Fragrance load in. Real cost per candle out.
Craftybase became Stocksmith and set its sights on bigger operations, with a pricing ladder that runs $49 to $349/mo. If you pour on the weekend and sell at Saturday markets, that's built for someone else's workshop. MadeKeeper is built for yours: a batch recipe that pulls wax by the pound and fragrance by your load percentage, wicks from the per-100 bag, the two-week cure on the calendar, and burn-test jars logged as a business expense — all for $19/mo.
$19/mo for the whole back office, kept for as long as you stay. No card to start — MadeKeeper asks for one when you subscribe, not before. The shop stays free for cost a piece and one fair — no product cap. The tax packet, Etsy and Square, and more fairs are the $19.
Honest up front: the app is live and taking subscriptions today. It is young, so expect a rough edge here and there — tell me when you hit one and I will fix it. Every Craftybase fact below is sourced on the main comparison page.
Why the switch makes sense for a candle bench
Candle costing is fragrance-load math, and MadeKeeper does it the way you already think: ten pounds of wax at an 8% load pulls 12.8 ounces of oil, costed at your supplier's price, split across the tins the batch made. The cure is on the calendar, so poured-but-curing candles don't inflate your sellable stock before a big market. And the jars you burn testing a new wick-and-fragrance combo log as a business expense — real development cost, not a mystery hole in your margin. None of that lives a tier away; it is all on the $19 plan.
Your past comes too. Export from Stocksmith, drop the files in, and purchases become lots, pours become batches with frozen costs, and orders become sales on their original dates — previewed, and undoable in one click. See how the migration works →
The short version
Craftybase is Stocksmith now, and it's grown toward bigger operations — a fair path for them, and the right tool if you run at scale. But if you're a candle maker at one bench and one booth:
- Craftybase / Stocksmith$49–$349/mo, metered order lines*
- MadeKeeper$19/mo, no order-line meters
- Your historymigrates free, previewed & undoable
- The applive now
*Stocksmith's published plans, read 11 August 2026: Studio $49/mo, Indie $99, Business $199, Growth $349, with order lines metered from Indie up (1,000/mo, then 5,000, then 5,000+). Their pricing FAQ also says Pro starts at $20/mo on a single sales channel. Every Craftybase and Stocksmith figure we use is sourced on the main comparison page.
Everything Craftybase was loved for at your size, plus a fair that nets down to what the day earned — and it stays this size on purpose. See the full head-to-head →
Straight about what's live
Materials and true cost per piece, batch "makes" with your labor amortized in, the suggested-price coach, product variants, sales that drain stock, the market-day quick-sale screen, lot tracking, the was-this-fair-worth-it event math, money-insight reports, multi-location consignment, the cure/best-by heads-up engine, mileage, expenses, and the Schedule C tax packet are all in the app today, with guided setup and the full Craftybase history migration to get you started. So are Etsy order sync, Square card sync, your own shop page, a Buy button on your own Square account, and custom-order requests off a piece you already sold. On the $24 MadeKeeper AI plan you also get receipts, shelves and recipe cards read from a photo — photo reads are on that plan; hand entry is how the $19 shop starts. Still building: your own books answered in plain words, buying a shipping label inside the app, and a best-customers report. MadeKeeper does not send marketing email to your buyers and is not going to: every maker here sends from one shared reputation, and a quote that has to arrive matters more than a mailing list. Nothing above is dressed up as done when it is not. See the full live-vs-building list →
Questions candle makers ask
Is there a cheaper Craftybase alternative for candle makers?
MadeKeeper is $19/mo for the whole back office, kept at $19 for as long as you stay — against Stocksmith's (was Craftybase) $49-to-$349 tiers, which meter order lines from Indie up. It's sized for a weekend candle bench: fragrance-load batch costing, the cure on the calendar, and burn-test jars logged as a business expense.
Does MadeKeeper understand fragrance load and cure like Craftybase?
The cure, yes — poured candles count as made-but-not-sellable until their cure date, so your sellable stock is what is actually ready. Fragrance load is handled by the free candle calculator today; the batch recipe costs the ounces you enter rather than carrying the load percentage itself. That one is on the build list.
Can I bring my candle data over from Craftybase?
Purchases, pours (as batches), and orders (as sales) migrate free on their original dates, with costs frozen. Recipes are the one thing that can't export from Craftybase, so you rebuild those with your old per-candle cost shown as a target. The switch page has the full steps.
See your real numbers
The app is live. $19/mo, kept for as long as you stay.