If you use essential oils, you’ve likely wondered at some point which company is better: Young Living or doTERRA. Since these two essential oil brands are the big giants in the industry, and both claim to be the best, it makes sense to ask this question.
In this post, I look at both companies in a different way than most other writers do. I worked with both companies, and now work with neither. Read on for my thoughts including some information you’ve likely never heard before.
When I started using Young Living oils, I was pretty excited about the results we got, but later had second thoughts about ethical issues regarding the founder. So, I decided to try doTERRA.
There were some good things about both companies, but soon I ended up in the middle of a lot of complicated information.
Following are some basic points comparing doterra vs. young living, but we’ll also get into the weeds. I think you’ll see why I came to the conclusion that I did, of not being a sales rep for either company.
Side note, please know that I’m not sharing all of my concerns with these companies because some companies are eager to sue and I don’t need that in my life.
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Positives About Young Living
While doTERRA and Young Living share a lot of similarities, there are some ways that Young Living stands out.
Variety
Young Living has a lot of oils to choose from. In fact, they sell at least 270 singles and blends, while doTERRA carries approximately 140.
So basically, if you want to address something with essential oils, Young Living likely has what you want.
Longevity
Young Living has been around for a long time. In fact, they can definitely be credited with having made the essential oil movement. That doesn’t mean their oils are better than other companies’ oils, but it’s important to give credit where credit is due.
Problems With Young Living
Reputation and Ethics
Young Living literally made essential oils mainstream and that’s something to be applauded.
However, there are some pretty not-so-savory things on the internet about D. Gary Young. Of course, the internet isn’t always reliable, but I still think these things might be worth paying attention to.
Gary Young has been accused of lying about healing from the oils and also making misleading statements related to the sourcing of Frankincense oils. (source and source)
OSHA Violations
I found this interesting entry referring to Young Living OSHA violations. I didn’t find any by the other essential oil companies, although I didn’t look all of the essential oils companies up, since there are just too many.
Now, Young Living is the oldest oils company, so they’ve had more time for there to be violations, and all of the violations appear to be of the same incident.
Of course, OSHA violations don’t mean that a company is bad. If they cleaned up their procedures correctly, then possibly their new procedures are now better than ever.
Non-Indigenous Plants
A good number of Young Living’s farms are located in the U.S. I think that’s fine for a company being more “in control” of their product, but not great if you follow conventional wisdom that plants grow best (and have the best therapeutic qualities) when they are grown in their indigenous locations (where they are supposed to grow naturally).
If you read through the comments of Best Essential Oils Parts 2 & 3, you’ll see that Young Living reps tout the fact that YL farms are in the U.S. as being an advantage, due to Young Living having control over the whole growing process.
Perhaps, but other companies like doTERRA and many other companies source their oils from wherever the plants grow naturally for higher quality.
Misleading Effectiveness Claim
In the enrollment literature that I got from Young Living, a Thieves® Oil brochure mentioned this study. It was cited to addressed the superior therapeutic value of the oil blend.
I was curious to see the exact results, so I looked them up. What I found, however, was that the study was done on generic Eucalyptus Oil and not on Thieves Oil.
I reached out to Young Living’s headquarters and got this response:
Thank you for your email. Unfortunately we cannot comment on any
research articles or provide this information as it would be in direct
violation of FDA regulations. You may want to contact Life Science
Publishers at 1-800-336-6308 or www.lifesciencepublishers.com and Sound
Concepts at 1-888-285-6317, 801-225-9520 or
www.essentialproductinfo {dot} com. These companies both carry several
items or research that contain useful information concerning essential
oils and supplements and may be able to assist you further.
While in a sense, the “proven to work” claim was accurate, their blend wasn’t tested. In my mind, this is shady marketing.
Possible Chemical Smell
When evaluating oils from different companies, we did a Smell Challenge with my not-so-specially-trained Smell Testing Panel (a.k.a. my family).
This of course wasn’t an official spectrometry test, and none of us is a trained certified aromatherapist, but we noticed that Young Living seemed to have a chemical (synthetic) overtone.
Does that mean there were synthetics added? No, but we still didn’t care for it.
Unknown Country of Origin
As of the 2018 update of this post, all or many of the oils from Young Living do not have a country of origin indicated on the site.
Illegal Sourcing of Oils
In 2017, Young Living was caught illegally sourcing Rosewood and Spikenaard oils between 2014 and 2016.
However, this whole topic is very confusing because apparently Young Living turned themselves in and there are more details to consider.
Misleading Seed to Seal Claim
Many Young Living reps claim that their products are superior due to the company’s Seed to Seal practices. However, as you can see from the illegal sourcing of oils above and the information below about sourcing from the same places that doTERRA does, this claim is not accurate.
Problematic Spiritual Associations
In 2022, the book, My Word Made Flesh, was sent out to many high ranking Young Living distributors. the book was cowritten by Robert Tennyson Stevens, who runs a company called Mastery Systems, and Vonn Harting, a Young Living Royal Crown Diamond. Mary Young (Gary Young’s wife) wrote the forward.
The book had a lot of questionable content, including a passage that encouraged people to basically do a “seance with oils” in which they would repeat, “I am the resurrection and the life of my lineage.” Of course, in the Bible, Jesus calls himself “the way, the truth and the life,” and says “no one comes to the Father except through me,” making this book problematic for many (source and source).
I heard that the book was removed from the internet, but it appears that you can buy My Word Made Flesh here.
Positives About DoTERRA
Education and Support Network
While both companies have a lot of educational resources, it seemed to me that the support network available with doTERRA was stronger.
Testing Transparency
DoTERRA, unlike Young Living, shares GC/MS test results on their website. Yes, essential oil testing can be falsified, but it’s a more transparent situation than Young Living has.
Indigenous Plants
DoTERRA claims that all of their oils are from plants grown in indigenous areas. I haven’t looked into this completely, but if it’s the case, their oils should be higher quality than Young Living’s.
Problems With DoTERRA
Following are concerns that showed up about doTERRA years ago, but also a few that are more recent, with one of them being quite disconcerting.
OSHA Violation
While other sites claim that doTERRA has no OSHA violations, as of July 2024, that simply isn’t true any longer (source).
Workers Put In Vulnerable Situations
In 2023, an investigation into poor employment practices, including substandard pay and unsafe working conditions, by a doTERRA supplier was launched. During the investigation, workers were told to “change their stories ‘or face the consequences’” (source).
DoTERRA claims on their website that every oil that they well is “responsibly and sustainably sourced,” and that it’s their “top priority to protect the environment during the production process and provide fair treatment of all harvesters and growers.” However, in this case, doTERRA didn’t protect the women involved, and they were left in fear for their safety. To be fair, Emily White was quoted as being distraught about this situation, but there are no reports of this being resolved in a positive way.
Odd Marketing Claim About Oil Scents
One thing I really like about doTERRA is their educational resources, and also, their oils smell great.
But their great smell is part of what concerns me.
A lot of doTERRA reps (and corporate employees as well) say something like, “You’ll know it works by its smell.”
A quote from doTERRA’s website: “A 100% pure therapeutic-grade essential oil should have a balanced, broad fragrance profile and should smell crystal clean.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t know what “crystal clean” means.
And is “crystal clean” what you want your oils to smell like? I’m not sure about that.
Organoleptic testing is something that many essential oil companies and experts do, but it’s harder for the typical consumer to do. And it’s quite possible that a consumer will be aiming for something more pleasing, rather than what an oil actually should smell like.
No Definitive Answer About Peppermint Oil Distillation
Essential oils are distilled by putting plant parts and water in a distiller and under low pressure and low temperature, removing the oils from the plant.
The oils travel down a tube and into a vat. The oil collects on top of the water and is then removed.
The most coveted and most expensive (and thought to be the most therapeutic) oil is that which is collected during the first part of the distillation period, which is called “first distilled.”
This “first distillation” apparently only applies to ylang ylang oil, but possibly to peppermint oil as well.
DoTERRA’s peppermint smells good enough to eat, as in “candy cane” good. So yummy, in fact, that if you have kiddos in the house, you’d best keep it out of arm’s reach.
But is that a good thing?
Most peppermint essential oils smell like the peppermint you find growing out in nature, which is herby and not like candy canes.
Candy-cane-smelling peppermint is apparently, according to several sources, possibly from a redistill. Either that, or some components are taken out (meaning these are adulterated oils) to give the oil a clean pepperminty candy smell. (source).
Is doTERRA’s Peppermint a Complete Distill?
This is the response I got from doTERRA stating that their peppermint oil is a “complete distill”:
You can let her know that our Peppermint uses complete
distillation. There is 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and complete and we use complete.
If, in fact, the first distillation of peppermint oil is the most valuable (and there is really a first and later distillation of peppermint), then their peppermint oil might not be top quality.
If there is truly no such thing as more than one distillation of peppermint, as many say, then why is doTERRA stating that there is a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and complete distillation of peppermint?
In one video, one of the founders of doTERRA stated that their peppermint smelled amazing because it was from Washington. However, other peppermints are sourced from Washington as well, so that can’t be the reason, unless all of them from Washington have the same scent.
Then later, a representative told me that doTERRA headquarters said that the peppermint smell was different because their oil is distilled only from the leaves and the flowers.
The most disconcerting part of this is that I couldn’t get information from doTERRA themselves about WHY their peppermint smelled the way that it did.
Inferior Quality Ylang Ylang Oil
DoTERRA prides itself on having high quality standards and top quality oils. Their ylang ylang, however, is a complete distillation. Some may say that this is a matter of preference, but in the essential oils industry, the first distill of ylang ylang is absolutely more valued and therefore a higher priced oil.
To their credit, doTERRA is transparent and does call their ylang ylang a complete distill on their website.
Ylang Ylang first distill (which is referred to as “extra”) is typically considered to be the quality of oil that is most sought after and is of highest therapeutic quality.
Some Ingredients Not On the Label
Thanks to Kitchen Stewardship, I realized that doTERRA didn’t used to disclose all of the oils in their bug repellant blend. At the time she wrote that post, the label stated that it was a “proprietary blend.” No thanks. Not including ingredients on a label of something that you are going to be eating or putting on your skin is a big problem.
Thankfully, doTERRA now discloses the ingredients of their Terra Shield blend; however at the time that I initially wrote this post, that wasn’t the case.
Lower Quality Frankincense Oil
I often get questions about doTERRA’s pricing for their Frankincense Oil as to how it compares to other brands, with people citing that doTERRA’s appears to be less expensive.
The reason for this has to do with the composition of doTERRA’s Frankincense Oil. Most companies sell either just one variety of Frankincense oil, or several varieties, but doTERRA’s Frankincense is, at least as of August 2016, a blend of different varieties (source).
Following are the types of Frankincense in their blend:
– carterii (typically the least expensive)
– serrata
– frereana
Sacred Frankincense is typically one of, if not the most expensive varieties of Frankincense oil, so if you compare doTERRA’s Frankincense to another company’s Sacred, doTERRA’s will likely come out to be cheaper.
Lack of Country of Origin Transparency
As of the 2018 update of this post, all or many of the oils from doTERRA do not have a country of origin indicated on the site. This is interesting, especially since the company and/or its reps repeatedly say that they can’t get organic certification due to it being hard to get it in the countries where their oils are sourced.
I heard from a reader that there is a source map for doTERRA oils, but I couldn’t find it. I did, however, find one page that shows sourcing for Spikenard and Petitgrain.
The map shows that their Petitgrain Oil is sourced from Paraguay. Other companies have organic Petitgrain from Paraguay, so their claim about organic oils being too hard to source just doesn’t seem to make sense.
Smaller Oil Selection
When I first wrote this series, doTERRA had very few oils, so if you were looking for a company that could be a one stop shop, then it wasn’t really a great option.
They’ve increased their selection over time, but Young Living still has the advantage here.
Problems with Both Companies
No Organically Certified Oils
Both companies claim that their oils are of stellar quality, but neither has the option of USDA-certified organic oils. doTERRA argues that their oils are CPTG-certified pure therapeutic grade and that is a step above USDA organic. Young Living leans on its “Seed to Seal®” claim, which isn’t completely true, as laid out in this post.
While there are loopholes in the USDA organic certification process, customers have to trust both companies about their standards.
Misleading Marketing Practices
Most people know that both doTERRA and Young Living representatives have been under the microscope for recommending their oils as being treatments for medical conditions. However, the concerns that I have about their marketing focus more on their purity claims.
Both companies claim that they have super high-quality oils that are “therapeutic grade,”
– Young Living calls their oils “Young Living Therapeutic Grade”
– doTERRA calls theirs “CPTG”
Each company has standards for what these things mean, but basically these “certification” terms are basically terms made up so that they can have a label to put on their oils.
It’s also common practice for representatives from both companies to make claims about the purity of their oils that are simply false. For example, claiming that if the label on a bottle says that it’s safe for internal use, that the oils are pure.
That’s just ridiculous.
The same people who are claiming this say that a lot of packaged food and medications (which clearly are meant for internal use) are not safe.
You can read about more of the myths spread around in the essential oils industry in this post about Essential Oil Myths. Now, to be clear, there are non-MLM essential oil companies making misleading claims as well, so this isn’t a problem that’s exclusive to MLM companies and their reps.
Pressure to Buy More Than You Need
I love saving money, and I’m sure you do as well. Every month, when I had the opportunity with either company to get a freebie or earn 10-30% credit toward future orders, I felt the urge to buy.
Typically I did, so I easily ended up with way more essential oils than I needed.
There are only so many essential oils that one needs. I think it’s best to order when you need to instead of being tied in to an autoship or be vulnerable to these deals.
Dangerous Recommendations
Both YL and doTERRA have a heavy emphasis on internal and neat (undiluted) use of essential oils. I wasn’t too concerned about these things at first, but as I’ve learned more, I’ve completely changed my mind.
DoTERRA even has a Slim and Sassy blend that they recommend taking internally numerous times per day for a long period of time, in order to assist with weight loss. Many Young Living reps recommended using grapefruit oil internally for the same reason.
I’ve used oils internally and felt that they were helpful (though the Slim and Sassy did nothing for me), but again, I’m completely against internal use of oils now. Essential oils are super potent. It takes about 16 pounds of peppermint leaves to make 1 ounce of peppermint oil. That’s a lot of plants. (source). So that’s about half a pound of peppermint in one drop of essential oil. That’s about 5 cups of peppermint!
So when you use essential oils, you are using something that is very concentrated.
Some oils experts say that if you choose to use essential oils internally, especially “hot oils” like oregano, cinnamon, clove, and citrus oils that you need to make sure to supplement with probiotics because the hot oils destroy not only bad bacteria but also the good. That may or may not be true, but better safe than sorry. (remove?)
It’s not safe to ingest essential oils unless they are well diluted with a carrier oil or emulsified as in this adrenal cocktail.
Likewise, using undiluted essential oils on your skin can be unsafe, and this practice can lead to sensitization. It’s happened to friends of mine. and believe me, it’s not a good situation to be in.
A number of people in the oils industry have suggested that the reason YL and doTERRA recommend so much internal and undiluted usage of oils is to drive up usage and drive up sales. I don’t know their motivation, but that would make perfect sense.
I recommend you consult with a professional or aromatherapist before ingesting any essential oils.
Overpriced
Let’s face it. Both Young Living and doTERRA’s oils are expensive. Even if they are pure essential oils, they definitely aren’t the only pure, quality oils on the market.
Everyone knows that a good bit of the pricing of MLM products goes toward rewarding representatives with cash, trips, and more. A manager at one company told me that the percentage of their pricing that goes toward commissions and rewards for representatives is 40%.
Yes, retail selling costs money too, but in general, direct sales companies are known to pay out too much to representatives, especially when their company starts out.
Here’s an example of the high prices:
Young Living’s peppermint costs retail $32.57 (not sure why they have such unusual pricing) and $24.75 for members. DoTERRA’s peppermint oil costs $34.67 retail and $26.00 wholesale/for members.
Rocky Mountain Oil’s Peppermint costs $16.75 and Plant Therapy’s would likely cost $12 for a 15-ml bottle since their 10-ml bottle costs $7.99 (it’s a bit more on Amazon).
Over-the-Top Devotion
As you can see from some of the earlier comments on this post, many essential oil representatives attacked me for what I wrote.
I was accused of:
– seeking to tear down doTERRA
– profit-seeking (Some said the motive behind my posts about essential oils was only to make money off of my final recommendation.)
– analysis totally lacking in science.
I assure you that none of this is true, and this brings up my final concern about these MLMs.
Having devotion to a company despite evidence that they are not telling the truth or that their products are not superior makes all direct sales companies look bad. This isn’t a problem that is only in the direct sales industry, but it can be especially bad in them.
Let’s face it. When your paycheck depends on the reputation of one company, and your business is basically all about you cheerleading how this one company is superior to all others, it’s hard to admit that things might be wrong with it.
Most of us have seen how representatives from both of these companies have been unwilling to admit problems, so the problematic marketing has continued.
Misleading Portrayal of Earning Possibilities
At some point, direct sales companies have to produce an income disclosure statement so that those interested in selling with the company can have a realistic idea of how much money they can (or, in this case, likely won’t) make.
The top income disclosure chart here seems to show that there are some great opportunities with doTERRA, but it is misleading. It shows some impressive income levels, but you have to notice the fine print that it’s only for top-ranking leaders. To see a more realistic (and not very enticing) view, you have to look at the next chart, which is farther down on the page.
Young Living, to their credit, spells it all out in this Young Living Income Disclosure statement.
People should also know that the earnings with both companies are reduced by fees to redeem your reward points or even to get paid.
Young Living and doTERRA Source from the Same Companies
Both companies claim to have a corner on selling the best oils, so it’s very problematic (for both of them) that they appear to have the same source for at least some of their oils.
Here’s the evidence for this.
Bio Young Aromas
Look at the following sources and see that Bio Young Aromas is the supplier to both companies.
https://www.seair.co.in/us-import/i-doterra.aspx
(Sadly, it appears that the information about Bio Young is not showing at that link now unless you pay to see it.)
Here, however, is documentation showing other purchases from Bio Young by doTERRA.
Here are some Bio Young Aroma purchases made by Young Living.
- https://portexaminer.com/trade-data/bio-young-aromas-co-ltd-young-living-essentials-oils/banqsha5283692/
- https://portexaminer.com/trade-data/bio-young-aromas-co-ltd-young-living-essentials-oils/banqsha5290941/
Kunshan Toxen
doTERRA and Young Living have both purchased from this company.
Here is documentation showing Young Living purchases from Kunshan Toxen.
And here is documentation showing doTERRA purchases from Kunshan Toxen.
Basically, despite their claims, neither company seems to be that special to me if they are purchasing from the same companies.
Conclusion
I think that both companies have some good qualities, but clearly there are a lot of problems with both of them.
I guess, if I had to pick, I would choose doTERRA, but I personally chose not to use either brand of essential oils due to the concerns in this post.
I don’t think that all direct sales/MLM companies are bad, but in general, a lot of MLM products just don’t hold up to the hype surrounding them.
My Preferred Source for Essential Oils
I hope to revisit this topic in the near future, but for now, you can see what happened when I started looking to find a quality essential oils company that I wanted to purchase from.
I started this whole series after spending some time working with both Young Living and doTERRA, but I left both of them and tried to find out what the best essential oil company was.
I plan to revisit this topic in the future and hope to have additional options that you can feel really good about buying.
What are your thoughts about these companies and this information?
