The 7 Best Budget Dog Foods, According To More Than 400 Dogs (And Their Humans)

Best Overall

Iams Proactive Health Dog Food

$30 at Amazon $10 at Chewy $64 at Walmart

Iams Proactive Health dog food is easy to find at big box stores, supermarkets, and through online retailers, and is always reasonably priced. All recipes within Iams' Proactive Health line, both kibble and wet, provide fiber, grains, and omega-6 fatty acids to help support digestion, energy, and overall health.

Among the 407 dog parents who participated in our panel and feed their dog Iams dog food, the human-grade ingredients and their dog's overall enjoyment of the food were the key determining factors that motivated their purchase choice.

Within Iams collection of dog foods there are varieties to meet the needs of dogs according to their age, lifestyle, and size, along with formulations to address specific health needs that are common among dogs, such as weight management, joint and bone support, and digestive maintenance. Meat or fish is the first ingredient in all of Iams food for dogs, but recipes also include by-product meals and fillers.

_{Life Stage: Puppy, adult, senior | Food Type: Dry, wet}

Best Wet

Blue Buffalo BLUE Homestyle Recipe Wet Dog Food

$36 at Amazon $36 at Chewy $8 at Walmart

Blue Buffalo's Blue Homestyle Recipe wet dog food comes in four flavors—Chicken Dinner with Garden Vegetables, Beef Dinner with Garden Vegetables, Lamb Dinner with Garden Vegetables, and Turkey Meatloaf with Garden Vegetables. Among the 400-plus individuals who participated in our research team's survey, those who opt for Blue Buffalo dog food do so because of the brand's consistent and reliable use of high-quality, human-grade ingredients and their dog's enjoyment of the flavors. Plus, all of Blue Buffalo's meat-first recipes are enhanced with vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that dogs need.

In addition to Blue Homestyle Recipe, the brand has seven other lines of wet food for dogs to meet the dietary needs, health issues, and flavor preferences of all dogs, including Freedom (free of grains and glutens), Blue Wilderness (high in protein), and Blue Basics (for skin and stomach care). The wet food comes in 5.5 and 12.5 ounce cans with pull-tabs, and 3.5 ounce trays with easy to peal open foil lids for small breeds.

Blue Buffalo sources ingredients from all over the world, but all of their food for pets is manufactured in the United States.

_{Life Stage: Puppy, adult, senior | Type: Dry, wet}

Best for Sensitive Stomachs

Purina ONE SmartBlend Sensitive Systems Formula

$32 at Amazon $50 at Chewy $50 at Walmart

If your dog frequently experiences digestive issues after eating, you should fist discuss their symptoms with your veterinarian, and together you can pinpoint the issue, which might be an ingredient in in their food.

For dogs with sensitive stomachs and humans looking for a budget-friendly food, Purina One +Plus Digestive Health Sensitive Systems dry dog food is fortified with vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, and made with ingredients that are easy for most dogs to digest.

The reasonably priced kibble is manufactured in the United States and made with chicken as the first ingredient along with corn, whole grains, and beef fat. But this food is only available as a dry kibble, and it is made with grains and poultry, which some dogs cannot not tolerate. A serving provides vitamin E and omega-6 fatty acids which studies have shown can help promote a healthy coat and skin in dogs.

_{Life Stage: Adult | Food Type: Dry}

Best For Weight Management

Purina Beneful Healthy Weight Dog Food

$24 at Amazon $6 at Chewy $17 at PetSmart

Purina Beneful Healthy Weight dog food is made with high quality ingredients to provide a protein-rich (25 grams) and nutritionally balanced meal along with 23 vitamins and minerals with each serving.

To help dogs shed extra weight without them feeling deprived, the flavorful food is formulated to be less calorie dense. It's made with real apples, carrots and green beans, and without artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. There is only one recipe within the Beneful Healthy Weight dog food line, and it's not suitable for dogs with sensitives to poultry. Beneful from Purina is has two other recipes which are similar but have beef or salmon as the lead protein source along with chicken by-product meal.

_{Life Stage: Adult | Type: Dry}

Best For Puppies

Purina ONE Plus Healthy Puppy Formula

$30 at Amazon $30 at Chewy $18 at Walmart

Purina ONE +Plus Healthy Puppy Formula food is our top recommendation for those in search of an affordable puppy food that will provide the proper nutrition.

The kibble and wet food options for puppies are enriched with DHA for vision and brain development—a nutrient puppies commonly get from nursing so it's important that their diet consist of omega fatty acids that include DHA. The meaty-flavored food is also an excellent source of calcium and glucosamine for strong bones, muscles, and joints, and fortified with vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that a puppy needs.

The dry food is made with chicken as the first ingredient and the consistency is a mix of crunchy bites and tender meaty morsels, while the canned food for puppies is made with ground lamb as the lead protein source along with long grain rice. Within the Healthy Puppy line from Purina ONE there are three food products, the aforementioned kibble and wet food, and a dry food formula for large breeds optimized to meet the unique needs of future big dogs with a slightly different ratio of protein, fat, and fiber.

_{Life Stage: Puppy | Type: Dry, wet}

Best for Seniors

Iams ProActive Health Mature Adult Dry Dog Food

$47 at Amazon $47 at Chewy $30 at Walmart

For senior dogs, Iams Proactive Health Healthy Aging Dry food provides fiber and prebiotics for digestion, antioxidants to help the immune system, glucosamine and chondroitin for joint health, and other supplements to burn fat and work to keep metabolism going.

The kibble is made with human-grade ingredients, including chicken as the first ingredient, and is free of fillers and artificial flavors and preservatives. For large breeds, the kibble is optimized to support their large frames, but there isn't a small breed specific formula. The Healthy Aging dog food is also available as a canned food which is suitable for dogs of all sizes, and can be mixed with the dry food.

_{Life Stage: Senior | Type: Dry, wet}

Best Refrigerated

FreshPet Dog Food

$21 at Amazon View on Chewy $24 at Walmart

Conveniently packaged in a resealable bag or a slice-and-serve roll, FreshPet offers a variety of recipes all made with human-grade ingredients. The refrigerated dog food is likely to appeal to the pickiest eaters, which will save you money overtime, and it received high marks among our home testers.

The dog food has a soft yet meaty texture, and all of the ingredients the brand uses, including farm-raised chicken, fish, beef, eggs, fruits and vegetables, are sourced and manufactured within the United States. FreshSelect also has specialized formulas including grain-free recipes, small breed recipes, and puppy-specific formulations. Depending on your preferred vendor and where you live, it can be more difficult to find some of the flavors, and this food needs to be refrigerated at all times, so having it delivered to a home can be challenging.

_{Life Stage: Puppy, adult | Type: Refrigerated}