The Clifton has always been Hoka's go-to day-to-day, walk-around shoe, so there was genuine excitement around the idea of a performance-focused "Pro" version. Hoka aren't alone in this move either, with Brooks doing something similar with the Ghost Max. It's a promising direction, but does the execution live up to the ambition?
Specs and Design
The Clifton Pro will set you back £150, a £10 premium over the standard Clifton 11's £140. Stack height comes in at 42mm in the heel down to 34mm at the forefoot, giving an 8mm drop, identical stack height to the Clifton 11, though worth noting the drop has crept up from the 5mm found in Clifton versions a few generations back.
The headline change is the midsole. The Clifton Pro introduces the ProGlide Plus midsole, a super-critical EVA compound, replacing the compression-molded EVA foam found in the standard Clifton 11. It's a genuinely different feeling foam. The shoe also features Hoka's signature rocker geometry, a premium engineered mesh upper, and durabrasion zonal rubber coverage on the outsole. In a UK 10 it weighs 303 grams, making it heavier than the Clifton 11's 292 grams.
Build quality is solid throughout, with a gusseted tongue, generous foam padding in both the tongue and heel, and a wide platform that helps with stability. The outsole coverage held up well on my routes like the canal towpath and in London.
Side by side, the ProGlide Plus foam in the Pro is noticeably springier with better bounce-back than the Clifton 11's compression-molded EVA, and the overall ride feels superior. The Clifton 11's upper is thicker and carries more foam throughout, making it the more overtly comfort-focused of the two, though neither shoe feels uncomfortable in any way.
Performance
In testing, the shoe performed well across easy paces, handling everything thrown at it without issue. The rocker geometry works nicely, though there's a noticeably large lump of foam at the back of the heel that becomes more apparent depending on foot strike, and it does make the ride feel back-heavy or bottom-heavy despite the rocker. A 5mm drop rather than 8mm might have suited the shoe better, as the heel currently feels lumpy and overloaded with weight.
Likes and Dislikes
On the positive side, the ProGlide Plus foam is a clear upgrade over the standard Clifton, and the shoe's width, outsole, comfort and versatility all impressed during testing.
The dislikes are more significant, though. Lockdown isn't great, requiring the laces to be cinched up more than expected. The £150 price tag, the 300g+ weight, and the use of super-critical EVA in a shoe branded "Pro" all feel like missed opportunities, especially when rival brands are putting more advanced PEBA or aliphatic TPU blends into shoes at similar or lower price points. Sizing is also a genuine frustration: this shoe ran roughly half a size large compared to true-to-size expectations in other Hoka models, so anyone considering the Clifton Pro should factor in sizing down.
The biggest issue here is that the Clifton Pro doesn't quite earn its "Pro" label. For £150, a super-critical EVA midsole feels like a step behind what competitors are offering, particularly when shoes using aliphatic TPU or PEBA blends can be found for £110 to £130. Brooks' approach with the Ghost Max, using a PEBA blend and reducing stack height to create a genuinely lighter, faster-feeling performance shoe, is arguably the smarter playbook, and Hoka's own Skyward X2 shows they have better foam technology available that simply wasn't used here.
That said, there's real promise in this shoe. The ride and foam upgrade over the standard Clifton are genuinely good, and the ambition to create a performance version of one of their most popular models is a smart one. But between the weight, the pricing, the sizing inconsistency, and the underwhelming foam choice, this feels like a first attempt that needs refinement rather than a finished product. Rivals like the Mizuno Neo Vista 2 and Asics Nova Blast 6 currently offer stronger alternatives at similar price points.
The hope here is that version two learns from these missteps and brings a lighter, more advanced foam package to match the ambition of the "Pro" name. As it stands, the Clifton Pro is decent, but it could, and should, be considerably better.
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