Trying to find the best cheap running shoes that are actually still decent in quality is a bit of a challenge.
The good news is that you can actually find some of the name brands for a bargain. The bad news is that they might not come in your size. It’s a tossup when your priority is a bargain rather than getting what you want and need.
If you’re interested in saving money, you love running, you care about your feet and you need some shoes, then we definitely have some tips to help you out below.
We’ll share some secrets with you that will help you find great shoes at great prices.
Where Do I Look?
You want to have your cake and eat it, too. You want a good pair of running shoes without paying the retail price. So where do you look?
Amazon, friends.
There are tons of great deals on some of the most famous brands. If you set a spending limit and search with patience, then you’ll be surprised at the great deals you can find.
How to Search
Since we already know quite a bit about running shoes, we scoured Amazon in order to highlight the best cheap running shoes for you below.
- Set the Price Limit. We’d say that for $50, you should be able to give yourself enough options to find what you’re looking for. Once we searched for “running shoes” and some results popped up, we set our price limit to a maximum of $50.
- Look for Your Size. The results will still yield prices that exceed $50, but that’s because certain models and sizes of a shoe may cost more or less. You may find that some sizes are priced differently, so it takes some clicking around in order to see if your size is available in the color you want and still priced at $50 or less.
We suggest that you don’t be too picky about colors because this limit you.
You may need to hunt for a while, but in order to save you a bit of time, we are providing you with our results below so you can see what kind of great deals you’ll find on Amazon.
Every shoe you’re about to see on our list above was found on Amazon for $50 or less. The size and the color options varied in order for us to stick to our limit, but it is possible!
Top 10 Cheap Running Shoes Table
| Picture | Name | For | Price | Rating (1-5) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1. adidas Performance Men's Vigor 6 TR M Running Shoe | Men | $$ | 4.7 |
 | 2. Reebok Men's Zprint Run Running Shoe | Men | $$ | 4.7 |
 | 3. Brooks Women's Launch 2 | Women | $$ | 4.6 |
 | 4. ASICS Women's GEL-Venture 5 Running Shoe | Women | $$ | 4.5 |
 | 5. ASICS Men's GEL-Contend 3 Running Shoe | Men | $ | 4.5 |
 | 6. Nike Women's Revolution 3 Running Shoe | Women | $$ | 4.5 |
 | 7. Saucony Women's Cohesion 9 Running Shoe | Women | $ | 4.5 |
 | 8. ASICS Men's GEL Zaraca 4 Running Shoe | Men | $$ | 4.4 |
 | 9. PUMA Women's Pulse XT 3-D New Running Shoe | Women | $ | 4.4 |
 | 10. Under Armour Men's Micro G Assert 6 Running Shoe | Men | $$ | 4.3 |
Don’t Expect the Latest Models
Shoe manufacturers are always designing and redesigning in order to offer you the latest and greatest. Improvements need to be made on previous generations of shoes and they want to offer you products that feature the latest in shoe technology breakthroughs.
When you’re hunting for a bargain, however, don’t expect that you’ll find the newest version of the shoe in your price range. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, either.
Brand-loyal shoe shoppers can feel the differences from one generation of shoe to the next, and sometimes manufacturers miss the mark when it comes to making improvements.
If you know that a particular generation of shoe was awesome, then most likely you’ll find it at a price you want to pay since it’s older.
Sometimes manufacturer updates aren’t always positive for runners.
Top 3 Best Cheap Running Shoes Reviews
1. adidas Performance Vigor 6 TR M
Trail running on adidas shoes for under $50, anyone?
Understandably, the occasional trail runner probably doesn’t want to fork over a hefty amount of money for shoes that they’ll use once a month. That’s why these adidas Vigors make an excellent choice.
The feature a rubber sole that has excellent grip on a variety of surfaces: muddy slopes, slippery rocks, wet grass, you name it. They have an excellent tread pattern that will keep you on your toes (and feet) as you run.
The mesh uppers also provide you with plenty of airflow, which is ideal for trail running in warm weather.
Comfortable and affordable; does it get any better than that?
2. Reebok Zprint Run
The Reebok Zprint Run shoes are lightweight, flexible and cheap when you buy them on Amazon.
These are well-cushioned shoes that provide you with superb grip and stability as you run. The mesh uppers are surprisingly durable (you think they’d rip and tear, yet they hold up quite well) and they’re excellent shock absorbers.
If you have wide feet, you’re an occasional runner and you plan to use the shoes for a variety of other activities (workouts, etc.), then we highly recommend them.
Regular heavy use will wear them down quickly (those of you who run frequently or competitively, for example, wouldn’t dream of using a shoe like this). For average users, this is a pretty great find!
3. Brooks Launch 2
Believe it or not, we even managed to snag a pair of Brooks on our list. What a find for under $50!
There is a lot of thought and design that goes into a pair of Brooks, so we’re excited that we found these Launch 2’s. They’re great for those of you with medium to high arches who need a shoe for running on pavement.
They’re lightweight, they feature a segmented crash pad that provide you with softer landings and smoother heel-to-toe transitions and they have mesh uppers to keep your feet cool.
Not sure that you’ll get much of a choice in the color department at this price, but the key here is the quality of the shoe at a good price. Hard to pass up a deal like this!