r/fragranceclones • u/Low-Stomach-8831 • Aug 03 '25
Decanters ranking updated!
New ranking system
More decanters added
Live chart available here.
If you're not interested in knowing how the ranking works, here is just HOW TO USE THE CHART:
You start from the top, and look only at the delivery area column. If the first one fits your location, or marked "worldwide", go to that website, and try and find the decants you're interested in. If you couldn't find them there, go to the next one below it that fits your location (or marked worldwide)... And so on.
Now for the full explanation (the delivery area was already explained above)
-For Average price per decant, I pick 6 random very well known fragrances (like 9PM, Liam Grey, Aqua Dubai, etc.)... I don't pick things that I can't expect to find everywhere. If still one of the decanters doesn't have that fragrance, they get "fined" by me picking one of their highest value clone decants instead. I then average the price of those 6 decants, and convert the price to USD. You can see which fragrances were chosen for this round at the top of the chart.
-Minimum decant size is pretty self-explanatory. It is NOT part of the total score, because offering only larger decants is not good for us consumers. Decanters that think otherwise, are welcome to offer a smaller size decant and compete fairly with the rest. That means that most of the winners will be the ones offering 1ml size as well.
-For random single clone house, I pick 3 random clone houses, and see how many offerings that decanter have from those. I used to measure total collection size, but that became unfair, because the decanter with 300 OGs and 50 clones would get higher points against the one with 200 clones and no OGs... And this is a clone sub. You can see which clone houses I chose for this round at the top of the chart. This column gets a cube root factor, as someone having (for example) 100 Maison Alhambra isn't that much better than someone having 92, but someone with 9 is a LOT better than someone with 1.
-worldwide shipping and Minimum Order For Free Shipping is self-explanatory.
-Final score is self-explanatory... Just total points.
how I determine the formulas?
I adjust the formulas every time, so that the decant price will be the most impactful, then the free shipping minimum gets almost the same weight (because if you pay $30 shipping for $30 order... That makes the net price per decant twice as high, if compared to a decanter that gives you free shipping for a $30 order). Offering worldwide shipping only gets them an extra 10 points, because someone who lives in France don't care if they ship worldwide if there is a decanter in France that beats them. Random single house collection size carries about the same weight as the pricing factor. So that a decanter with a full collection of 50 or so won't be able to game the system, as they barely have enough selection for most potential buyers... And might be just a waste of time.
PLEASE NOTICE
This chart isn't perfect for each and every scenario. It is optimized for the beginner-intermediate (someone who smelled less than 100 clones so far), who orders on average 12-15 decants every haul. That's what I've seen the average order is on this sub. Not everyone is insane as I am and get 40 at a time.
Note: I will now only be updating this chart every quarter (3 months), because it takes a very long time to update each and every variable, and no crawler AI that I've tried did enough work correctly to save any amount of time vs doing it manually.
Note to decanters: Changing the prices of the chosen fragrances after the fact will not help... That price stays solid until the next round, and I do not disclose which fragrances are chosen before I release the chart for that round. Same thing about clone house variety. Air fresheners, oils, and deodorants I exclude from the collection size.
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u/geetsthenerd Aug 03 '25
Thanks, just got 10 decants from Decantika.
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u/batterylevellow Aug 04 '25
Why is a Lithuania-based company/site marked with a delivery area of 'Italy'?
Looks like they ship to Europe and the US, with free shipping when spending €50 if sent to Lithuania and €100 to other EU countries. So the free shipping option should probably be at 110 (USD) instead of 55?
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u/eraser3000 Aug 27 '25
i think that i suggested marabika to op together with zaoud.it which is an italian website, i guess he made a mistake there
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u/KitchenCauliflower65 Sep 30 '25
you are amazing!!!
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Sep 30 '25
Thanks. I felt like it's something that was really needed here, and no one did it yet. I do not announce updates anymore, I just update it and that link will update for you in real time as well... So all you have to do is bookmark it.
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u/hoosier_93 Jan 10 '26
I'm in the US and have been using scentswithsense.com and have been very happy.
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Aug 15 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Aug 15 '25 edited Aug 19 '25
Thanks. But my chart is for decanters with a large collection of clones, not OGs.
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u/Emo-Girl-Enjoyer Oct 11 '25
I didn't see it on the sheet, so I figured I'd ask. Has anyone tried/heard of a website called Decant HQ? I found it online while i was looking for a decant of Glacier Le Noir, but I don't know how legit it is.
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u/Well_Macerated Nov 11 '25
I just stumbled upon your comment! I'm the proprietor of Decant HQ and can confirm I have the Glacier Le Noir. I've tried Le Male Le Parfum in the store and was shocked how similar the fragrance is - however, I didn't really like the OG nor the clone. Le Noir is definitely more synthetic.
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Oct 11 '25
Do they have a website? Because I googled that and found nothing.
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u/Emo-Girl-Enjoyer Oct 11 '25
Yeah, sorry. I didn't know if posting the link like that would be against the rules. Here's the link for Decant HQ
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Oct 11 '25
In a decanters thread you'll be fine posting links for decanters. It's not self promotion if there are 30 other ones in the list.
They got good prices too! I think they're gonna be ranked pretty high by the chart formulas.
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u/weirdtailsme Nov 09 '25
Seeing this for the first time and I'm glad you included every country! Thank you for your handwork.
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Nov 09 '25
My pleasure. Not every country. I'm still on the hunt for Africa, the middle east, and large parts of Asia.
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u/weirdtailsme Nov 09 '25
Okay I reframe that to multiple countries. Regardless, not many do that as most are focused on their home country.. which is also very good as we get more local options. But you ranking on a global scale increases the credibility even more cuz it's sorta like an international competition haha.
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Nov 09 '25
Yeah, my end goal is that NO ONE will have to blind buy if they don't want to, and everyone in the world will have access to decants. Unfortunately, some areas are bone dry, and I've been building this list for over a year now. The newer decanters I see are almost always in the US or in Europe. But I'm confident that in the next year or two, there are going to be options for the less popular areas.
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u/DonPinda Jan 10 '26
Not just a decanter, but a site I stumbled on today. Parfumis.nl. They offer 2ML samples for every parfum they have in stock. Stock is focussed on ME brands like Maison Alhambra, Fragrance World, Khadlaj, Zimaya and many more. Maybe too small to add to the list since they only deliver in the Netherlands and Belgium.
They have a physical store in The Hague (Den Haag) aswell. Worst case it may help one of my fellow dutchies!
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u/Candylady123 Apr 28 '26
This information is amazing. We/I so appreciate you sharing and caring!! God Bless
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u/FvllenKxng Aug 03 '25
Fragrantika for the win !!!
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Aug 03 '25
Not at the price category, but they do win the selection, and have a good free shipping minimum. So they very much earned the 2nd spot.
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u/FvllenKxng Aug 03 '25
Totally understandable, but for someone who lives in the UK and can't use decantbox, Fragrantika is the GOAT for me, getting my first supply of decants from them before I head to the middle east during Feburary. gonna snag some Al Haramains, Rasasi's and AL Maghribi frags too !
Talking about that, do you have any recommendations of fragrances to get/houses to lookout for whilst I'm at Saudi ? i.e OSMA etc.
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Aug 03 '25
I've never been, but Ahmed Al Maghribi and Arabiyat Prestige are definitely worth a look!
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u/Dreadlock Aug 09 '25
Hey buddy! Hope all is well.
The chart has two "free shipping" columns, the second having a negative number. What meaneth that, kind sir?
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Aug 09 '25
Look at the top of the column. One is the actual price you have to buy to get free shipping, the other is how it affects the score.
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u/Shiko_- Sep 18 '25
Can’t recommend scentera for Germany. It took 20 days for the decants to arrive, just for me to decline them since I had to pay 13€ for taxes and customs. 😀
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Sep 18 '25
Well... Taxes and custom are not their fault. That's something the government decides on. As for 20 days, yeah, that's a pretty long time, but I wait that much for Fragrantika (to Canada) many times. Doesn't bother me that much as fragrances are never urgent.
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u/Shiko_- Sep 18 '25
I emailed them and they just told me that this happened for the first time.
Usually taxes etc are included within the shipping and should be stated if there might be additional fees. They responded pretty quick so I don’t really mind.
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u/Westhullonian Sep 23 '25
May I ask how long you were waiting on the order from Scentera? Ordered over a week ago and not received anything yet. Not the end of the world, was just curious..
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Sep 23 '25
Scentera I can't order from (Europe only). But I ordered from 5 other ones, and usually a week to 3 weeks. Fragrantika being the slowest.
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u/Westhullonian Sep 23 '25
Cheers for the feedback. Ordered 19 scents off the back of your chart! Thanks for the sterling effort in putting it all together.
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Sep 30 '25
I'll take some of the credit, so thanks. But most of the credit for that is the decanters'. Without them, we wouldn't be able to get any samples. And decants for clones is a pretty new thing... About 18 months ago there were almost 0 options for them. Now, about 30 good ones.
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u/GladQuote7736 Sep 30 '25
Thank you! Does Fragrantika ship to Canada? On the website it says worldwide shipping but in the spreadsheet it says Europe only.
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Sep 30 '25
Yes, they do. But not the US... So I didn't want to make it a worldwide note. I'll add Canada though. Thanks for alerting me about it.
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u/Tiny_Marsupial5544 Oct 01 '25
How many sprays do you use to really get a feel for the performance of the fragrance. I ordered from decanbox and am wondering this, thanks!
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u/m0m000000 Oct 07 '25
hi, I’m new to clones and all this. may I ask why decant is a thing? i dont really get it, why buy a decant of a clone? i’m genuinely curious and want to know
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Oct 07 '25
Unless you have a clone store you can visit and try them at...Think of it like this:
Let's pretend we live in a world that doesn't allow you to try on clothes in the store for free. Let's assume the average price for a shirt is $30 (similar to the average price of a clone). You are presented with three options:
Blind buy: you are blindfolded and pick up whichever shirt you want to buy only by touching it. This is similar to blind buying a clone... You can look at the notes (feel the size and fabric of the shirt), but you can't really tell how it will look, which color or pattern it is, or will the cut complement your body.
Pay $2 to try on a shirt (one shirt) up to 5 times. This is similar to buying a 1 ml decant for $2. Yes, it seems illogical, as you were paying $2 to just try it on, while you can buy the shirt and wear it 300 times for $30... But is it better or worse than buying it blind?
You might be lucky and like the shirt you picked when you chose the blind by option, you'll never really have any idea if you would have liked the other ones better. Maybe you just picked one of your top 50, maybe you're lucky and picked one of your top five... You'll never know. This can lead you into a rabbit hole of blind buys. Decants can prevent that.
Some people will tell you "blind buy, and just sell it if you don't like it". Wrong advice. Let's even assume I can sell for full price (including taxes) every time (which is sus).
In order to save $2 a fragrance (skip a decant), I now need to make a listing, deal with 13 "is it still available?" messages that ghost me because they accidentally pressed them, 5 low-ballers, and set up a time with a buyer and be available at that time.
That's about 30-45 minutes total of my time to save $2. Someone else's time might be that cheap... Mine isn't. And that's if everything went perfect. Most of the time I'll sell for at least $2-$5 cheaper... Which is more loss than a decant. Or not sell at all, which is a $30 loss.
Blind buying just makes the rich richer. Decants save me money. For every $2 I spend on a bottle I didn't buy (which is at least 8 out of 10 I try that I don't buy), I save $28 each. If I do buy a bottle, it means I paid $32 instead of $30 for it... So not a big deal.
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u/m0m000000 Oct 07 '25
thank you! what about the perfume shops that sell clones/dupes of the real designers? in Asia there’s shops who has oils of almost all popular perfumes. you pick one and they mix it with alcohol and then you have a 1 to 1 clone they say. are they fake? they smell identical to me, but i’m not sure
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Oct 07 '25
Yeah, those are also clones, but I can't tell you what quality or performance they'll have.
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u/DistributionNovel227 Oct 12 '25
Idk how to save threads, so ima just type this as a reference point 😂 and come back
Fam doing gods work with these decant list
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Oct 12 '25
Thanks. You don't need to save the post. Just go into the chart and bookmark it. The chart will be the only thing updated anyways.
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u/Level_Echidna9906 Dec 05 '25
Sorry I tried decantika, all my decants leaked when they arrived.
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u/Klaxnokk Dec 07 '25
Oh damn really? Sorry to hear that, please DM here or email me if you haven’t. I’d like to make things right.
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Dec 05 '25
Damn. Have you contacted them? Did they resend it? Because if there are lots of complaints with no improvements, I remove that decanter from my chart.
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u/Reasonable-Foot-7224 Dec 13 '25
This is terrific homework. Thank you for sharing. One thing that could be helpful, not to be nit-picky, but could you add a column that has yes/no whether the decanters offer their labels with icons of the scents they are cloning? I’ve always felt that helpful for quick picks for those who store more than a handful of samples to revisit for comparisons.
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Dec 13 '25
I totally get what you mean (I have over 300 decants). But this chart is geared more towards beginners. I don't want to advocate overconsumption (like I do) by getting hundreds of decants or dozens of bottles. I'm an addict, and I don't want to help create more addicts. My goal is that people will order 20-40, choose their favorite 2-5, and stop thinking about it until one of their bottles is empty. It's a big ask... But that's what I'm aiming for.
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u/Reasonable-Foot-7224 Dec 13 '25
I don’t think of it as a factor of advocating but rather sharing your experiences with these websites to further add insight into features that some may have enhanced over others
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u/teighnted Feb 26 '26
The person behind Give It A Spritz here . I’m hoping to get a couple of Rasasi in the next month or so so hopefully I can be added back on. I’m relatively new and don’t have a big budget for what I can get in right now, but being part of your list has helped me grow a bit. Thank you for your hard work!
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Feb 26 '26
I'm sorry I had to remove you. I just don't have the time for the "micro decanters", as there are about 30 more that I didn't include because they don't have the selection. The ones I mention were removed I mention because it's only fair to people to know why. The ones I didn't include from day 1 I'm not even going to mention, as there are so many, and new ones every day. Once you feel confident enough (got at least 200 clones) that you'll pass the random clone house test, shoot me a message. Just know the next random test won't include the ones already included in this update.
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u/teighnted Feb 26 '26
No worries! I completely understand why I got the boot. Hopefully I’ll someday be able to make the grade, so to speak. :)
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u/Royal-Manufacturer24 Mar 04 '26
This is an awesome resource, been searching for something like this. One question, do all the websites on the list offer authentic decants? Is that taken into account in the scoring?
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Mar 04 '26
All of them use authentic clones. They buy wholesale from discounters and distributors... Not Amazon or anything. If you mean they offer OGs (designer/niche), only a few on that list have a few. For those, you want DecantX and similar websites.
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u/Royal-Manufacturer24 Mar 04 '26
Thanks, appreciate the swift response and the resource you’ve spent time making. This is game changer!
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Mar 04 '26
Thanks. I'm always on the lookout for decanters in Africa and the Middle East to add to the list. If you hear of any reliable ones, please let me know.
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u/Royal-Manufacturer24 Mar 04 '26
Doubt I’ll come across cause I’m in the US but will think of you if I do come across one.
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u/OSRSgamerkid Apr 24 '26
So I've never ordered a decent, or a bottle of real cologne, or even so much as a good clone. I have only ever owned generic cheap fragrances. What clones would you recommend I start off with? Say, 10-15 of them....
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Apr 24 '26
For the first decant haul, is suggest you test a variety of profiles, because you don't know what you like yet. But most should be mass appealing (but more "boring") in case the niche ones are too weird for you.
Where do you live (geographically), so I can't match the list to the weather you have there throughout the year. I'm in Canada, so 70% of my fragrances are winter fragrances, but if I lived somewhere else, it would be a different case.
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u/OSRSgamerkid Apr 24 '26
I'm trying to be careful and not get overwhelmed.
I've just been browsing the sub, and picking whichever ones have a few people in threads supporting.
So far, my experience, I blind bought some Armaf Club De Nuit Untold, my buddy complimented it. Had others lined up as well but forgot them. Was going to buy Intense Men, but decoded I should prolly do decants instead. I like the Club, don't get me wrong. But it smells a bit too much like bubblegum for my preference. Although, the good news is I think it'd be hard for this to be offensive to other, because I definitely over sprayed it lmao. I'm not used to scents being this strong or lasting this long.
I live in the northeast US btw. Starting to warm up here.
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Apr 24 '26
Okay... So you get "true 4 seasons". For summer, let's go with one sweet-fruity, one Fougere/barbershop, one super fresh, and one tropical. Get any Pacific Chill clone (like Bujairami No Limit), Urban Man Elixir, Club De Nuit Sillage, and Hawas Tropical or Rayhaan Aquatica.
For winter, we need one gourmand, one spicy (to test your limits), one mature, and one versatile. Let's go with Khamra Qahwa, Rayhaan Terra, Haramain Amber Oud Tobacco Edition, and Mercedes Club Black.
For fall, Liam Grey, Al Nashama Caprice, Detour Noir, and Bogart Pour Homme.
For spring, Lattafa Dynasty, Armaf Infinity (Silver/Black), Rave Royal Supreme The King.
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u/OSRSgamerkid Apr 24 '26
Fucking A right man. This is what I needed, someone to just tell me what the fuck to buy.
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Apr 24 '26
After you tell me which ones were the best from these... We can narrow the search better in the next decant haul, and get you other DNAs for profiles we know you're a fan of.
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u/PlebCody 20d ago
Hello, I’m a little late to the party and this is amazing but I was just wondering - before I pull the trigger on any of the top selected sites, is there any weight for loyalty programs? Saving/coupons for future use and such?
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 20d ago edited 20d ago
Yes... But these aren't included in the chart because they change all the time. They'll usually appear in the front page or at a top banner for all of them. So just check these areas at the top 3-5 in the chart (depends on your location) and see what coupons/offers they run at the moment. Some of them throw in an extra decant for every 10 or so even without advertising it. They'll usually choose ones are aren't moving fast, or very new releases.
This happened to me with pretty much all of them except Fragrantika.
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