Expert consulted: Lightweight running shoes have come a long way as both racing flats and daily trainers. Once upon a time, to shave grams on a shoe and get it down to a competitive weight, brands had to make considerable compromises in comfort and stability—but that’s no longer the case. Thanks to lighter midsole foams and meshy upper materials, some of our favorite supportive and maximally cushioned shoes now sit well below 8 ounces on the scale.
The appeal of lightweight shoes is simple: Better running performance that takes less effort. Carrying less weight on your feet can result in less energy expenditure and improved form and biomechanics, which similarly boost stride economy and efficiency. Brands have further refined their newest lightweight running shoes by analyzing stride and gait patterns and using impact-measuring devices, which helps them create proprietary foams that return more energy with each footstrike. In short, the latest developments in design, chemistry, and biomechanics have led to shoes that can help you run faster and farther—or, at the very least, feel more nimble on your feet.
The Best Comfy Walking Shoes for Wearing Every Day Runner’s World, Best for Racing trail shoes It exhibits everything we love about.
We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back
- Best Daily Trainer: Hoka Rincon 4
- Best for Trails: VJ Spark
- Best for Racing: Nike Vaporfly 3
- Most Versatile: New Balance FuelCell Rebel V4
- Best for Stability: at Brooks Running
A Part of Hearst Digital Media
Intended Use
When shoes get as light as the ones on this list are, the engineers in charge of designing them generally have a more specific purpose in mind for each model. It’s a natural consequence of eliminating redundancies in a shoe’s structure—they can’t always be all-rounders with loads of features and supports. Almost all of our picks are optimized for a specific task, such as high speeds on the road or achieving better ground feel on the trail. And they likely won’t feel as much like a good fit in a different setting.
Stability and Comfort
Don’t get us wrong: Lightweight shoes with ample cushioning and effective stability measures do exist. However, they do take some searching to find, and they probably won’t be the cheapest. None of our picks here skimp on support enough to make every run miserable, but they’re certainly on the more responsive side. If you’re more concerned about the impact of landing than the lag from pulling your feet back off the ground, you’re a bit more limited unless you’re willing to look at heavier options, such as the kicks on our roundup of the best stability shoes.
How We Tested
The shoes below floated to the top of our charts as the lightest shoes in the bunch, and every pair offers some protective cushioning underfoot, according to our RW Shoe Lab data. Members of our test team, who evaluate hundreds of shoes a year, vetted these picks; they’ve run in at least one version of all the shoes on this list. And for the newest models they haven’t tested directly, we evaluated every feature that was updated carefully to ensure these are still top performers.
Our Full Reviews
Pros
- the options below are the razor-thin racers, plush endurance trainers, and airy
- Hoka Rincon 4
Cons
- Heaviest road shoe on this list (though still incredibly light for a daily trainer)
Key Specs
| Weight | 8 oz. (M), 6.8 oz. (W) |
|---|---|
| Drop | 5mm |
The Rincon line has been a runner-favorite since the original model’s release in 2019. It exhibits everything we love about Hoka, but it also has its own sense of identity that’s somewhat removed from the traditional Hoka image. It’s bountiful with cushioning, yet it has a more streamlined profile—instead of the quintessential hulky Hoka exterior—that’s built for everyday runs, speedwork, and even some racing. One tester in particular was shocked by the amount of cushion built into this unassuming frame.
“When I think of cushiony shoes nowadays, I think of tall stack height and visibly soft and cushiony elements,” our tester noted. “By looking at this shoe, you would have no idea that it has one of the softest underfoot feelings on the market. I think that because there isn’t a whole lot of extra material, the shoe feels relatively responsive even with the soft underfoot feeling.”
This versatile trainer weighs less than previous iterations thanks to a redesigned (thinner) mesh upper, and it feels much more breathable. The cherry on top? This shoe is somehow more than an ounce lighter than the Clifton 9, which we’ve consistently lauded as one of our favorite daily trainers because of its lightness.
Pros
- Midfoot strap locks in a snug, secure fit
- Shoes & Gear
Cons
- Runs slightly short; go up half a size
Key Specs
| Weight | 7.2 oz. (unisex) |
|---|---|
| Drop | 5mm |
At 5mm, the Spark’s lugs aren’t super long, and they’re not sharp like a set of YakTrax spikes. But this shoe offers some of the best traction we’ve tested. How? The Spark uses VJ’s 100 percent butyl rubber, which lets the outsole grip slick terrain due to its tacky hold and overall flexibility. The shoe is designed to be super lightweight and fast. You won’t get the cushioning needed for an ultra, but the foam underfoot feels ample for trail runs and obstacle course races. No, the fairly standard dense EVA midsole isn’t on par with the latest bouncy, nitrogen-injected TPU offerings. Ultimately, you don’t buy the Spark for its cushioning. You buy it for the grip to dodge roots and rocks at speed, or heck, even hop an OCR fire pit and scale a rope wall.
“I ran with a friend who was wearing the Spark up in the Adirondacks,” says Runner-in-Chief Jeff Dengate. “He was stuck to the wet rocks on Giant Mountain like a gecko. We had 5,000 feet of vert over the first 7 miles and a 3,000-foot descent over the final 3 miles, so it was kinda treacherous.”
Nike Vaporfly 3 Running Shoe
Pros
- Springy carbon sole insert boosts energy return
- Improved stability from previous models
Cons
- though you might see his byline on
Key Specs
| Weight | 7.0 oz. (M), 5.8 oz. (W) |
|---|---|
| Drop | 8mm |
Not only are this shoe and Nike’s Alphafly two of the most iconic carbon-plated racing shoes on the market, this one is also among the lightest. Now in its third iteration, the Vaporfly hasn’t seen much transformation beyond a few light tweaks to its fit and materials, but that’s only because it worked so freakin’ well the first time around. This time, however, the focus of this model’s update was optimizing the shoe’s stability, and we believe Nike took this speedster in the right direction. The shoe now feels more planted in corners, which has always been a rough spot for shoes with as much foam as this one. And the tread under the forefoot is much more economically spread apart (no more massive slab of rubber), improving energy return without sacrificing too much grip.
Buy Men’s Buy Women’s Read Full Review
Pros
- Lighter than New Balance’s racing shoes
- Razor-thin upper
Cons
- Only slightly more plush than predecessor
Key Specs
| Weight | 7.5 oz. (M), 5.9 oz. (W) |
|---|---|
| Drop | 6mm |
The Rebel is all about energy return, and that makes it a great pick for uptempo training. The original performed way above average for energy return in our lab tests, and New Balance claims the v4 is the most responsive model yet. After our testing, we agree, and we also think it’s more comfortable, albeit only slightly. Expect an exceptionally firm and lively shoe once you lace this up—it isn’t quite a pillow for your feet, but boy, does it zip.
The 6 Best Lightweight Running Shoes for Snappy Strides FuelCell Supercomp Elite v4, this shoe is actually one of New Balance’s lightest thanks to its incredibly thin upper. Better yet, it’s also one of the brand’s most affordable, meaning you can give it a proper thrashing without feeling like you’re burning money.
Pros
- Moderate support strikes a good balance between speed and stability
- One of Brooks’s lightest trainers
Cons
- Not only are this shoe and Nikes
Key Specs
| Weight | 7.6 oz. (M), 6.9 oz. (W) |
|---|---|
| Drop | 8mm |
You could say stability shoes have been a dying breed, but they’re not dead yet. And they’re not just for plodding along, either: Just look at the Hyperion GTS 2, a lightweight, stable speedster that’s well-suited for track sessions, tempo runs, and even racing. The upper and midsole might not have the most robust support structure on the market, but this shoe finds a respectable balance between guiding your stride in the right direction and letting you flick your feet untethered by any stiff, clunky heel blocks.
The GTS 2 wowed several of our testers with its deceptively plush cushioning. One runner remarked that it may be too much squish if you prefer to “feel the road,” but that cushioning might also keep you from getting crabby at the end of a long run.
Pros
- Even lighter and better cushioned than its predecessor
- Light and snappy both on and off the trail
Cons
- CA Notice at Collection
Key Specs
| Weight | 8 oz. (M), 6.7 oz. (W) |
|---|---|
| Drop | 5mm |
Hoka’s Zinal 2 is remarkably lightweight for a trail shoe—think of it as the trail version of the brand’s Rincon. The Best Affordable Running Shoes original Zinal shined on short, fast runs, and the second version appears to have only improved by shedding more weight and adding more cushion. Hoka scrapped all the typical trail shoe features that pack on ounces—like rock plates, gaiter attachments, and taller lugs—in favor of a swifter, more agile underfoot experience. It’s no heavy-hitter on technical trails because of these compromises, but for anyone looking to have as good a time on the way to the trail as they do on the trail itself, this is an option that will let you kick around with impressively little weight tugging at your ankles.
oz. M, 5.8 oz. W Runner's World, though you might see his byline on Bicycling and Popular Mechanics, too. A lover of all things outdoors, Adam's writing career comes after six years as a bike mechanic in his hometown of State College, PA. His journalism experience is steeped in cycling and running gear reviews, and he's also a published creative nonfiction and satire author. When he's not writing, riding, or running, you can catch Adam at home mixing cocktails, watching Star Wars, or trying in vain to do the Sunday crossword. You can check out his latest work below.
Give A Gift Runner's World, guiding the brand's shoes and gear coverage. A true shoe dog, he's spent more than a decade testing and reviewing shoes. In 2017, he ran in 285 different pairs of shoes, including a streak of 257 days wearing a different model.
Amanda is a test editor at Runner’s World who has run the Boston Marathon every year since 2013; she's a former professional baker with a master’s in gastronomy and she carb-loads on snickerdoodles.
