Podiatrist Tested

Heel-to-Toe Drop Chart: Stated vs Measured Drop for 44 Shoes (2026)

Source status: This chart compiles attributed manufacturer, retailer and outside-laboratory figures. We have no original shoe measurements, wear-test records or documented clinician review for this page. Outside results apply to the sampled model and method, not every pair or a treatment outcome. See How We Assess Shoes for the current evidence limits.

The short answer

Heel-to-toe drop is the difference between measured heel and forefoot heights, in millimetres, under a stated method. It is one shoe specification. A printed drop does not on its own establish calf loading, forefoot pressure, comfort or an individual’s injury risk.

Use drop as one comparison feature, not a diagnosis-to-number prescription. Heel-lift studies have found reduced Achilles loading indicators in some conditions and no reduction in overall modeled force in others. Neither establishes an ideal shoe-drop range for every person with Achilles pain. For plantar heel pain, individualized fit, comfort and support also matter. The chart groups shoes by stated drop; it does not rank their clinical effectiveness.

One warning before you use any spec sheet, including this one. The printed drop is frequently not the measured drop. When laboratories cut these shoes in half, the HOKA Bondi 9 — sold as a 5 mm shoe — measured 9.1 mm, the Clifton 10 measured 12.4 mm against a stated 8 mm, and the Altra Paradigm 8, sold as zero, measured 2.1 mm. Treat the stated number as the brand’s intention and the measured number, where one exists, as the fact.

How to read the chart

• Stated drop — heel stack minus forefoot stack, as published by the brand. Lower means the heel sits closer to the ground relative to the ball of the foot.
• Measured drop — an independent cut-in-half laboratory measurement where one has been published, attributed to RunRepeat. An em dash means this chart carries no laboratory figure for that model yet, and we have not measured it ourselves, so the stated figure is all it shows.
• Heel stack — total material under the heel. A different question from drop, and often the more important one: a 0 mm-drop shoe with 30 mm of stack (Altra Torin) and a 0 mm-drop shoe with 6 mm of stack (Merrell Vapor Glove) have nothing in common underfoot.
• Weight — the brand’s published men’s figure. Brands rarely state which size they weighed, which is itself worth knowing.

The table scrolls sideways on a phone. Nothing in it is ranked, and no shoe here has been through our bench yet.

The drop chart

The measured-drop figures are RunRepeat’s, one pair per model; the three added on 13 September 2026 are the ASICS Gel-Nimbus 28 (5.2 mm), the HOKA Arahi 8 (11.3 mm) and the Brooks Ghost 17 (10.4 mm); twenty more, all shoes we review, were read from the same laboratory on 28 September 2026. *The New Balance 860v15 is listed at 6 mm by some retailers and 8 mm by others; New Balance does not publish the figure. Where a brand publishes nothing, the cell says so rather than guessing.

Why a diagnosis does not select a drop number

The chart does not validate a drop prescription for any diagnosis, body-weight group or work setting. The table below records those limits. Fit, symptoms, activity and any prescribed device need individual consideration; a shoe-box number cannot supply that assessment.

The sports chart below is an attributed sample of nineteen shoes measured by one laboratory, not a survey of every shoe available for each sport. Its sample medians cannot establish what every tennis, basketball or running shoe will measure, or which shoe will treat plantar heel pain. Compare exact models and measurement methods rather than apply the sample as a clinical drop rule.

Back-of-heel discomfort does not select a drop and counter combination from this chart. The exact fit and cause of symptoms need assessment. Our shoes for Haglund’s deformity and back-of-heel pain guide provides context without validating one combination for every person.

The model-by-model figures are in basketball shoes for plantar fasciitis and tennis shoes for plantar fasciitis, each with the heel-counter and stiffness figures that go with them.

This page has not established that changing drop and cushioning together causes a specific injury, or that a season-long, one-band transition prevents it. The stress-fracture guide and zero-drop guide provide related context. They do not make this chart an individual transition protocol.

The first shoe to measure lower than stated. Every shoe in the chart above with a stated drop above zero measured higher than the box, and for a while that held for every comparison we could find. It no longer does. ASICS states 8 mm for the GEL-NIMBUS 28; the same laboratory measured 5.2 mm, from a 39.5 mm heel and a 34.3 mm forefoot. That is 2.8 mm in the other direction. Two more shoes joined the table with it and both behave as expected — the HOKA Arahi 8 at 11.3 mm against a stated 8, and the Brooks Ghost 17 at 10.4 mm against a stated 10, one of the closer agreements in the set. Thirty-four shoes here now carry a drop figure from that laboratory. Of the 28 sold with a drop above zero, 22 measured higher than the box, one matched, four measured lower and the New Balance 860v15, listed at 6 to 8 mm, measured 7.6, so the honest summary is a tendency rather than a rule: the number on the box is usually an under-statement, sometimes the reverse, and never a measurement.

The two lab figures that matter more than drop

The table below compares outside-laboratory sole-bending forces and heel-counter ratings for twelve sampled shoes. They describe different features and are not directly interchangeable quantities. This comparison does not establish which feature matters most for plantar heel pain or rank the shoes’ clinical effectiveness.

The four most flexible soles in the set average a 4.0 heel counter; the four stiffest average 3.25. Both shoes with a maximum five-out-of-five counter — the Ghost 17 and the Gel-Kayano 32 — sit in the more flexible half, and the stiffest sole of the twelve carries a mid-range counter. Rank correlation across the twelve pairs is −0.40, which on a sample this size is better read as the absence of a relationship than as a negative one. The practical consequence is short: a shoe that feels rigid when you bend it is not thereby a shoe that holds your heel, and neither figure is a proxy for the other. If both matter to you, both have to be checked.

These figures are attributed to RunRepeat, one sampled pair per model. Bending force and a heel-counter rating use different methods and units; compare like measurements under the same method. We have not measured them or established their relation to an individual’s symptoms. No original bench-testing schedule is documented for this page.

The fuller data says the same thing more firmly. The laboratory has now cut open 35 of the shoes we review, and across all 35 the rank correlation between the two figures is 0.03 — no relationship at all. Seven of them carry a five-out-of-five counter, four in the more flexible half, and the stiffest sole of the 35, the HOKA Bondi SR at 27.4 N, has a four-out-of-five counter.

The 2026 systematic review by Yang and colleagues concerns football-boot design and includes 32 studies, with much of the evidence from cross-sectional laboratory work. It discusses associations involving stiffness, traction and loading, and calls for longitudinal research. Those findings do not validate a walking- or running-shoe stiffness threshold, or the earlier claim that stiffness helps whenever it comes with a rocker. This chart has no controlled outcome test of that combination.

Why stated drop and measured drop disagree

A difference between two quoted figures should be read with their methods, size, sample and dates. Without matching those details, this page cannot decide whether the difference reflects the shoe, measurement method or an error.

• With or without an insert: Record whether an insert was included, and any actual heel/forefoot thickness measurements. This page has no universal insert-thickness correction.
• Measurement location: Record where each source measured rather than assume the points are identical.
• Sample and size: One laboratory pair does not establish all sizes, production pairs or a normal tolerance range.
• Unestablished explanation: A discrepancy alone does not establish deliberate rounding, marketing intent or manufacturer dishonesty.

Compare figures measured under a common method where possible. This page has not established that every 2 mm difference is meaningless or that any larger difference predicts a clinical result. Use the exact source and its limits rather than treat a drop band as a treatment category.

Where the missing millimetres actually are

The obvious explanation for a shoe measuring higher-drop than it is sold as is that the heel is taller than the brand says. On the six shoes with published heel and forefoot stack heights that the lab had also measured when this section was written (the brand’s own figures on three, a retailer’s on the other three), that is not what is happening. The heel is close to right. The forefoot is thinner than stated on every single one.

All figures in millimetres. Stated figures are the brands’ own published specifications; measured figures are RunRepeat’s laboratory results for a single retail pair of each shoe. Error is measured minus stated, so a negative number means the shoe has less material than the brand says.

Three things fall out of that table, and the third is the one worth carrying into a shop.

• Heel figures differ in this sample. The six errors run from −1.7 mm to +2.4 mm and they land on both sides of zero, which is what ordinary measurement noise looks like. Averaged across the six, the heel error is essentially nil.
• Forefoot figures differ in this sample. Every shoe measured lower than stated — by 0.7, 1.4, 1.5, 2.0, 3.1 and 5.8 mm. Not one measured higher. A one-sided result on six out of six is the part that makes this worth writing down.
• Drop is heel minus forefoot, so a thin forefoot inflates drop exactly as a tall heel would. On five of the six, the forefoot shortfall alone accounts for the whole discrepancy; only the Clifton 10 also has a genuinely taller heel than its spec. The Bondi 9 is the clearest case: its heel measured 1.7 mm shorter than stated, and it still came out 4.1 mm higher-drop, because the forefoot lost 5.8 mm.

Why this matters more than the drop number does

Forefoot stack is a height measurement, not a direct measure of cushioning performance or clinical protection. The quoted figures for one Bondi 9 sample differ from the stated specification, but that difference cannot establish harm or select treatment for metatarsalgia, sesamoiditis or Morton’s neuroma. This page has not measured outcomes for those conditions.

A measured difference is not automatically favorable for Achilles tendinopathy or unfavorable for forefoot pain. Different methods, measurement locations, sizes and samples can affect a comparison. A stated height is not a validated upper bound or an individual minimum-protection prescription.

The initial chart contains six shoes, one retail pair per model measured by an outside laboratory. Its pattern is limited to those observations. The Skechers Aero Burst entry is part of that sample; it does not validate an editorial prediction or a clinical rule. Differences in measurement location or method are possible explanations to investigate, not explanations established here. The comparison cannot determine the loaded height under an individual wearer’s metatarsals.

The later attributed sample includes both lower and higher measured forefoot figures. Entries for ASICS Gel-Nimbus 28, Saucony Guide 19, Ride 19, Triumph 24, New Balance 880v15 and More v6 illustrate why a stated figure cannot be treated as a universal upper bound. These sample differences are not clinical outcomes or our original measurements.

The brands that publish nothing

A missing toe-box measurement limits this particular comparison; it does not establish that no manufacturer publishes one. Check the exact current model and cited source. Our toe-box width chart compiles attributed measurements and records their limits; neither chart is our original shoe testing.

For Dansko, Dr. Comfort, Apex, Vionic, New Balance and Propet, check the exact current model and source rather than assume a brand-wide disclosure rule. A missing figure means this chart cannot compare that specification. Links to the Charcot-foot and diabetic-footwear guides do not establish clinical suitability. No original measurements or bench queue are documented for those models here.

What the brands publish, and what they leave out

That gap is wider than a handful of comfort brands. Every specification on every shoe page here carries a note saying where the figure came from, so we can count it. Across all 43 shoes reviewed on this site, this is how often each number came from the brand itself, how often we had to take it from a retailer’s spec tab or an independent reviewer, and how often it does not appear anywhere at all.

Out of forty-three shoes, recounted 13 September 2026. This counts where the figure on our page had to come from — not a claim about everything a brand has ever published. Where a brand and a third party both publish a figure, the row counts the brand’s, because that is the number the shoe is sold on. If a brand publishes a number we did not find, we would rather be corrected: tell us and we will change the row and the note.

The pattern is consistent, and it is not really about secrecy. Brands publish the numbers that sell a shoe — price, the widths it comes in, the drop band it belongs to — and leave out the numbers that decide whether it fits your foot and how much material sits under the part of it that hurts. Stack heights are published on about a third of the shoes here. Internal toe-box width is published on none of them, which is why the toe-box table on this site had to be assembled from laboratory figures, and why a width letter is the only fit information most buyers ever get.

It also explains the shape of the error in the section above. The forefoot figure is the one brands are least likely to publish and the one that measured furthest from the spec when a laboratory checked it. A number nobody has to stand behind is a number that drifts.

To see what each brand states for its current road shoes, we went to the brand’s own US product pages on 20 September 2026 and copied the figures exactly, for the men’s version of each shoe. The seven tables below are those figures and nothing else. Where a brand states no stack height, the cell says so rather than borrowing a retailer’s number, and the weights are the brand’s own, which rarely say which size was weighed.

HOKA heel-to-toe drop, model by model

HOKA states drop and weight in the tech specs on every product page, and no stack height. Its current road shoes run from 5 mm (Bondi 9, Mach 7, Skyward X 2, Mach X 3) to 8 mm (Clifton 11, Arahi 8, Rincon 5).

Brooks heel-to-toe drop, model by model

Brooks lists a midsole drop and a weight on each shoe page, and no stack height. Its range runs from 6 mm (Ghost Max 4, Glycerin Max 2) to 12 mm (Beast GTS 26), which is one of the two widest spreads here; Saucony’s is the other.

ASICS heel-to-toe drop, model by model

Every ASICS road shoe we checked states the same drop: 8 mm, from the Gel-Nimbus 28 to the Superblast 3. ASICS lists heel drop and weight, and no stack height.

New Balance heel-to-toe drop, model by model

New Balance states a drop and a weight, and no stack height. On the More v6, 880v15 and 1540v4 pages the drop carries a footnote saying that “due to variances created during the development and manufacturing processes”, all references to it are approximate. The 1540v4 page gives its weight as 0 grams. The 860v15 page would not load when we checked, so it is not listed here; its row in the chart above uses a retailer figure.

Saucony heel-to-toe drop, model by model

Saucony is the only brand here that states both heel and forefoot stack, printed next to the drop on every product page (“Offset: 8mm (36/28mm)”). Its range runs from 4 mm (Kinvara 16) to 10 mm (Triumph 24).

On heel-to-toe drop, model by model

On states heel-to-toe drop and weight for each shoe and no stack height, so the stack column is empty for every On model; we have not estimated it. The Cloudrunner 3 is listed at 8 mm, down from the Cloudrunner 2’s 10 mm in the chart above.

Altra heel-to-toe drop, model by model

Altra states drop, a single stack height and weight. Most of its road line is zero drop; the Experience Flow 3 and FWD VIA 2 are 4 mm. Altra’s single stack figure does not say whether it is the heel or the forefoot, which only matters on the two 4 mm shoes.

Drop versus stack: the mistake nearly everyone makes

Drop and stack height describe different dimensions of a shoe. A model may combine different values of each; compare the exact attributed specifications. This page has no clinic records supporting the earlier patient story, and neither column alone establishes calf, Achilles, metatarsal or stress-fracture risk for a wearer.

How to measure the drop of a shoe you already own

1. Take the insole out and set the shoe on a flat table.
2. Measure the outside height of the midsole at the middle of the heel, from the table to where the upper meets the foam. A digital caliper or a steel rule works; a tape measure does not.
3. Measure the same way at the widest part of the forefoot, under the ball of the foot.
4. Subtract the two external heights for an approximate external difference. That is not necessarily the internal midsole drop or the laboratory figure.
5. Record whether the insert is included and how its thickness was measured. Adding an external insert difference does not establish loaded underfoot drop or explain pain. See our insoles guide for related context.

An external home measurement can be an approximate comparison of the same shoe under the same method. It is not the internal laboratory drop, a loaded underfoot height or proof of the footwear you need. Do not use it to set a treatment or recovery stage.

Frequently asked questions

Is a higher or lower heel-to-toe drop better?

The 553-runner randomised trial assigned 10 mm, 6 mm and 0 mm drop shoes and followed running-injury outcomes for six months. It found no overall injury-risk difference, with differing results across running-history subgroups. It does not establish a best drop for every runner, a treatment prescription for pain or an adaptation timetable.

What heel drop is best for plantar fasciitis?

This chart does not establish a best drop range for plantar heel pain, or that one counter, sole or rocker feature matters more than the others. Shoe specifications cannot diagnose the cause of pain or select treatment. Our plantar fasciitis guide provides further context; it does not replace an individual assessment.

What heel drop is best for Achilles tendonitis?

There is no single drop that is best for everyone with Achilles pain. The effects depend on the person, activity and shoe construction. A small running study found lower modeled Achilles loads with heel lifts, but that does not establish an 8–12 mm shoe-drop prescription or a fixed waiting period before changing shoes. Discuss footwear changes with the clinician managing your symptoms; our Achilles guide provides further context.

Do HOKAs have a low heel drop?

Check the exact HOKA model and the source of its specification. The attributed laboratory samples in this chart include 9.1 mm for the Bondi 9 and 12.4 mm for the Clifton 10; those two samples do not establish that every HOKA measures higher than its stated drop. Stack height, drop and rocker shape describe different features. These are outside measurements, not our own testing.

How long does it take to adapt to a different drop?

This chart does not establish a universal muscle, tendon or bone adaptation timetable, or a fixed sequence of drop changes. The 553-runner shoe-drop trial compared injury outcomes over six months; those results do not validate the tissue-specific deadlines previously given here. A change should account for your activity, prior footwear and symptoms. Persistent or worsening pain warrants assessment rather than pushing through to a calendar deadline.

Does the insole change the drop?

A replacement insert can change the height difference under the heel and forefoot, depending on its actual shape and how it sits in the shoe. This chart has not measured a universal millimetre change for factory sockliners or orthoses. New calf discomfort does not establish that drop caused it; check the fit and seek assessment if symptoms persist or worsen.

What we are testing next

Every shoe in this chart is queued for the bench: heel and forefoot stack with calipers at fixed landmarks, with and without the sockliner, so a measured drop can sit beside every stated one; weight on our scale at men’s 10; internal toe-box width and depth; the three stability checks; and an Orthotic Volume Rating taken with a real custom device and the stock insole removed. As each model is measured, its row here gains a measured figure and stops relying on the brand’s number. The models from brands that publish nothing at all go first.

Related guides & shoe pages

• Zero drop shoes — who should and shouldn’t wear them
• Best shoes for Achilles tendonitis — ranked by heel drop
• Best shoes for plantar fasciitis
• Wide toe box shoes
• Best shoes for metatarsalgia
• Best insoles for plantar fasciitis
• Shoe width chart — what 2E and 4E actually mean
• How we test — and what the Orthotic Volume Rating measures
• Shoe weight chart — every shoe here by published weight
• Shoe price vs specs — what $200 buys, measured against what it does not

Clarification — 29 September 2026: We revised the short answer and Achilles FAQ to avoid prescribing one heel-drop range for everyone with a diagnosis. Shoe drop is one design variable; heel-lift laboratory findings do not establish a universal treatment or recovery timetable.

Clarification (8 October 2026): Removed unsupported diagnosis-to-drop and adaptation rules, clinic and bench-queue claims, measurement-to-treatment inferences and the misleading comparison diagram. Qualified source and home-measurement limits. The tables remain attributed source comparisons, not our original shoe measurements.

Sourced, not guessed

Recently reviewed

Individual shoe pages state their evidence tier, published measurements and who should skip them.

Saucony

Saucony Endorphin Speed 5

Spec Analysis

Light plated neutral trainer. Saucony publishes both stack heights and they match its 8 mm drop — not yet tested.

$175Not scoredRegular / Wide

HOKA

HOKA Mach 6

Spec Analysis

Lower, firmer neutral HOKA. HOKA publishes a 5 mm drop and neither stack height — not yet tested.

Not scored

ASICS

ASICS Novablast 5

Spec Analysis

Bouncy high-stack neutral. ASICS publishes an 8 mm drop and neither stack height — not yet tested.

Not scoredStandard / Wide / Extra Wide

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