💰 Candle Cost Calculator
List your materials and their costs, set how many candles a batch makes and your markup, and see the cost per candle plus a suggested retail price — the numbers behind pricing your candles fairly and profitably.
🧮 Cost & Price Your Candles
What is a Candle Cost Calculator?
It totals every material in a batch, divides by your yield to find the true cost per candle, then applies a markup for a suggested retail price. Add as many line items as you like — wax, fragrance, wick, container, dye, labels, packaging — and the figures update to match your recipe.
Use it to stop under-charging, compare recipes, and see how container choice or a pricier fragrance moves your margin. Remember the markup still has to cover labour, overhead, and fees, so use the suggested price as a starting floor.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How do I work out the cost of a handmade candle?
Add up every material that goes into a batch — wax, fragrance oil, wick, container, dye, label, box — then divide by the number of candles the batch makes. This calculator does that and reports the cost per candle plus a suggested price from your markup.
What markup should I use for candles?
A 2.5–4x markup on materials is a common handmade-candle starting point. That margin has to cover far more than wax and jars: your time, equipment, packaging, marketing, and marketplace fees. Treat the suggested price as a floor and adjust for your market.
Does this include my labour?
No — the suggested price is built from material cost and your markup only. Labour, overhead, and fees come out of that margin, so if your markup is low you may be paying yourself very little. Factor those in before settling on a final price.
Should I price per candle or per batch?
Cost your materials per batch, since that's how you buy and pour, then let the calculator divide down to a per-candle figure. Pricing per candle keeps your listings simple while your costs stay tied to the real batch economics.