Plant Therapy vs doTERRA: Which Should You Use?

I started using essential oils about 20 years ago, but in my 30s, I realized that I could serve mothers better by becoming a Certified Aromatherapist. And through that process, I learned a great deal about essential oil brands, including Plant Therapy and doTERRA. 

As someone that has hours of training as an aromatherapist, I am very selective on which brands I use. And also how to best review them so that busy moms receive the information they need to choose essential oil brands.

So, today we will be discussing the pros and cons of both Plant Therapy and doTERRA.

What is essential oil?

Essential oils are produced in various plant parts, such as a flower, seeds, bark, root, leaves, resin, or wood.

Many people refer to essential oils as the essence of the plant. And I would agree with that statement. 

The simplest way to think of essential oils is through this example: when you squeeze a lemon peel, you’ll see (or taste should you wish) the lemon oil emerge from the peel. This is the essential oil of the lemon. 

Every part of the plant has an essential oil. So when you use essential oil, you’re using a very potent, concentrated amount of the plant.

What is Plant Therapy?

Plant Therapy was founded in 2011 as a family start-up in Idaho and grew to be a leading distributor of essential oils and kid-safe products. 

Fun fact: One of the most fantastic things about Plant Therapy is their entire line of KidSafe synergies is formulated by the renowned Robert Tisserand. And if you don’t know who Robert Tisserand is, I’ll tell you that he’s known as the modern-day father of Aromatherapy.

You won’t find a more excellent expert in the topic and research of essential oils than Robert Tisserand.

Plant Therapy Review

I now have a good 15+ bottle of Plant Therapy essential oils, so I can speak to it from deep experience in use and have been using essential oils for 20+ years.

Each essential oil bottle is labeled with the name on top of the bottle and the bottle directly. In addition, plant Therapy includes the species name for the oil, which is essential to note as an Aromatherapist. 

There’s a big difference, for example, in oils like Eucalyptus. Eucalyptus Radiata is a lot more child-friendly due to its lower eucalyptol content than Polybractea, which has a higher percentage of eucalyptol in it.

So, as a result, eucalyptus Radiata can be used for children, whereas Eucalyptus Polybractea cannot. So, knowing and understanding the Latin name for the oil is something I value.

Each oil comes in a giftable box, and Plant Therapy also offers a storage box that perfectly fits the 15 ml essential oils.

You can purchase Plant Therapy directly on their site and Amazon (it ships from Plant Therapy, even when purchased from Amazon). In addition, since they also offer the essential oils wholesale, you can buy them at retail stores that provide Plant Therapy.

Are Plant Therapy Oils High Quality?

Each batch of essential oils by Plant Therapy is tested for quality. Plant Therapy uses third-party testing for each essential oil’ and provides a GC/MS report directly on their website for each essential oil.

What is GC/MS testing?

Gas Chromatography (GC) separates the volatile compounds in essential oils into individual components and produces a linear graph that charts these components. Mass Spectrometry (MS) identifies each of these components and their percentages.

Think of a GC/MS test like a blood test for a human. It breaks down exactly what is in the oil and if it’s 100% pure or has contaminants.

Regardless of what a company says about their testing, you want to find one that provides the report publically. If you find a brand of essential oil where you need to dig for or send several emails to get a GC/MS report, I would turn around and walk away from that brand.

Are Plant Therapy Oils Pure?

Plant Therapy only sells oils that pass the GC/MS test and are of the purest quality. You can see for yourself by downloading the GC/MS report for any of their essential oils. And if you need help with reading a report, shoot me an email.

Is Plant Therapy Safe?

All essential oils are to be used with caution. They are natural but also very potent. So when it comes to safety, it’s on how you use the essential oil.

How to safely use essential oils:

• Keep essential oils away from children (especially the oils that smell like candy to them, such as Peppermint and Cinnamon)
• Wash your hands after using essential oils.
• I recommend that you always dilute your essential oil with a carrier oil before applying it to the skin.
• Do not use essential oils in water. Water does not dissolve oil, so if you’d like to use it in water, such as a bath, you’ll want to add something that dissolves it, such as vinegar, milk, Epsom salt
• When using an essential oil, I recommend that you use it on its own at first until you know how you react to it. Then once you’ve tested for any reactions, you’ll be able to blend it with other essential oils.

Why is Plant Therapy So Cheap?

I’m surprised whenever I see this question. While brands like doTERRA and Young Living increase their prices since they also pay their associates from that price, most essential oil brands (at least the quality ones) will be comparably priced to each other.

Plant Therapy is not cheap but not more expensive than comparable quality brands that are not multi-level marketing brands, such as doTERRA and Young Living.

Is Plant Therapy an MLM?

Plant Therapy sells their oils retail and wholesale (which means they offer them for sale at other retail stores), but they are not a multi-level marketing (MLM) brand.

This was intentionally done as Plant Therapy did not want to inflate their essential oil pricing through the MLM structure.

Is Plant Therapy Third-Party Tested?

A good quality brand is going to test its oils by a third party. So I would be very cautious of any brand that does its own testing and also a third-party.

Plant Therapy essential oils are first organoleptically tested by their certified aromatherapists. Afterward, each oil is sent to a third-party testing facility. 

So not only is it tested by a certified aromatherapist but also through third-party testing.

Every bottle of essential oil you purchase from Plant Therapy will have a specific batch code that tells us exactly which batch of oil is in your bottle. This information is also directly linked to the testing reports for each set of oil.

You can see each essential oil’s GC/MS report at any time by going to the specific essential oil product page and clicking on Test Reports.

Are Plant Therapy Oils Safe to Ingest?

I would never recommend anyone to ingest any brand of essential oils. So, while Plant Therapy oils can be used internally under medical supervision, I would caution anyone else from using any essential oil internally. 

The oil is much too potent for organs to process and can lead to damage to the liver. I encourage you to not listen to the advice of taking essential oils internally before discussing it with your medical care provider.

What is doTERRA?

doTERRA is a brand of essentials based in Utah. Ex-employees of Young Living Essential Oils formed the company. Similar to Young Living, they set up as a multi-level marketing (MLM) company.

Last year, doTERRA boasted over 1 Billion in sales and had more than 1500 employees, plus millions of consultants that sell their oils through the MLM structure.

Is Plant Therapy as Good as doTERRA?

Both doTERRA and Plant Therapy third-party test their essential oils. Both of their oils are proven to be quality oils. 

For Plant Therapy, you can download their GC/MS report for each oil directly on the website. 

However, for doTERRA, you have to go to a separate website called Source to You, then find the ID number on your essential oil bottle, enter it on the website, and then you can see the GC/MS report.

Is doTERRA better than Plant Therapy?

One thing that doTERRA has done in their marketing is to project that they are the only essential oil company that is “Certified Therapeutic Grade” and is unique because they test their oils.

However, doTERRA created their term “Certified Therapeutic Grade” essential oil themselves and trademarked the term. Meaning the only purpose it has is the one they gave to it themselves.

However, it was clever marketing as many people began to believe (falsely) that other essential oils do not have the same rigid testing guidelines (which many essential oil brands do).

So long answer short, no, doTERRA is not any better than Plant Therapy, though it is priced higher since they have to pay out their MLM consultants from the essential oil price.

Do doTERRA Oils Work?

When I used doTERRA essential oils, I found them to be just as quality as other oils, such as Aromatics International, Starwest Botanicals, and Plant Therapy.

So with that, the question is more “Do essential oils work?”

Since essential oils are the oil of medicinal plants and plant flowers, essential oils work in the same way as the herb plant version of the oil. 

Are doTERRA Oils Good?

Since doTERRA third-party tests their oils, you’re able to find their GS/MC report. I was able to compare doTERRA peppermint with Plant Therapy peppermint. 

(Something to keep in mind is that each GS/MC report is specific to a batch of essential oil.)

I compared the peppermint of doTERRA and Plant Therapy in their quality (per the GC/MS batch report from doTERRA and Plant Therapy).

Based on their results, they both had a good content of menthol, which is one of the main reasons you’d use peppermint since it’s good for the respiratory system.

Now, keep in mind that I’ve personally used both brands of oils, so I can also say from that user experience that they were comparable. Still, for the sake of data-driven comparison, I can validate that the reporting says the same.

Are doTERRA Oils Worth the Price?

No, in my opinion, absolutely not. You’re paying extra for the essential oils by doTERRA simply because of how they structure their business model. 

doTERRA is an MLM brand that uses consultants (you might even have friends and family members who are doTERRA consultants) to sell their oils.

The model of MLM works in that it’s your friend and family suggesting the oil and ordering it for you (or you ordering it through their consultant link), so you’re more likely to trust the recommendation.

However, the portion of their sales is placed on top of the cost of the essential oil you purchase. Meaning, it’s going to be higher prices because the consultants take a cut from that price.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with the MLM model, but be aware that you’ll pay higher prices for the same quality oil that you could get at Plant Therapy.

Why is doTERRA Bad?

While the quality of doTERRA essential oils is good, their practices are not.

In the past, I did marketing work. Therefore, I fully understand the importance of using language that results in people purchasing your products. However, there is such as thing as ethical and unethical marketing practices.

doTERRA uses unethical marketing as a whole. As a result, the FDA has had to give them multiple warnings to doTERRA (and Young Living, the main competitor who practices similarly) for unethical marketing practices.  

On top of the unethical marketing practices of doTERRA, there are also the irresponsible essential oil usage recommendations made by doTERRA directly and by their consultants, many of which are untrained in Aromatherapy.

For example, the goal of doTERRA is to get you to use as much essential oil as possible, so they’ll recommend you to give it to everyone in your household, from your baby to your dog. And to use it in as many ways as you possibly can so that you have to purchase more. 

There are ethics when preserving and conserving over-used and over-harvested plants such as Palo Santo, Sage, and Sandalwood.

For example, to get that one small bottle of Lavender essential oil requires three pounds of Lavender flowers. 

Essential oil brands need to consider sustainability and make responsible recommendations that are not just based on their bottom line.

Conclusion between Plant Therapy vs doTERRA

Both doTERRA and Plant Therapy essential oils are high quality and work really well for the purposes of therapeutic and medicinal use, as well as emotional wellness.

However, where Plant Therapy shines is in providing transparency in their reporting (GS/MC) affordable pricing, and ethical business practices.