PerfuMate › Compare › Spreadsheets
The honest version first, because a comparison page you can trust has to be able to say it: A spreadsheet is right when you want total control and zero new tools. The cost is that everything - percentages, dilution math, allergen totals, versioning - is yours to build and yours to break, and a mistyped cell fails silently.
PerfuMate's side of the ledger: the free tier already includes the described materials database, the indicative IFRA checking and every tool, in any browser, and the one paid version is a one-time purchase rather than a subscription. The table holds both sides to the same standard: every Spreadsheets claim on it was read from Spreadsheets's own published pages on 2026-08-17, and the full six-tool picture is at /compare.
| PerfuMate | Spreadsheets | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Formulation software for independent perfumers, in the browser | General-purpose calculation grid (Excel, Google Sheets) |
| Ships with a materials database | Yes - 1,581 materials, each DESCRIBED and classified: odor description, olfactive families with percentage dominance, impact and substantivity, a CAS number where one exists (1,153; a compounded base has none to give), plus estimated constituent tables for 588 | No - every material is typed in by hand |
| IFRA compliance | Checked live while composing, on every tier including free - and it counts one molecule arriving from several naturals at once. Category 4 (fine fragrance on skin), 51st Amendment, indicative: verify against the official standards before you sell | By hand, if you build the formulas yourself |
| Formula work | Milligram scaling, version history with diffs and branching, batch and maceration tracking, dilution management, substitute suggestions from your own shelf | Whatever you build - and every formula is one typo from silently wrong |
| Import and export | Import from PDF, CSV, TSV or pasted text; export PDF, EU allergen declaration, INCI label, GHS SDS draft | CSV in and out, by hand |
| Runs on | Any browser, desktop or phone; installs as an app; native Android next | Anywhere Office or Sheets runs |
| Price to start | PerfuMate: free with no expiry - an UNLIMITED shelf and 3 formulas, with the whole catalog, the IFRA checking, the allergen and INCI label text, the scent profile and the drydown. A free account opens every tool; only bottle labels, the pack that contains them and colour PDF themes are paid. PerfuMate has one paid version, Lifetime Unlimited, a ONE-TIME purchase bought once and kept, never a subscription | Spreadsheet: an Office licence, or free with Google Sheets |
Spreadsheets's facts were read from its own published pages on 2026-08-17; PerfuMate's numbers are computed from the same material seed the app ships, at build time, so this page cannot drift from the product. Something wrong or out of date? Tell us and it will be corrected.