Soap calculators
Below are links to the soap calculators I recommend. I most often use Soap Calc, but have also used Soapmaking Friend from time to time and for a number of years I used the Soap Lye Calculator app I have installed on my phone - it’s very handy!
They each have their benefits. Try them out and see which one you like best.
(I have no affiliation with any of these companies, these are just the calculators I have used)
The classic soap calculator that many people start off with. It’s been around for years! I still like it (I’m used to it) and you can see me demonstrating how to use it to calculate a bar soap recipe in this video.
A more recent arrival on the soap making scene. A lovely calculator to use, with an additional feature of being able to resize your recipe to suit different mould sizes! I’ve never used this feature though, I still prefer to do my own calculations for that, as I demonstrate in this video.
Just be aware that your recipes are shared publicly by default on this calculator. You can toggle a button at the top of the recipe page to turn that off if you want to.
Soap Lye Calculator (app for Android phones/devices)
This app does require payment ($0.99 AUD at the time of writing) but is well worth it if you do not have a computer and work from your phone. I love the way this app works, the layout and features are all excellent and easy to use (you can even save your recipes), however the lye amounts given for most recipes are a bit higher than most other soap calculators. This is due to the fact that every soap calculator uses different saponification value tables for the oils and fats used in soap making. If I use this calculator I select a slightly higher superfat amount to compensate for this difference. If you’re not sure what any of these terms mean, please check out my soap making terms page.
This soap calculator also lets you make adjustments for lye strength/purity, which is excellent!
I have to confess I have not used this calculator, but I have looked at it and it seems very good! It came highly recommended to me by my friend George from Dawn Organics, in Sydney. I really like the layout, and it has a basic and advanced version as well!
This calculator also allows you to make adjustments for different lye strengths and purity levels which is very useful as sodium and potassium hydroxide products can vary significantly around the world.
