Once upon a time, there were just running shoes, give or take a racing flat or a track spike. Runners laced up one of the few models available and made it work, whatever the terrain. However, in 2025, it’s all very different.
We now have running shoes tailored to every type of run: daily trainers, carbon racers, easy-day recovery shoes, speed session super trainers, tempo shoes. Trail running isn’t immune to the endless subcategories, and the newest niche is gravel shoes—a subset of trail running shoes designed specifically for mixed-terrain runs across compacted gravel paths, forest roads, hard-pack trails, and regular old roads.
But are the brands just repackaging trail running shoes with smaller lugs? Or do gravel shoes genuinely offer something new and different? Here’s everything you need to know about trail’s latest footwear trend. (Check out our guides to hiking boots or if you should wear hiking boots or trail runners for more.)
What Are Gravel Shoes?
If you’re recently been scouting for the best running shoes for trail, chances are you’ll have stumbled across gravel shoes. You’d be forgiven for wondering what they are. Gravel running shoes are basically hybrid running shoes built to handle multiterrain runs. They’re designed to let you run off-road—just not too far off the beaten track and certainly not onto the trickiest mountain slopes.
The big selling point: They’re versatile enough to cruise compacted gravel (of course), forest tracks, hard-packed park and river paths, light uneven trails, and even the road commute to get there. “Gravel is a fairly new category,” says Taylor Bodin, chief trail shoe tester for Believe in the Run. “It is meant to be versatile in the sense that it can traverse lighter terrain more efficiently. This could mean anything from a door-to-trail shoe to a light trail shoe.”
Gravel shoes blend the technologies and design of road and trail, mixing some of the cushion, impact protection, and lighter weight energy of road shoes, with enough grip to prevent slipping. Not to mention a nod to the fit security, stability, and durability-boosting reinforced uppers of regular trail shoes.
They often feature a mild rocker—a curved midsole that helps with smoother transitions—and the foam cushioning is somewhere between max-cushioned road and technical trail shoes. Grip is another differentiator from road and regular trail shoes, with mid-depth outsole lugs (around 2 to 4 millimeters, compared to greater than 4 mm on technical trail shoes) and less aggressive grip patterns. A gravel shoe’s studded setups offer enough traction for security on uneven ground but avoid being so sticky that they hold you back when you hit the road.