INCI Substitutor

Every formulator knows the moment: a supplier discontinues an ingredient, a regulatory change prohibits a claim, a free-from reformulation strips out a family (parabens, PEGs, sulfates). You need a drop-in substitute — same function, same chemistry behavior, same regulatory profile. The INCI Substitutor automates this search.

Enter the INCI you want to replace. The tool queries the 33 000-entry catalog and returns ranked alternatives scored on eight axes: function overlap (40% weight), HLB similarity (20%), molecular weight match (15%), safety / EWG score (15%), natural-origin (10%). Each result shows the full scoring breakdown so your formulator knows exactly why it ranked where it did.

Filters let you narrow further: EU-compliant only, natural-origin only, allergen-free, below a given EWG threshold, inside an HLB range, max comedogenic grade. The substitutor is especially powerful when paired with CoFormulator or Cloning Formulator — find a substitute, add to your imposed-INCI list, re-run the generation in one click.