Nike Alphafly 3 vs Nike Vaporfly 3 running shoes

The Nike brand has two marathon running shoes, the Alphafly and the Vaporfly. That’s not me saying it, that’s Nike saying it:

Vaporfly 3: “offers the race-day speed to conquer any distance.”

Alphafly 3: “Fine-tuned for marathon speed, the Alphafly 3 helps push you beyond what you thought possible.”

While there are a lot of similarities between the two running shoes in terms of basic parameters, the reality is that the two shoes provide a very different running experience.

While I have already reviewed both running shoes separately (Nike Vaporfly 3, Nike Alphafly 3) to help you get your bearings between the two shoes, I will give you my personal experience with the two shoes, but first let’s look at the objective facts.

As I mentioned before, both shoes are made by Nike for racing. As you can see in the comparison below, the midsole is made of the same ZoomX foam, the height of the midsole is the same in both shoes (40mm at the heel, 32mm at the forefoot), the same FlyPlate carbon plate is used in both shoes. However, the Alphafly 3 has two Air Zoom in the forefoot, while the Vaporfly is lighter. The Alphafly has a wider midsole and the outsole is made of a different material. But these are not the only reasons for the different running experience in the two shoes.

Outer

Both running shoe uppers are optimized for performance, lightweight and very breathable. Different upper materials. The upper of the Alphafly 3 is made of a coarser mesh material, while the mesh material of the Nike Vaporfly 3 has larger holes for slightly better breathability. The tongue of the Vaporfly 3 running shoe is wafer-thin and not gusseted, while the tongue of the Alphafly 3 running shoe is not separate and is sewn into the upper. The Alphafly 3 running shoes are easier to put on and the tongue cannot slip out of place, the Vaporfly 3 requires you to be very careful to get the tongue in place before running. Both shoes have a cushioning strip on the inside of the heel collar, but the Vaporfly running shoes have a larger cushioning strip so they are a little more comfortable. Neither shoe has a stiff heel collar, but the Vaporfly 3 has a slightly stiffer heel collar. Both shoes have narrow uppers that hold the foot tight. Minimally, but I felt that the Alphafly 3 held the foot better, which was most noticeable in the corners.

Midfoot

As I wrote earlier, both outsoles are made of ZoomX foam, are the same height (I can feel the Alphafly midsole is higher), and both have FlyPlate carbon plates. One of the biggest differences is that the Alphafly 3 running shoe also has two Air Zoom Pods, which give the shoe extra dynamics and bounce, but only when the runner hits the ground on it. Another big difference is that the FlyPlate carbon plate is not in the same place. In the Nike Vaporfly 3 running shoe it’s all the way down at the front, 6-7mm from the outsole, while in the Nike Alphafly 3 running shoe it’s higher up, 12-18mm. This means that the Alphafly 3 running shoe has more foam under the carbon plate, so it feels more dynamic. Although it was much easier for me to land on the forefoot in the Vaporfly 3 running shoe, I felt more supported in that shoe, it felt less dynamic under my forefoot in the Vaporfly 3 than in the Alphafly 3. The Vaporfly 3 felt more dynamic on the midfoot landings.

There is a significant difference in midfoot width at the forefoot and heel. The Alphafly 3 is 118mm wide at the widest point of the forefoot, while the Vaporfly is only 106mm wide in my EU 42 size. At the heel, the Alphafly 3 is 92mm wide and the Vaporfly 3 is 77mm wide. The difference is 15% which is very significant, you can feel the difference in stability. Not only is the Alphafly more stable, but because it is wider, there is more foam in the midsole, which gives extra dynamics and shock absorption.

Because the Vaporfly 3 is lighter, it felt more explosive than the Alphafly 3, but it was easier to keep a faster pace in the Alphafly 3 than in the Vaporfly 3.

The Vaporfly 3 felt firmer, less comfortable to run in at a slower pace, more comfortable with the carbon plate making it stiffer. The Alphafly was more comfortable for me to run at a slower pace.

Outsole

Both running shoes have the usual small outsole surfaces that are common in racing shoes. The heel of both shoes has only two small outsole areas, as these shoes are designed to be landed on the forefoot. On both shoes the forefoot has a heavily grooved large surface area outsole. The Alphafly 3 running shoes have a softer rubber compound outsole for better grip but wear faster, while the Vaporfly 3 has a harder outsole for more durability. Although I didn’t run in either shoe on wet surfaces, there was no big difference in grip on dry ground, with both running shoes gripping perfectly in sharp corners.

Summary

Nike Alphafly 3 vs Nike Vaporfly 3 running shoes

I will write my personal opinion in the summary, the objective factual data is written above.

I can approach my opinion of the two shoes from two angles, what I think is the difference between the Nike Alphafly 3 and Nike Vaporfly 3 running shoes.

I’m going by Nike’s intention

Nike has intended both running shoes for racing, the Vaporfly 3 for any distance and the Alphafly 3 running shoe optimized for marathon distance. I completely agree. The Vaporfly 3 is more explosive, lighter and I felt it was a bit firmer, so I think it might be better for 10k, half marathon races than the Alphafly 3. This doesn’t mean that you can’t get a very good result in a marathon race in the Vaporfly 3, or that you can’t break a PB in a 10k race in the Alphafly. It means that if I had to choose, I’d run a marathon in the Alphafly 3 and a 10K in the Vaporfly 3. But why is the outsole of the Vaporfly more durable (if it’s better for shorter distances), and why is it more dynamic in the midfoot than the forefoot (if it’s better for short, fast distances)? The answer is simple. Nike wants to position the two shoes further apart. The Alphafly 3 is clearly tailored for elite runners, while the Vaporfly is a more popular race shoe for a wider audience. Because the Vaporfly 3 is aimed at a broader audience, it’s more important for it to be more durable (if you’re an elite runner, you don’t really care if you have to change your shoes every month). The majority of runners don’t come from the forefoot, so Nike moved the most dynamic point of the Vaporfly 3 to the midfoot. You might ask, why didn’t they make it more stable? The answer is simple, it is more stable than the Vaporfly 2 (but still not as stable as the Alphafly 3).

I’m not looking at what these two shoes are intended for

It may be silly to approach it this way, but I couldn’t shake the thought while running in the Alphafly 3 that I’d be happy to run at any pace in these, not just marathon race pace, and not just marathon distance. I was able to buy the Vaporfly 3 sooner, I had experience with it sooner and I have a very positive opinion of it, but when I first ran in the Alphafly 3 my second thought was that this running shoe is not just for racing. The first was, of course, how fast and easy they were to keep up with a fast-paced run.

This feeling continued to grow as I ran more and more in these two shoes. While the Vaporfly 3 was good for fast or flying, boosting runs, the Alphafly 3 had no problem with slow warm-up and cool-down runs.

Both running shoes are very good, very fast, light, breathable and fun to run in, but they are different shoes and you can like them for different reasons.