I really wanted to like this shoe... Hoka Clifton Pro 100% honest review

For years and years runners have been crying out to Hoka to update their foam in the Clifton and they have kind of done that in this the Hoka Clifton Pro. Essentially the same trustworthy daily running shoe we've come to expect with a more premium feel and higher end midsole designed to be even more versatile and handle those faster paces slightly better than the standard shoe. At £10 more expensive though it's entering into a fiercely competitive section of the market right now where we also have the amazing Adidas Evo SL, the Asics Novablast and Hoka's own Max 7 as good rivals. So how will it compare to those shoes which are also quite a lot cheaper than this shoe and is it worth choosing this one over the regular Clifton? We'll be answering all those questions and more in today's full review of the all-new Hoka Clifton Pro. We're going to start out the differences between this and the regular Clifton 11. Up on the screen now is Hoka's brand new Clifton 11 which came out around a week or two before the pro version. You have to pay an extra £10 to get this pro version but what do you actually get for that? Well the main difference is in the midsole of the shoe here. The regular Clifton 11 has a standard compression molded EVA that the shoe has had for the past few years. Whereas the pro version of the shoe has what Hoka is calling their Pro Glide Plus foam which is more of a performance orientated foam made of a super critical EVA which is a little bit lighter, more responsive and bouncier as well. It also feels slightly firmer as you're running along. The pro has more outsole grip than the regular Clifton 11 and gains a gusset tongue over the Clifton 11 which it doesn't have. Well it has a tongue but there's no gusset in it. The pro shoe comes in a standard and also a wide option whereas the Clifton 11 has those two but it also gains an extra wide option as well. The geometry of the two shoes is slightly different as well with the pro having a more aggressive rocker. The stack of the shoes, the drop of the shoes and the weight of the shoes is exactly the same for me in my two pairs. We'll go into a little bit more detail later on about which of these shoes is going to be better for you in the full comparison section but let's move on to get stuck into all of the facts and figures. So the purpose of the Hoka Clifton Pro, this is your premium daily running shoe designed to do all sorts of different types of runs fairly well including also those longer runs and those up tempo runs. Similar options out there something like the Asics Nova Blast version 6, the Adidas Evo SL, Hoka's own Max 7 and of course the Clifton 11. We'll chat about all four of those shoes later on in the full comparison section. Price wise this shoe set me back £150. As always here on the channel I bought this shoe 100% with my own money so we can give that completely honest, unsponsored, ungifted and everything review. We're aiming to buy as many shoes as we can here on the second channel so please subscribe to the new channel if you haven't already, like this video and let us know your thoughts down below on the Hoka Clifton Pro and a massive thank you to everyone that has been checking out my website benparks.com and your support on there enables us to keep these videos coming. We've just launched some brand new racing socks. Feel free to use code YOUTUBE10 to get 10% off your order and we'll ship it wherever you are in the world. The stack height at the back of the shoe coming in at 42mm with an 8mm drop overall. Weight wise unfortunately on the heavy side without a doubt here coming in for me and my size at 320 grams. Sizing was pretty good. I got my regular UK size 12, the same size I'd usually get in Hoka's shoes and it was okay. As I said earlier it does come in two different widths, the standard width and that wide width. If you're at all unsure then definitely go for that wider option. Upper wise we've got an engineered mesh upper and that gusseted tongue. Moving on to the midsole we've got Hoka's Pro Guide Plus Foam, that super critical EVA and there is no plate in this shoe. And then outsole wise we've got their Durabration rubber outsole from Hoka. Pretty good coverage here on the bottom of the shoe. Well let's move on to have a chat all about my likes. My first like with this one it's really great to see Hoka finally coming up with a new midsole to their trusty Clifton. The fit and feel of the Pro model is very similar to the regular 11 so fans of the Clifton's over the years will very much feel at home in the Pro. Second like with this one as you'd expect from a daily shoe at this price point there's some good versatility on offer here. The shoe feels perfectly happy to pick up the pace a little bit to cruise along for those impromptu faster finish longer runs. Third like with this one the airflow pretty good keeping my feet quite cool. We're currently experiencing some very warm weather here in London. The upper feels pretty well made. The lockdown not so great. I'll touch on that a little bit more in the dislikes. Then my fourth and final like with this one I get the feeling the durability will be all good. Lots of hard wearing rubber on that outsole and a little bit better coverage than Hoka's regular Clifton 11. But I'm probably not gonna be finding out exactly how many miles you can get on this shoe sadly which leads me on to have a chat all about the dislikes. My first dislike with this one the tongue just kept sliding down a little bit unfortunately. It just feels a little bit short and as I said before the lockdown really wasn't great. Had some irritation under my feet just from it moving around ever so slightly. Just couldn't get the laces right. It was all a little bit frustrating. Not a shoe I'm going to be continuing to use unfortunately. My second dislike with this one I completely get why Hoka went with the pro name to distinguish it from the regular shoe. But the shoe tech is really quite far behind what so many other brands are offering. Super Critical EVA is definitely starting to feel a little bit outdated now with some other companies using Peeba, Peeba blends or the ATPU foams in their daily shoes. It's quite a high price point for a daily shoe with really in my opinion some quite subpar tech. My third and final dislike with this one for supposedly what they're calling a pro shoe, a professional shoe. It really is quite on the heavy side. Just feels a little bit bulky and a little bit clunky at most paces as well. So as you can tell I'm not massively keen on the Hoka Clifton Pro. So let's have a chat about some alternatives out there starting out with the regular Clifton 11. So the regular Clifton 11 coming in at £10 cheaper. The same stack, the same drop and also pretty much the same weight. The main differences between these two shoes is all in the midsole as we discussed earlier on. The pro does feel more running orientated. It's much more responsive with that better energy return. The ride it feels a little bit more poppy with a more aggressive rocker to help those faster paces feel a little bit more natural. The regular 11 feels softer to me with a bit more focus on that comfort for those longer days walking around. I suspect the durability will be a bit better on the pro model as well. It's just got a bit better coverage on that outsole. So I'd say get the regular 11 if your primary focus is casual walking, working, spending a lot of time on your feet all day or you prefer a bit more of a traditional old-fashioned ride. Just a simple feeling daily shoe or get the pro if your primary focus is all about running. Next up let's have a chat about the Adidas Evo SL coming at £20 cheaper. 3mm less stack at 39mm. Coming at 53 grams lighter as well. Really significantly lighter with this one 267 grams versus 320 for the Hoka. There really isn't much of a comparison here. The Adidas is so much lighter, so much more responsive to run in and a really energetic bouncy poppy ride. The only areas where the Hoka is winning is in that stability and it's probably going to be better for longer runs say over about two hours. For everything else though I really would be choosing the Adidas. Next up the Asics Novoblast version 6 coming at £10 cheaper. Similar stack and similar drop to the Hoka but again 22 grams lighter. Most shoes are going to be lighter than the Hoka shoe in all honesty. The Asics has been one of the best daily shoes of 2026 for me so far. The Hoka is a lot more substantial, a bulkier shoe with a little bit better stability than the Asics. The Rocca is more prominent on the Hoka but the Novoblast feels noticeably lighter, more nimble and ultimately a faster shoe. The Asics has that puck of the amazing FF Turbo Squared foam at the front of the shoe just to give that slightly more responsive ride and it really does feel a lot more poppy compared to the Hoka shoe. I really would struggle to think of any areas where the Hoka beats the Novoblast. Let me know in the comments if you've tried both. Next up let's have a chat about the Hoka Max 7 coming in at £10 cheaper, 5mm less stack at 37mm, 3mm less drop at 5mm and much lighter again 66 grams lighter between the two shoes. The Max 7 is going to be better suited for those faster runs, those tempos, those thresholds but it can definitely still do that daily aspect perfectly fine. It's going to feel slightly firmer than the Clifton Pro with the Pro having much more cushioning for those longer runs but if you prefer a lighter shoe for your daily miles then the Max 7 really is going to be the one to go for. So should you be looking to buy the Hoka Clifton Pro? Well for me the wait definitely goes on to find a really good daily shoe I can honestly recommend from Hoka. The Pro shoe promised so much but I feel the idea was a lot better than the execution. The Pro naming sets that expectation quite high maybe Plus might have been a better name but if I really wanted a faster daily shoe from Hoka then I'd definitely be picking up the Max 7 every day. But in reality there's so many other better options out there to choose from so check out our best of 2026 videos so far. Plus if you want a bit more of a deep dive in to the Hoka Clifton 11 or even the Max 7 then check out those videos up on your screen now. Let me know your thoughts all on the Hoka Clifton Pro down in the comments. We can catch up down there to chat all about the shoe. That's it guys. Keep on working hard. Keep on getting done. I'll see you very soon in the next one.