The Best Gravel Running Shoes

The higher-stacked successor to Merrell’s underrated Morphlite road-to-trail shoe, the Promorph packs more nitrogen-injected supercritical FloatPro+ foam underfoot. But it’s still one of the firmer gravel shoes I tested. If you like to feel connected to the trail, the Promorph won’t disappoint.

The Promorph has a steeply curved midsole that means you’ll also need to like highly rockered shoes. You can almost feel the fulcrum point where you tip forward in your stride, and it’s not going to feel natural to everyone. The outsole set deploy loads of little 2.2-mm lugs, which means are fine for switching between dry trail and tarmac and running in good conditions, but struggles when things get more testing on mud, technical slippy rocky terrain, or wet grass. The uppers are soft, flexible, and airy, but there's not a lot of toe-stubbing protection.

It all adds up to a ride that skews towards being stable and responsive, rather than soft and springy. This feels more like a traditional trail shoe. If you're after a touch of softness, this isn't the shoe for you.

The trail twin to the On Cloudsurfer road runner ($160), this trail adaptation translates the softish, comfortable, easy cruising feel from On’s road shoe onto the trail with pretty good results and a dose of everyday style. The step-in comfort is excellent. It feels easy, natural, and unfussy on the foot right from the start. I used them fresh out of the box for a two-hour run with no trouble.

The ride is soft and cushioned, serving up an easy comfort that’s great for low and slow adventuring over less technical terrain, hard-packed trails, and road sections. The cushioning dulls some of the ground feel, but it’s more responsive than some of the bigger-stack gravel shoes and does offer you some protection for long haul runs. I also like that it’s narrow and compact enough to let you pick your way through rocks and more cluttered routes with precision.

Overall, this is a relatively lightweight, agile shoe with balanced cushioning and impact protection that suits lighter trails and less technical, rolling or flat terrain. It also doesn't look out of place at the shop when you're in line to get a post-run coffee.

The eagle-eyed will spot that the Inov8 Traifly V2 has deeper lugs than you’d usually find on a gravel shoe, but this lower-stack shoe is designed for running on rocky ground. Inov8’s shoes do some things really well. The first is excellent grip and traction, thanks to the graphene-infused rubber lugs that give you the stickiness to move with confidence on dirt, roots, mud, and mixed trails. This deeper lug setup isn’t as smooth on the road as the shallower-lugged shoes on this list, but the midsoles have held up under hundreds of miles.

The second thing that Inov8 does well is the wide, foot-shaped toe box (that's reminiscent of another WIRED favorite, the Altra Lone Peaks) that follows the sweep of your forefoot for a roomier fit. Fans of wiggle room up front will approve. Toe stubbers also get some extra protection from welcome upper overlays. The Trailfly V2 are definitely for runners who tend to prefer a firmer, more responsive feel underfoot, rather than high levels of soft cushion. When you step off road, that lower midsole offers plenty of ground feel, supporting faster foot turnover rather than heavy plodding.

Sturdy hiking shoe specialist Keen has recently set its sights on trail runners. Its latest running shoe, the Roam, is an adaptive hike-inspired trail runner built for everything including gravel, dirt, and the sidewalk.​ When it comes to performance, the Roam is closer to a sedan than a sports car. It offers lots of plush comfort details, like a highly padded heel collar and tongue, plus a wider-fit toe box and a big-stacked midsole that cushions well and moves consistently across a variety of terrain.

It lacks the bounce and spring of the likes of Salomon’s GRVL shoes, and there's not quite as much ground feel as the Inov8 or Merrell. But it’s nicely balanced, not too soft, responsive, and reliably stable. I found it best for slower miles, running with my head up enjoying the scenery rather than trying to set records. The slightly deeper multidirectional lug 3-mm lugs offered good reliable grip on the tamer trails and even coped with short bursts over wet cobblestones and a bit of top surface River Thames mud here in London.

The Roam is also built to last, with robust uppers and a midsole that looks like it’ll happily eat over 500 miles and be hungry for more. We have a more detailed discussion on whether you should wear boots or trail runners for hiking here.

HOKA’s max-stacked Rocket X Trail combines road race shoe energy with boosted grip from a 3-mm lugged outsole. If you’re looking for a fast shoe to go on the attack, this is it. It’s also fantastic for all round comfort. In testing, I laced up the Rocket X Trail and ran 3 hours (just short of 19 miles) fresh out of the box, across roads, forest gravel trails, some grass and through some serious water. It delivered efficiency and energy whether I was moving at marathon pace or with heavier, tired, ragged footfalls in the latter miles.

The rockered, supercritical midsole uses HOKA’s liveliest foam, similar to those you find in its race-ready road shoes, along with a carbon plate. That combines for a really fun ride that’s smooth, springy and fast and really consistent. It’s also highly cushioned, so you will sacrifice a lot of ground feel for that big stack springy softness. It's also less stable over very lumpy terrain. But on open, flat, runnable mixed terrain, it’s excellent.

The lightweight uppers have a race-shoe-ready feel and after running through ankle-deep flooded sections, they shed water really quickly. This is a pricey road-to-trail shoe; it's versatile and there's plenty of winter road potential, too.

The Nike Pegasus has been available since 1983, and if you squint, the Trail 5 Gore-Tex shares a lot of the same original DNA. History aside, this do-it-all runner has really impressed me, mainly because it feels like a classic running shoe with the benefit of hefty lugs and waterproofing.

That road running feel comes courtesy of the 9.5-mm drop, which is closer to traditional road running geometry than a trail or hiking shoe. Combine that with the ReactX foam and you get a supercomfortable runner that feels great on most surfaces. The lugs do feel a bit big underfoot on the sidewalk, but it’s not uncomfortable and the benefit kicks in when you escape the asphalt.

They are extremely comfortable shoes, and the high-sock-style ankle liner is the best “no sock” design I’ve tried. Out on the trails they feel smooth, cushioned, and enjoyable. Not especially fast, but that’s not an issue for me, and I appreciate the Gore-Tex on damp runs, though the liner will make your feet sweat. If conditions are filthy and you’re racing, I’d rather get wet feet, but for everyday runs across mixed terrain, having dry feet is a bonus. —Chris Haslam

Riffing off Salomon’s Aero Glide road shoes, the Glide 4 GRVL nails the gravel shoe brief. A combination of energetic and protective cushion, enhanced grip and multi-terrain comfort. While cruising the compact surfaces and sidewalks. I found it soft and springy enough to rival some of the top daily training road shoes. When you hit light off-road and uneven terrain, it still offers control and the chevron Contagrip outsole kicks in for confident traction.

It’s much softer underfoot than a traditional trail shoe. Fans of lots of ground feel might not like the bigger stack softness, but the excellent energy made it great for my longer two-hour plus runs on the easier mixed terrain. It’s a lot of fun on the runnable dirt, and great on the asphalt in wet or winter conditions.

I’m not a huge fan of the quick lacing set up. It’s a struggle to get the mid-foot loose enough to wrestle in my wider feet and high instep. However, once I’ve won that battle, the laces lock easily and securely and overall it’s got good long-haul comfort. It’s heavier than the Aero Blaze GRVL 3 (my previous favorite gravel shoe) but you’re getting a little more protection from the bigger midsole, which was very welcome for runs longer than two hours.

The Adidas EVO SL was one of the standout road running shoes of the past 12 months. And the new All Terrain Running (ATR) model takes the core DNA of that fast-edged daily trainer—a big stack of high-energy Lightstrike Pro foam and lightweight mesh uppers—and gives it more year-round and multi-terrain versatility. The EVO SL ATR sticks with the same lively midsole setup, serving up a smooth and cushioned ride, with good energy coming back from the midsole. You still get a shoe that moves well across a wide range of paces. But it now adds a water repellent ripstop woven mesh upper and a Continental rubber outsole with 1.5-mm lugs for better off-road and winter run credentials.

I tested it over a mix of road, compacted gravel, muddy tracks, grass, and forest floor. The shallower lugs grip well on wet roads and park paths, but struggle if you stray onto muddier paths or anything steep and slippery. Of all the gravel shoes, this is probably the one that most resembles a road shoe tweaked to go off-road.

But on the runnable off roads, the EVO SL ATR treads a good line between energy and response and maintaining control and stability on uneven terrain. The extra water repellency was useful for keeping my feet drier over grassy sections but you don’t get the boosted protection of a full GORE-TEX waterproof shoe. This is a good mixed terrain shoe for runners who want a more durable, grippier alternative to the standard EVO SL, or a daily trainer that doesn’t need to be shelved when winter hits.