Butternut Box Vs Pure Pet Food: What’s The Difference?

Last Updated on April 18, 2025 by Kieran Beckles

Are you thinking about making a change to your dog’s food, but you’re stuck between Butternut Box and Pure Pet Food?

We made the decision to ditch traditional kibble and wet food in favour of fresh meals after Copper and Skye started to show fussiness with their dog food and suffered a spate of tummy issues.

Once we introduced complete fresh dog food to their diet, we were pleasantly surprised by their mealtime excitement and the overall benefits to their health.

While Butternut Box and Pure Pet Food’s personalised dog food may cost a little more than store-bought dry or wet food, we believe it’s worth every penny.

So, let’s take a look at both Butternut Box and Pure Pet Food to see how each of these dog food companies works and what fresh food recipes they’ve got on offer.

Butternut Box vs Pure: Our Pick

Before we take a deep dive into these two fresh dog food brands, I’m going to answer the key question in this Butternut Box vs Pure article. Which of these dog food companies do we recommend?

Our pick is Butternut Box based on our successful experience introducing their fresh dog food to my Alaskan Klee Kai dogs. Butternut Box was a big hit in our house with Copper and Skye. They’ve got a fantastic range of recipes so I can rotate their meals to ensure Skye retains her mealtime excitement.

While Butternut Box does take up more room in my freezer, I like that it’s easy to prepare Copper and Skye’s meals. I keep a couple of meal pouches defrosted in the fridge, and when it’s mealtime, it’s really as simple as rip-and-serve directly into their dog bowl. There’s no messing around.

Butternut Box has an eco-friendly approach to their business, and I really appreciate that I can recycle most of the packaging in their box. I can also tailor my deliveries to once a month (you can choose between every 2 weeks, every 3 weeks, and every 4 weeks). This cuts down on emissions from delivery trucks and packaging materials.

While Butternut Box and Pure Pet Food have stellar reviews from dog owners online, Butternut Box does have a higher average score based upon over three times the number of reviews. So you can feel confident that you’re feeding balanced and complete meals to your dogs that have benefited other British dogs too!

If you’re trying to decide between Butternut Box’s tailored dog food or Pure’s air-dried food, we’d recommend Butternut Box because my fussy dogs devoured their personalized dog food, were impressed with their overall service, and they represent great value for money.

Butternut Box

Butternut Box is one of the leading providers of fresh dog food in the UK following their launch in 2016. We wrote our first Butternut Box review back in 2019, but their dog food subscription service has changed a lot over the past five years.

We were searching for fresh dog food that was balanced and complete, formulated by vets, had a range of different recipes to cater to fussy dogs, customized and pre-portioned and could be shipped to our front door. Butternut Box’s meals ticked all the boxes.

While we have tried some other fresh dog food brands in the UK over the past five years, we’ve consistently returned to Butternut Box because they’re the only fresh dog food company that provides meals Skye is excited to eat.

When we first ordered from Butternut Box’s subscription service, they had just four recipes on offer. This expanded to six just over a year later before hitting more than 10 fresh recipes.

To start your Butternut Box journey, you’ll have to complete their sign-up questionnaire where you provide key details about your dog(s). Once they’ve learned more about your pup, they’ll suggest a meal plan that you can stick with or select the recipes you believe will best suit your pet.

Butternut Box’s meals are gently cooked at low temperatures to retain all the goodness of the human-grade ingredients and ensure tasty flavour to help with picky eaters like Skye before freezing, packing and shipping to your door.

While other dog food companies approached us to review their food, we have always returned to Butternut Box because Copper and Skye truly love their meals.

As dog owners, we enjoy seeing our dogs excited about their food, feel good about the ingredients in Butternut Box’s meals, and appreciate the company’s sustainable approach to their packaging and the community feel.

They use recyclable packaging so you can feed your dog healthy meals and feel good about doing your bit for the environment, too!

I believe Butternut Box is competitively priced compared to other dog food brands. We pay between £75 and £80 a month for Butternut Box pet food. You can get a lower price if you opt for their recipes that don’t have a surge charge and opt for a lesser delivery frequency. However, you’ll need lots of freezer space to accommodate the big delivery.

Pure Pet Food

Pure Pet Food is another example of a dog food brand in the UK who have adopted a fresher approach to pet nutrition.

However, Pure Pet Food differs from Butternut Box in the sense that their food is air-dried. They use high-quality ingredients in their meals that are cooked at low temperatures in their Yorkshire-based kitchen.

Pure Pet Food, like Butternut Box, doesn’t use any additives or preservatives in their pet food – just natural ingredients. Pure’s meals are approved by vets, so you can have confidence that your dog is eating a balanced and complete diet.

You’ll be required to complete their sign-up questionnaire so Pure Pet Food can learn some more details about your canine companion. They’ll suggest meals and portion sizes so you know exactly how much to feed your pup.

Pure Pet Food provides a scooper for food and a scooper for water, and pet owners will be required to mix air-dried dog food with water to create their dog’s meals. While more effort is required on the part of the owner, it does mean Pure Pet Food’s meals can be stored in the cupboard rather than taking up fridge or freezer space.

We switched to Pure Pet Food for a couple of months but ultimately returned to Butternut Box.

I liked that Pure Pet Food’s food can be stored in the cupboard rather than my fridge and freezer, so it’s certainly more convenient for the pet owner.

Although Pure Pet Food offers shelf-stable dry dog food, Pure Pet Food doesn’t use any additives, nasties, or preservatives in their recipes.

You don’t need to consider how much frozen human food to put in your freezer because you know there’s a drawer full of frozen dog meals.

However, Pure Pet Food is less convenient when it comes to mealtime preparation, as I needed to mix together the air-dried dog food and water to create my Alaskan Klee Kai’s meals.

Copper would happily scoff down his Pure Pet Food meals, but Skye was a little more hesitant with their dog food.

Butternut Box Vs Pure – Our Final Thoughts

So there you have it – our pick would be Butternut Box.

We’ve had a great experience feeding Butternut Box to Copper and Skye, so we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this dog food brand. We’ve tried dry food brands, raw dog food and wet food in the UK, but Butternut Box is our favourite.

If you’ve got a fussy eater or a dog with a sensitive tummy, we can relate to the headache that you may be facing as you try to resolve these issues.

While consulting with your vet is a good idea before making a switch to dog food, we recommend giving Butternut Box a try to see if their balanced, complete, and fresh dog food can help your dog.

We can offer our readers and our followers the chance to get 50% off your first Butternut Box order so you can give their dog food a try at a cheaper price before deciding whether to continue with their meals.