Soap Pricing Calculator

Price handmade soap per bar from oils, lye, scent, additives, labor, cure time and packaging.

Your numbers

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Batch ingredients

Oils and butters per batch

Each oil's weight × its price per lb or kg, added up. Take the weights from your lye calculator recipe.

Lye (sodium hydroxide) per batch

Fragrance or essential oils per batch

Colorants, clays and botanicals per batch

Batch yield and cure

Bars cut from the batch

bars

Bars lost to trimming and flaws

Cure time

How long your recipe cures before you sell it.

weeks

Holding cost per batch per week

The share of rent, shelving and storage a curing batch takes up.

Labor and packaging

Labor hours per batch

Making, cutting, wrapping and labeling.

hours

Hourly rate for your time

Packaging and label per bar

Pricing

Wholesale multiplier (× cost)

Retail multiplier (× wholesale)

Selling fees on retail

Your result · updates as you type

Retail price per bar

$15.71

Cost $3.93 × 2 = $7.86 wholesale, × 2 = $15.71 retail. You keep $11.31 a bar selling direct.

Cost per bar: $3.93
Wholesale price: $7.86
Cash tied up per batch: $112

Stock takes weeks to cure before it earns anything. Plan batches ahead of busy seasons so cash isn't tied up when you need it.

Cost per bar

Ingredients

$1.70

Labor

$1.26

Curing

$0.26

Packaging

$0.70

Breakdown

Ingredients per bar: $1.70
Labor per bar: $1.26
Curing (5 weeks) per bar: $0.26
Packaging per bar: $0.70
Sellable bars (30 less 5%): 28.5
Cost per bar: $3.93
Retail profit per bar (after fees): $11.31
Wait before a batch can be sold: 5 weeks

How cost per bar is worked out

Soap is made in batches, so most costs are per batch. The calculator adds up the batch, including what it costs to hold the batch while it cures, and divides by the bars you can actually sell.

Cost per bar = (ingredients + labor + weeks curing × holding cost) ÷ sellable bars + packaging per bar

Example: a 30-bar cold process batch

Oils, lye, scent, additives: $32 + $3.50 + $10 + $3 = $48.50
Labor: 2 h × $18 = $36.00
Curing: 5 weeks × $1.50 = $7.50
Sellable bars: 30 less 5% = 28.5

(48.50 + 36 + 7.50) ÷ 28.5 + $0.70 packaging = $3.93 a bar. Wholesale at 2× is $7.86, retail at 2× again is $15.71.

Getting the batch numbers right

Oils and lye. Take each ingredient's weight from your lye calculator recipe and multiply by what you paid per pound or kilogram.
Cure time. Enter your own recipe's cure. Long-cure soaps tie up space and cash for longer, which the holding cost captures.
Loss. Trimmed ends, flawed bars and testers all reduce what you can sell.

Selling soap online

Scent variants. On Shopify and WooCommerce, make scents variants of one product so reviews and SEO build on one page.
Bundles. Soap sells well in sets. Test a bundle price with the bundle pricing calculator.
Wholesale. Shops usually expect to double your wholesale price. Check your numbers with the wholesale price calculator.

Questions people ask

How much should I sell handmade soap for?

Start from cost per bar. A common approach is cost × 2 for wholesale and wholesale × 2 for retail. With the default batch that's $7.86 and $15.71.

Does cure time affect the price?

Only through what it costs you to hold stock: shelf space, rent and cash tied up. Enter a holding cost per batch per week to include it.

Should I include the lye in my costs?

Yes, even though it's cheap. For melt and pour, set lye to 0 and enter the base as oils.

How do I lower my cost per bar?

Bigger batches spread labor further, and buying oils in bulk cuts ingredient cost. Try the 60-bar preset to compare.

Last reviewed 30 September 2026.