How Do I Compare Ready-Made Reed Diffuser Base Prices per kg While Accounting for Density, Fragrance Load and Finished Bottle Yield?

Why per-kg and per-ml prices cannot be compared directly

Reed diffuser bases are sold in different units. CSI lists Lift Base, Depth Base, Softness Base and Pure Performance at ₹1,099.00 per 500 ml, Longevity Base at ₹1,296.00 per 500 ml, and Pure Performance Base also as 100 g for ₹325.00. Another supplier may quote per kilogram, per litre, or per drum of unstated size. Your formula is by weight — every CSI base page states the load as a share of the total blend — so the number you actually need is rupees per gram of base, and getting there from a per-millilitre price needs the base's density.

Price is one input to the base choice in the pillar which reed diffuser base to buy in India, and base cost is one line in the business pillar how to start a profitable reed diffuser business in India; if you are weighing a ready-made base against DPG or another solvent, read the solvent comparison pillar first.

CSI publishes no density for any base, and many suppliers do not either. That is why this page uses three labelled example densities — 0.95, 1.00 and 1.05 g/ml — and why the first step in any comparison is to weigh 100 ml of each base yourself. Until you do, a per-kg quote and a per-ml price can only be ranked within a range, and sometimes the range crosses: the cheaper one at one density is the dearer one at another.

Two things stand out. Four of the five bases share one price per millilitre, so their price per kilogram differs only if their densities differ — which you will only know by weighing. And Pure Performance's 100 g, sold by weight at ₹3,250.00 per kg, is dearer than its own 500 ml at any density above 0.676 g/ml (₹1,099 ÷ 500 ml ÷ ₹3.25 per g). Liquid bases commonly sit well above that, so in practice the 500 ml is the cheaper way to buy it; the 100 g is a testing size.

Comparing a quote from another supplier

Here is the trap in practice, with two hypothetical quotes — labelled examples, not real suppliers or prices. Quote X is ₹2,300 per kg. Quote Y is ₹2,050 per litre. Against Lift at ₹2.20 per ml (₹2,198.00 per litre):

Quote Y is per litre, like CSI's price, so it compares directly: ₹2,050 per litre is cheaper than ₹2,198.00 per litre whatever the density — if the two bases have the same density. They may not; a lighter base gives you fewer grams per litre. Quote X is per kilogram, and against Lift it crosses over at 0.956 g/ml: if Lift weighs less than that per millilitre, X is cheaper per kilogram; if more, Lift is. That is the whole reason to weigh. Ask any supplier quoting per kg whether the figure is net of the drum, and ask for the density if they publish one; if they do not, weigh it yourself.

From price per kilogram to bottles per unit

Price per kilogram is still not the number a customer pays for. The next step is yield: how many finished bottles a unit of base fills. That depends on your fill weight and your fragrance load — at a higher load, each bottle takes less base, so a unit of base fills more bottles.

So a 500 ml unit fills about 14 bottles of 50 ml at 20% at an example 1.00 g/ml, and about 6 bottles of 120 ml filled to 100 g. A supplier that sells by the kilogram gives you the last column directly; one that sells by the litre gives you the 500 ml columns scaled up, and which column applies depends on your density. How many 100 ml bottles from 1 kg of finished liquid works through the yield of finished liquid rather than base, and base for 100 bottles at 20% applies it to an order.

The number that matters: liquid cost per finished bottle

Put the base price, the load and the oil together and you have the comparison that decides a purchase. The example is a 120 ml Gold bottle filled to 100 g with Mango Coconut at 20% (1 kg rate, ₹3.96 per g) — a fruity-gourmand note for a base whose page names fruity families.

Across every row the oil contributes the same ₹79.28; only the base line moves, by up to ₹103.81 per bottle across this table. That is the true size of the price difference you are negotiating — per bottle, at your load, at your density. Multiply by your monthly bottles before deciding whether a supplier change is worth a requalification. Liquid cost from per-kg prices (₹400/kg base, ₹1,500/kg oil) shows the same formula with a reader's own figures, and the full 100 ml cost sheet adds bottle and reeds.

One more lever belongs in a fair comparison, and it is the one a per-kg price hides completely: the load each base needs to pass. As a pure illustration — not a CSI result — if the cheaper quote X base needed 25% to fill your room while a dearer base passed at 15%, the bottle would cost ₹271.60 in the cheaper base and ₹279.78 in the dearer one. CSI publishes no diffusion data showing any base needs less oil than another; only your own blind test can tell you. Is a more expensive base worth it at a lower fragrance percentage? is the post for that test.

Weigh, then test: two bases with the same price per millilitre

The cheapest useful test of this whole method uses two CSI bases that cost the same per millilitre — Lift Base and Pure Performance Base — and asks whether they cost the same per kilogram and per day. Weigh 100 ml of each. Then put Mango Coconut at 20% in both, two bottles each, and see whether the grams lost per day differ — because a base that empties a bottle faster costs more per day of use even at the same price per gram.

Pure Performance is bought here as 100 g packs for the test; weigh 100 g of it in the beaker to read its volume, which gives you its density the other way round. If you are comparing a non-CSI base, add it as a third pair of bottles and treat its quote exactly as you treat ours.

The decision rule: which base is actually cheaper

Where cost ties, supplier quality decides: choosing a base supplier for consistency, documents and availability. The section hub starting a reed diffuser business with ₹10,000 shows a first purchase, and the pillar how to start a profitable reed diffuser business in India places base cost in the whole business. 1 kg, 5 kg or 25 kg covers how much of the winner to hold, and the base pillar which reed diffuser base to buy in India covers the choice on performance.

The CSI products in this comparison

Frequently asked questions