16 Brands Like On Running for Every Kind of Run
Sit on a curb after a run in a pair of Clouds and you'll end up flicking grit out of the holes in the sole. Those pods are the whole design, and they're also why plenty of people go looking for something else after one pair. Price is the other reason. On the US site a Cloud 6 is $160, a Cloudtilt is $170 and a Cloudmonster 3 Hyper is $220.
On is the Swiss brand you probably searched for as On Running. It answers to both, its own homepage schema lists On Running as an alternate name, and on-running.com now redirects to on.com if you've got an old bookmark.
Here are 16 brands worth the switch, sorted by what you'd be giving up and what you'd get back.
Quick comparison: for On's design-led lane at lower cost, look at Adidas, Puma and Reebok. For running credentials over styling, Brooks, ASICS, Saucony and Mizuno. For more cushioning than On builds, Hoka. For fit, New Balance for width and Altra for toe room. For minimal shoes, Vivobarefoot. For trails, Salomon. For the gym half of your week, Nike, Lululemon and Under Armour. For the least money by a distance, Decathlon.
| Brand | Price | Why you'd switch |
|---|---|---|
| Nike | $145 to $305 | Every distance, and a shop that stocks it |
| Adidas | Mid-range | The street credibility On is still buying |
| Brooks | Mid-range | A running company with no lifestyle line |
| Saucony | Mid-range | Similar performance, less of the premium |
| Hoka | Premium | Softer than anything On builds |
| New Balance | Mid-range | Widths, not just sizes |
| ASICS | Mid-range | Impact absorption for tired joints |
| Altra | $140 to $240 | Zero drop and a foot-shaped toe box |
| Lululemon | Premium | Runs stacked with studio sessions |
| Reebok | $49.99 to $140 | A short range you can pick from in a minute |
| Puma | $150 to $250 | Race foam under a daily trainer |
| Salomon | Mid-range | Ground the Cloud pods hate |
| Mizuno | Mid-range | A firm, structured ride |
| Under Armour | $85 to $160 | Tempo work on a smaller budget |
| Vivobarefoot | Premium | The opposite of a stacked midsole |
| Decathlon | $130 to $255 | Getting running out of your monthly budget |
Nike
Nike covers more of the distance chart than any other brand here, which is the strongest argument against paying On's premium for one silhouette. On the US site the Structure 26 is $145, the Pegasus 42 and Vomero 18 are both $155, and the racing shoes climb to $280 for the Vaporfly 4 and $305 for the Alphafly 3.
Worth knowing if you've seen ACG and Free written up as separate labels: they aren't. Both are Nike collections on nike.com, sharing the same site, the same checkout and the same returns policy.
Against On, the real difference is scale. Nike sits in nearly every sports shop with a wall of sizes you can put on your feet first, which beats any spec sheet when you're stuck between two models.
Best for: trying a shoe on in person before you spend anything.
Adidas
Adidas competes with On on the street as much as on the road, which is the lane On built its business in. Both sell a running shoe you're meant to keep on afterwards, and Adidas has spent decades on the second half of that job.
The company is Adidas AG, based in Herzogenaurach, Germany, and adidas.com is its own site. US shoppers want the /us path.
Prices are the one gap we couldn't close. Adidas blocked us when we went looking, so there's no dollar figure for it above and you'll want to check the range yourself before you compare it to Puma or Nike.
Best for: a running shoe with a wardrobe life beyond running.
Brooks
Brooks is the un-On. Brooks Sports is a running specialist rather than a sportswear company with a running aisle, so no part of the range exists to look good with jeans. Pricing sits mid-range, under On.
That focus is the reason to move. On has to design a shoe that works on a run and photographs well in a city, and Brooks answers only the first half of that. If you bought Clouds and found yourself wearing them more than running in them, Brooks is the correction.
Best for: high-mileage weeks where the shoe has one job.
Saucony
Saucony gives you most of what On's road shoes do at mid-range money, which makes it the plainest value swap on this list. It's been putting road models out for decades.
The gap is the one you'd expect. Saucony's shoes don't carry On's design cachet, and no one stops you in a cafe to ask about them. What you get back is a catalogue organized by what you run rather than by colorway.
One practical note. Saucony.com served us a UK storefront in pounds, so check which currency you're looking at before you compare it to the dollar prices above. We went through the full field in brands like Saucony.
Best for: the same weekly mileage for less money.
Hoka
Hoka out-cushions On by a distance, and the thick midsole is the whole argument. The company dropped the old "One One" from its name and now trades as Hoka out of Goleta, California, under its parent Deckers Outdoor Corporation.
On's pods give you a firm, structured landing. Hoka gives you the opposite, a thick slab of foam between you and the road, and runners split hard over which they want. If your complaint about On is that your legs feel every mile after the first hour, this is the fix.
It's a premium brand, so you won't save money moving across. We compared the alternatives in brands like Hoka.
Best for: long slow distance and recovery days.
New Balance
New Balance solves a problem On doesn't touch, which is feet that need a width rather than a size. The company, New Balance Athletics, is based in Massachusetts and has built its fitting service around exactly that.
Fresh Foam and FuelCell come up often enough that people take them for separate brands. They're New Balance midsole names, sold under one roof at newbalance.com, so there's no second shop to hunt down.
Price sits mid-range, under On, and the lifestyle crossover is at least as strong. Plenty of New Balance shoes on the street have never run anywhere. We looked at how the company makes them in is New Balance fast fashion.
Best for: forefeet that have been sizing up to cope.
ASICS
ASICS was founded in Kobe, Japan in 1949 by Kihachiro Onitsuka, and the name is an acronym of the Latin Anima Sana In Corpore Sano, a sound mind in a sound body. Seventy-odd years of distance running sits behind the current range, priced mid-range.
Where On builds a firm, propulsive platform, ASICS leans on absorbing the impact instead. That's the trade you want if the complaint after a long weekend comes from your knees rather than from your legs feeling slow.
Our fuller take sits in shoe brands like ASICS.
Best for: marathon blocks, and joints that file complaints.
Altra
Altra builds every shoe on a zero-drop platform with a foot-shaped toe box, so your heel and forefoot sit the same height off the ground and your toes get room to spread. On's road shoes do neither.
On the US site the Escalante 5 is $140, the Experience Flow 3 is $145 and the Torin 9 is $160, with the Vanish Carbon 2 racer at $240. The daily trainers land under On, the racer above it.
This is the biggest structural change on the list, and it wants a few weeks of shorter runs before you take it long, because zero drop moves the work to your calves. We compared the field in shoe brands like Altra.
Best for: wide forefeet, and toes that go numb after an hour.
Lululemon
Lululemon sells technical apparel, footwear and accessories for yoga, running and training, and the footwear arm is much newer than On's. It's a premium brand, so expect to pay around On money for a shoe with less running history behind it.
What you get for that is a shoe built for the rest of your week. Lululemon designs for a customer whose seven days mix a 5K with studio classes, and a shoe made for that pattern beats a pure road shoe at it. On is a running company first, and it shows in the gym.
Lululemon's shop wouldn't give us a price to quote, so budget for premium. Try a pair on in a store before you commit and take the socks you run in. We put one against a maximal cushioned rival in Lululemon BlissFeel vs Hoka.
Best for: short runs stacked between gym and studio sessions.
Reebok
Reebok gives you a running range short enough to choose from in a minute, which is its own answer to On's wall of Cloud variants. On the US site the FloatZig Tread is $110, the FloatZig 2 is $120, the FloatZig Encore is $130 and the FloatZig Double is $140.
Update your search term if you last shopped here a few years ago. The Floatride model line has gone from the catalogue and FloatZig replaced it, with Floatride surviving only as the name of the foam.
Below the FloatZig shoes the prices drop hard, with the Energen Run 4 at $60 and the Cityride 2 at $49.99. Reebok's US site is operated by Cart.com and the brand is owned by Authentic Brands Group.
Best for: a first proper running shoe, or a backup pair.
Puma
Puma puts its NITRO race foam under shoes people run in every day, and prices them below the equivalent On. The Deviate Pure NITRO and the ForeverRun NITRO 3 are both $150 on the US site, the Deviate NITRO 4 is $170, and the Deviate NITRO Elite 4 racer is $250.
Set the region before you shop. Puma's root domain sent us to a UK storefront, so pin us.puma.com if you want dollars.
Against On the styling is louder, with more color and less Swiss restraint. Buy Puma for the foam and the pace, then accept that the shoes announce themselves in a way a Cloud doesn't.
Best for: race-day foam at daily-trainer money.
Salomon
Salomon is the answer to the grit problem. On's outsole pods are open by design and a gravel path fills them. Salomon builds trail shoes with a closed, lugged sole meant for mud and wet rock, and prices them mid-range against On's premium.
The brand belongs to Amer Sports and its reputation was built on ultra distance rather than on city running. If your week includes ground that isn't tarmac, this is the more sensible shoe.
Size it carefully. Trail shoes are cut closer than road shoes so your foot doesn't slide on a descent, and that fit punishes a guess. More options in brands like Salomon.
Best for: trails that would wreck a pair of Clouds.
Mizuno
Mizuno has been building the Wave Rider for nearly thirty versions, and the 29 was $150 on its US store when we checked, with the 30 alongside it. That lands under an On road shoe.
The Wave plate in the midsole is what you're paying for. It makes the shoe feel structured underfoot rather than soft, so you get a snap at toe-off that thick foam swallows. Runners who find On's cushioned models mushy tend to land here and stay.
Best for: a firm, connected ride at daily-trainer money.
Under Armour
Under Armour is the cheapest route to a proper tempo shoe here. On the US site the Velociti Pace is $100, the Velociti SPD 5 is $130 and the Velociti Distance is $160, with the Charged Rogue 6 at $85 as the entry point.
One naming correction worth carrying with you. HOVR has largely moved to track spikes and the HOVR Silencer ($110), so the road shoes you'd weigh against On now sit under the Velociti label. Search for that word.
Much of the range was marked down when we checked, so the number you pay is often under the number on the tag.
Best for: interval sessions without On's price per pair.
Vivobarefoot
Vivobarefoot is the furthest thing on this list from a pair of Clouds. Where On stacks foam and pods under your foot, Vivobarefoot takes nearly all of it away and leaves you a thin, flexible sole and a wide toe box.
The company is trading and a US shopper lands on vivobarefoot.com/us. We couldn't pull a current price to quote, and it's a premium brand rather than a cheap way out of On.
Go in knowing the transition is real. Moving from a cushioned shoe to a barefoot one loads your calves and feet in a way they aren't used to, and the runners who get on with it build up over months. More on the category in brands like Vivobarefoot.
Best for: ground feel, and rebuilding foot strength over a long horizon.
Decathlon
Decathlon is the cheapest serious running on this list, and its in-house running brand is now called Kiprun. If you've been searching for Kalenji, stop. That name returns nothing on the US site. Kiprun took over the running range and launched in the US in April 2026.
The prices are the point. The Kipride is $140, the Kipride Max is $160 and the Kipstorm Tempo is $170, with the Kipsummit trail shoe at $130 and a carbon-plated Kipstorm Elite racer at $255.
Kiprun sells only through Decathlon, so there's no separate shop to find. Against On you're giving up the design and keeping a good chunk of the money. We looked at the wider range in brands like Decathlon.
Best for: running on a budget that has to cover other things too.
Matching the Shoe to the Reason You Looked
Work backwards from whatever made you open this page. If it was the grit in the pods, go to Salomon for trails or Brooks for road. If it was the price, Reebok and Under Armour start under $100, and Decathlon sells a carbon-plated racer for less than Nike charges for one.
Fit problems have their own answers. New Balance sells widths, Altra sells a foot-shaped toe box, and Vivobarefoot takes the midsole away almost entirely. Cushioning complaints split the other way, with Hoka softening everything and Mizuno firming it up.
And if what you liked about On was that the shoes looked good with jeans, you're shopping for a sneaker that runs rather than a runner you can wear out. Adidas, Puma, Nike and Lululemon all sell that shoe. More running and sneaker comparisons sit in our archive.
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Written by
Spencer Lanoue
