PerfuMate › Compare › Choosing software
15 tools independent perfumers weigh up, in one table: where each runs, how it is paid for, who it suits, its key strength and its published limits.
Our pick for independent perfumers: PerfuMate. PerfuMate is perfume formulation software for independent perfumers, on the web and Android, with a built-in catalog of 2,211 described perfumery materials and live IFRA Category 4 checks that count the molecules inside naturals. Free to start, with no account needed to open it. Start a formula, free.
Competitor facts are as each maker publishes them, read between 2026-10-06 and 2026-10-14; select a name for the side-by-side page.
| Tool | Runs on | Price model | Best for | Key strength | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PerfuMate | Any browser on Windows, Mac, Linux or a phone, and an Android app on Google Play; no iPhone app (the web app installs from Safari) | Free with no expiry: a free account keeps unlimited materials and 3 formulas. Unlimited is $12.90 a month, $68.00 a year or $119.98 once. AI Studio is optional and priced separately | Independent perfumers who want materials, IFRA checks, scent analysis and batch work in one place, on any device | A built-in catalog of 2,211 described materials, and live IFRA Category 4 checks that count molecules inside naturals, with an EU allergen declaration | IFRA data is Category 4 only and indicative; the free plan keeps 3 formulas at a time; no native iPhone app; AI uses separate credits |
| Formulair | iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision (iOS 15 and macOS 11 or later) | Free up to 25 raw materials and 25 formulas; the full version is $39.99 once (US App Store) | Perfumers who work only on Apple devices and want a native app | Precise dilution tools (keep the weight, keep the percentage or exchange the solvent), scaling and private iCloud sync | Apple only; no materials database; IFRA limits are a field you fill in, with no automatic check |
| Ourmess Fragrance Formulator | Microsoft Excel (a downloaded .xlsb workbook) | Free, no signup | Excel users who want a ready-made formulation workbook on their own computer | Your material library and formulas in a file you keep, with a view of IFRA compliance | Needs Excel with content enabled; the IFRA amendment, the categories and the handling of naturals are not stated on its page |
| Molequles | Any browser, plus a desktop app in beta for Mac, Windows and Linux | Free, "will always be free", with an optional donation | Anyone who needs a capable formula tool at no cost | A materials database that fills in CAS and IFRA limits, nested formulas and import from structured text | IFRA amendment, categories and database size are not stated; no native mobile app |
| The Aroma Forge | Web (an online workspace with a log-in) | A free workspace; paid features exist, but their prices are not published | Studios, classes and teams with document-heavy production | Constituent data extracted from supplier SDS and CoA documents, a label studio and an IFRA review that follows naturals | Paid prices not published; no mobile app found; offline use not stated |
| Perfume Workbench | Any browser, with offline caching | No free tier: a 7-day trial, then $4.99 a month or $49.99 once | Perfumers who want a low-cost lifetime license for a web tool | Formula versions you can restore and compare, and import from Excel, CSV or JSON | Library size, IFRA amendment and categories are not stated |
| Formulab Pro | Android, Windows, iPhone, iPad, Apple-silicon Macs and Apple Vision | Free to download; $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year (US App Store), bought separately on each platform | Perfumers who want native apps on Android or Windows | Over 20,000 reported material entries, and restricted constituents inside natural oils tracked | No web app; a subscription per platform; IFRA amendment and categories not stated |
| Formulary | Any browser, nothing to install | Free for 10 formulas; Pro A$9 a month, Team A$29 a month (Australian dollars) | Buyers from Bulkaroma and Fraterworks who want supplier matching and printed bench sheets | Formula import with AI, supplier catalog matching, heaviest-first bench sheets (Pro), IFRA by category and an EU allergen declaration | Watermarked PDFs on the free plan; full matching and bench sheets on Pro; handling of naturals not stated |
| The Perfumer's Workbook | Windows or Mac desktop | A free version; Registered US$159 and Professional US$5,000 per user | Students of PerfumersWorld courses | Built on the ABCs of Perfumery odor system, with a visual odor display and real-time costing | Desktop only; IFRA checking is not stated for the Workbook; 625 materials on the Registered edition |
| Spreadsheets | Excel or Google Sheets, on any computer and most phones | Free to start with Google Sheets or Excel for the web | People who want total control of the layout and the math | Flexibility, files you keep and file-level version history | Every material, dilution correction and IFRA check is yours to build and maintain |
| ScentLabs | Any browser | Free up to 25 raw materials and 10 formulas; Pro is $9.95 a month or $49.99 once | Perfumers who want costing and a formula marketplace | Cost and margin analysis, version control and PDF export on the free plan | The IFRA checker, batch tracking and stock management are paid |
| Perfumer's Vault 2 | iPhone, iPad, Android and Apple-silicon Macs; no Windows or web | A free Hobbyist mode; Professional is $6.99 a month or $59.99 a year (US App Store) | Makers who want their data on the device and a production paperwork pack | A document package with a batch record, a REACH matrix, an EU allergen declaration and an IFRA certificate (Professional) | Ships with no material data; IFRA is on Professional only |
| Tapputi Lab | Any browser, nothing to install | Free, funded by affiliate links | Perfumers who want every feature free | Formula versions, weighed batches with deviation tracking, labels, and IFRA checks that include naturals | No bundled catalog stated; whether IFRA runs live while editing is not stated |
| PerfumeLab | iPhone, iPad, Mac (M1 or later) and Apple Vision | Free to download; PerfumeLab Pro is GBP 4.99 a month or GBP 29.99 a year | Apple users who want a bundled set of materials | 471 materials with technical and safety information, and ingredient import from SDS files | Apple only; IFRA information is "for reference only" |
| PerfumeNuke | Any browser, with data saved in the browser | Free and open source (GPL v3) | Tinkerers who want open-source code | Free and open, and flags IFRA maxima across mixtures | 134 materials in its data files; last code change October 2023 |
Formulair and PerfumeLab run only on Apple devices. On Windows, Android or a mix, a browser tool works everywhere: PerfuMate (which also has an Android app), Molequles (with a desktop beta), Formulary, The Aroma Forge and Perfume Workbench. Formulab Pro has native Android and Windows apps.
Formulair and Perfumer's Vault 2 start empty by design, and a spreadsheet always does. PerfuMate ships 2,211 described materials; Molequles and Formulab Pro fill in material data from their databases; Formulary matches ingredients to two suppliers' products.
Ask three things of any tool: which amendment, which categories, and whether a restricted molecule inside an essential oil is counted. PerfuMate answers all three on its free plan: the 51st Amendment, Category 4, and yes. The table shows what each other tool states.
Several tools have a free tier that does not expire: PerfuMate, Molequles, Tapputi Lab, PerfumeNuke, the Ourmess workbook, Formulair up to 25 materials and Formulary up to 10 formulas. One-time purchases exist from Formulair, Perfume Workbench, ScentLabs and PerfuMate (Lifetime). The table gives each price as its maker publishes it.
PerfuMate imports PDF, Excel (.xlsx), CSV, TSV and pasted text, matched against 5,888 supplier and trade names. Molequles and Formulary also read structured text, with AI help.
Formpak, from Formpak Limited in the UK, and Lisam ExESS, from Lisam Systems, are regulatory suites for companies: they author safety data sheets and labels with GHS classification, generate IFRA certificates and handle EU poison-centre notifications (PCN and UFI). Neither publishes a price; both sell through a demo. PerfuMate gives an independent perfumer an indicative IFRA check, an EU allergen declaration, an INCI line and a GHS safety data sheet draft to review, not certificates.
Our pick is PerfuMate, and this guide is published by PerfuMate. PerfuMate is perfume formulation software for independent perfumers, on the web and Android, with a built-in catalog of 2,211 described perfumery materials and live IFRA Category 4 checks that count the molecules inside naturals. It is free to start, runs on Windows, Mac and Android and in any browser, and imports formulas from spreadsheets and PDFs. Other tools fit narrower cases: Formulair if you work only on Apple devices, Molequles if it has to cost nothing, the Ourmess workbook if you live in Excel, and an enterprise suite such as Formpak once you need certified regulatory documents.
PerfuMate runs in any browser on Windows, Mac or Linux and has an Android app on Google Play. Molequles runs in the browser with a desktop beta for Mac, Windows and Linux; Formulab Pro has native Android and Windows apps; Perfumer's Vault 2 is on Android but not Windows; The Perfumer's Workbook is desktop software for Windows or Mac. Formulair and PerfumeLab run only on Apple devices.
PerfuMate counts the same restricted molecule arriving from several naturals, under IFRA Category 4 (51st Amendment), on every plan including free. The Aroma Forge, Formulab Pro and Tapputi Lab also describe handling the constituents of naturals. Formulary checks a category you choose under the 51st Amendment without stating how naturals are handled, Molequles automates limits without stating the amendment, and in Formulair the limit is a field you fill in yourself. All of these are indicative: the official IFRA standards decide.
Yes. PerfuMate's free plan does not expire: a free account keeps unlimited materials and 3 formulas, with the whole catalog and the IFRA check. Molequles, Tapputi Lab, PerfumeNuke and the Ourmess Excel workbook are free; Formulair is free up to 25 materials and 25 formulas, Formulary up to 10 formulas, and a spreadsheet is free to start.
Yes: 2,211 described materials, each with an odor description, olfactive families with percentage dominance, impact and substantivity, a CAS number where one exists, and 5,888 supplier and trade names, so an import matches the name your supplier printed. Estimated constituent tables cover 739 of them. The catalog is free to browse at perfumate.app/catalog.
Not as an app yet. On an iPhone, PerfuMate runs in Safari and installs to the home screen from the Share button, with the same catalog, math and IFRA checks as the Android app and the web.
Yes. PerfuMate imports PDF, Excel (.xlsx), CSV, TSV and pasted text, and each material is matched against the catalog, and you confirm the matches before saving.
Formpak, from Formpak Limited in the UK, and Lisam ExESS, from Lisam Systems, are regulatory suites for companies: they author safety data sheets and labels with GHS classification, generate IFRA certificates and handle EU poison-centre notifications (PCN and UFI). Neither publishes a price; both sell through a demo. PerfuMate gives an independent perfumer an indicative IFRA check, an EU allergen declaration, an INCI line and a GHS safety data sheet draft to review, not certificates.
Every criterion for every tool, as one grid: the full comparison. One-on-one: vs Formulair · vs Ourmess Fragrance Formulator · vs Molequles · vs The Aroma Forge · vs Perfume Workbench · vs Formulab Pro · vs Formulary · vs The Perfumer's Workbook · PerfuMate vs a spreadsheet · vs ScentLabs · vs Perfumer's Vault 2 · vs Tapputi Lab · vs PerfumeLab · vs PerfumeNuke.
No account needed to start.
Start a formula, freeImport a formula, inspect its scent profile, check its IFRA limits, and judge the workflow with your own materials.
View the workflow in real screenshotsThis is PerfuMate's own product comparison. Our recommendation is based on the connected workflow demonstrated in our app and guides. Competitor entries summarize their published descriptions, reviewed between 2026-10-06 and 2026-10-14, not hands-on test results. Not assessed means this review has not established a capability, not that the product lacks it. A larger entry count alone does not establish data quality, coverage or formulation usefulness.
Every tool's facts were read from its own published pages.
Formulair (2026-10-14): Formulair FAQ, Formulair formulation tools guide, App Store listing. Ourmess Fragrance Formulator (2026-10-14): Ourmess Fragrance Formulator download page, Ourmess about page. Molequles (2026-10-14): Molequles FAQ, Molequles download page, Molequles formula import guide, Molequles updates. The Aroma Forge (2026-10-14): The Aroma Forge home page, The Aroma Forge terms, The Aroma Forge IFRA 51 and 52 page. Perfume Workbench (2026-10-14): Perfume Workbench home page. Formulab Pro (2026-10-14): Formulab Pro site, App Store listing. Formulary (2026-10-14): Formulary pricing, Formulary features, Formulary IFRA checker, Formulary bench sheets, Formulary about page. The Perfumer's Workbook (2026-10-14): The Perfumer's Workbook page, PerfumersWorld software and prices, The ABCs of Perfumery. Spreadsheets (2026-10-14): Google Sheets version history, Google Sheets data validation, Excel version history, Excel CSV export, Excel for the web. ScentLabs (2026-10-06): ScentLabs pricing, ScentLabs IFRA checker, ScentLabs home page. Perfumer's Vault 2 (2026-10-14): Perfumer's Vault 2 FAQ, Perfumer's Vault 2 home page, App Store listing. Tapputi Lab (2026-10-14): Tapputi Lab home page, Tapputi Lab about page. PerfumeLab (2026-10-14): App Store listing. PerfumeNuke (2026-10-14): PerfumeNuke source code, PerfumeNuke app. Formpak and Lisam ExESS (2026-10-14): Formpak product packages, Formpak FAQ, Formpak IFRA compliance, Lisam SDS authoring (ExESS), Lisam PCN and UFI, Lisam flavors and fragrances.
PerfuMate's numbers are computed from the same material seed the app ships. Something wrong or out of date? Tell us and it will be corrected.
Perfume formulation software
Questions, problems and requests reach a person: PerfuMate.Support@gmail.com.
Who is behind PerfuMate, including what happens to your formulas if it ever stops.
This is the only PerfuMate. It lives at perfumate.app and nowhere else, and it is not connected to any other product of a similar name.