7 Best Road Running Shoes in 2024

How we test road running shoes

At RunRepeat we know the difference between good and great shoes. 

How? Thanks to our independent shoe testing lab and a meticulous approach to reviewing running shoes:

• We use durometers, scales, calipers, a custom smoke machine, and even a saw to cut each shoe open and measure every aspect of it, from upper breathability to outsole durability.
• As a team of dedicated shoe fanatics, we run 30-50 miles a week to test every new release from over 30 brands.
• We purchase all running shoes with our own money to ensure transparency.

Basically, the best ones end up on this list.

3 most important things for road running

Running on the roads means you most likely need a cushioned shoe that will provide enough impact protection for your feet given how hard the surface is, a good grip (for wet or dry weather, depending on your climate), and a durable outsole that can withstand the constant traction against the hard asphalt or concrete.

However, it’s not just about those 3 features. Many things depend on your pace, distance, foot strike, pronation, and so on. We will cover the general guidelines here, but keep in mind that outliers exist. There are people who run in flat, non-cushioned runners on the roads, but it’s not common, and we especially don’t recommend it to beginners. 

The importance of cushioning in road running shoes

There are many things to be considered when we talk about cushioning: 

1. stack height: it tells us how high off the ground the heel and the forefoot are. More cushioning means more impact protection which is highly recommended given the hard running surface. But, more cushioning also means less ground feel. 
2. heel drop: it tells us the difference in height between the heel and the forefoot. It is very important to know the heel drop and choose one that won’t aggravate your past or current injuries 
3. the softness of the cushioning: we measure it with a durometer and many runners directly correlate the softness of the midsole with the overall shoe comfort 
4. the type of foam: standard or premium? This choice directly dictates the responsiveness, durability and price of the shoe. 

If you’re a beginner, we recommend a heel stack height of at least 30mm and a heel drop in the 8-12mm range. 

More impact protection or more ground feel? 

Stack height tells us how high off the ground we are. In our lab, we use a digital caliper to measure both the heel stack height and forefoot stack height. 

To honor the guidelines from WorldAthletics, we cut the shoe in half first. This is the only way to properly measure the stack height at the center of the shoe and at the 12% and 75% of the inner shoe length. 

Your heel can sit on anything from 7mm to 47 mm high base (based on our current lab measurements). Now, that’s a big variation. The current average sits and 33.8 mm. 

We recommend cushioned running shoes (heel stack height of at least 30-35mm) if you are a beginner, if you are a heel striker and want as much impact protection as possible,or if you’re a heavy runner. 

We recommend running shoes that are low to the ground (heel stack height less than 30mm) if you’re more experienced, if you plan to do shorter runs, if you love the ground feel. 

We don’t recommend minimalist or barefoot running shoes to beginners. Choose these shoes if you’re an experienced runner, if you want to strengthen your foot muscles by first walking in those shoes and then gradually getting used to running in them, and keep in mind that forefoot strikers could have an easier transition than heel strikers. 

Why heel drop must be taken into account

Heel-to-toe drop is often forgotten about when shopping for new running shoes so here’s why it should not be like that: 

1. Sudden big changes in heel drop (4mm difference or higher) can lead to muscle strain or injury
2. Big changes in heel drop can aggravate current injuries
3. Running in shoes with different heel drops can actually help you strengthen different leg and foot muscles

There are many variations between stack heights and heel drops, and although it might seem that zero drop is exclusive to minimalist running shoes, Altra is here to beg to differ. The same goes for the low drop, as we have many Hoka models with low heel drops, yet those shoes are very high off the ground. 

Non-written industry standard sits around 10mm. This is what we recommend to beginners (range between 8 and 12 mm). However, you should know that zero-drop shoes will use the most out of your foot muscles. Low-drop shoes will utilize your calves and Achilles and higher-drop shoes will utilize hip muscles and thighs. 

If you plan to transition to low-drop or zero-drop shoes, you should do it very gradually. It takes time. Often, forefoot strikers with neutral pronation do it easier than heel strikers with overpronaiton. In case you want to learn more about heel drop, read our insanely detailed Ultimate guide on heel to toe drop. 

Lab tests: softness of road running shoes

Is softer always better? Definitely not. 

Soft foams can feel very comfortable, but they can also be a) very dull, meaning your feet will sink in and have difficulties coming back up, or b) very unstable due to all the softness. 

Very soft and unstable midsole

On the other hand, we have firmer foams that offer more stability and protection. 

Squeezing the soft foam and the firm foam in RunRepeat lab

Firm vs. soft midsole on the curb test

In our shoe lab, after cutting the shoes in half, we stick a shore A durometer into the foam to measure the softness. This is the only right way to do it. Many testers do it on the outside but, keep in mind that foams come with paint on the outside or protective layers that can give very different (wrong!) softness readings. 

The higher the number on the durometer, the firmer the foam. Knowing this, it’s easy to understand which shoe is firmer or softer. 

Firmer midsoles can often be found in stability running shoes because runners with mild to excessive overpronation appreciate any support they can get. And, if we’re analyzing a dual-density midsole, we take both durometer measurements. 

Foam: standard or premium 

In running, there are 3 shoe groups based on the pace: daily trainers, speed shoes and competition shoes. What does that mean in terms of cushioning?

Daily trainers are used for easy runs, recovery runs, jogging, and racking up the miles. These shoes are usually very cushioned and very comfortable. However, given that the pace remains slow, the foams don’t have to be super responsive (and, therefore, expensive). Usually, we see standard foams implemented in daily trainers. 

In race shoes, on the other hand, the best you can get is premium foam. Combine it with a carbon plate, and you’ve got yourself one of the most responsive shoes on the market. 

When it comes to the choice of foam, it all depends on your primary goal. Brands develop their own foam combinations, so below are the most common ones, along with their strengths and weaknesses (taken from our in-depth guide on foams). 

Pros and cons of premium foams

Pros and cons of standard foams

How padded are road running shoes?

This mostly depends on the pace. Daily trainers are usually very padded to make your ride as comfy as possible. We’re talking about tongue padding, heel collar and heel counter padding. 

If the thickness of the tongue is something you care about, you most likely experienced a lace bite. A lace bite happens when you tighten the laces and feel the pressure, or the bite, on the instep.

Thicker tongues lower the possibility of a lace bite. 

As we see below, the thickest tongues are found in daily trainers.

The opposite side: the thinnest tongues are found in competition shoes. 

On the other hand, we have race shoes that are often not padded at all. This does not mean they are not comfortable; a premium sock-like upper can be very soft. But these shoes often cut back on the tongue and heel padding to cut weight. A thin upper definitely screams race and is more aggressive than a daily trainers’ thicker upper with a lot of padded details. 

The most padded heels, along with the heel counters, are found in stability running shoes because stabilizing the heel for overpronators is of utmost importance. 

Nailing the grip in road running shoes

First, you should know whether you’ll be mostly running in dry or wet conditions. Just like in car tires, it matters for traction. 

For wet weather, we suggest outsoles that have a lot of grooves and channels and outsoles that are mostly or completely covered with rubber with no or as little as possible exposed midsole. For dry weather, the tread pattern does not have to be complicated.

But there are other things we will discuss: 

1. Placement of the rubber
2. Rubber coverage 
3. Outsole hardness 
4. Outsole thickness

In race shoes that are mainly made for forefoot strikers, you’ll find rubber placed only at the front. If you’re a heel striker, you might be able to use these shoes anyway, but the exposed midsole that you’ll land on will wear out significantly sooner than the rubber and it definitely won’t grip nearly as well. 

When it comes to rubber coverage, we recommend the maximum if you plan to run mostly on wet surfaces. The exposed midsole will just slip and slide. However, in dry weather and in race shoes, having exposed midsole or even chunks of the midsoles cut out can help with increasing the flexibility of the shoe, shedding the shoe weight and, therefore, improving the runner’s speed. 

In our shoe lab, we measure the hardness of the rubber. Harder rubber is more durable and protective, while softer rubber is stickier and more flexible. 

This table perfectly illustrates it: 

Looking at the table, it’s easy to see that daily trainers have much harder outsoles as they are made to last and, as many have experienced, including us, some last even up to 1,000km. On the other hand, race shoes have to be as light as possible so their outsoles are sticky (softer) and very thin. 

We measure the thickness of the outsole rubber in our lab as well. The thicker the outsole, the more damage it can withstand before getting to the midsole. 

Thickest outsoles are found in daily running shoes as the table below proves it: 

Contrasting numbers show us that the thinnest outsoles are found in competition or tempo shoes: 

Outsole durability in road running shoes 

Above, we covered the thickness of the outsole and the hardness. The next logical step is, of course, durability. While it’s intuitive to think that for a rubberto last long it has to be very thick and very hard.. It turns out that’s not always the case. 

We test durability using our Dremel. We standardized the test, so every outsole is met with a Dremel at the same speed (RPMs), pressure and duration. 

Testing the durability of the outsole in RunRepeat lab

The bigger the dent, the less durable the outsole. We use a tire tread gauge to precisely measure the depth of the dent, so it’s easy to see how far the Dremel went. 

Thicker outsoles also make the shoe less flexible which leads us to the flexibility of road running shoes. 

Flexibility of road running shoes

Flexible running shoes are great when you want to experience a more natural running feel. They bend more and it feels good because our feet naturally bend as well. 

The difference between a stiff (left) and a flexible (right) running shoe on the torsional rigidity test

However, stiff running shoes can bring more stability, support, and responsiveness. The latter is most often related to running shoes with a carbon-fiber plate. 

And definitely, they are very stiff and very propulsive! 

Measuring the stiffness of the shoe in RunRepeat lab

In our lab, we use a digital force gauge to bend the shoe to 90 degrees and measure how much force it took us to do that. More force = stiffer the shoe. We also twist the shoe in our hands and assign it a 1-5 rating where 5 is the most torsionally rigid.

Super stable or super fast? 

You will rarely have both in running shoes. This is because premium race shoes usully have very tall and narrow midsoles, while super stable shoes have a wider base. 

When we say “stable” here, it applies to both a) stability, features that are wanted for overpronators and b) overall stable feel that’s found in neutral shoes as well. Because of this, there aren’t stability race shoes, its features would add too much weight and, therefore, slow the runners down or feel bottom heavy. 

The biggest tell whether the shoe is stable is the base's width. The wider the base, the more planted the landings and toe-offs. In our shoe lab, we measure it in 2 places: at the forefoot and at the heel. This way, both forefoot and heel strikers can be at peace. 

If you’re a forefoot striker, you will most likely care about the width of the base at the forefoot: 

In case you heel strike, it’s important that the landing is not wobbly but planted. The wide base at the heel makes sure of that: 

Weight of road running shoes 

Almost everything discussed above impacts the weight of the shoe. What makes shoes heavier: stability features, wider midsoles, full-rubber outsoles, padding. What makes shoes lighter: lighter foams, cutting down on padding, midsoles that have chunks cut out for flexibility and cutting the weight down, less rubber on the outsoles, thinner rubber, etc. 

Lighter running shoes can improve your running time but if that means less cushioning that you need on recovery days or less padding that keeps your feet comfortable or less stable due to the lack of rubber… it’s important to know which price you’re paying. 

Wide toebox in road running shoes

Your toes should not be cramped in the toebox. Some runners can push through it, usually in cross country shoes or track spikes, but then we’re talking about very short sprint distances. 

For any longer distances, comfort is of utmost importance. If your toes are usually cramped and need more room, you can always consult our lab measurements to get the sense of how wide the toebox is. 

In the lab, we measure the width of the toebox where it’s the widest (around the ball of the foot) and at the big toe. We do this because having both numbers tells us how much the toebox tapers (how pointy it is). 

We all have differently shaped toes which is why it’s great to know whether the toebox is more Altra-like (footshaped, almost square-ish), or pointy.