35% OFF
Vital Essentials
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20% OFF
Open Farm &
Vital Essentials
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15% OFF
Vital Essentials
For New Customers w/ Code: AFPAWDIET
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35% OFF
Vital Essentials
First Auto-Ship
20% OFF
Open Farm &
Vital Essentials
First Auto-Ship w/ Code: PAWDIET20
15% OFF
Vital Essentials
For New Customers w/ Code: AFPAWDIET
Open Farm vs. Vital Essentials
In this comparison article for Open Farm vs Vital Essentials, we'll highlight the key differences between these two pet food brands. To properly compare Open Farm and Vital Essentials, we'll use up-to-date nutritional and price information.
There are many factors to consider when choosing the best pet food brand for your pet. Factors such as ingredient quality, guaranteed analysis, product safety, brand history, and cost are among the most important factors to consider.
Throughout this Vital Essentials vs Open Farm comparison, we've utilized average data to make general comparisons. If you'd like to see individual product reviews, visit our Open Farm Review Page or Vital Essentials Review Page.
Guaranteed Analysis: Vital Essentials vs. Open Farm
According to AAFCO, all pet food labels must provide a guaranteed analysis of nutrient content. The analysis must provide guaranteed minimum percentages of crude protein and crude fat, and maximum percentages of crude fiber and moisture.
All percentages used in this comparison are averages reported on a dry matter basis.
Open Farm Dog Food vs. Vital Essentials Dog Food
| Dry Dog Food | Open Farm | Vital Essentials |
| Crude Protein | 34.0% | 52.2% |
| Crude Fat | 20.9% | 28.7% |
| Crude Fiber | 5.1% | 4.1% |
| Wet/Canned Dog Food | Open Farm | Vital Essentials |
| Crude Protein | 40.0% | 53.7% |
| Crude Fat | 31.0% | 31.0% |
| Crude Fiber | 9.7% | 5.6% |
Crude Protein Comparison For Dog Food
Protein is an extremely important part of your dog's diet. Without sufficient protein, dogs can develop a wide-range of serious health problems.
Vital Essentials dry dog foods clearly provides more protein than Open Farm. In fact, the difference between the protein content is roughly 18.12%, which is a significant amount. Similarly, Vital Essentials wet dog foods provide significantly more protein than Open Farm wet foods.
Crude Fat Comparison For Dog Food
Dietary fats serves a multitude of roles in the proper development and function of our canine companions. Here are some of the benefits (not exhaustive):
- Help produce prostaglandins, which reduce inflammation among other critical functions.
- Aid in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins
- Improve skin and coat health
- Improve the palatially of your dog's food
Open Farm dry recipes contain 7.71% less fat than Vital Essentials dry recipes. This difference in fat content is a notable difference between Vital Essentials and Open Farm. For wet dog foods, Open Farm and Vital Essentials provide roughly the same amount of fat.
Both brands provide roughly the same amount of crude fiber. For wet dog foods, Open Farm provides more fiber (about 4.09% more).
Open Farm Cat Food vs. Vital Essentials Cat Food
| Dry Cat Food | Open Farm | Vital Essentials |
| Crude Protein | 41.1% | 54.0% |
| Crude Fat | 20% | 27.5% |
| Crude Fiber | 3.3% | 5.1% |
| Wet/Canned Cat Food | Open Farm | Vital Essentials |
| Crude Protein | 43.5% | 50.6% |
| Crude Fat | 29.2% | 18.8% |
| Crude Fiber | 11.1% | 2.5% |
Crude Protein Comparison For Cat Food
Protein is an extremely important part of your cat's diet. Without sufficient protein, cats can develop a wide-range of serious health problems.
On average, Vital Essentials dry cat food recipes contain 12.87% more protein than Open Farm recipes. Clearly, there is a significant difference between the protein content of Open Farm and Vital Essentials. For wet cat foods, Vital Essentials provides more protein (about 7.05% more).
Crude Fat Comparison For Cat Food
There are many ways in which dietary fat contributes to the overall health of our feline friends. Here is a short list of benefits provided by fats (not exhaustive):
- Aid in the digestion and absorption of fat-soluble vitamins
- Improve the health of skin/coat
- Slow the growth of yeast infections
- Slow the development and spread of certain type of cancers.
- Maintain healthy blood pressure
The table shows that Open Farm provides far less fat than Vital Essentials. The difference in fat content is roughly 7.54%. In addition, Open Farm wet cat foods also provide more fat than Vital Essentials wet foods.
As you can see, Open Farm and Vital Essentials guarantee a similar amount of crude fiber. For wet cat foods, Open Farm provides significantly more fiber (about 8.66% more).
Open Farm Pet Food Ingredients vs. Vital Essentials Pet Food Ingredients
In our option, both Open Farm and Vital Essentials utilize high-quality ingredients. According to our records, neither brand uses any type of controversial ingredients or harmful ingredients.
Product Safety: Recall History of Open Farm & Vital Essentials?
According to our records, Open Farm has never been recalled.
Vital Essentials has been recalled 4 times.
- July 8, 2015: Listeria monocytogenes
- Jan. 15, 2016: Salmonella
- Feb. 24, 2018: Salmonella
- April 16, 2018: Salmonella
Price Comparison: Which Brand Is More Expensive?
| Dry Dog Food | Open Farm | Vital Essentials |
| Per Pound | $12.03 | $37.19 |
| Per Calorie | $0.0058 | $0.0186 |
| Dry Cat Food | Open Farm | Vital Essentials |
| Per Pound | $5.92 | $39.03 |
| Per Calorie | $0.0034 | $0.0200 |
The average cost-per-lb is heavily influenced by the varying amounts of moisture present in each brand's food products (wet vs. dry food, dry vs. freeze-dried food, etc). However, the average cost-per-kcal eliminates the influence of moisture. Therefore, the average cost-per-kcal is the better metric to consider.
If you'd like to calculate the average cost-per-day or cost-pet-year of feeding Open Farm or Vital Essentials, input your pet's weight into our cost analyzer widget.
Averages price data can identify whether or not there exists a significant price difference between two brands. However, the actual price that you'll pay for Open Farm or Vital Essentials will depend on your shopping habits.
Pet owners who use our price comparison feature typically save more than 25% off retail prices for Open Farm and Vital Essentials. In addition, we currently have some great coupons for our readers.
- 20% Off First Auto-Ship @ PetFlow (Use Code PAWDIET20)
- 35% Off First Auto-Ship @ Chewy (No Code Required)
- 15% Off The Entire Site @ OnlyNaturalPet (Use Code AFPAWDIET)
Disclosure: PawDiet has an affiliate relationship with stores featured (or linked-to) in this article. We are compensated for referring customers. Thank you for shopping with our retail partners!
Where To Buy Open Farm Pet Foods
You can purchase Open Farm pet foods from the following stores:
Where To Buy Vital Essentials Pet Foods
You can purchase Vital Essentials pet food products from these retailers:
Type Of Pet Foods Available
| Product | Open Farm | Vital Essentials |
| Dry Dog Food | 17 Recipes | None |
| Wet Dog Food | 8 Recipes | None |
| Dog Treats | 5 Treats | 30 Treats |
| Dry Cat Food | 4 Recipes | None |
| Wet Cat Food | 6 Recipes | None |
| Cat Treats | None | 8 Treats |
Top Rated Open Farm Recipes
Top Rated Vital Essentials Recipes
