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The Farmer’s Dog vs Ollie in 2026: Which Fresh Dog Food Is Actually Worth It?
If you have been looking into fresh dog food delivery, you have almost certainly come across both The Farmer’s Dog and Ollie. They are the two biggest names in the space, they both make genuinely good food, and they both cost significantly more than a bag of kibble. So how do you choose between them?
Before we get into the comparison, it is worth spending a moment on why so many dog owners are making this switch in the first place, because the answer matters more than most people realize.
Why Fresh Food and Why Now
Walk through the ingredient list on most commercial kibble and you will find things like “meat and bone meal,” “poultry by-product,” “corn gluten meal,” and a list of synthetic vitamins added back in after processing. The meat used is often what is left after human-grade cuts have been removed. The cooking process involves extreme heat that destroys much of the natural nutrition, which is why synthetic supplements have to be added back afterward.
This is not a fringe view. It is simply how most mass-produced pet food is made, and it is legal and, by regulatory standards, technically nutritious. But more dog owners than ever are asking whether “technically meets minimum requirements” is the bar they want to set for a pet who is part of the family.
Fresh dog food services like The Farmer’s Dog and Ollie use whole, named meat proteins and real vegetables cooked at lower temperatures that preserve more of the natural nutrition. There are no fillers, no by-products, no artificial preservatives, and no ingredients you would need a chemistry degree to identify. The result is food that looks like something you would recognize from your own kitchen, because it essentially is.
The evidence from dog owners who have made the switch is remarkably consistent. Better digestion, shinier coats, more consistent energy, and dogs who actually get excited about mealtime are the most commonly reported changes. Not every dog responds the same way, and fresh food is not a cure for underlying health conditions. But as a foundation for long-term health and wellbeing, it is a meaningful upgrade from most commercial options.
With that context in mind, here is how The Farmer’s Dog and Ollie compare.
The Quick Answer
If price is your primary concern and your dog is not particularly picky, The Farmer’s Dog is typically cheaper and slightly simpler to manage. If you want more recipe variety, more meal plan flexibility, and a service that has been around a little longer, Ollie has the edge. Both make excellent food. The difference between them is smaller than the difference between either of them and commercial kibble.
That said, the details matter so here is the full breakdown.
About The Farmer’s Dog
The Farmer’s Dog was founded in 2014 by Brett Podolsky and Jonathan Regev after one of their dogs developed health problems that improved dramatically when switched to fresh food. The company is based in New York and has grown into one of the most recognized names in fresh dog food. Their meals are made from USDA-certified human-grade ingredients, cooked in small batches, and shipped frozen directly to your door on a subscription schedule you set. The Farmers Dog
They currently offer four fresh recipes: beef, chicken, turkey, and pork. Every recipe is developed with board-certified veterinary nutritionists and meets AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) nutritional standards for all life stages. The meals come in pre-portioned pouches with a graphic on the front showing exactly how much to feed your specific dog (one of the cleaner presentation details).
About Ollie
Ollie was founded in 2016 by three dog lovers who noticed the gap between what humans eat and what most commercial dog food actually contains. They are based in New York and Pennsylvania and cook their meals in USDA-approved facilities using human-grade ingredients with no fillers, preservatives, or artificial anything.
In February 2026, Ollie was acquired by Agrolimen, a Spanish food company. This is worth noting because ownership changes in the pet food space have sometimes led to quality or service shifts over time. Current reviews remain strong, but it is something to keep an eye on as their first year under new ownership unfolds.
Ollie currently offers five fresh recipes: beef, chicken, turkey, lamb, and pork. Plus, they have two baked recipes, giving them more variety than The Farmer’s Dog. They also offer three different meal plan structures, which we will cover below.
Ingredients and Nutrition
Both services use genuinely high-quality ingredients and both are formulated by veterinary nutritionists. The core philosophy is the same: real meat, real vegetables, no fillers, no preservatives, nothing you would not find in a home kitchen.
Looking at a sample recipe from each, both lead with a named meat protein, include whole vegetables, and use natural sources of vitamins and minerals rather than synthetic additives. Protein content is high in both, typically between 8 and 11 percent on an as-fed basis, which is significantly higher than most commercial kibbles.
One meaningful difference is that Ollie checks for food allergies and sensitivities during the signup questionnaire with a more detailed list of options than The Farmer’s Dog currently offers. If your dog has confirmed food sensitivities, Ollie’s onboarding process handles that more thoroughly.
Honest verdict on ingredients: It is essentially a tie. Both services are genuinely excellent and both represent a significant nutritional upgrade from commercial pet food. You would have to look very hard to find a meaningful quality difference in the recipes themselves.
Recipe Variety
The Farmer’s Dog offers four fresh recipes: beef, chicken, turkey, and pork.
Ollie offers five fresh recipes (beef, chicken, turkey, lamb, and pork) plus two baked recipes (beef and chicken).
If your dog has a protein allergy or sensitivity, Ollie’s lamb recipe gives you an option The Farmer’s Dog does not have. The baked recipes are also a useful middle ground for dogs who are hesitant about the texture of fresh food, or for owners who want to mix fresh and kibble-like textures at a lower cost.
Verdict on variety: Ollie wins, particularly for dogs with dietary restrictions or picky eating habits.
Meal Plan Flexibility
This is one of the most practical differences between the two services.
The Farmer’s Dog offers one plan structure: full fresh. You get a personalized portion of their food designed to meet 100 percent of your dog’s daily caloric needs. There is no partial plan option.
Ollie offers three plan options:
- Full Fresh: 100 percent of daily calories from Ollie’s fresh recipes.
- Half Fresh: Ollie covers 50 percent of daily calories. You supplement with your current food. Cuts the monthly cost significantly.
- Mixed Bowl: A customizable combination of fresh and baked recipes.
For dog owners who love the idea of fresh food but are managing the cost, particularly those with large breeds whose food bills add up fast, Ollie’s half-fresh plan is a genuinely useful option that The Farmer’s Dog simply does not offer.
Verdict on flexibility: Ollie wins by a meaningful margin.
Pricing
Both services price based on your dog’s size, age, breed, and activity level, so exact costs vary. Based on real 2026 pricing data, here is a general sense of what each costs:
For a small dog under 20 pounds, The Farmer’s Dog typically runs between $2 and $5 per day on the full fresh plan. Ollie runs slightly higher for equivalent coverage, typically between $3 and $6 per day.
For medium dogs weighing 20 to 50 pounds, The Farmer’s Dog typically costs $5 to $8 per day. Ollie runs $5 to $9 per day.
For large dogs over 50 pounds, both services can get expensive. The Farmer’s Dog tends to come out slightly cheaper, which becomes more significant when you are feeding a 70 or 80-pound dog every day. Here is an example of what our research shows for large dogs in 2026:
For a 70 pound dog on a full fresh plan, The Farmer’s Dog typically runs around $8 to $10 per day, or roughly $240 to $300 per month.
Ollie for the same sized dog on a full fresh plan typically runs around $10 to $14 per day, or roughly $300 to $420 per month. On the half fresh plan that drops to approximately $5 to $7 per day, or $150 to $210 per month.
Please note that the numbers above are intended to provide a ballpark understanding of costs; however, we encourage you to contact both companies for specific estimates for your dog. Both services offer a starter discount for new customers (typically 50 percent off your first box). That discount makes the first month far more affordable and gives you a low-risk way to try either service before committing to the full price.
Verdict on pricing: The Farmer’s Dog is typically cheaper, particularly for larger dogs or owners who prefer a full fresh plan. Ollie can close the gap significantly with the half fresh plan option.
Packaging and Convenience
The Farmer’s Dog sends meals in pouches. Each pouch is pre-portioned for your dog and labeled with feeding instructions. The pouches are reasonably easy to open and serve, though some owners find them messier to handle than they expected.
Ollie uses peel-off trays for their fresh recipes. Most customers find them easier and cleaner to serve than pouches. The trays stack neatly in the freezer and the peel-off lid makes serving feel effortless. The baked recipes come in a resealable bag, similar to premium dry food.
Both services require freezer space. Shipments typically arrive every two weeks and contain enough food to last that entire period. You should be aware that the volume is significant and owners with small freezers occasionally find this a challenge.
Verdict on convenience: Ollie’s trays are generally preferred over The Farmer’s Dog’s pouches, though it’s truly a matter of personal opinion, and both work perfectly well.
What Dog Owners Actually Say
Reading through thousands of real customer reviews for both services, a few consistent patterns emerge.
For The Farmer’s Dog, owners most frequently report that picky dogs who refused other food took to it immediately, that digestive issues and food sensitivities improved within weeks, and that coats became noticeably shinier. Complaints, when they appear, are almost always about price rather than quality.
For Ollie, the feedback is strikingly similar: enthusiastic eating, better digestion, shinier coats, and more consistent energy. The additional flexibility of the half-fresh plan earns specific praise from owners of larger dogs who found the full plan too expensive to sustain. The peel-off trays are frequently mentioned as a practical feature that owners appreciate.
Both services have extremely loyal customer bases. The owners tend to stay with the company they first selected.
What About Making Dog Food at Home?
This comes up constantly when people weigh the cost of a fresh-food subscription. Making your own dog food sounds appealing. You control every ingredient, you know exactly what your dog is eating, and it might end up being cheaper. The reality is more involved than most people expect.
Homemade dog food can absolutely be done well. But it requires more knowledge, more time, and more ongoing effort than it initially appears.
The Research Problem
Most of us start the way you would start anything: searching online, reading articles, looking at recipes, and piecing together what their dog needs. That is a reasonable approach, but the information online is wildly inconsistent, and it is genuinely difficult to tell a well-formulated recipe from a dangerous one without a background in animal nutrition.
Dogs need specific calcium-to-phosphorus ratios, the right levels of essential fatty acids, adequate zinc and vitamin D, and a range of other micronutrients that are easy to overlook when a recipe just looks healthy. A diet of chicken, rice, and carrots might seem balanced. Over time, without proper supplementation, it can cause deficiencies that do not show up until real damage has been done. Many recipes floating around online have never been independently verified by a nutritionist. Some are fine. Some are not. Without expertise, it is genuinely hard to tell the difference.
The Time and Cost Reality
Homemade dog food takes significantly longer than most people budget for. Shopping for fresh ingredients is its own errand. Prep work, cooking, cooling, portioning, labeling, and storing all add time. A realistic estimate for a proper batch is two to four hours per session, and most people cooking seriously for their dogs do this every four to seven days. That is a real ongoing time commitment.
On cost, homemade dog food often runs between $3 and $6 per day, depending on ingredient quality, which is comparable to, or more expensive than, a half fresh plan from Ollie or a full plan from The Farmer’s Dog for smaller dogs. The cost difference narrows considerably once you factor in the supplements required for nutritional completeness.
Foods to Never Include
Several common human foods are toxic to dogs and must be completely avoided in any homemade recipe:
- Onions and garlic in any form, including powders and cooked versions
- Grapes and raisins
- Chocolate
- Xylitol, an artificial sweetener found in many peanut butters, gums, and some baked goods. Always check the label before using any peanut butter in dog food or treats.
- Macadamia nuts
- Avocado
- Alcohol in any form
- Cooked bones, which can splinter and cause serious internal injuries
Where to Find A Recipe You Can Trust
Rather than follow a recipe from a random blog, use a resource developed by actual nutritionists. Two of the best options are:
Balance.it is a vet-developed tool that builds a recipe based on your dog’s specific details and tells you exactly which supplements to add for a complete diet. It takes the guesswork out of the most important part of homemade feeding.
JustFoodForDogs sells nutrient blend kits paired with vet-developed recipes. You buy the blend, follow the recipe, cook it yourself, and end up with a nutritionally complete meal without having to figure out supplementation on your own. It is a practical middle ground between full DIY and a delivery subscription. JustFoodForDogs also sells prepared fresh meals if you decide the cooking route is not for you after all, making them worth bookmarking regardless of which direction you go.
The Honest Verdict on Homemade
For most dog owners, a fresh delivery service ends up being the more practical choice once they see what it actually takes to properly balance homemade food. The cost is often comparable when you factor in quality ingredients and the supplements needed for nutritional completeness, and the time savings are real. That said, if you enjoy cooking and are willing to do it properly, homemade fresh dog food can be a wonderful way to feed your dog. It just takes more than most people expect going in.
The Farmer’s Dog vs Ollie: Our Final Verdict
Both services are genuinely excellent and both represent a real upgrade from commercial pet food for any dog. Here is how to decide between them.
Choose The Farmer’s Dog if:
- Price is your primary consideration and you want the typically cheaper full fresh option
- You prefer simplicity, one plan structure, straightforward signup, no decisions to make
- You have a larger dog where the cost difference is more meaningful
- Your dog does not have specific protein allergies that require the lamb option
Choose Ollie if:
- You want flexibility. The half-fresh plan is a genuinely valuable option for managing cost
- Your dog is a picky eater who might benefit from more recipe variety
- Your dog has a protein sensitivity that requires lamb
- You prefer peel-off tray packaging over pouches
- You want baked recipe options to mix into the fresh food
The good news is that both services offer a generous starter discount for new customers, which means you can try either one for a fraction of the regular price before committing to an ongoing subscription.
Try The Farmer’s Dog with their starter discount here. The Farmers Dog
Try Ollie with their starter discount here. Ollie
Whichever you choose, your dog is going to eat better than most humans. And honestly, that is exactly as it should be. Because they deserve it. 🐾
