Candle wax calculator
How much wax your containers actually take. Enter the vessel volume or the weight of water it holds, pick a wax, and get the weight per candle and for the whole batch.
INPUTS
How do you know your vessel?
ml
fl oz
About 1 cm of headspace on a typical jar.
Factor 0.86 — The container default. Forgiving to pour, frosts a little, holds up to about 10%.
How many candles?
×12 Buy about 10% over — wax is lost to the pouring jug.
Never leave melting wax unattended, and keep a lid nearby. Wax fires must not be put out with water.
RESULTS
Wax per candle
183 g
Total for 12 candles
2201 g
To order
4.85 lb
With 10% spare
2421 g
Melts at
49°C · 120 °F
Pour between
57–63°C · 135–145 °F
How this is worked out
A container is sold by the volume it holds, but wax is bought and poured by weight, so every wax calculation is a conversion between the two. Water weighs 1 g per millilitre, which makes it a convenient stand-in: whatever your vessel holds in millilitres, it holds that many grams of water. Wax is lighter, so we multiply by the density factor for the wax you are using — 0.86 for soy, a little more for beeswax. If you measured with water rather than reading the label, the fill level is already accounted for, because you filled it to the line you actually pour to.
wax per candle = vessel_ml × fill_level × wax_factor
wax per candle = water_weight_g × wax_factor
batch total = wax per candle × candle count
Questions makers ask
How much wax do I need for an 8 oz jar?
An 8 oz jar is 8 fluid ounces of brim volume, which is about 237 ml. Poured to a standard fill with soy, that is roughly 183 g of wax — about 6.5 oz by weight, not 8. The jar size is a volume; the wax is a weight, and the two never match.
Why is the wax weight less than the jar size?
Because a jar is sold by the volume of liquid it holds, and wax is lighter than water. Soy weighs about 0.86 g per millilitre, so the same space holds roughly 14% less wax than water by weight, before you take headspace off as well.
Should I use volume or water weight?
Water weight, whenever you can. It measures your actual container, including any curve, taper or thick base the stated volume ignores. Fill the jar with water to exactly where you want the wax to sit, weigh it, and use that.
How much extra wax should I buy?
About 10% over the calculated total. Wax clings to the melting jug, the thermometer and the spatula, and you will lose a little every pour. The result panel shows that figure alongside the exact one.
Does the fragrance oil count towards the wax weight?
No. This calculator gives you wax only. Fragrance is added on top of the wax weight in most recipes, which means the finished candle weighs slightly more than the figure here — use the fragrance oil calculator for that part.
Read before your next batch
- How much wax do I need for candles? A jar is sold by volume and wax is bought by weight, so the two numbers never match. Here is the conversion for every common container.
- Fragrance oil to wax ratio explained How much oil each wax will actually hold, why the same percentage can mean two different amounts, and what happens when you go over.
- How to calculate fragrance load Two multiplications and one thing to watch for. Here is the method, worked at every load from six to ten per cent.
- Soy vs paraffin vs beeswax: which to use Less a matter of taste than of what each wax can physically do. Here is where they genuinely differ, and where they barely do.