How the shoe finder works
No black box. Here is exactly what happens when you answer the questions.
Every shoe is scored against your answers
The database holds current running shoes with the things that actually decide fit: category, support level, cushioning, weight, heel drop, stack height, toe box shape, which width fittings exist, whether the foam holds up under a heavier runner, how durable the outsole is, and price.
Your answers apply a set of rules to that data. Some rules add points, some take them away, and a few rule a shoe out entirely.
The rules that matter most
- Surface. Say trail and only trail shoes are considered. Say road and trail shoes are removed. Say a bit of both and the road-friendly trail shoes stay in.
- Width. Very wide feet push shoes with a genuine 4E fitting to the top. Anything with a narrow toe box drops out.
- Pronation. A noticeable roll inwards brings support shoes forward. No roll and neutral shoes are favoured instead.
- Achilles, calves, knees and shins. Heel drop is the height difference between the heel and the forefoot. A higher drop asks less of the achilles and calf and more of the knee, and a lower drop does the opposite. Tell us where you get regular pain and the shoes with a drop that suits you move up the list.
- Weight. Over 90kg and soft, low-durability foams get marked down, because they pack out quickly and stop protecting you.
- Experience. New runners never get shown a carbon plated race shoe or a zero drop shoe, whatever else lines up.
- Plates. Say you want a plated shoe and the carbon and nylon plated models move to the top. Say you do not and none of them appear at all. You will only be asked this if it could change your answer, so not if you are new to running, not if you run off road, and not on a budget below the cheapest plated shoe. That is why the quiz is a question longer for some people than others.
- Budget. Anything above your ceiling is heavily penalised, and flagged if it still makes the list.
- Brands. Brands that have worked for you get a nudge up. Brands you pick as not working are removed completely.
NMFR Choice
A few shoes carry an NMFR Choice badge, which means Not Made For Running has run in that one and rates it. It is worth a small nudge in the ranking, less than half of what a single matching shoe type is worth, so it settles a close call between two shoes that already suit your answers and nothing more. Nobody pays for the badge. The NMFR Choice page sets out what it does and does not mean.
Where the buy links go
Every shoe links to SportsShoes.com, which carries the widest range of running shoe brands in the UK, including the ones the big chains skip. The retailer is named on the button before you click it.
Those links are paid. We earn a commission on what you spend, at no extra cost to you. It does not decide which shoes you are shown, and the privacy page sets out the detail.
Why you see three, not one
No algorithm knows how a shoe feels on your foot. Three gives you a shortlist to try on, and no more than two shoes come from the same brand so you are not looking at one company's catalogue.
How the data stays current
The shoe list lives in a spreadsheet that gets reviewed weekly. New models go in, discontinued ones come out, prices get checked.
Where the money comes from
Buy buttons are affiliate links, so a purchase may earn a commission. Commission rates are not an input to the scoring. A shoe that pays nothing can and does come out top.