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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

adidas Adizero Adios Pro 4vs
Nike Vaporfly 4

Adizero Adios Pro 4

£176

Typical street price · £230 RRP

39mm — road legal
Vaporfly 4

£120

Typical street price · £255 RRP

35mm — road legal

Choose the Adizero Adios Pro 4 if…

  • You want more shoe underneath you late on: 39mm against 35mm, which is protection over a long race rather than speed over a short one.

Choose the Vaporfly 4 if…

  • You want the lighter shoe: 184g against 210g, a 26g difference you will feel late in a race.
  • Money matters: it is selling around £120 against £176, and the time difference between them is smaller than the price difference suggests.
  • You are racing 5K — built for it, where the Adizero Adios Pro 4 is not.

What does this
mean for you?

Every figure below is recalculated from your race and your current time. The gap between two shoes is not fixed — it grows with how long you are on your feet.

Over marathon from 3:45:00

Time back
Adizero Adios Pro 4: 165s–240sVaporfly 4: 165s–246s
Cost per second saved
Adizero Adios Pro 4: £0.21Vaporfly 4: £0.15

Ranges, not promises. Both figures are against a standard trainer, and the honest answer for most runners is that the difference between two shoes of this class is smaller than the difference a month of decent training makes.

Every number.

010203040503933
Adizero Adios Pro 4
010203040503529
Vaporfly 4

What you pay

Street price
Adizero Adios Pro 4£176
Vaporfly 4£120■

What the shoe is actually selling for across the shops we read, not its RRP.

RRP
Adizero Adios Pro 4£230
Vaporfly 4£255

List price. Almost nobody pays it for a race shoe.

Cost per race
Adizero Adios Pro 4£43
Vaporfly 4£32■

Street price divided by the races the foam stays fast for.

Cost per second saved
Adizero Adios Pro 4£0.21
Vaporfly 4£0.15■

The whole-life question: what each second of race time costs you.

What it does

Estimated saving
Adizero Adios Pro 4165s–240s
Vaporfly 4165s–246s■

Against a standard trainer, over the distance and time set above.

Economy gain
Adizero Adios Pro 43.2–4.3%
Vaporfly 43.2–4.4%■
Built for
Adizero Adios Pro 410K · Half · Marathon
Vaporfly 45K · 10K · Half · Marathon
Best use case
Adizero Adios Pro 4The best value at the very top of the market. Within touching distance of the Evo 2 for performance at half the price and twice the life.
Vaporfly 4The most versatile super shoe on sale. Light enough for a 5K, cushioned enough for a marathon, and the fourth generation fixed the upper problems that made the VF3 divisive.

How it is built

Weight
Adizero Adios Pro 4210 g
Vaporfly 4184 g■

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Adizero Adios Pro 439 mm
Vaporfly 435 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Adizero Adios Pro 433 mm
Vaporfly 429 mm
Drop
Adizero Adios Pro 46 mm
Vaporfly 46 mm
Foam
Adizero Adios Pro 4Lightstrike Pro
Vaporfly 4ZoomX
Plate
Adizero Adios Pro 4carbon fibre
Vaporfly 4carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Adizero Adios Pro 4Yes (39 mm)
Vaporfly 4Yes (35 mm)

World Athletics caps road racing shoes at 40 mm of stack.

Fit
Adizero Adios Pro 4standard
Vaporfly 4standard
Stability
Adizero Adios Pro 4balanced
Vaporfly 4balanced

Neither is better in the abstract — it depends on your stride.

Race life
Adizero Adios Pro 4~260 km■
Vaporfly 4~240 km

How long the foam stays fast, not how long the shoe survives.

Data confidence
Adizero Adios Pro 4verified
Vaporfly 4verified

■ marks the better figure where one is genuinely better. Fit, foam, drop and stability carry no mark — they depend on your foot and your stride, not on which shoe is superior.

In your size.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£150at Runningbear — £80 under RRP

9 retailer checks failed on the last run, so their prices are missing rather than wrong.

Prices are captured when the site is built and stamped with the time of that check. We never rank a retailer by what it pays us; where a link earns a commission it is marked sponsored and the price you pay is unchanged.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£110.25at Runlimited — £144.74 under RRP

9 retailer checks failed on the last run, so their prices are missing rather than wrong.

Prices are captured when the site is built and stamped with the time of that check. We never rank a retailer by what it pays us; where a link earns a commission it is marked sponsored and the price you pay is unchanged.