The scores
The Farmer’s Dog: A (90/100) — Top-tier cooked-fresh subscription. USDA human-grade beef, 8-ingredient food panel, no natural flavors, no added water.
Freshpet: B (79/100) — Upper-B refrigerated retail fresh. Chicken leads, eggs secondary, short whole-food ingredient list with chelated minerals and fish oil.
11 points within the fresh-food category is meaningful but not catastrophic. Freshpet is still a legitimate fresh food; it just costs less and has a few specific rubric deductions that Farmer’s Dog doesn’t incur.
How the ingredients compare
The Farmer’s Dog (Beef): Beef, Sweet Potato, Lentils, Carrot, Beef Liver, Kale, Sunflower Seeds, Salmon Oil
Freshpet (Select Chicken): Chicken, Eggs, Cranberries, Carrots, Ground Oats, Natural Flavors, Fish Oil, Potassium Chloride, Spinach, Paprika
Both panels are remarkably short by industry standards and both lead with named whole-muscle proteins (beef and chicken). The Farmer’s Dog adds beef liver (organ meat) at position 5 and kale at position 6 — additional nutrient density without adding processed ingredients. Freshpet’s position 6 is "natural flavors," a catch-all ingredient our rubric deducts for. Freshpet doesn’t include organ meat or a second named animal protein beyond eggs.
Where The Farmer’s Dog pulls ahead
USDA human-grade beef with documented production: Farmer’s Dog explicitly labels its protein as human-grade (food AND facility both meet human food standards per AAFCO definition). Freshpet uses chicken without the human-grade facility designation — the food quality is still quite good, but the regulatory differentiation is real.
No natural flavors line: The Farmer’s Dog omits the natural flavors ingredient that Freshpet includes. Natural flavors is an industry catch-all that typically means palatability engineering through a proprietary additive. Its presence doesn’t imply harmful ingredients but signals that the whole-food panel alone isn’t providing the desired palatability.
Organ meat inclusion: Beef liver at position 5 on Farmer’s Dog adds vitamin A, B12, iron, and copper in bioavailable animal forms. Freshpet doesn’t include organ meat in this recipe.
Broader vegetable and seed fraction: Kale at position 6 and sunflower seeds at position 7 add additional micronutrients and omega-6 from named whole-food sources. Shop on Amazon →
Where Freshpet holds its own
Retail availability at grocery stores: Freshpet is sold at Kroger, Publix, Target, Walmart, Petco, PetSmart, and most major grocery chains in refrigerated sections. No subscription required, no delivery logistics, no freezer space for a week’s worth of meals. For many households, this is the single decisive factor.
Dramatically lower daily cost: Freshpet typically costs $1.50–3 per day for a medium dog depending on package size. The Farmer’s Dog typically costs $3–8 per day. Over a year, that’s a $1,000–2,000 annual difference for the same dog. The ingredient quality gap exists but doesn’t scale linearly with the cost gap.
Eggs as secondary protein: Position 2 eggs deliver complete protein with the full essential amino acid profile and bioavailable choline. Farmer’s Dog’s position 2 is sweet potato (a carb). For dogs whose primary protein requirement is well-met by chicken alone, the eggs secondary is a legitimate complete-protein addition.
Opened-bag shelf life: Freshpet needs to be used within 7 days of opening. Farmer’s Dog pouches, once thawed in the fridge, have similar shelf life (3–7 days). Both are refrigerator-perishable. Shop on Amazon →
The bottom line
The Farmer’s Dog is the clear rubric winner — 11 points isn’t a trivial gap and reflects real ingredient-quality differences. But Freshpet is the clear practical winner for most households that want to step up from kibble to fresh food without the subscription commitment and 4–6x daily cost premium. If budget is the primary constraint and you want a retail-available fresh food: Freshpet. If budget isn’t primary and you want the measured top-tier fresh-food nutrition: Farmer’s Dog. Neither is wrong; they’re serving different parts of the fresh-food market. Read the full reviews: Freshpet and The Farmer’s Dog.