Free candle making cost and pricing calculator. Enter wax, fragrance oil, wick, container, label, packaging, and labor costs; outputs cost per candle, batch total, and a suggested retail price using your markup multiplier.
Use when setting a price for a new candle scent or size, or when wax/fragrance oil supplier costs change and you need to re-check your margin.
Many candle makers track costs in a spreadsheet; this gives the same per-unit breakdown instantly and recalculates suggested price the moment any input changes.
Wax cost per candle = (wax cost per lb ÷ 16) × wax weight in oz × (1 + pour waste %), and fragrance oil cost = wax weight × fragrance load % × FO cost per oz.
Unit cost sums wax, fragrance oil, wick, container, label, packaging, and labor cost (labor minutes ÷ 60 × hourly rate).
Suggested retail price = unit cost × markup multiplier; batch total cost = unit cost × batch size.
Maximum safe fragrance load varies by wax type and the fragrance oil's supplier-tested limit, but 6–10% is a common range for soy and coconut-soy blends. Exceeding the tested max can cause the candle to sweat oil, burn poorly, or fail flash-point safety margins.
Melted wax sticks to pouring pitchers, gets left in pour-spouts, and some batches are lost to testing and quality control. A 5% waste allowance keeps your cost estimate from underselling how much wax an actual batch consumes.
A 2.5–3× markup over unit cost is a common retail target for handmade candles, while wholesale pricing is often closer to 2× cost since retailers add their own margin on top. This calculator defaults to 2.75× but you should adjust it to match your market and competition.
ਇਨਪੁੱਟ
8 oz candle, $6/lb wax, 8% fragrance load, $0.60/oz FO, 5% waste, $0.15 wick, $1.50 jar, default labor and 2.75× markup.
ਆਉਟਪੁੱਟ
Unit cost ≈ $3.61 → suggested price ≈ $9.92.
Wax cost ($6/16 × 8oz × 1.05 ≈ $3.15) plus FO (0.64 oz × $0.60 ≈ $0.38); total unit cost sums wax, FO, wick, jar, label, packaging, and labor, then multiplies by the markup to get a suggested retail price.
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