Soy vs paraffin vs beeswax, in your jar

Density factors on their own tell you nothing. Pick the container you actually pour into and see what each wax works out to — weight, fragrance, burn time and cost.

Set your jar

ml
/kg

One price is applied to every wax on purpose, so the cost row shows how much wax each one uses rather than what your supplier charges for it.

Tap a wax to add or remove it

183 g of wax 6.5 oz · 2 candles per lb
Fragrance at 8%
14.7 g
Rated maximum
10%
Finished candle
198 g
Burn time
31 h
Wax cost each
1.56
Pour between
57–63 °C
Stir fragrance in at
85 °C

The container default. Forgiving to pour, frosts a little, holds up to about 10%.

183 g of wax 6.5 oz · 2 candles per lb
Fragrance at 9%
16.5 g
Rated maximum
12%
Finished candle
200 g
Burn time
31 h
Wax cost each
1.56
Pour between
66–74 °C
Stir fragrance in at
85 °C

The strongest hot throw and a glass-smooth finish. No frosting.

192 g of wax 6.8 oz · 2 candles per lb
Fragrance at 5%
9.6 g
Rated maximum
6%
Finished candle
202 g
Burn time
32 h
Wax cost each
1.63
Pour between
63–71 °C
Stir fragrance in at
74 °C

Hard enough to stand alone in a mould. Carries added fragrance poorly.

What this actually shows

Across the 3 waxes you have selected, the amount you need varies by only 9 g — about 5% — while what they can hold varies by 6 percentage points of fragrance and the temperature they want to be poured at spans 17 °C. Density is not the decision. Fragrance capacity, finish, cost and the process each one needs are.

Burn time assumes one wick at 6 g/hr for 64–76 mm (2.5–3 in), held constant across every wax because the wick drives burn rate far more than the wax does.

How this is worked out

Every column is the same arithmetic run with a different wax constant. Wax weight is the vessel volume times the fill level times that wax's density factor. Fragrance is that wax's own typical load applied to the result, because a single percentage across all of them would misrepresent every one. Burn time divides the wax weight by a consumption rate taken from the container's diameter — held constant across the columns on purpose, since the wick drives burn rate far more than the wax does. What the table tends to show is that the waxes differ much less in quantity than the marketing suggests, and that the real differences are in throw, finish and cost.

wax = vessel_ml × fill × wax_factor
fragrance = wax × that wax’s typical load
burn hours = wax ÷ consumption per hour

Questions makers ask

Does the wax change how much I need for a jar?
Barely. In an 8 oz straight-sided jar, soy comes to about 183 g and beeswax to 192 g — a spread of roughly 9 g. Your container choice moves the figure far more than your wax choice does.
Which wax gives the most candles per kilogram?
Whichever has the lowest density factor, but the difference is a fraction of a candle across a kilogram. If yield matters to you, changing to a smaller vessel achieves in one step what switching wax never will.
Why does the fragrance figure change between waxes?
Because each wax holds a different amount. The table uses each wax's typical working load — 8% for soy, 9% for paraffin, 5% for beeswax — not one number applied to all of them.
Is the burn time comparison fair?
It uses the same consumption rate for every wax, which is deliberate: burn rate is set far more by the wick and the melt pool than by the wax. Treat the column as showing the effect of wax weight, not of wax chemistry.
Why is the same price applied to every wax?
So the cost row compares how much wax each one uses rather than what your supplier happens to charge. Change the price to your own and read one column at a time if you want real per-wax costs.

Read before your next batch