Every Score Built From the Label, With Every Point Shown
Credit: Daily Vitality
The cracker aisle has a reputation. Next to the chip bags one row over, a box of crackers feels like the sensible choice: baked, not fried, and small enough per serving that the numbers on the side look modest. A Ritz serving is 80 calories. A Club serving is 70. It's easy to assume the whole shelf is the lighter option.
We wanted to check that assumption with numbers you can verify yourself. The Daily Vitality Score is a single number from 0 to 100 that reads two things off the package: the Nutrition Facts panel and the ingredient list. It's the same formula we used for our chip ranking, with every point shown, so a score here can be compared directly with a score there.
We scored 18 popular crackers, from Cheez-It, Goldfish and Ritz to Triscuit, Wheat Thins, Club, saltines and a handful of seed and crispbread options. Every label was read in September 2026. The countdown below runs from 18 to 1, so the top scorer arrives last. As with the chips, the score isn't a verdict on anyone's snack. It's a transparent way to compare one box with another.
Here's the whole field at a glance. The nutrient section is worth 75 points and the ingredient section 25. Sodium is shown per 100 grams, which is how the formula compares boxes with very different serving sizes. The last column is each cracker's Nutri-Score letter, the front-of-pack grade used in several European countries, as an outside cross-check.
Scores are rounded to whole numbers. Where two crackers round to the same score, they're listed in order of their unrounded totals. Wasa Light Rye is the only cracker in the Excellent band (85 and up), and two crackers, Cheez-It White Cheddar and Ritz, fall into Poor (under 40).
The Daily Vitality Score applies one formula the same way to every packaged food we rank. Here's the short version, plus the calls that were specific to crackers.
Everything is measured per 100 grams, and on the cracker shelf that matters more than it did for chips. Federal labeling rules set two different reference amounts for crackers, according to the FDA's reference amounts in 21 CFR 101.12: 30 grams for crackers usually eaten as snacks, and 15 grams for crackers usually not eaten as snacks. That's why the Ritz, Club, Town House, Premium, Carr's and Back to Nature panels show 14- to 16-gram servings while Cheez-It, Goldfish and Triscuit show 28 to 31 grams. An 80-calorie Ritz serving and a 150-calorie Cheez-It serving are both 500 calories per 100 grams.
The nutrient section is worth 75 points. Sodium carries 20 (full marks at 80 mg or less per 100 grams, zero at 1,600 mg or more), calories 15 (full at 80, zero at 800), and saturated fat and added sugars 10 each. Those end points come from the 2023 Nutri-Score thresholds published by Santé publique France, converted from salt to sodium. Fiber and protein are worth 10 each, measured per 100 calories, with full marks at 2.8 grams of fiber and 5 grams of protein, twice the rate built into the Daily Values. When a label says "less than 1 gram," we count half a gram.
Sodium gets the heaviest weight because, according to the FDA's guidance on sodium, more than 70% of the sodium Americans eat comes from packaged and prepared foods.
The ingredient section is worth 25 points. The first ingredient earns 10 if it's a whole food as grown, including a whole grain, and zero if it's a refined flour or starch. Another 10 points start full and lose 2.5 for each distinct ultra-processing marker, using the ingredient list in Monteiro and colleagues' 2019 paper in Public Health Nutrition. The last 5 points reward a short list: full at three ingredients or fewer, zero at 20 or more.
A few calls were new on this shelf, and we want to show them:
We read each label from the manufacturer's own page where we could. The Cheez-It, Club, Town House, Carr's and Wasa brand sites blocked our checks, so for those five we used a retailer's package photo or label sheet and cross-checked it against the USDA's branded foods database. Each scorecard says which.
As a check on the nutrient section, we also ranked all 18 crackers by Nutri-Score. The two rankings agree closely: a rank correlation of 0.98 for the nutrient section alone, and 0.92 for the full score. That's closer than the chips (0.83), because fewer crackers carry long seasoning lists.
If serving sizes on the front of the box have ever puzzled you, our cookie ranking tackles the same problem one aisle over.
20 Popular Cookies Ranked by Sugar Per Cookie, Not Per Serving
Score: 34 / 100 · Poor
Biggest point losses: first ingredient (−10), fiber per 100 kcal (−10), sodium (−9.6).
Ritz lands last, and it gets there on both halves of the scorecard. Start with the panel. The Ritz Original label on Snackworks lists a 16-gram serving of five crackers with 80 calories, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 130 mg of sodium, 0 grams of fiber and less than a gram of protein. That small serving looks gentle. Scaled to 100 grams, it becomes 500 calories and 9.4 grams of saturated fat, the most saturated fat of all 34 crackers and chips we've scored so far, edging past Pringles. That single line earns less than a point out of 10.
The ingredient list doesn't claw much back. It opens with unbleached enriched flour, a refined flour, and it carries three ultra-processing markers: high fructose corn syrup, soy lecithin (an emulsifier) and natural flavor.
The total is 34 out of 100, in the Poor band. For context, that's four points below Cheetos Crunchy, the lowest-scoring chip in our first ranking.
Score: 38 / 100 · Poor
Biggest point losses: ultra-processing markers (−10), first ingredient (−10), fiber per 100 kcal (−10).
This is the flavored-sibling effect again, the same pattern our chip ranking found with SunChips Harvest Cheddar. On the nutrition panel, Cheez-It White Cheddar is nearly a twin of the Original. The box photo on Target's Cheez-It White Cheddar listing shows 150 calories, 1.5 grams of saturated fat and 3 grams of protein per 30-gram serving, with 210 mg of sodium and 0 grams of fiber.
Turn the box over and the lists split apart. The Original runs to eight ingredients. White Cheddar runs to 18, including whey, monosodium glutamate, whey protein concentrate, butter, natural and artificial flavor, three acids, milkfat, turmeric and annatto extract colors and soy lecithin. That's five distinct marker classes, which empties the marker bucket, and 18 ingredients leaves less than a point of the short-list bonus.
The ingredient section falls from 6.0 to 0.6 points. The nutrient section barely moves. Put together, the white box scores 38, eight points below the red one, and lands in the Poor band, tied with Cheetos Crunchy across the two rankings.
Score: 41 / 100 · Weak
Biggest point losses: sodium (−11.3), first ingredient (−10), fiber per 100 kcal (−10).
Town House is a good example of how a small serving can soften a panel. The 2022 label sheet for Town House Original crackers lists five crackers (16 grams) at 80 calories, 1 gram of saturated fat, 150 mg of sodium and 1 gram of added sugar. The USDA's 2025 retail record for the 13.8-ounce box shows the same figures. On a per-serving basis, none of that looks dramatic.
Per 100 grams, though, Town House carries 938 mg of sodium and 6.3 grams of saturated fat, and it lists no fiber at all. Protein sits under a gram per serving. That adds up to 29.8 out of 75 on the nutrient section, the second-lowest of the 18.
The ingredient list is short by comparison: seven ingredients, led by enriched flour, with soy lecithin as its only marker. It earns 11.3 of 25 there, which is what keeps it three points ahead of Cheez-It White Cheddar.
We couldn't reach the Kellanova brand site to read the current retail box, so we used the foodservice label sheet and checked it against USDA's newer record.
Score: 42 / 100 · Weak
Biggest point losses: sodium (−13), first ingredient (−10), fiber per 100 kcal (−10).
Club crackers carry more sodium per gram than anything else we've scored, crackers or chips. The box photo on Target's Club Original listing shows 150 mg of sodium in a four-cracker serving that weighs just 14 grams. Scaled up, that's 1,071 mg per 100 grams. Garden Veggie Straws, the saltiest chip, sat at 786.
Club does some things well. It lists 0 grams of saturated fat, so it takes all 10 points on that line. Its 70 calories per serving work out to 500 per 100 grams, the same as Ritz, Town House and Cheez-It. But fiber is 0 grams and protein is less than 1 gram, which leaves almost nothing to earn back.
The ingredient list starts with enriched flour and includes sugar, high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup. We count high fructose corn syrup and soy lecithin as two ultra-processing markers; plain corn syrup, like sugar, isn't one. The total comes to 42, in the Weak band.
Score: 46 / 100 · Weak
Biggest point losses: first ingredient (−10), calories (−8.8), sodium (−7.7).
Here's the first half of the Cheez-It vs. Goldfish answer. The current box, photographed on Target's Cheez-It Original listing, shows 27 crackers (30 grams) with 150 calories, 8 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 200 mg of sodium, 1 gram of fiber and 3 grams of protein. We used a retailer's photo of the box because the Cheez-It brand site blocked our checks.
On the panel, Cheez-It has the lower sodium of the two, 667 mg per 100 grams against Goldfish's 833. It gives that advantage back on saturated fat: 5 grams per 100 grams against Goldfish's 3.3.
The ingredient list is where the one-point gap opens. Cheez-It is made with enriched flour and "cheese made with skim milk," and that cheese carries whey protein and annatto extract color inside its parentheses. Add paprika extract color and soy lecithin, and there are three marker classes: colors, a protein isolate and an emulsifier. The total is 46.497 before rounding, a hair under the line that would have rounded it up to 47.
Score: 47 / 100 · Weak
Biggest point losses: first ingredient (−10), sodium (−9.9), fiber per 100 kcal (−8.7).
Goldfish Cheddar edges Cheez-It 47 to 46, and the margin is slim. The Goldfish Cheddar product page lists 55 pieces (30 grams) at 140 calories, 5 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 250 mg of sodium, less than 1 gram of fiber and 3 grams of protein.
Compared with Cheez-It, Goldfish has 10 fewer calories and half a gram less saturated fat per serving, and 50 mg more sodium. The three differences nearly cancel out: Goldfish scores 40.0 on nutrients, Cheez-It 40.5.
The ingredient list decides it. Goldfish runs to 12 ingredients, led by enriched wheat flour, with two marker classes: annatto coloring the cheddar, and autolyzed yeast extract, which works as a flavor enhancer. Cheez-It carries three. The paprika in Goldfish is listed as a plain spice, so it doesn't count.
If you picture Goldfish as the lighter pick, the scorecard only partly agrees. It's a point ahead of Cheez-It, and 33 points behind Triscuit.
Score: 48 / 100 · Weak
Biggest point losses: first ingredient (−10), sodium (−9.5), fiber per 100 kcal (−8.7).
In our chip ranking, the plain version of every brand beat its flavored sibling. Goldfish is the exception. The Goldfish Colors product page shows a panel that matches plain Goldfish Cheddar line for line (140 calories, 1 gram of saturated fat, 3 grams of protein per 30 grams) except for one number: sodium is 240 mg instead of 250.
That 10 mg is worth about half a point, and it's the whole difference between a 48 and a 47.
The colors themselves don't cost anything extra. Goldfish Colors gets its hues from beet, huito and watermelon juice concentrates plus paprika and turmeric extracts. Those count as a colors marker, but plain Goldfish already has one, because its cheddar is colored with annatto. Each marker class is counted once, so both crackers carry the same two: colors and a flavor enhancer (autolyzed yeast extract). Both lists run to 12 ingredients.
So the rainbow bag and the orange bag are, for scoring purposes, the same cracker with a little less salt.
Score: 49 / 100 · Weak
Biggest point losses: sodium (−10.4), first ingredient (−10), fiber per 100 kcal (−8.7).
Cheddar Bunnies score a little higher than Goldfish, though not for the reason the "organic" on the box might suggest. The Annie's Cheddar Bunnies product page lists 51 crackers (30 grams) with 140 calories, 1 gram of saturated fat, 260 mg of sodium, less than 1 gram of fiber and 3 grams of protein.
That panel is almost identical to Goldfish's, with slightly more sodium, so the nutrient section scores 39.6, a touch lower than Goldfish's 40.0. The first ingredient is organic wheat flour. Organic describes how the wheat was grown, not how it was milled, so it's still a refined flour and earns zero first-ingredient points.
Where Bunnies pull ahead is the marker count. Organic annatto, used for color, is the only marker on the list. There's no yeast extract or other flavor enhancer, so the marker bucket keeps 7.5 of its 10 points against Goldfish's 5. That's enough for 49, two points above Goldfish Cheddar. The 12-count pouch pack has a slightly different panel (130 calories, 0.5 grams of saturated fat and 240 mg of sodium in 28 grams), and it would score about two points higher, at 52.
Score: 54 / 100 · Weak
Biggest point losses: first ingredient (−10), calories (−8.8), sodium (−8).
The name suggests a whole-grain cracker. The Back to Nature Stoneground Wheat product page lists the first ingredient as unbleached enriched wheat flour. Whole wheat flour, whole wheat flakes and whole brown flaxseed come next, which is why the panel shows 1 gram of fiber, more than most white crackers here, but the first ingredient still earns zero.
The rest of the panel is middle of the pack: five crackers (16 grams) with 80 calories, 0 grams of saturated fat, 110 mg of sodium, 1 gram of added sugar and 1 gram of protein. The list runs to 12 ingredients, including cane sugar, brown rice syrup and barley malt extract, with soy lecithin as its only marker.
One thing worth knowing if you've bought this box for years: it's no longer labeled organic. The USDA's 2023 database record is the older organic formula, at 70 calories and 150 mg of sodium. We scored the current label. It totals 54.48 before rounding, a fraction ahead of Premium's 53.89, and both round to 54.
Reformulation is nothing new in the grocery aisle. Our look at how familiar products changed over five decades puts it in longer perspective.
Score: 62 / 100 · Fair
Biggest point losses: first ingredient (−10), fiber per 100 kcal (−10), sodium (−6.5).
Carr's is the simplest refined cracker in the lineup. The label sheet for Carr's Table Water Original crackers lists just enriched flour, palm oil and salt, and a four-cracker (14-gram) serving with 50 calories, 1 gram of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 80 mg of sodium, 0 grams of fiber and 1 gram of protein.
Three ingredients and no markers earn 15 of the 25 ingredient points. The missing 10 are the first ingredient: enriched flour is refined. On the nutrient side, Carr's is the lightest cracker here after Wasa, at 357 calories per 100 grams, and it takes full marks on saturated fat and added sugar.
What it can't do is supply fiber, and that line scores zero. Its 571 mg of sodium per 100 grams is middling. The total is 62, in the Fair band.
We couldn't reach the Carr's brand site, so we used this label sheet and confirmed it against the USDA's October 2025 record for the same box.
Score: 63 / 100 · Fair
Biggest point losses: first ingredient (−10), calories (−7.4), fiber per 100 kcal (−7.3).
Nut-Thins has the lowest sodium of all 18 crackers, and it still misses the Good band. The Nut-Thins Original product page lists 19 crackers (30 grams) at 130 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 115 mg of sodium, 1 gram of fiber and 3 grams of protein. That's 383 mg of sodium per 100 grams, and the nutrient section scores 51.0 of 75, within a tenth of a point of Mary's Gone Crackers.
The ingredient list is what holds it back. The almonds on the front of the box come second. The first ingredient is rice flour, a refined flour, so that line scores zero. Natural flavors count as one marker. The list is short at six ingredients.
That adds up to 63, the top of the refined-flour group and one point below Lay's Classic. Worth knowing if you avoid dairy: the ingredient list notes that the natural flavors contain milk.
For a wider look at snacks that tend to get more credit than their labels support, our round-up of overrated snack foods is a useful companion.
Score: 69 / 100 · Fair
Biggest point losses: sodium (−9), calories (−8.8), protein per 100 kcal (−6).
Simple Mills is one of our judgment calls. The Simple Mills Fine Ground Sea Salt product page lists the first ingredient as a nut and seed flour blend of almonds, sunflower seeds and flax seeds. We treat a whole nut or seed ground into flour the same way we treat a whole grain ground into flour, so it earns the full 10 points. There are eight ingredients and no markers.
The panel shows 17 crackers (30 grams) with 150 calories, 9 grams of fat, 0.5 grams of saturated fat, 230 mg of sodium, 2 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein. Sodium is the weak spot: 767 mg per 100 grams, the highest of the six crackers that start with a whole food. It costs 9 points.
That's why Simple Mills lands at 69, one point short of the Good band. The USDA's 2023 record implies about 183 mg per 30 grams, so an app drawing on that record will show a less salty cracker than the current box.
Score: 70 / 100 · Good
Biggest point losses: calories (−7.4), sodium (−5.5), protein per 100 kcal (−5.4).
Crunchmaster starts with brown rice flour, a whole-grain flour, and follows it with sesame seeds, potato starch, flax seeds, olive oil, amaranth and quinoa. The Crunchmaster Multi-Seed Original product page shows 14 crackers (30 grams) with 130 calories, 4 grams of fat, 150 mg of sodium, 2 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein.
There's one marker, and it's easy to miss: the tamari soy sauce powder near the end of the list contains maltodextrin. That costs 2.5 points.
There's also a discrepancy worth sharing. The printed back of the 4-ounce pouch, pictured on the same page and dated July 2025, lists 1 gram of saturated fat and 0 grams of sugar. The text panel on the web page says 0.5 grams and "less than 1 gram." We scored the printed package. If your pouch shows 0.5 grams of saturated fat, its score would be about 72.
Either way, it lands in the Good band at 70, with the second-lowest sodium of the top five, after Wasa.
Score: 72 / 100 · Good
Biggest point losses: calories (−7.7), sodium (−7.4), protein per 100 kcal (−7.1).
Wheat Thins shows that a whole-grain cracker can carry some sugar and still score well. The Wheat Thins Original label lists 16 pieces (31 grams) with 140 calories, 5 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 200 mg of sodium, 3 grams of fiber and 2 grams of protein. It also lists 5 grams of total sugars, 4 of them added.
Whole grain wheat flour comes first, which earns the full 10 points. Further down are sugar, malt syrup and refiner's syrup. Those are sweeteners in the everyday sense, but they're sugars rather than ultra-processing markers under the NOVA list, so the marker bucket stays full. Their cost shows up on the panel instead: 12.9 grams of added sugar per 100 grams trims the sugar line to 8 of 10.
Eight ingredients and a solid 3 grams of fiber carry it to 72, in the Good band. It's also where Nutri-Score is tougher on it, with a D, because Nutri-Score counts total sugars and sodium together.
Score: 75 / 100 · Good
Biggest point losses: calories (−8.8), sodium (−6.8), protein per 100 kcal (−4.7).
Mary's Gone Crackers Original reads like a pantry shelf. The Mary's Gone Crackers Original product page lists organic brown rice, quinoa, flax seeds, sesame seeds, tamari and sea salt. That's six ingredients with no markers, and brown rice as grown is a whole grain, so the ingredient section scores 24.1 of 25.
The panel shows 12 crackers (30 grams) with 150 calories, 5 grams of fat, 0.5 grams of saturated fat, 180 mg of sodium, 3 grams of fiber and 4 grams of protein. The protein is the highest per serving of any cracker here, and it earns 5.3 of 10 on that line.
Seeds make it richer than the wheat crackers, at 500 calories per 100 grams, and that's where most of its lost points go. It finishes at 75, third overall.
If you're looking for it online, the brand's own store showed every size sold out when we checked, though the product is current and its 2026 box panel matches the one we scored. Seed crackers pair naturally with dips, and our dip comparison looks at what the scoop brings.
Guacamole vs. Hummus vs. Tzatziki: Protein, Fiber and Sodium Per Scoop
Score: 80 / 100 · Good
Biggest point losses: calories (−7.3), sodium (−6.9), protein per 100 kcal (−5).
Triscuit is the best of the big-brand crackers by a wide margin. The Triscuit Original label lists three ingredients: whole grain wheat, canola oil and sea salt. That earns all 25 ingredient points.
The panel shows six crackers (28 grams) with 120 calories, 3.5 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 170 mg of sodium, 3 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein. Fiber scores 8.9 of 10, and saturated fat and added sugar both score full marks. Sodium is its main cost, at 607 mg per 100 grams.
The total is 80. That settles the Ritz vs. Triscuit question by 46 points. It's also a helpful reminder that both boxes come from the same company, and that the difference is almost entirely what the cracker is made of: whole grain wheat on one side, enriched flour, palm oil, sugar and high fructose corn syrup on the other.
Score: 87 / 100 · Excellent
Biggest point losses: calories (−5.3), sodium (−4.1), protein per 100 kcal (−3.3).
The top score goes to a crispbread with two ingredients: whole grain rye flour and salt. It's the first product in the Daily Vitality Score franchise to reach the Excellent band.
Because the Wasa brand site blocked our checks, we read the panel from a package photo on iHerb's Wasa Light Rye listing. A two-slice (18-gram) serving has 60 calories, 0 grams of fat, 70 mg of sodium, 4 grams of fiber, no added sugar and 2 grams of protein.
Per 100 calories, that's 6.7 grams of fiber, more than twice what earns full marks, so fiber scores 10 of 10. Wasa is also the lightest cracker here at 333 calories per 100 grams, since there's no oil in the recipe. Its biggest costs are calories, sodium (389 mg per 100 grams) and protein (6.7 of 10), and even those are the smallest losses on the shelf.
It totals 87.3 and earns the only Nutri-Score A in the set. One note if you look it up: the USDA's 2023 record lists 40 calories per serving, but the package says 60, and we scored the package.
Because both rankings use the same formula, the scores sit on one scale. Here are all 34 products together.
Products with the same rounded score share a rank.
The top of the combined board belongs to crackers: Wasa, Triscuit and Mary's Gone Crackers all outscore Cape Cod, the best chip at 74. So does the bottom, where Ritz sits four points under Cheetos Crunchy. In between, the cracker shelf is more crowded toward the low end than the chip shelf. Twelve of the 18 crackers score below Lay's Classic (64), and the median cracker scores 54 against the median chip's 64.
The reason is mostly the ingredient list. The best chips are potatoes or corn, oil and salt, which is a whole food first and a three-item list. Most popular crackers start with enriched flour, and a refined first ingredient costs 10 points before anything else is counted.
If you missed the first ranking, the full chip scorecards are here.
Lay's Chips vs. Doritos vs. SunChips: 16 Popular Chips Scored Out of 100
Three patterns run through all 18 scorecards, and they're worth carrying with you the next time you're in the cracker aisle.
This is the clearest result in either ranking. Every cracker whose first ingredient is a whole grain, nut or seed scored 69 or higher. Every cracker that starts with a refined flour scored 63 or lower. There's no overlap at all. The nutrition panels overlap plenty (Nut-Thins has a better panel than Simple Mills, for example), but the first ingredient is worth 10 points, and it tends to arrive with fiber, which is worth up to 10 more. Refined-flour crackers mostly list 0 or "less than 1" gram of fiber.
The crackers with 14- to 16-gram servings (Ritz, Club, Town House, Premium, Carr's, Back to Nature) look modest on the front of the panel, at 50 to 80 calories. Per 100 grams, most of them are as energy-dense as Cheez-It and carry more sodium. Club is the saltiest product we've scored on either shelf, at 1,071 mg per 100 grams, and Ritz carries the most saturated fat. Scoring per 100 grams takes the serving size out of the comparison.
Cheez-It White Cheddar scores eight points below Cheez-It Original, almost entirely because its list grows from eight ingredients to 18 and adds five marker classes. That's the same pattern SunChips and Doritos showed on the chip shelf. Goldfish is the exception: Goldfish Colors adds vegetable-juice colors but no new marker class, and its slightly lower sodium puts it a point ahead of the plain bag.
For more ideas when you want something light alongside a few crackers, our calorie-capped round-up gathers 50 snacks at 100 calories or less.
About the Author
Angela Nightingale is a Senior Editor at Daily Vitality with over two decades of experience in digital publishing and health and wellness content. She specializes in turning complex, often-confusing health topics into clear, calm, and practical guidance that respects the reader's intelligence. Her work focuses on helping people feel informed and confident — never overwhelmed or alarmed — as they make everyday decisions about how they eat, move, rest, and age.
On the Daily Vitality Score, Goldfish Cheddar scores 47 and Cheez-It Original scores 46. Cheez-It has less sodium per serving (200 mg vs. 250), while Goldfish has fewer calories and less saturated fat. Goldfish pulls ahead on the ingredient list, with two ultra-processing markers to Cheez-It's three.
Triscuit Original scores 80 and Ritz Original scores 34, a 46-point gap between two boxes from the same company. Triscuit has three ingredients led by whole grain wheat, 3 grams of fiber and no saturated fat. Ritz starts with enriched flour, lists no fiber and carries 9.4 grams of saturated fat per 100 grams.
Wasa Light Rye crispbread, at 87. It has two ingredients (whole grain rye flour and salt), 4 grams of fiber per two-slice serving and no fat. It's the first product in the Daily Vitality Score franchise to reach the Excellent band.
Not automatically. Twelve of the 18 crackers score below Lay's Classic (64), and the median cracker scores 54 against the median chip's 64. The best crackers do outscore every chip, though: Wasa, Triscuit and Mary's Gone Crackers all finish above Cape Cod Original, the top chip at 74.
Federal labeling rules set a 15-gram reference amount for crackers usually not eaten as snacks and 30 grams for snack crackers. Ritz, Club, Town House, Premium and Carr's use the smaller serving, which makes their panels look lighter. Per 100 grams, Ritz and Cheez-It both carry 500 calories.
Per-100-gram figures let one formula compare products with different serving sizes, and on the cracker shelf those sizes range from 14 to 31 grams. Scoring per serving would make the small-serving crackers look far better than they are gram for gram.
Blue Diamond Nut-Thins Original, at 383 mg per 100 grams (115 mg per 30-gram serving), with Wasa Light Rye close behind at 389. Club Original has the most, at 1,071 mg per 100 grams (150 mg in a 14-gram serving).
Yes. Whole grain wheat flour is the first ingredient, which earns full first-ingredient points. The label also lists 4 grams of added sugar per serving from sugar, malt syrup and refiner's syrup, which costs 2 points, and it scores 72 overall.
We use the list from Monteiro and colleagues (2019): ingredients such as maltodextrin, dextrose, lactose, high fructose corn syrup and whey protein, and additive classes such as flavors, flavor enhancers (MSG, yeast extract), colors, emulsifiers (soy lecithin), sweeteners and thickeners. Salt, sugar, plain syrups, spices and plain starch don't count.
Labels change, and databases lag. The USDA's branded foods database still lists Cheez-It Original at 230 mg of sodium (the current box says 200), Wasa Light Rye at 40 calories (the package says 60) and Back to Nature Stoneground Wheat in its older organic formula. We read every label in September 2026 and will re-score when labels change.
The two agree closely, with a rank correlation of 0.92 for the full score and 0.98 for the nutrient section. Nutri-Score gave Wasa an A, four crackers a C, ten a D and three (Club, Town House and Ritz) an E. The Daily Vitality Score adds the ingredient list, which Nutri-Score doesn't look at.
No. The score compares one packaged food with another using what's printed on the label. It doesn't measure how a food affects any individual, and it isn't medical or dietary advice.
No. We chose the 18 crackers for their popularity and their place in common matchup searches, and we scored each one from its public label with the same formula.
