Choosing a fresh dog food brand for your pup can feel a little like trying to pick a favorite child—if that child were a furry, four-legged vacuum who deserves nothing but the best. Two of the biggest names in the game are Ollie and The Farmer’s Dog, and if you’ve been doing your research, you’ve probably come across both more than once.
They’re both premium, vet-developed fresh dog food delivery services. They both offer human-grade ingredients and tailored meal plans. And yes, they both promise to make your dog’s tail wag like crazy at mealtime. But which one really delivers the best value, nutrition, and experience? We’ll look at everything from ingredient quality to cost to convenience to find out. First, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page (or pages, in this case). Here’s what we’re talking about today:
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The Farmer’s Dog is a fresh, human-grade dog food delivery service that customizes meals based on your dog’s age, breed, weight, and activity level. Made with real meat, vegetables, and essential nutrients, their vet-formulated recipes support overall health and digestion. Meals are pre-portioned and delivered straight to your door. BEST PRICE ON WEB 60% OFF YOUR FIRST BOX |
Fresh, human-grade food made from real ingredients for a healthier pup today and tomorrow. Recipes made from whole food ingredients, slow cooked for nutrition and flavor and always fresh. LIMITED TIME OFFER 60% OFF YOUR FIRST BOX |
The Farmer’s Dog is a fresh, human-grade dog food delivery service that customizes meals based on your dog’s age, breed, weight, and activity level. Made with real meat, vegetables, and essential nutrients, their vet-formulated recipes support overall health and digestion. Meals are pre-portioned and delivered straight to your door.
BEST PRICE ON WEB
60% OFF YOUR FIRST BOX
Fresh, human-grade food made from real ingredients for a healthier pup today and tomorrow. Recipes made from whole food ingredients, slow cooked for nutrition and flavor and always fresh.
LIMITED TIME OFFER
60% OFF YOUR FIRST BOX
Ollie vs. The Farmer’s Dog at a Glance
Here’s a quick side-by-side look at how Ollie and The Farmer’s Dog compare on the basics.
Ingredient Quality & Sourcing (It’s a Tie)
Let’s start with the most important thing to consider in any dog food. When it comes to feeding your dog, the ingredient list matters—a lot. You want real, whole foods you can recognize, not mystery meat or vague “meal” labels. So how do Ollie and The Farmer’s Dog stack up on sourcing and quality?
Let’s do a quick overview to start with. Ingredients vary between recipes, but for the sake of this comparison I stacked Ollie’s Chicken and Carrots recipe up against Farmer’s Dog Chicken Recipe (both fresh foods).
The Farmer’s Dog:
The Farmer’s Dog uses human-grade meats and vegetables, prepared in USDA-certified kitchens. Their meals are gently cooked and made with whole, recognizable ingredients, so you can actually see what’s going into your dog’s bowl. Everything is kept simple, with no fillers or artificial additives.
Ollie:
Ollie takes a very similar approach, using human-grade, USDA-certified meats and produce in all of their recipes. Their meals are also gently cooked in small batches and made without fillers, by-products, or artificial preservatives, all in USDA-regulated kitchens.
✅ Winner: I would call this one a tie. Both use top-tier ingredients that you can easily see. Farmer’s Dog comes out ahead if you need something without grains, though.
Nutrition Transparency
If you care about what your dog eats (and if you’re reading this, we’re betting you do), you probably want full access to nutritional info. Both brands give you that breakdown before you commit, but they go about it in different ways.
Ollie:
Ollie provides detailed ingredient lists and guaranteed analysis for each recipe right on their website. They’re open about what goes in the food and why each ingredient is included, and they make it easy to find all of this info before you even begin tailoring your plan. Just click through the different product offerings, scroll down a smidge, and it’s all right there.
The Farmer’s Dog:
With The Farmer’s Dog you won’t find full nutritional breakdowns on their site until you fill out the questionnaire. At the end, they’ll give you a recommended plan, or you can choose your own. If you go with the recommended plan, you’ll want to click “nutrition facts.” See screenshot below. That’s where you’ll be able to see a breakdown by recipe. They do this because every meal is tailored for YOUR dog, so it’s hard for them to give one single nutrient breakdown.
✅ Winner: Depends on your priority –Both brands give you a customized plan tailored to your dog’s needs, but if transparency is important to you, Ollie delivers the full breakdown upfront (no hoops required), making it easier to feel confident about what you’re feeding your pup before you start the process. However, The Farmer’s Dog creates a custom plan for your dog and gives you the nutritional breakdown based on that.
Recipe Variety: A Tie (but with one difference)
Picky pup? Allergies? Just want to switch it up from time to time? Recipe variety plays a big role in finding a meal plan that works long-term. Here’s what each brand brings to the table.
Ollie:
Ollie currently offers four fresh recipes—Beef, Chicken, Turkey, and Lamb—and each one is formulated by veterinary nutritionists to meet AAFCO standards for all life stages. The used to offer a baked option but alas it seems they’ve retired it. Too bad, Freya really liked it.
You can also add two different types of treats (Jerky Strips in three flavors and Dental Chews in one flavor), and/or four different types of supplements.
The Farmer’s Dog:
The Farmer’s Dog also offers four fresh recipes—Beef, Chicken, Turkey, and Pork. They focus exclusively on their fresh food line, though, so you won’t find any baked options here either. They do offer one type of treat (Snap Sticks), though, in three recipes that you can add to your plan.
✅ Winner: Tie– Both offer four different types of proteins. The only difference is the last one (Lamb with Ollie or Pork with Farmer’s Dog). So, the winner really depends on your dog’s preferences. Freya likes both lamb and pork, so for her the variety is a solid tie.
Pricing & Value
Both Ollie and The Farmer’s Dog make it pretty easy to try them out, thanks to hefty intro discounts (usually around 50% off your first box). So if you’ve been curious about fresh food, neither one feels like a big upfront gamble.
Ollie tends to go all-in on the extras. My first order came with a free Embark DNA kit, and they’ve also run promos with things like a free Fi collar. It’s definitely fun if you catch one of those deals, but the offers rotate a lot, so it’s more of a “get it while it’s there” situation.
The Farmer’s Dog takes a more low-key approach. You might see a free bag of treats included with your first shipment, though it’s usually added to your next box unless you remove it. Not as flashy, but also a lot more predictable.
Where things really start to separate is the long-term cost. And with a large dog, that difference shows up fast. For my dog, here’s how it broke down after the intro pricing:
Ollie – $73.33 per week for a full fresh plan or $41.30 for half fresh
The Farmer’s Dog – $52.22 per week
✅ Winner: Farmer’s Dog for long-term savings, Ollie for first-box discounts and value.
Transition Experience & Customer Support
Making the switch to fresh food should be smooth—for both you and your pup. A little support goes a long way, especially during the first few weeks.
The Farmer’s Dog:
The Farmer’s Dog offers a really smooth onboarding experience and clear, easy-to-follow transition instructions right from the start. Their packaging and feeding guides are straightforward (no overthinking required), and the whole process—from signup to delivery—feels very streamlined.
What stands out a bit more is how easy it is to adjust things once you’re in. Whether you need to change portions, update your dog’s profile, or shift delivery timing, it’s all pretty intuitive. Their communication is consistent without being overwhelming, and support is quick to respond when you need it.
Ollie:
Ollie includes step-by-step transition guidelines in every box and offers personalized support via email or text. Their customer service is friendly, responsive, and genuinely helpful if you need to tweak your plan or deal with a picky eater (which, let’s be honest, happens to the best of us).
Tie – Both brands deliver in this area.
So, Which One Should You Choose?
Let’s be clear—both The Farmer’s Dog and Ollie are excellent choices, and you really can’t go wrong with either one. If your dog is already doing well on Ollie, there’s no reason to switch just for the sake of it.
That said, when you look at the full picture, The Farmer’s Dog edges ahead by a nose. The personalized portions, consistent pricing (especially for larger dogs), and overall simplicity make it easier to stick with long term. It focuses on doing one thing really well—delivering fresh, balanced meals tailored to your dog—without adding a lot of extra decisions or moving parts.
Ollie still has a lot going for it, especially if you like having more options and add-ons. But for most households, The Farmer’s Dog just feels a bit more practical day to day.
And if you’re like me, your dog isn’t just a pet—they’re family. So choosing a food that supports their health, keeps things simple, and fits into your routine matters more than anything else.
Bottom line? Both are great, but The Farmer’s Dog takes the win here for being the easier, more sustainable choice over time.
The Farmer’s Dog is a fresh, human-grade dog food delivery service that customizes meals based on your dog’s age, breed, weight, and activity level. Made with real meat, vegetables, and essential nutrients, their vet-formulated recipes support overall health and digestion. Meals are pre-portioned and delivered straight to your door.
BEST PRICE ON WEB
60% OFF YOUR FIRST BOX
