Butternut Box Vs Pure Pet Food (2026): Which Is Better?
Key points
- Best overall: Butternut Box, especially for picky dogs like Skye, that prefer fresh.
- Our experience: We fed Butternut Box and Pure Pet Food with Skye and Copper, but ultimately returned to Butternut Box after testing Pure for a few months.
- Best for picky eaters: Butternut Box was a better fit for Skye, who showed more eagerness to eat their fresh dog food.
- Best for storage: Pure Pet Food is significantly more convenient when it comes to storage, considering they offer dry dog food.
- Best for convenience at mealtime: I found Butternut Box easier to prepare at mealtime, simply pouring the contents into the bowl. Pure requires mixing the food with water.
- Best for recipe variety: It’s a close call but I believe Butternut Box does offer slightly better variety, especially when I consider Skye’s enthusiasm for their recipes.
We’ve tested both Butternut Box and Pure Pet Food with Copper and Skye, and while both have their advantages and drawbacks, we ultimately returned to Butternut Box.
Quick verdict
After testing these popular UK brands, I’d recommend Butternut Box. I based this decision on the fact that Copper and Skye consistently finished their fresh meals for nearly five years. Pure costs less at £68 per dog a month compared to £77 for Butternut Box. But for me, the small price difference was worth it because my dogs clearly preferred Butternut Box.
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 may cost a little more than store-bought dry or wet food, we believe it’s worth every penny because our Klee Kai loved it.
Pure is an excellent choice if your preference is storage convenience and cheaper price, but there is more meal preparation involved with them.
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.
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Watch: Butternut Box vs. Pure Pet Food Comparison
Butternut Box vs Pure: Our Pick
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 care about price above everything else, Pure does work out slightly cheaper. My price is around £68 per dog a month, while Butternut Box cost me around £77.
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
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.
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.
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 around £77 per dog 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, they don’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.
Pure is one of the more affordable dog food subscriptions that I’ve tested with Copper and Skye. I paid around $136 a month for their Pure subscription.
Who Should Go For Butternut Box?
- Your dog is picky and tends to prefer fresh, soft-textured meals
- You want food that’s easy to serve with minimal meal preparation
- You don’t care about fridge or freezer space
- You’re happy to pay a little more for fresh dog food
- You’ve got a picky dog that you want to satisfy
Who Should Go For Pure?
- You want something cheaper than fresh dog food subscriptions
- You have a limited (or small) fridge or freezer space
- You like being able to keep your dog’s food in the cupboard
- You don’t mind making your dog’s food every mealtime
Butternut Box Vs Pure: Our Final Thoughts
So there you have it. If I was choosing between Butternut Box and Pure Pet Food today, my pick would be Butternut Box.
While Pure is slightly cheaper and easier to store, it does require more meal preparation than 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.
For me, I found paying an extra £9 more per dog each month worth it when comparing Butternut Box and Pure because Copper and Skye were consistently excited to eat and consistently finished their fresh dog food.
That’s why after testing both on my dogs, I’d ultimately still recommend Butternut Box.