options-on-one-page” advanced mode and a step-by-step “wizard” interface that’s much friendlier for beginners. It also includes extensive tutorials (text and video) to help users get up to speed quickly — and it’s completely free, with no ads.

Overall, my top pick is The Cosmetics Lab Soap Calculator, mainly because it allows recipe saving while remaining completely free — and because it strikes an excellent balance between advanced functionality and user-friendliness.

Overall ranking

1. The Cosmetics Lab (TCL) 9/10
2. SoapmakingFriend (SMF) 9/10
3. LyeCalc (LC) 7.8/10
4. Mendrulandia (ML) 7.3/10
5. SoapCalc (SC) 6.5/10
6. The Sage (TS) 5.5/10
7. BrambleBerry (BB) 5/10

SoapCalc Top

The oldest of the group — and by far the most widely used soap calculator.
It was a breakthrough when it launched in 2008; before that, soap calculators were just basic Excel sheets with formulas. Today, however, it’s really showing its age. The interface feels outdated and cluttered, and while it still offers a solid set of features and an extensive oil list, it remains unintuitive and confusing — especially for beginners.
The heavy presence of ads only adds to the clutter, often getting in the way.
It deserves credit for paving the way, but with so many modern, easier-to-use calculators available today, it’s hard to overlook how dated it feels.

Pros

• Decent set of features
• Its broad adoption gives it an air of reliability
• On desktop, all parameters are within view, which is convenient

Cons

• Crammed, unintuitive interface, confusing and intimidating for beginners
• Does not support mobile devices (outdated, non-responsive user interface)
• Cannot specify NaOH purity
• Too many ads, quite distracting and annoying
• Recipe names are not saved - you need to recall them by number
• Recipes are saved using cookies (locally) and cannot be shared across devices or different browsers
• Some availability issues, quirky behaviour in some browsers

Rating: 6.5/10

The Cosmetics Lab Soap Calculator Top

Combines a full range of advanced features with a friendly, intuitive interface.
Since its launch in 2012, it has evolved into one of the most reputable soap calculators available.
Completely free, without ads, it allows saving up to 20 named recipes and 5 templates, and generates neat, fully customizable printouts that include recipe QR codes and ingredient INCI names.
It also offers an oil list sortable by property or fatty acid — a very convenient way to quickly find oils with specific characteristics.
Recipe management is effortless: renaming, deleting, duplicating, creating recipes from templates, and exporting to Excel are all one-click tasks.
A top contender on any soapmaker’s shortlist.

Pros

• Full-featured, with many advanced options
• Fast, “no-search” oil selection
• Recipe templates allow multiple sets of user-defined settings (superfatting, lye concentration, oils, etc.)
• Recipes can be exported to Excel for easy backup
• Oil list sortable by property or fatty acid
• Easy to learn — smooth learning curve with guided “wizard” modes for beginners
• Extensive tutorials and videos help users get up to speed quickly

Cons

• No immediate support for custom oils/ingredients (can be added upon request)
• In "one page mode", it requires a bit of scrolling to see all the options

Rating: 9/10

SoapmakingFriend Top

Published in 2016, it “cherry-picked” features from existing soap calculators, combined them with user feedback from forums, and evolved into an advanced soap calculator that quickly earned a well-deserved reputation. It’s full-featured and is easy-to-use (although some users -especially beginners- complain it is a bit overwhelming with all the different sections). The paid version adds batch management and basic inventory functions.
In the desktop application, results appear instantly on a side panel — a convenient touch.
It also includes an “auto-save” feature, which some users may appreciate. However, it’s enabled by default and can save a recipe while you’re still experimenting (adding or tweaking oils) — something I personally find quite annoying, as I have to remember to turn it off each time.
The free version only allows lye calculation. Saving recipes is limited to two, mainly for testing purposes. A subscription is required for any serious recipe-building work.

Pros

• Full featured
• Recipe results showing immediately on a side panel
• Support for custom ingredients
• Can specify default settings (superfatting, lye concentration, etc.)
• (paid version only): supports batches and basic inventory.

Cons

• Requires paid subscription to save recipes (only 2 allowed in free version)
• Auto-save is on by default every time, which is quite annoying
• Requires a bit of scrolling to see all the options
• No support for backing up / exporting recipes

Rating: 9/10

LyeCalc Top

The third most advanced soap calculator (after The Cosmetics Lab and SoapmakingFriend) is also among the oldest still active, dating back to 2012.
Results appear automatically on the same page, which is quite convenient.
The interface is generally well organized, though a few design choices make it feel unnecessarily cluttered — for example, the “Recommended Additive Amounts” section (for citric acid, lactic acid, etc.) is always visible, even when a recipe doesn’t include any of these ingredients.
Recipe management could also be improved; for instance, deleting a recipe redirects you to the dashboard instead of keeping you in the recipe list.

Pros

• Recipe results showing immediately on the same page
• Recipe templates - many different sets of user-defined settings (superfatting, lye concentration, oils, etc.)
• Unlimited recipes
• Support for custom ingredients
• Has a "beginner mode" with limited steps

Cons

• Some sections are always visible, causing unnecessary clutter
• Recipe management could be better
• Lacks customizable print options

Rating: 7.8/10

BrambleBerry Top

Although quite popular, it has the most limited feature set among the calculators in this comparison. It’s mainly used by beginners or by soapmakers who purchase their supplies from BrambleBerry.

Pros

• As simple as it gets. Easy for beginners.

Cons

• Suitable only for the most basic soapmaking scenarios
• Does not support recipe saving
• Very limited features

Rating: 5/10

The Sage Top

Also known as Majestic Mountain Sage, this calculator has been around for many years. It offers only basic functionality and doesn’t support recipe saving.

Pros

• Simple functionality

Cons

• Suitable only for basic soapmaking scenarios
• Does not support recipe saving
• Limited features

Rating: 5.5/10

Mendrulandia Top

This one has been around for quite some time. Particularly popular in Spanish-speaking countries, it’s currently the only multilingual soap calculator included in this comparison. It offers a decent set of features, including recipe backup, but also comes with a few peculiarities::

• Soap properties are expressed on a scale that isn’t compatible with any other soap calculator, making it nearly impossible to cross-check results.
• Displays a very detailed fatty acid profile, including acids such as caproic, gadoleic, caprylic, and arachidic. These fatty acids rarely exceed 1–3% of the total profile. While it’s nice to have this level of detail, fatty acids in such small amounts don’t have a measurable impact on the final soap qualities.

Pros

• Decent feature set
• Recipe backups
• Fully detailed fatty acid profile

Cons

• Custom range for soap properties - impossible to cross-check results with other soap calculators.
• Web version has ads
• Ad-free mobile version requires paid subscription

Rating: 7.3/10

Other soap calculators Top

The soap calculators I reviewed here are the most widely used and feature-rich ones. They’re not the only options out there, of course — there are many others available online. Here are a few more that I found worth mentioning:

• Wholesale Supplies Plus: this is an exact replica of SoapCalc - without the annoying ads
• Crafters Choice: another replica of SoapCalc - without the ads
• Cottage diy: essentially SoapCalc with a neater, polished responsive interface
• Savvy Homemade Soap Calculator: simple, very basic functionality, only calculates lye, no soap properties
• From Nature With Love: simple, very basic functionality, only calculates lye, only in oz, no soap properties
• SoapMath: decent, polished UI, basic features
• Latherlab: decent, polished UI, basic features
• Wicked Lee Soap Calc: neat layout with some advanced features. Grouping of parameters in wizard steps is a bit unconventional and counter-intuitive
• Natural Woolly: nice layout, limited features, requires paid subscription for some features

Overall Impressions Top

Comparing all seven calculators side by side shows just how much the landscape of soap formulation tools has evolved. The early calculators, like SoapCalc and The Sage, deserve recognition for paving the way, but they now lag behind in usability and modern features. Tools such as LyeCalc and Mendrulandia offer a few interesting touches but remain somewhat limited in scope.

The two clear leaders are The Cosmetics Lab Soap Calculator and SoapmakingFriend, both full-featured, accurate, and professional-grade applications. SoapmakingFriend stands out for its batch and inventory features, though these require a paid subscription. The Cosmetics Lab Soap Calculator delivers comparable power and polish completely free of charge — and combines an intuitive design, recipe management, and thoughtful tutorials that make it accessible to beginners and experts alike.

In short, soapmakers today have better tools than ever to explore, learn, and perfect their craft. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned soapmaker, a modern, well-designed calculator can make recipe creation faster, easier, and far more rewarding.