The scores
Open Farm Harvest Chicken Freeze-Dried Raw Dog Food: A (90/100) — Humanely Raised Chicken, Chicken Liver, Chicken Heart, Chicken Gizzards, Organic Pumpkin.
Honest Kitchen Whole Food Clusters Whole Grain Chicken Recipe Dry Dog Food: B (75/100) — Chicken, Oats, Barley, Flaxseed, Chicken Liver.
How the ingredients compare
The top-five ingredients reveal the formulation split between these two products:
Open Farm: Humanely Raised Chicken, Chicken Liver, Chicken Heart, Chicken Gizzards, Organic Pumpkin
Honest Kitchen Whole Food Clusters: Chicken, Oats, Barley, Flaxseed, Chicken Liver
The 15-point gap (Open Farm wins by 15 points) shows where the v15 rubric weights ingredient breadth, protein density, and supplement depth differently.
Where Open Farm pulls ahead
Four-cut humanely raised chicken lead with three organ meats: Open Farm leads with humanely raised chicken (muscle meat) + chicken liver + chicken heart + chicken gizzards — four named chicken cuts in the top four positions, including three organ meats. Honest Kitchen Whole Food Clusters leads with whole chicken alone at #1 (single cut), with chicken liver at #5 as the only organ-meat inclusion. For owners specifically valuing multi-cut multi-organ-meat “whole prey” biologically-appropriate feeding principles, Open Farm delivers structurally more. Shop on Amazon →
Freeze-drying preserves raw nutritional integrity: Open Farm Harvest Chicken uses freeze-drying — the process removes water under vacuum at low temperature, preserving the raw nutritional integrity of the ingredients in ways that any heat-applied process (including HK Whole Food Clusters’ cold-press + roast + dehydrate cluster process at the roast phase) cannot match. For owners specifically wanting the gentlest possible processing for nutrient preservation, freeze-drying is structurally tighter than cluster manufacturing.
Third-party sustainability and humane-sourcing certifications: Open Farm publishes detailed sourcing for every ingredient with third-party humane-raised certifications for animal proteins, Marine Stewardship Council certification for fish ingredients, and Certified Humane and Global Animal Partnership (GAP) standards for poultry. Honest Kitchen prioritizes the human-grade-facility regulatory certification but doesn’t publish the same ingredient-level humane-sourcing detail. For owners specifically prioritizing humane-sourcing transparency at the ingredient level, Open Farm delivers structurally more.
Where Honest Kitchen Whole Food Clusters holds its own
Human-grade FDA-equivalent manufacturing facility: Honest Kitchen produces all its pet food in a fully human-grade facility — equivalent FDA oversight to USDA-inspected human-food plants. Open Farm is also high-quality sourced but operates under standard feed-grade regulatory oversight (with strong ingredient-sourcing transparency). For owners specifically valuing the human-grade regulatory certification as a sourcing trust signal, Honest Kitchen Whole Food Clusters has the structurally distinct positioning. Shop on Amazon →
Grain-inclusive whole grains: Honest Kitchen Whole Food Clusters uses oats at #2 and barley at #3 — whole grains in grain-inclusive composition. The FDA’s 2018-2024 grain-free DCM (dilated cardiomyopathy) investigation specifically flagged grain-free formulations; grain-inclusive composition substantially mitigates the DCM concern. Open Farm Harvest Chicken uses organic pumpkin and similar grain-free carbohydrates. For DCM-predisposed breeds where the grain-inclusive vs grain-free distinction matters, Honest Kitchen has the structurally favorable composition.
More accessible retail pricing: Honest Kitchen Whole Food Clusters retails meaningfully below Open Farm Harvest Chicken Freeze-Dried Raw on a per-pound basis. Freeze-dried raw is among the most expensive pet food formats per pound; HK Whole Food Clusters’ cluster format eliminates much of the freeze-drying production cost while preserving most of the alternative-process whole-food positioning. For budget-conscious households or large-breed multi-dog feeding strategies, Honest Kitchen Whole Food Clusters delivers more pounds per dollar.
The bottom line
Open Farm Harvest Chicken Freeze-Dried Raw wins by 15 points on the v15 rubric. The structural gap reflects two design choices: Open Farm’s four-cut humanely raised chicken lead with three organ meats and freeze-dried processing vs Honest Kitchen Whole Food Clusters’ single chicken-protein lead with cold-press + roast + dehydrate cluster manufacturing. Honest Kitchen wins on human-grade FDA-equivalent facility certification, grain-inclusive composition (DCM-favorable), and more accessible per-pound pricing. For owners specifically prioritizing freeze-dried raw multi-organ-meat nutrition with ingredient-level humane-sourcing transparency, Open Farm is the structurally distinct pick. For owners prioritizing human-grade certification with grain-inclusive composition at more accessible pricing, HK Whole Food Clusters is.