Adidas’s stripes and Nike’s swoosh are two of the most iconic logos in the sporting world, but their shoes are popular for more reasons than that – the most notable being their near-unmatched performance across a variety of sports, including running.

Both brands have earned their notoriety by creating some of the nike air max 90 winter premium wheat seed list around, and they’ve capitalised on their innovation by sweeping podiums and shattering records with their most cutting-edge pairs.

cheap nike lunars for women shoes size conversion carbon-plated racing shoes, Nike and Adidas have loads of daily wear shoes for a variety of running styles and terrains. Their budget-friendly options, daily trainers, and roshe run size 14 men are as easily available as they are reliable.

What everyone's reading

Every shoe below is exceptional in its own right, but each option may fit some runners and their cushioning, fit and energy return needs better than others. That’s why we've broken down the top shoes from each brand, helping you choose the style and brand that’s best for you.

Nike vs Adidas running shoes

Key comparisons between Nike and Adidas running shoes

Fit and sizing

Nike and Adidas’ proven, long-standing designs offer fairly traditional fits – no extra-wide toe boxes or roomy uppers come standard here. While a narrow fit may not seem like a good thing, some runners appreciate the locked-in feeling that comes with it, especially when hitting corners at speed on race day.

Nike’s running shoes generally run narrower than Adidas’s, most notably in the heel and midfoot. This can provide some added support for your ankles if you’re a fan of it, but it can also disrupt the way some people’s feet naturally roll through a strike. Nike’s shoes also tend to be a bit small for their size, so it’s worth trying on or buying a half size up if you’re on the cusp.

Adidas, conversely, designs its shoes around a more neutral last, opening up more in the upper for extra wiggle room. This style feels less secure for some, but it can provide much-needed relief on long runs – a tight fit can create pressure points that can cause discomfort and blisters. Sizing-wise, Adidas is also comparatively on-point, which makes it easier to figure out what you need if you can’t try on shoes in person.

New models

Nike and Adidas constantly update their line ups with new shoes that marginally build on the efficiency, comfort and zip of their predecessors. But because of the quick turnaround (both brands drop a new version of each model roughly every year), those inventories build up over time, and you’ll often find several generations of each brand’s shoes for sale at once – alongside some steep clearance discounts for older iterations.

While we primarily list the most recent runs of various shoes, we encourage you to look around for deals on phased-out versions wherever applicable. They’re too spontaneous for us to include them here en masse, but they’re easy to pin down if you check each brand’s website.

How we compared

Here at Runner’s World, nike air max run lite 4 purple hair color Adidas and Nike shoes. In fact, they’re among our most-tested brands, and we’ve gathered in-depth, lab-supported data on every model that we’ve had in-house and from our wear testing team. We study everything from cushioning to geometry to weight in our lab tests, giving us an objective means of comparing shoes from various brands. And while we haven’t put some of the newest releases through the full testing process yet, we have spent enough time with their predecessors to pinpoint what each iteration has changed, as well as why or if it matters.

We aren’t here to declare whether Adidas or Nike is the superior brand – both offer dozens of excellent shoes. As such, we’ve highlighted where each brand’s shoes differ while performing similar functions.


Nike vs Adidas: Daily trainers

Choosing your daily trainer is perhaps the most important decision you can make as a runner. It’s the shoe you’ll spend the most time wearing, and you need it to perform well on your recovery days just as well as on your long and tempo runs.

Nike’s model, the Pegasus, is one of the most prolific shoes in the running world, now on its 40th iteration. It’s not made to blow anyone’s mind with respect to speed, but its comfortable upper, cushy-yet-responsive midsole and mid-range weight make it a shoe you won’t second-guess grabbing from your rack.

Adidas, on the other hand, has previously moved in a speed-oriented direction compared to Nike’s Pegasus. The quickly evolving Supernova line reflects in a snappier liftoff with a slightly stiffer coos. However, the new Supernova Rise bridges the gap. It's built using a brand new foam called Dreamstrike+. This foam is less about out-and-out propulsion and more about comfort. The coos isn’t very soft nor too hard, there is a nicely balanced sensation of cushioning and responsiveness that offers up feedback and a sense of ground feel while keeping things smooth and supple.

Nike vs Adidas: Budget-friendly shoes

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Nike Winflo 10
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A positive consequence of pushing the threshold of shoe performance is that cutting-edge tech trickles down the line quickly and effectively. This is especially the case for Nike and Adidas, both of which have budget designs that don’t sacrifice too much performance while costing half of what you’d pay for their premium shoes.

The Winflo has a particularly accommodating fit and smooth coos, whereas the more affordable SL is stiffer and promises livelier performance for seasoned runners’ feet.

Both are the same weight, and they fit similarly – but if you care about what’s going on under the hood of your midsole foam, the dichotomy of the Winflo’s comfort versus the SL's speed in this comparison is critical.

Nike vs Adidas: Speedwork shoes

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Nike’s and Adidas’s speed shoes exhibit perhaps the most dramatic weight deviation between the two brands: ine is significantly heavier than the other, yet they’re both among the best. Why?

Even though Nike’s Zoom Fly 5 is the heaviest road shoe on this list, it’s still competitively energetic because of the carbon plate in its midsole, which is a rarity among training-oriented shoes. It’s a lot of mass to turn over, which can feel burdensome on a long run, but the abundance of cushy foam flex aims to take the edge off your impacts and keep you moving more efficiently regardless.

Adidas’s Adios 8, on the other hand, has a far more barebones construction, and it has a competitive weight to match. The onus is on you to provide more of your own energy in your toe-offs with this shoe. But you’re a lot more likely to forget you’re wearing an Adios than a Zoom Fly, which gives some tempo runners peace of mind as they focus on pacing.

Nike vs Adidas: Race-day shoes

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Nike’s original Vaporfly plunged road racing into a new era of super shoes, but that doesn’t automatically put the swoosh in the winner’s chair today. The Vaporfly is still kicking, now on its third (and perhaps greatest) nike air max closer iii release schedule nike lunar presto price in nepal live.

Both shoes prioritise efficient, comfortable turnover with a hulking chunk of energetic midsole foam, and they both have breezy mesh uppers that can keep your feet as cool as ever. The main difference? The Vaporfly is made for all-out speed, and its upper, which has minimal stretch, can feel somewhat uncomfortable on long runs at slower paces. The Adios Pro, on the other hand, is more comfort-oriented. It has a wider fit and squishier foam to match. If you don’t have a particularly high tolerance for foot aches, this can actually make you faster during long australia. But it can also feel less responsive when you’re changing speeds.

We should also note that Adidas recently nike diamond flex soles sandals clearance, a super-light £400 shoe that wears more quickly at the cost of peak performance on race day. (Some conservative estimates suggest that this shoe is spent after a single race, but that can vary.) It’s a blisteringly fast shoe that has already broken world records, but until we test it further, we aren’t champing at the bit to offer it up as Adidas’s best race shoe for the money.