A Pup Above vs. Ollie: How the Two Fresh Dog Foods Compare

A Pup Above and Ollie are both fresh, gently cooked dog food brands, but they differ in specific, checkable ways. A Pup Above cooks every recipe sous-vide and sells seven fresh recipes only, online and in 3,000+ retail stores nationwide. Ollie cooks in small batches at a Minnesota facility, offers five fresh recipes plus a separate Baked (dry, shelf-stable) line, sells mainly by subscription with a newer presence at select Petco stores, and, by its own published pricing, generally costs less per day. Here's the fact-by-fact, sourced comparison.

Ollie comes up often enough in A Pup Above's own switching stories that it's worth comparing directly: among A Pup Above's approved reviews, Ollie is named 12 times, almost always as the food a dog was eating before the switch.⁸ Here's how the two compare on cooking method, recipes, pricing, and where you can buy each one.

What Do A Pup Above and Ollie Have in Common?

More than the "versus" framing suggests. Both are fresh, gently cooked dog foods rather than extruded kibble, formulated with a veterinary nutritionist to meet AAFCO guidelines, and both ship frozen direct to your door with a flexible, skip-or-swap subscription.¹ The differences are in the specifics: how each is cooked, how many recipes each sells, how pricing is structured, and where you can buy each one.

How Do A Pup Above and Ollie Compare at a Glance?

	A Pup Above	Ollie
Cooking method	Sous-vide: sealed and gently cooked at a controlled low temperature	Gently cooked at low temperatures in small batches, at Ollie's facility in Minnesota, then hand-packed1
Fresh recipes	79	52
Other formats	Fresh only	Also offers a separate Baked line: 2 shelf-stable recipes3
How it ships	Frozen, direct to your door	Fresh line ships frozen, direct to your door; Baked line is shelf-stable3
Where it's sold	Online, plus 3,000+ retail stores nationwide9	Online, plus select Petco stores and petco.com5
How pricing is set	Fixed by recipe and bag size9	Personalized by an intake quiz (age, breed, weight, activity level), quoted by dog-size tier1 4
Partial-fresh option	Informal topper portions	Named "Half Fresh" plan tier1 4

Two differences stand out. A Pup Above's whole lineup is fresh; Ollie also sells a separate Baked, shelf-stable line. Distribution runs the other way: A Pup Above is already sold in thousands of physical stores, while Ollie's Petco partnership is newer and centered on select locations, with its full assortment online.⁵

How Are A Pup Above's and Ollie's Recipes Cooked?

A Pup Above cooks every human-grade recipe sous-vide: whole ingredients, sealed in food-safe bags, cooked slowly at a low, controlled temperature so the nutrient-rich liquid stays with the meat instead of draining away. That liquid is also where our real bone broth comes from. (See our guide to gently cooked dog food for the fuller explanation of what sous-vide means.) Ollie describes cooking its recipes at low temperatures in small batches at its Minnesota facility, then hand-packing them, after formulating them with a veterinary nutritionist to AAFCO guidelines.¹ Both fall into the fresh, gently cooked category as most people use the term, a meaningfully different process from the heavier processing kibble goes through.

For A Pup Above, that process is tied to a measured number: third-party studies put A Pup Above's gently cooked recipes at 93%+ digestible. A Pup Above fresh food is up to 50% more digestible than standard kibble.⁶ Ollie describes its food as "highly-digestible" on its own site but doesn't publish an equivalent, independently measured figure alongside that claim.⁵

How Many Recipes Does Each Brand Offer?

A Pup Above: 7 Fresh Recipes9	Ollie: 5 Fresh Recipes2 + 2 Baked Recipes3
Chicka Chicka Bow Wow (chicken)	Fresh Chicken, with carrots
Porky's Luau (pork)	Fresh Pork, with apples
Texas Beef Stew (beef)	Fresh Beef, with sweet potatoes
Turkey Pawella (turkey)	Fresh Turkey, with blueberries
Turducken Recipe (turkey, duck and chicken)	Fresh Lamb, with cranberries
Fish Gone Wild (wild-caught white fish)	Baked Chicken (Baked line, shelf-stable)
Puppy Recipe	Baked Beef (Baked line, shelf-stable)

A Pup Above's full lineup, current on the Fresh Dog Food product page as of September 2026, each available in 3lb x 2 and 7lb x 2 bag sizes.⁹ Ollie's recipe list and Baked line per Ollie's own site.^{2 3}

The practical difference: all seven A Pup Above recipes share one format, fresh and sous-vide, so switching proteins changes nothing else about how the food is made or fed. Ollie's fresh lineup is a similar size, but its Baked line adds a shelf-stable option some households use to stretch a subscription or handle travel, something A Pup Above doesn't currently offer.

How Does Pricing Compare Between A Pup Above and Ollie?

Using each brand's own published numbers for full feeding (100% of a dog's calories from that brand's fresh food), on A Pup Above's cheapest recipe tier (chicken, pork or turkey):

Dog's Weight	A Pup Above, One-Time (3lb bag)	A Pup Above, Subscribed (7lb bag)	Ollie Size Tier	Ollie, Full Fresh Plan4
10 lb	$4.22/day	$2.82/day	Small (3-20 lb)	$3.14/day ($22/week)
20 lb	$9.50/day	$6.35/day	Small (3-20 lb)	$3.14/day ($22/week)
30 lb	$12.66/day	$8.46/day	Medium (20-50 lb)	$7.86/day ($55/week)
40 lb	$15.83/day	$10.58/day	Medium (20-50 lb)	$7.86/day ($55/week)
60 lb	$19.00/day	$12.69/day	Large (50+ lb)	$9.86/day ($69/week)
80 lb	$25.33/day	$16.93/day	Large (50+ lb)	$9.86/day ($69/week)

A Pup Above figures are the classic-tier numbers from our full cost breakdown by weight; a beef, turducken, fish or puppy recipe runs somewhat more per pound. Ollie pricing is Ollie's own stated Full Fresh plan rate by size tier, published on its blog.⁴ Ollie's exact price for a specific dog depends on its intake quiz (age, breed, weight, activity level)¹, so treat these as representative starting points rather than an exact quote; neither brand's figures include a first-order promotion.

"There is a good quality diet available at nearly every price point for a healthy pet." Dr. Cailin R. Heinze, VMD, MS, DACVIM (Nutrition), writing for Tufts Petfoodology⁷

By each brand's own published numbers, Ollie generally costs less per day, especially for smaller dogs. Ollie's Half Fresh plan is a named tier that covers half a dog's daily calories from fresh food;^{1 4} A Pup Above customers typically handle a partial portion informally as a topper instead, covered in our dog food topper guide. Neither is a workaround; it's simply how each brand structured its lower-cost option. If cost is the deciding factor, the Best Sellers bundle is a way to try a few A Pup Above recipes in smaller bags first.

Where Can You Buy A Pup Above vs. Ollie?

A Pup Above sells online at apupabove.com and in 3,000+ retail stores nationwide.⁹ Ollie sells primarily online by subscription, and more recently at select Petco locations, currently its Fresh Turkey recipe plus Baked Chicken and Beef, with its full assortment at petco.com.⁵ If a physical store matters to you, A Pup Above is currently the wider option.

Which Should You Choose, A Pup Above or Ollie?

There's no universal answer, only what fits your dog:

• Want every recipe fresh and sous-vide, with no separate dry-food tier to think about? A Pup Above's fresh-only lineup is the simpler option.
• Want the lowest starting price? Ollie's own published rates run lower per day across every size in the table above.
• Want to buy in a physical store, not only by subscription? A Pup Above's retail footprint is currently much wider.
• Want a formal, quiz-driven plan that mixes fresh and shelf-stable baked food by design? That's Ollie's structure; A Pup Above's topper approach is more informal and works with any recipe.

Coming from Ollie specifically? A gradual transition, mixing in more new food and less old food over about a week, works best for most dogs; see the full transition guide for a day-by-day schedule. Not sure which recipe to start with? The Best Sellers bundle or collection is a low-commitment way to try a few at once, and the full fresh food collection has every recipe side by side. For how A Pup Above stacks up against the wider category, see best fresh dog food.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is A Pup Above the same as Ollie? No. Both are fresh, gently cooked dog food brands, but A Pup Above cooks sous-vide and sells fresh food only, across seven recipes; Ollie offers five fresh recipes plus a separate Baked (shelf-stable) line and describes its own process as gentle, low-temperature cooking in small batches at its Minnesota facility rather than sous-vide.^{1 2}

Is A Pup Above cheaper than Ollie, or is Ollie cheaper? By each brand's own published pricing, Ollie generally costs less per day, especially for smaller dogs: Ollie's Full Fresh plan starts around $3.14 a day for a small dog, while A Pup Above's classic recipe tier runs $2.82 to $4.22 a day for a 10 lb dog, depending on whether you subscribe or buy one-time.^{4 9} See the full pricing table above for other dog sizes.

Does Ollie sell dry or kibble food? Ollie doesn't sell kibble, but it does offer a separate Baked line: a dry, shelf-stable format with two recipes, Baked Chicken and Baked Beef.³ A Pup Above's current lineup is fresh, gently cooked food only.

Can you buy A Pup Above or Ollie in physical stores? A Pup Above is sold online and in 3,000+ retail stores nationwide.⁹ Ollie is sold online direct-to-consumer and, more recently, at select Petco store locations carrying a curated recipe selection, plus its full assortment on petco.com.⁵

Can I switch my dog from Ollie to A Pup Above? Yes. Treat it like any diet change: gradually increase the new food and decrease the old one over about a week, longer for a sensitive stomach or a puppy. See the full transition guide for a day-by-day schedule.

Which is better for a picky eater, A Pup Above or Ollie? There's no independent head-to-head data on this. What we can say: picky eating is the most-mentioned topic in A Pup Above's own customer reviews,¹⁰ and Ollie is one of the foods reviewers most often mention trying beforehand.⁸ If your dog is a picky eater, the Best Sellers bundle is a lower-commitment way to test more than one A Pup Above recipe before committing to a full-size bag.

Sources

1. "How Our Custom Dog Food Plan Works," Ollie, including its FAQ section on how Ollie is made: https://www.ollie.com/how-it-works ↩
2. "Fresh Dog Food," Ollie: https://www.ollie.com/fresh-dog-food/ ↩
3. "Baked Dog Food," Ollie: https://www.ollie.com/baked-dog-food/ ↩
4. "How Much Does Fresh Dog Food Cost?," Ollie Blog: https://blog.ollie.com/how-much-does-fresh-dog-food-cost/ ↩
5. "Our Food at Petco," Ollie: https://www.ollie.com/petco/ ↩
6. Gross, K.L. et al., Small Animal Clinical Nutrition, 5th ed., Mark Morris Institute, 2020: third-party studies put A Pup Above meals at 93%+ digestible; published kibble digestibility can be as low as 64%. ↩
7. "Expensive eats? Comparing the costs of different types of dog food," Petfoodology (Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine), Cailin R. Heinze, VMD, MS, DACVIM: https://sites.tufts.edu/petfoodology/2022/03/21/pet-food-costs-by-type/ ↩
8. A Pup Above customer reviews via Okendo (aggregate, as of September 2026): Ollie named in 12 of 1,212 approved reviews. ↩
9. A Pup Above's Fresh Dog Food product page (recipe lineup, retail store count, and current pricing), as of September 2026. ↩
10. A Pup Above customer reviews via Okendo (aggregate, as of September 2026): picky eating mentioned in 281 of 1,212 approved reviews (23%), the most-mentioned topic in the corpus by a wide margin. ↩