Racing · Neutral · Road · 6.9 oz · 8mm drop · 38/30mm stack
Discontinued — we no longer see this shoe in stock. The Nike Vaporfly 3 replaced it
How it ranks
The Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2 is one of the strongest racing shoes in our data. Looks and cushioning are its strongest sub-ratings. Durability scores well below its other sub-ratings. The rating rests on 49 runner reviews and 4 other rated shoes in the Vaporfly product line.
Confidence
How settled the rating is against every other rated shoe. A shoe can rate high on confidence with relatively few reviews of its own when its product line has a long record and external ratings from retailer sites agree. Confidence will score low when we have few ratings or when runners disagree.
Confidence
99/100
“The pop and bounce and ease of going race pace is unrivalled.”
“Terrible durability, expensive, hard to put on, bad stability.”
“Kept its speed for 50 miles before it went downhill; not recommended past 150–200 miles.”
“The outsole of the shoe near the heel wore out really quick and the sides started to split.”
“What trumps all its myriad flaws is pure speed.”
“This is the fastest shoe I have ever run in hands down.”
“The back heel constantly causes friction on the Achilles and cuts through it.”
“For threshold days I barely had to push to hit the required paces and for speed days I was able to run fast easily.”
“If you tend to heel strike or race at 5min/km pace or slower, you probably shouldn't buy these.”
“Only truly last 200–300 miles but you can push it.”
67% 16/24
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Prices updated daily. Last checked Sep 14.
Rating & Confidence vs. other shoes for sale
Each dot is one rated shoe for sale, placed by its rating and by how much evidence sits behind it. Shoes toward the top right are both well rated and well established.
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Better Shoes Rating
Each dot is one version of the Vaporfly, placed by its rating and release year. The gold dot is this shoe.
Release year
2025 · 3 reviews
98 Exceptional
91 Confidence
2023 · 89 reviews
99 Exceptional
100 Confidence
ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2 This shoe
2021 · 49 reviews
99 Exceptional
99 Confidence
2019 · 27 reviews
100 Exceptional
100 Confidence
2017 · 73 reviews
99 Exceptional
100 Confidence
Sizing and ride details at a glance.
5/5
Overall
Real fast shoes . Even after my long runs I'm still fresh and feel that no recovery is needed.
Anonymous runner · Jun 12, 2023
70 mpw training for a half marathon came from the New Balance FuelCell RC Elite v2
5/5
Overall
I do all my runs in VaporFlys. Amazing shoes. Only problem is durability.
Anonymous runner · Jun 5, 2023
30 mpw training for a half marathon came from the New Balance 1080 v10
5/5
Overall
The Vaporfly fails in most traditional metrics by which shoes are judged - terrible durability, expensive as hell, hard to put on, bad stability etc. What it does give which trumps all its myriad flaws is pure speed.
Anonymous runner · Jun 3, 2023
training for 5K and 10K
See how this shoe compares to others like it.
