What Company Has the Best Essential Oils?
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Are you wanting to start using essential oils, but don’t know where to start? You’re ready to buy, but don’t know what company has the best essential oils?
You’ve come to the right place.
Essential oils are all the rage these days. People say that they can do everything from being a natural ear infection remedy, to helping with weight loss, to healing eczema, and more.
I’ve written various posts on essential oils in which I talked about:
- Are Essential Oils a Scam and
- Using Essential Oils for Tummy Aches, Head Tension and More (with more of my skeptical thoughts)
Hopefully you can tell by those posts that I’m a skeptic at heart and pretty detailed when it comes to sorting through all the information out there to find out what really works. In fact, many of my readers and friends have called me an “investigative reporter” of sorts.
My husband says that I “second guess everything.”
In one sense, second guessing is a good thing. I’ve saved our family a lot of money by avoiding problematic purchases.
But sometimes I can go overboard and spend way too much time analyzing a product or purchase. (Kind of like driving all over town to save a few pennies. Not smart, especially as I saw gas at $4.11/gallon coming home from church last night. Big sigh.)
When trying to sort out this issue about which essential oils company is best, I tried not to be too analytical at first, and simply used what worked. But then, things changed.
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The Search for the Best Essential Oil
In the Are Essential Oils a Scam? – A Skeptic Looks at Thieves Oil, I shared how I held off trying really any essential oils at all for years before trying Thieves® from Young Living.
Truth be told, I did have a few old bottles of essential oils in my linen closet. One bottle each of orange, eucalyptus, melaleuca (tea tree) oil, and rose oil, which I bought for topical use to brighten up my laundry [ended up never using it] and for my Homemade Chest Rub and Homemade Rose Water Spray.
This time around, before buying the Thieves oil and signing up as a Young Living Distributor, I dug around a little, but not too much.
I asked about all the rumors surrounding Gary Young, the founder of Young Living and I also asked some questions about purity of essential oils.
I got some satisfactory answers and was pretty amazed at how well the Thieves oil had worked. And I was thrilled to have great resources in my natural health care arsenal.
I mean, who wants to put more toxins in your body if you don’t have to, right?
However, after my post on Young Living’s Thieves and the other oils (Wintergreen and Peppermint, etc.), a number of readers started asking me about other oil companies. And so I too started wondering.
At first, I thought, “This stuff works great, and I’m pretty worn out right now, so I am just going to leave this alone and not start digging for more information”
But the “investigative reporter” in me just couldn’t leave. it. alone.
So I started poking around.
Today I’m sharing with you the beginning of my investigation.
Other Essential Oils Companies
There were some essential oils companies that I knew of, and some that a few readers recommended to me.
One of my readers was a doTERRA rep who said I really should check out their company to see how it measured up to Young Living.
Little did I know what lay ahead of me.
I started out with just a small list of companies, but the list quickly grew as the series went on and as more and more readers commented and as I went down more and more rabbit trails.
I think you’ll find the whole thing interesting and I hope you’ll learn a thing or two about essential oils and the companies that sell them.
The Competitors:
(UPDATE: A lot changed after I started this series. Please follow the links at the bottom of this post to see how interesting everything got – you can hop on over to read Part 2 of “The Best Essential Oils” here.
To start off, following are the essential oils companies that were “on my radar” and so I started with these, wondering if I should stick with Young Living or switch to another company to be my family’s “best essential oils company” of choice
- Mountain Rose Herbs
- Aura Cacia
- DoTerra
- Young Living
- Heritage Oils
- Native American Nutritionals (now Rocky Mountain Oils)
- North American Herb and Spice
and more. Truth is, I called a TON of companies and read up on others. These all included: - NOW oils
- Butterfly Express
- Spark Naturals
- Edens Garden
- North American Herb and Spice, and on and on.My head really started to spin with all of the phone calls and notes I was taking, but I started with just those listed above and went from there.
This is not an exhaustive list as there are a TON of essential oils companies out there. After writing this series I felt like I really opened a can of worms, but these are the companies that I started with.
Hang with me – it gets pretty interesting from here on out.
IMPORTANT UPDATE
I’m updating this post years later to add important information. I do not have all of the information in this series on why I didn’t choose certain companies so I would appreciate you not accusing me of coming to silly conclusions. I have gotten threatening emails (some of them were cryptic threats), and have been warned about being sued if I published certain things.
My family is important to me and while I don’t like to succumb to this kind of bullying, I have to weigh the cost of all of this. I am trying to be as upfront as I can about my decisions. Just know that what you are reading here is not the whole story. Not at all.
The Challenge
Following are some of the companies that I looked into.
1. Young Living Oils
I first tried Young Living when I thought that essential oils were a scam. I used them for a while and since I wanted to get as many savings as possible on the oils, I purchased monthly, took advantage of discounts, and stocked up quite a bit.
2. doTERRA Oils
Just before starting this series, several of my readers told me that I should really look into doTERRA as well, before making a hard and fast decision about which company to go with long term. So, I signed up with doTERRA as well. Follow along and you will see what happened next.
3. Mountain Rose Herbs
I like Mountain Rose Herbs’ mission and have a few bottles of their oils. When I contacted them they told me that they did not recommend internal use of their oils as they were not produced in a food-grade facility.
Much later (after this whole series was done) I contacted them again and they said that this was not the case. The company also told me several times at later dates that they didn’t test their oils but trusted their sources.
4. Butterfly Express
This seemed like a good company to check out, but I ran into quite a bit of trouble getting information from them. When I called to ask them a number of questions, I was able to get some information, but then I was told that they didn’t have time to talk with me.
5. Native American Nutritionals (now Rocky Mountain Oils)
When I first contacted this company, I thought that their prices seemed a little high for a company that wasn’t an MLM, but the more I talked to them the more interesting it all got.
You’ll have to read more in the series to see what happened with this company….
THE VERDICT: Probable high quality with no apparent earnings opportunity. Need to check into this company more.
6. North American Herb and Spice
From all I could figure out, this is a great company.
However, all they make is oregano oil.
So if you just want oregano oil, then this is a good place to turn.
THE VERDICT: Oregano is a pretty amazing oil, but I want more than just that in my natural healing arsenal.
7. Aura Cacia
I personally have a number of Aura Cacia oils that I bought prior to really digging into oils. I can’t say anything except for my personal experience which is that they don’t smell as potent as some of the other oils that I have.
I do like the company but for now, I’m not choosing to get my oils from them. That being said, I think that they have a lot of great information about oils and their use.
Well, this is a long enough post already – thanks for sticking with me!
Onto the other competitors in the next post and see what happens!
A Great Essential Oils Book for Your Library
There are so many books out there on essential oils, that it’s hard to know what to buy. I have a bunch, but this one, The Encyclopedia of Essential Oils, is a fantastic choice. It’s very highly recommended by many aromatherapists.
Encyclopedia of Essential Oils
This is one of the bestselling essential oils books of all time with information on plant origins, therapeutic uses, folk traditions, and more of 165 oils. Great for everyone from beginners to experienced aromatherapists.
At the bottom of each of my posts in this series are books or other kinds of products that I love that relate to essential oils.
The Essential Oil Company I Prefer
If you’re in a hurry to find out which essential oil company I went with at the end of this search, read the following post:
– Announcing “the Best” Essential Oils Company – Part 7
More Essential Oils Posts
Over the years, I’ve rewritten some of the posts in this series to make them more helpful. Here are some more posts to help you on your essential oils journey.
– Qualities of a Good Oils Company
– Tips to Spot Fake Essential Oils
– Young Living vs. doTERRA
– Are Multi-Level Marketing Oils Worth It?
– Distillation, Bias, Vomit and More Concerns
you can also read this post on Essential Oils Testing which gives you more information on how essential oils are tested for purity.
Free Essential Oils Report and VIP Newsletter Access
Also, if you go and grab my Free Report on 10 Things to Know About Essential Oils Before You Buy, you will not only get more myth-busting essential oils information, but you’ll get access to my VIP newsletter as well–complete with updates, great healthy living offers, of course new posts on essential oils, and more.
What are your thoughts?
Hi and thanks so much for your informative and eye opening article about the different companies. YL was really starting to drain my bank account and I just can’t get myself to subscribe to their marketing about being the absolute best and most pure source of oils. I see that you are an affiliate for NAN? I contacted them about more information about becoming an affiliate and I was told that no affiliate program exists at this time and that they would add me to a list should anything like that ever start.
Hi there, yes I was their first affiliate. They aren’t accepting people at this time and are very selective.
Thank you for your very helpful information. You and I seem to think much alike.
Have you investigated Nanda Oils? I have been using them for years and have been very pleased.
Did you mean Ananda?
Been with Young Living for 13 years and yes they are the top of the line. Used these oils interlal, on my skin and difuse so i know what wonderful things they have helped me accomplish. I will not use an oil that comes from thieves because no blessings come from them. When you copy Labels and paste on your oils thats wrong. The distilationprocess and the quality of the product you distil makes it quality. I have seen the process myself and its why i choose Young Living. I would never use oils that are wildcrafted and are bought from others companies and are rebottled and sold. Just saying if you want quality check it out from people that have checked them out for years and has used it for years. Young Living gives God the recognition for the best oils in America.
Why did you not mention DoTerra?
Hi Debbie. I do mention them. Keep reading and you’ll find it – I think it’s posts #3 and #4? Thanks!
One company that has the best essential oil that was not mention is melaleuca.
Hi Juan. I have been hearing more about them since they just came out w/ their oils line. May I ask what you think about their commitment to purity when they have ingredients like acesulfame potassium, artificial colors and artificial fragrances in their other products? Thanks!
I have really enjoyed reading your articles. I have used the doterra breathe for several years and it has helped me tremendously but I’m always on the look out for something better and less expensive. Have you ever heard of Sun Essentials? Has anyone tried them? I am going to look into the “winner” but would like to know about this brand.
Sorry, but I haven’t heard of them.
Adrienne,
Hello I hope all is going well with you and your family.
Just wanted to say I really appreciate this [dissertation-like] Response and criticism on Essential oil(s)
I have been torn between Young-Living and Do-terra from the beginning, my Friends kept on tugging me to either or with No options [available]
I really appreciate This lecture/note Series!!
Have a Great fall Season
Thomas samuel Francisco
You are so welcome! Thanks for commenting and hope to see you around again. More to come!
🙂 😀
Likewise, I enjoy what I read so far.
:).
I have enjoyed your blog. I thank you for informing people on how inportant it is to use a good quality essential oil. The important thing is that people know there’s an alternative to what the drug companies offer , not to say medication don’t work, I will be the first one to tell someone there are some things you need to see a professional for. , but if you can find relief naturally you could be spending less money in the long run. all I can say is no matter the company, Essential oils work for myself . I can now with a clear consciece recommend both doterra and Y.L. sounds ike yours are good also The important thing is: PEOPLE TRYING THEM, AND USE THEM. THEY ARE AMAZING !!!
I agree for sure you need to try natural things whenever possible. I do think the company matters, however, as so many are putting things in the oils. Not good! Thanks and hope to see you around again!
Hi have you checked out Melaleuca’s new Pure line of EO? It would be interesting to see what you think.
Hi there. I did a little. But they have a lot of ingredients in their other products that I don’t care for — like acesulfame potassium, colours, fragrances. So basically when I see a company with those kind of ingredients I well — you can gather. This report might help. https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/
I have a question is the writer of this article a consumer but not a certified Aromatherapist? If so, then this report could have been made real clear. What you need to look for and ask a company is a GC/MS report (Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry Report. So far do-TERRA and Young Living do not. The next thing is to see the details about the oil and how it was extracted from the plant either the flower, seed, bark, resin or roots.
Hi Rebecca. Thanks for commenting. I have made it clear that I am not a certified aromatherapist. However, I did make the points that you did in this post. https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/toxic-overload-health-concerns/essential-oils-testing-is-it-reliable/ So we are thinking alike but there are more details in the post.
All I will say is CPTG.
I discussed CPTG in this report. Thanks! https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/
What is your opinion on Lorianns essential oils.thank u very much
Hello Tammy. I mentioned in this report that I don’t think that any company selling artificial “scents” are a company that I would want to buy essential oils from. You can make that decision for yourself of course :). https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/
Any reason why Plant Therapy is not on your list?
They have a product that is as good as the company being challenged at
a much much lower price,
In my research I came up with them being right up there among the top few companies.
can you please give me you input on them?
I didn’t go w/ them for several reasons. This report https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/
and this post might help: https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/toxic-overload-health-concerns/essential-oils-testing-is-it-reliable/
I am curious now, you pictured Doterra, You mentioned Doterra in the top and then left any other reference or review out? Wondering why and if you have comments about their oils & company?
Thanks, Miranda
Keep reading in the series. I talk about them a lot. Did you read all of the posts?
thanks….. I got kinda lost, so I will go back….and read some more 🙂
I’d love to hear what you think.
I find your opinion on the best essential oil suppliers most interesting. I also checked with Essential OIl Haven regarding their research on essential oil suppliers. In their research they agree with you on the top suppliers in regards to Young Living and deTerra. Their third chose was Edens Garden, fourth chose was Mountain Rose Herbs. They showed a chart showing rating, quality, price and customer service. It was very informative. They did not mention any other suppliers. On your website you mentioned several but showed no comparison chart to show the reason for the chose you made regarding the best suppliers. My opinion regarding Young Living and deTerra oils is their prices are based on a pyramid basis. They appear to put profit above concern for customer’s pocket book. They claim to be better than all other suppliers. This comes across to me as a proud and arrogant attitude. This is one reason among many I like Edens Garden Oils. They keep their profit margin in line with concern making oils available to everyone and not the few who can afford them. They have good pure quality oils that are available to most customers. I would like to see a chart showing different evaluation of several suppliers and not a selected few. Thank you for for response.
Carol Clements Clements
Hello and thanks for reading. I should note that pyramid schemes are illegal as they take money as a promise for something but don’t sell anything. As for Edens Garden, I am putting information together to have more companies to offer as well as more information on what to look for. I care very much about GC/MS reports and they need to have a chemist’s signature on them. I hope that helps and that you will stay in touch.
I have discovered another company that you might want to research. They have been in business for 26 years and their oils are very high quality. As much as I love Native American Nutritionals/Rocky Mountain, I buy oils from the AMRITA company. I also still buy the others but Amrita has a bigger selection and has fast become my fav, Tara.
Hi,
Thanks so much for the great research you have done with finding the best essential oil company. I am currently ordering my oils from Native American and love them, however I am wondering if you ever did any follow up research on Mountain Rose Herbs. I have been looking around for a backup supplier when Native American is out of a specific oil I am looking to purchase. In looking over Mountain Rose site they seem too good to be true. They have a very large selection at a very good price. Do you have any input?
Thanks,
Debbie
Hi there, Debbie. Thanks for commenting. I did call and they told me that their oils were not produced in a food grade facility so I turned away. Later I called again and they said that wasn’t the case. I didn’t go any further b/c I was happy w/ the company I chose. I think you can make your own decision based on this post and this report.
https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/
https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/toxic-overload-health-concerns/essential-oils-testing-is-it-reliable/
One thing to think about is that they are an herb company, not an oils company. I don’t know whom they have on staff and what they know about oils, but that might be something to consider. I hope to find out more when I have the chance. I pretty much burned out when the series was over and then got pummeled w requests to try / evaluate different companies and I just got so overwhelmed. Thanks for your understanding.
I heard Mountain Rose was bought out by Native American which is all now owned by Rocky Mountain. Can anyone confirm this?
Hi there. MRH was not bought by NAN. Rocky Mountain and NAN are the same and there will be more news coming out about that soon. Thanks!
I’ve been reading your research on essential oils off & on the past several weeks, and you’ve been quite inspirational as I’m just starting out. And tenacious! Good for you and the way you’ve handled the nasties. Anyway, have you done any research on Plant Therapy? Thanks.
Hi there. Sorry for the delay. Once I found out that most companies purchase from the same 5 or so “experts” I just focused on companies that don’t do that. Perhaps this report and post will be of help.
https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/
https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/toxic-overload-health-concerns/essential-oils-testing-is-it-reliable/
I have to be careful not to talk negatively about other companies – I got a threatening email about a negative comment that someone left on my blog about another company. I hope you can understand. I didn’t choose them for a number of reasons.
I hope that helps.
So which company is the best for essential oils? Can’t find the answer…
Were you able to read the final post in the series? https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/natural-remedies/announcing-the-best-essential-oils-company-and-a-great-sale/
I have been using essential oils for a number of years and I so appreciate your series regarding different oils. I first began using Aura Cacia as theywere less expensive. I have tried DoTerra and others that were just too expensive for me. I was curious if anyone has tried Better Essentials and what you thought about them? I tried their Best Friend blend and I really liked it. Thanks for your feedback.
Hi there. Hadn’t heard of them, but as of now they are missing some key oils that I like – such as helichrysum. Perhaps this report and post will help you evaluate AC and the other company.
Once I found out that most companies purchase from the same 5 or so “experts” I just focused on companies that don’t do that. Perhaps this report and post will be of help.
https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/
https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/toxic-overload-health-concerns/essential-oils-testing-is-it-reliable/
I hope that helps.
Holy Smokes. You have written some awesome stuff. Thanks for sending these two links. I emailed Better Essentials to find out more in regards to the 11 things you had listed. I am going to compare them to some of the other brands I have at my house. They sent me all the GCMS tests and sent me to the website to find the region where they source the oils. I’m going to try them as I liked the first oil I tried of theirs and they offered me a coupon code so I could try their other oils..
Thanks much. Better Essentials doesn’t have a great selection, at least right now they don’t. They are missing a lot of oils that I use. NAN / RMO is going to have GC/MS tests on their site soon so hope that helps.
Have you tried Essential Oil Exchange? I came from YL and after doing a little research of my own, found this company. Their oils are very good (I’ve tried 20 different ones so far) and are a fraction of the price of YL. Huge selection, as well.
I haven’t. Sorry!
Hi
I have not seen any post about Améo Essential oils? there was a recent article on Essential oils wars in utah is heating up.. and it was a good comparison. Améo is the only oil that can prove that they are Cell permeable and Cell active ( because of patented technology they have developed- this is not to say other oils don’t they just can’t prove it) also Améo uses oil profiles that have been used in Clinical grade Essential oil research -for vetted clinical trials as there standards. The oils used in Améo meet or exceed those standards. on the bottom of each bottle there is a batch number that you can enter online and see the results of that batch. and with the technology that Améo uses to test oil permeability they have been able to identify what oils are readily and easily absorbed into the cells, which ones are carrier oils and have just crunched 2 billion data points with MIT and other big universities to develop the new Améo Gene Expression AGX when you can map what oils enter the cells and how they affect the cell your able to target cells/genes/diseases with oils.
AGX is working on influencing how our gene’s express… this is huge this is why Young Living and Doterra Executives have moved over to the Améo Brand.
Dan
this is a non affiliate link it is only a link to an article, we use and distribute all Zija products but no links to our site are included this is just for information to create some discussion.
https://www.examiner.com/article/essential-oils-wars-heat-up-utah
I was really excited to hear you compare DoTerra (because they DO recommend using their products internally) and Young Living since you and a few other blogs have mentioned this as a high quality brand. However, you did not mention either…pretty disappointed, sorry.
I talk about them later in the series…https://wholenewmom.com/what-to-buy/best-essential-oils-company-young-living-review-doterra-review/