Compare oils
Pick up to six oils to see them side by side: how much lye each takes, how soft or hard it runs, and what it is made of. Then give them percentages to try a blend before you save it as a recipe.
Side by side
A single oil’s hardness, cleansing and the rest are the same sums the calculator shows for a recipe, applied to that one oil. They explain what the oil brings to a blend; they do not predict how a soap of only that oil would feel.
What each oil is made of
The blend
Open this blend in the lye calculatorOils people compare
Each pair has a page of its own: the figures side by side, what a swap without recalculating does to the superfat, and the same bar made with either.
- Lard vs tallow
- Tallow vs mutton tallow
- Lard vs vegetable shortening
- Lard vs shea butter
- Tallow vs shea butter
- Palm oil vs tallow
- Palm oil vs lard
- Palm oil vs shea butter
- Palm oil vs cocoa butter
- Palm oil vs palm kernel oil
- Shea butter vs cocoa butter
- Shea butter vs mango butter
- Cocoa butter vs mango butter
- Cocoa butter vs kokum butter
- Coconut oil vs babassu oil
- Coconut oil vs palm kernel oil
- Babassu oil vs palm kernel oil
- Coconut oil vs hydrogenated coconut oil
- Coconut oil vs fractionated coconut oil (MCT)
- Coconut oil vs palm oil
- Olive oil vs olive pomace oil
- Olive oil vs avocado oil
- Olive oil vs canola oil
- Olive oil vs high-oleic sunflower oil
- Olive oil vs rice bran oil
- Olive oil vs sweet almond oil
- Sweet almond oil vs apricot kernel oil
- Sunflower oil vs high-oleic sunflower oil
- Canola oil vs soybean oil
- Canola oil vs high-erucic rapeseed oil
What can replace an oil
- Palm oil substitutes in soap
- Coconut oil substitutes in soap
- Castor oil substitutes in soap
- Shea butter substitutes in soap
- Cocoa butter substitutes in soap
- Olive oil substitutes in soap
- Lard substitutes in soap
- Tallow substitutes in soap
- Sweet almond oil substitutes in soap
- Avocado oil substitutes in soap
- Mango butter substitutes in soap
- Babassu oil substitutes in soap
- Palm kernel oil substitutes in soap
- Canola oil substitutes in soap
- Sunflower oil substitutes in soap
Why is the saponification value a band on the oil pages but one number here?
The oil pages keep the published range. A comparison needs one figure, so this uses the one the lye calculator uses, which the oil’s page names.