Skip to content
40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

HOKA Rocket X 3vs
Nike Vaporfly 4

Rocket X 3

£140

Typical street price · £220 RRP

39mm — road legal
Vaporfly 4

£120

Typical street price · £255 RRP

35mm — road legal

Choose the Rocket X 3 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 bigger return: 3.2–4.4% economy gain against 2.9–4%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want the lighter shoe: 184g against 200g, a 16g difference you will feel late in a race.
  • You are racing 5K — built for it, where the Rocket X 3 is not.
  • You would rather buy on measured numbers: this shoe's specs are manufacturer-confirmed, the Rocket X 3's are estimated.

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
Rocket X 3: 145s–219sVaporfly 4: 165s–246s
Cost per second saved
Rocket X 3: £0.17Vaporfly 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.

010203040503934
Rocket X 3
010203040503529
Vaporfly 4

What you pay

Street price
Rocket X 3£140
Vaporfly 4£120■

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

RRP
Rocket X 3£220
Vaporfly 4£255

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

Cost per race
Rocket X 3£32
Vaporfly 4£32

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

Cost per second saved
Rocket X 3£0.17
Vaporfly 4£0.15■

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

What it does

Estimated saving
Rocket X 3145s–219s
Vaporfly 4165s–246s■

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

Economy gain
Rocket X 32.9–4%
Vaporfly 43.2–4.4%■
Built for
Rocket X 310K · Half · Marathon
Vaporfly 45K · 10K · Half · Marathon
Best use case
Rocket X 3HOKA’s legal racer, and much the better shoe for anyone who actually needs to comply with the rules. Balanced and predictable.
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
Rocket X 3200 g
Vaporfly 4184 g■

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Rocket X 339 mm
Vaporfly 435 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Rocket X 334 mm
Vaporfly 429 mm
Drop
Rocket X 35 mm
Vaporfly 46 mm
Foam
Rocket X 3PEBA
Vaporfly 4ZoomX
Plate
Rocket X 3carbon fibre
Vaporfly 4carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Rocket X 3Yes (39 mm)
Vaporfly 4Yes (35 mm)

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

Fit
Rocket X 3standard
Vaporfly 4standard
Stability
Rocket X 3balanced
Vaporfly 4balanced

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

Race life
Rocket X 3~280 km■
Vaporfly 4~240 km

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

Data confidence
Rocket X 3estimated
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£140at Interval Running — £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.