Cost per 1,000 kcal calculator
You are buying calories, not pounds. Calorie density across this database runs from 922 to 5,400 kcal/kg, so a $3.50/lb fresh food and a $3.50/lb kibble are nowhere near the same price. Enter what you pay; this converts it using the calorie density printed on the label.
Estimate ±25%
The per-day line assumes a 25 lb neutered adult dog at 692 kcal a day. Energy needs vary by ±25% between individual dogs of the same weight, and prices move — this is arithmetic on the numbers you typed, not a quote. Ask your veterinarian before changing what your dog eats.
Reference ranges
Moisture and calorie density below are computed from the 122 foods in the database. The cost column is not label data: this site holds no prices, so each figure is quoted from the comparison page that observed it, with the date it was checked.
| Format | Foods | Moisture | kcal / kg | $ / 1,000 kcal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh dry (UnKibble) | 3 | 5% 3/3 | 4,193–4,792 3/3 | $3–5 |
| Dry kibble | 86 | 10–12% 78/86 | 3,189–4,167 86/86 | $1.50–4 |
| Air-dried | 4 | 15% 4/4 | 4,780–5,400 4/4 | $5 |
| Fresh cooked | 16 | 69–82% 12/16 | 922–1,741 10/16 | $7.50–13 |
| Wet / canned | 8 | 78% 8/8 | 936–1,186 8/8 | — |
| Frozen raw | 5 | — | — | $9 |
How the number is worked out
Convert the package to kilograms, multiply by the label's calorie density to get the calories in the bag, then divide the price by those calories.
$ per 1,000 kcal = price ÷ (package kg × kcal per kg) × 1,000
Worked through with a real label: Royal Canin Medium Adult publishes 3,616 kcal/kg — the median of the 86 dry foods here. Suppose you find a 25 lb bag for $70; the price is an assumption, because this site records no prices at all. 25 lb is 11.34 kg, which holds 41,005 kcal, so the bag costs $1.71 per 1,000 kcal and feeds the 25 lb reference dog for about $1.18 a day.
The same conversion drives the per-1,000-kcal nutrient figures on every food page:
g per 1,000 kcal = as-fed % × 10,000 ÷ kcal per kg. Both need a published calorie
density, which is why 11 of the 122 foods here cannot be costed at all —
their makers do not publish one.
Questions
Why compare dog food by cost per calorie instead of by the pound?
Moisture. Kibble in this database is 10–12% water; fresh recipes are 69–82%. A pound of fresh food therefore carries a fraction of the calories in a pound of kibble, so the two per-pound prices are not measuring the same quantity. Dividing the price by the calories you actually receive puts every format on one scale.
What does dog food cost per 1,000 kcal?
The reference table on this page lists what our dated comparisons observed in 2026: roughly $1.50–4 for premium kibble, $3–5 for fresh-dry, about $5 for air-dried and $7.50–13 for frozen or refrigerated fresh. Those are market observations with a date on them, not label data — BowlGrade publishes no prices, which is why the calculator asks you for yours.
Where does the calorie figure come from?
The calorie content statement — kcal of metabolisable energy per kilogram — which US labels have had to carry since 2017. 111 of the 122 foods in this database publish one and are in the menu above; 11 do not, so for those you have to read the bag in your hand. Every figure is linked to its source.
Does a lower cost per 1,000 kcal mean a better food?
No. It is a price measurement and nothing else. It tells you what you are paying for energy, not what the ingredients are, whether the recipe was fed to dogs in a trial, or whether it suits your dog. BowlGrade issues no ratings — read the cost next to the label data, not instead of it.
Captured 2026-07-25 Methodology