Soap Making Software

Finally know what your soap actually costs to make

Most soap makers are guessing their cost per bar — and undercharging for it. Craftybase calculates your exact cost from the real prices you paid for oils, lye, and fragrance, and updates automatically when supplier prices change.

Track your raw materials, log your batches, sync orders from Etsy and Shopify, and have your COGS ready for tax time. No spreadsheet. No desktop software. Works on any Mac or PC.

Switching from SoapMaker? Craftybase works on Mac — see how we compare.

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4.6/5 from 240+ reviews on Capterra
Soap making software showing recipe costing and inventory tracking for artisan soap makers

Trusted by soap makers selling on Etsy, Shopify, and beyond

Annes Apothecary
Southern Girl Soapery
Dolphin Wood House
Cait and Co
OCH Vegan Cosmetics

5 out of 5 stars

"I had no idea how to price my soap. I didn't take my time into consideration until I started using Craftybase. I now know how to price my soap to make money with both wholesale and retail costs."

Renee Willis
Renee / Rosemary Wellness Soap Company

Trusted by makers worldwide

Capterra
4.6/5 stars
GetApp
4.6/5 stars
Wix
4.8/5 stars
Shopify
4.5/5 stars

What Is Soap Making Software?

Soap making software is a specialized inventory and manufacturing tool that tracks raw materials (lye, base oils, fragrance oils, colorants, additives) and finished soap products in one system. Unlike general retail inventory tools, soap making software handles recipe-based manufacturing — when you log a production batch, it automatically deducts the correct quantities of each ingredient from your stock. Craftybase is soap making software built for small-batch soap makers who need accurate material tracking, per-bar cost calculations, and COGS reports for tax time.

Not ready for software? Start with our free soap making inventory spreadsheet or try our free soap making cost calculator.

What is the best software for soap making inventory?

Craftybase is inventory and manufacturing software purpose-built for small-batch soap makers, covering raw material tracking (lye, oils, fragrance, colorants), recipe-based batch costing, lot traceability, and COGS reporting for tax time. Craftybase connects directly with Etsy and Shopify so orders sync automatically and finished goods stock stays accurate. Plans start at $24/month with a 14-day free trial and no credit card required.

Built for soap makers who've outgrown spreadsheets

If you're tracking oils in one sheet, batches in another, and costs in a third — you've already outgrown spreadsheets. Here's what changes when you switch.

Real-Time Costing & Price Confidence

When your coconut oil supplier raises prices mid-season, do you know if you're still profitable? Craftybase recalculates your cost per bar automatically based on what you actually paid for oils, lye, and fragrance — so your pricing always reflects reality, not last year's estimates. Set a target margin, and Craftybase tells you exactly what to charge.

Real-time recipe costing and pricing guidance for soap makers

Automatically Track Your Raw Materials

Track base oils, lye, fragrance oils, colorants, botanicals, and packaging — all with sortable, searchable lists accessible from anywhere. Maintain full purchase histories without trying, and have Craftybase auto-calculate your rolling average unit prices. When your olive oil supplier raises prices, your cost-per-bar updates automatically.

Reports That Matter for Taxes & Growth

Tax season shouldn't mean a week lost to spreadsheet archaeology. Craftybase builds COGS, P&L, and inventory valuation reports as you work — so when April rolls around, you export one clean report for your accountant. For soap makers, that means every oil purchase, lye order, and fragrance expense is already tallied by the time you file Schedule C.

COGS and profitability reports for soap businesses
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No credit card required · Takes about 15 minutes to set up

Integrations That Work While You Sleep

Manual data entry at midnight? Hard pass. Craftybase connects to your sales channels and updates stock automatically. Your soap orders import overnight from Etsy, Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce, Square, Squarespace, Wix, Faire, and PayPal. When an order comes in, Craftybase deducts the raw materials based on your recipes and updates your finished goods stock.

Batch Control & Lot Traceability

Soap and personal care products are subject to recall requirements under CPSC rules. If you ever get a call about a bad batch of oils or a recalled fragrance, you need to know — fast — which bars you made with it and who bought them. Craftybase links every supplier lot number to the batches it goes into, so you can generate a traceability report in seconds.

Batch and lot traceability for soap makers

All-in-One Dashboard — Orders, Stock & Costs

Juggling Shopify screens, Etsy CSVs, and handwritten batch logs steals creative hours. Craftybase pulls everything into one clear dashboard — from raw material purchasing through production to sales — so you always know what's in stock, what sold, and what it cost you to make. Handle cancellations, damage, stock loss, and adjustments without leaving the app.

Stocktaking Made Simple

The words "year-end count" shouldn't hijack your holiday launch schedule. Craftybase breaks stocktakes into easy cycle counts you can finish with a coffee. For soap makers juggling dozens of oil types, fragrance oils, and colorants, this means fewer surprises and less wasted spend on lost or miscounted stock.

Stocktaking and cycle counting for soap inventory

Case Study

How Lesli scaled her soap and skincare business to six figures

Lesli from Avital's Apiaries was on SoapMaker but needed something cloud-based that worked on her Mac. After switching to Craftybase, she built a six-figure honeybee skincare business making soaps, lotions, and balms — with just two part-time employees.

"We don't have oodles of time to count things, so time is really valuable. Craftybase gives us that time back."
Read Lesli's full story →
Lesli from Avital's Apiaries

Craftybase has helped thousands of soap makers just like you…

I had no idea how to price my soap. I didn't take my time in to consideration until I started using Craftybase. I now know how to price my soap to make money with both wholesale and retail costs.

Renee
Renee
Rosemary Wellness Soap Company

Craftybase is an instrumental part of our bookkeeping. Having a business that manufactures products with countless raw materials, Craftybase keeps us organized and helps us have a clear picture of the health of our business.

Bri
Bri
The Good Hippie

We no longer have to wonder how much of something we have in stock. It's much easier for me to sell my product when I know how much is on the shelf!

Caitlin
Caitlin
Cait + Co

Having real time inventory, pricing guidance, and expense tracking makes the paperwork of owning a business simpler. Keeping all of the information in one place makes it ideal.

Heather
Heather
H&P Artistry Soaps

We no longer need to manually look on the shelf to see what we need to order and can simply look at the numbers in Craftybase and have confidence that they are accurate.

Andy & Jennifer
Andy & Jennifer
Mountain Madness Soap Co.

Knowing exactly what my products cost to produce allows me to price them appropriately to ensure an accurate profit margin.

Lacy
Lacy
Sassy Turtle Soapworks

As a very small and nascent business, it's incredibly important that I have a strong tool like Craftybase to help me make smart decisions about pricing.

Laura
Laura
Madison Soap Company

Not just the organization, but to be able to see charts and graphs of my sales and expenses; the ability to have it all sorted out for taxes too!

Jamison
Jamison
Tiny Ranch Soap Co.

Thanks to Craftybase I can run my entire business off one program and can always stay on top of my ingredient inventory, sales and stock levels. I don't know where I would be without it!

Pauline
Pauline
Nourish Natural Soaps

Craftybase, overall, has helped me streamline my inventory expenses, keep consistent unit costs and allowed me to see through the Reports section, my business grow each year.

Shelby
Shelby
The Soap Brewhouse

Craftybase has helped save me so much time on things I used to try to keep track of manually in notebooks. It's a perfect app for any small business.

Leslie
Leslie
Simply Good Soap LLC

Who is Craftybase for?

Craftybase is inventory and manufacturing software built specifically for small-batch makers and artisan businesses.

It's designed for:

  • Soap makers — Track oils, lye, and fragrance inventory with batch-level costing for cold process, hot process, and melt and pour.
  • Candle makers — Monitor wax, wick, and fragrance oil usage with fragrance load calculations and per-unit COGS.
  • Cosmetics formulators — Manage ingredients, batch records, and MoCRA-ready traceability for indie beauty brands.
  • Bakers — Track flour, sugar, and butter with recipe-based costing and tax-ready COGS reports.
  • Jewelers and woodworkers — Manage components, findings, and lumber with multi-level bill of materials tracking.

Craftybase is not designed for retail-only businesses, service providers, or large-scale manufacturers needing enterprise ERP systems. Most Craftybase users sell on Etsy, Shopify, or at craft fairs and farmers markets.

Resources for soap makers

Guides, tools, and templates to help you run a profitable soap business.

Guide

7 Reasons Why Soap Makers Need to Track Inventory

Why inventory tracking is the difference between a hobby and a real soap business.

Free Tool

Soap Making Cost Calculator

Calculate your cost per bar from oils, lye, fragrance, and labor.

Free Template

Soap Making Inventory Spreadsheet

A free Excel template to track materials, products, and costs before you graduate to software.

Workflow Guides

Soap Making Workflow Guides

Step-by-step setup guides for cold process, multi-size, packaging, and multi-component soap workflows.

Comparison

Craftybase vs SoapMaker

Switching from SoapMaker 3 or 4? See how Craftybase compares for inventory, costing, and cloud access.

Feature

Batch Tracking Software

Link ingredient lots to production batches and customer orders for recall-ready traceability.

How Craftybase fits your soap making process

From raw ingredients to packaged bars, Craftybase tracks every stage of your cold process or hot process workflow — so you always know your cost per bar, what's in cure, and what's ready to ship.

1

Lye + oils: build your recipe

Before you mix a batch, add your cold process or hot process formula as a Craftybase recipe. List each base oil (olive, coconut, castor, shea), your lye (NaOH for bar soap), distilled water, fragrance oil, and any colorants or additives. Craftybase calculates your exact cost per batch the moment you save — using the actual prices you paid your suppliers, not rough estimates.

2

Mix and pour: log your manufacture

When you mix and pour a batch, log a manufacture in Craftybase. This creates a batch record, automatically deducts your oils, lye, and fragrance from raw material stock, and assigns a lot number to the batch. Every ingredient lot used is linked to the production batch — so if you ever need to trace or recall, that information is already there.

3

Cure: track what's in-progress

Cold process soap needs 4–6 weeks to cure before it's ready to sell. During that window Craftybase holds the loaf as in-progress inventory — materials have been consumed from stock, but finished goods haven't increased yet. You can see what's in cure, plan your next pour, and avoid the mistake of selling soap before it's ready.

4

Cut: loaf-to-bar conversion

Once cured, a loaf becomes individual bars. Using Craftybase's component model, the loaf is a component that converts into finished product bars — so your per-bar cost accurately reflects the full batch cost divided across however many bars the loaf yields. You can account for sampling bars or wastage so your COGS stays accurate.

5

Stamp, package, and ship: finished goods and orders

Packaged bars move into finished goods inventory. When orders come in from Etsy or Shopify, Craftybase syncs them automatically and decrements your finished stock. COGS is recorded per order, so your tax-time reports are already built — no extra spreadsheet required.

Soap making software FAQs

Soap making inventory software tracks raw materials like lye, oils, fragrance oils, and colorants alongside your finished soap products. Craftybase is purpose-built for small-batch soap makers — it handles material tracking, batch costing, and COGS calculations specifically designed for handmade soap businesses. This replaces spreadsheet-based tracking that most soap businesses outgrow within their first year of selling.

In Craftybase, you add each material (lye, base oils, fragrance oils, colorants, additives) as a separate inventory item with its own unit of measurement — pounds for oils, ounces for fragrance, grams for lye. When you create a soap recipe, you specify exact quantities per batch. Each time you log a production run, Craftybase automatically deducts the right quantities from your material stock and adds the finished soaps to your product inventory.

Yes. Craftybase calculates your cost per bar automatically based on the actual prices you paid for materials. When you set up a soap recipe with quantities for oils, lye, fragrance, and additives, Craftybase uses your real purchase history to determine the material cost per unit. It also factors in labor time and packaging costs if you choose. Your per-bar cost updates automatically when supplier prices change, so your pricing always reflects your real margins.

Craftybase tracks lot numbers from your material suppliers through to the finished soap bars you sell. When you purchase oils or lye, you log the supplier's lot number. When you manufacture a batch, Craftybase links those lot numbers to the production run. If a supplier issues a recall or a customer reports an issue, you can generate a traceability report in seconds showing exactly which soap bars were made with that lot — and which customers received them. This supports GMP and CPSC compliance requirements.

Craftybase supports the traceability requirements of the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act (MoCRA) by tracking lot numbers from raw material suppliers through to finished soap products and customer orders. For soap makers required to register with the FDA under MoCRA, Craftybase provides the batch records, ingredient traceability, and supply chain documentation needed to demonstrate compliance. Craftybase does not file FDA registrations on your behalf, but gives you the organised records that compliance reporting requires.

A spreadsheet requires you to manually update every stock level, recalculate costs when oil or lye prices change, and build your own formulas for COGS. With dedicated soap inventory software like Craftybase, stock levels update automatically when you log purchases, production runs, and sales. Your cost per bar recalculates in real time. Orders import automatically from Etsy, Shopify, and other sales channels. And you get batch traceability, low-stock alerts, and financial reports without building anything from scratch.

Yes. Craftybase supports any soap making process — cold process, hot process, melt and pour, and liquid soap. You create separate recipes for each process type with different material quantities and production steps. Whether you're tracking olive oil and lye for cold process batches or soap base and fragrance for melt and pour, Craftybase handles the inventory deductions, costing, and batch records the same way.

Yes. Craftybase connects directly with Etsy, Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce, Square, Squarespace, Wix, Faire, and PayPal. Your soap orders import automatically each day. When an order comes in, Craftybase deducts the raw materials used based on your recipes, updates your finished goods stock, and for Shopify and Etsy, pushes updated stock quantities back to your listings — keeping everything in sync without manual work.

Craftybase starts at $24/month (or $240/year) for the Pro plan, which suits most soap makers starting out. Plans scale based on order volume — from 250 order lines/month on Studio ($49/month) up to 5,000 on Growth ($349/month). All plans include a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. Craftybase also offers a free soap making cost calculator and a free inventory spreadsheet for makers not yet ready for full software.

Craftybase is inventory and manufacturing software built specifically for small-batch makers and artisan businesses. It is designed for soap makers, candle makers, cosmetics formulators, bakers, jewelers, woodworkers, and other handmade product sellers who manufacture from raw materials. It is not designed for retail-only businesses, service providers, or large-scale manufacturers needing enterprise ERP systems. Most Craftybase users sell on Etsy, Shopify, or at craft fairs and farmers markets.

Yes. SoapMaker 3 and SoapMaker Pro 4 are Windows-only desktop applications that don't run on Mac. Craftybase is a cloud-based web application that works on any Mac, PC, tablet, or browser — no installation needed. Beyond Mac compatibility, Craftybase adds Etsy and Shopify order sync, real-time COGS reports, and lot traceability that desktop SoapMaker software doesn't offer. Many soap makers switch to Craftybase specifically because their Mac isn't supported by SoapMaker.

Cold process soap needs 4 to 6 weeks to cure before it's ready to sell. Craftybase tracks this as work-in-progress inventory. When you log a production batch, raw materials are immediately deducted from your stock, but the finished soap bars don't appear as available inventory until you mark the batch complete. This lets you see exactly what's in cure, plan future pours based on what's coming, and avoid accidentally committing stock that isn't ready to ship.

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