HOKA is true to size in length and narrow through the midfoot, and a narrow shoe feels short. That is why reviewers who agree on the measurement disagree on the verdict. Pick your model, your foot width and what you actually do in the shoe.
They do not run small. They run narrow, and that feels the same
Ask whether HOKAs run small and you will get a genuine split, from people who have both worn the shoe and measured carefully. The split is not about measurement. HOKA is true to size in length right across the line. It is also cut close through the midfoot, and a narrow shoe pinches at the widest part of your foot, which your toes register as the shoe being short.
So a reviewer with average feet says true to size and means it, a reviewer with broad feet says they run small and means it, and both are describing the same last. The question worth asking is not whether HOKA runs small. It is whether the model you want is made in a wide.
The formula
order size = your usual size
+ 0.5 for long runs, because feet splay over distance
+ 0.5 for wide feet ONLY where no wide is made
UK = US men's − 0.5 | EU = US men's + 33
Those two half sizes never stack. Conversions match our shoe size converter, so the two pages cannot disagree.
Worked example
Say you wear a US men's 10 and you want Cliftons for daily miles. Your order is a plain 10, which reads UK 9.5 and EU 43. Now say you are marathon training in them: 10.5, because your feet will be a different shape at mile twenty than they were in the shop. Add wide feet to that and it is still 10.5, ordered in a wide, because the Clifton is made in one and the width handles the width. Only if you wanted a model with no wide would those two problems collapse into a single half size and a slightly long shoe.
The half size up is about your feet, not the shoe
Almost every guide that recommends sizing up in HOKA presents it as a correction, as though the shoe were mismeasured. It is not. Feet swell and splay over distance, and the effect is large enough to move you a half size by the back half of a long run. That is why the same person genuinely needs two different numbers in the same model: one for the pair they walk the dog in, one for the pair they race in.
This matters because it tells you when the advice does not apply. If you bought HOKAs to stand up in all day, the walking answer is your answer, and sizing up because a running blog told you to leaves you in a shoe that slides.
Where this differs from New Balance, and why it matters before you buy
Our New Balance page opens almost identically: true to size in length, cut narrow, and the reputation for running small is really a width problem wearing a length costume. The two brands part company on what you can do about it.
New Balance publishes 2A through 6E across nearly every length, so the fix is always to order the width and leave the number alone. HOKA makes a wide in the Clifton, Bondi, Arahi and Speedgoat, and not in everything else. Where the wide exists the advice is the same and you should take it. Where it does not, half a size up is the lever you have left, and it buys width by buying length, which is a real compromise rather than a solution. If you have genuinely broad feet, that difference is worth checking before you pick a model, not after.
How this compares to our other brand pages
Six brand pages now, each with a different answer, because the shoes are built differently. Chuck Taylors run a genuine half size large. Vans are true to size new and looser later, because canvas stretches. Air Jordans are true to size in length with width as the real variable, and the patent-uppered Jordan 11 never gives at all. Yeezy has no single answer, because the 350 and the 700 are barely the same shoe.
The thread through all six is that a size number describes length, and most fit complaints are about width or about how an upper behaves. If none of it settles your size, stop guessing from a number you already own and start from your actual foot length.
Frequently asked questions
Do HOKAs run small?
No, they run narrow, and the two feel identical from inside the shoe. HOKA is true to size in length across the line, but the midfoot is held closely, so a broad foot reads it as short. That is why a reviewer with average feet calls the Clifton true to size and a reviewer with wide feet calls it small. They are describing the same last.
Should I size up in HOKA?
Only for two reasons, and neither is that the shoe is short. Go up half a size if you run long distances, because feet swell and splay over the miles and a shoe that fits in the shop is tight at mile ten. And go up half if you have wide feet and the model you want is not made in a wide. If neither applies, order your usual size.
Do HOKAs come in wide?
The popular models do. The Clifton, Bondi, Arahi and Speedgoat all come in a wide, and where the wide exists it is always the better answer than sizing up, because it gives you room where your foot is broad rather than length your toes rattle around in. Not every model has one, which is the practical gap between HOKA and New Balance.
Is the Bondi wider than the Clifton?
No, and this surprises people. The Bondi is the most cushioned shoe in the line so it is assumed to be the roomiest, but it is cut slightly narrower through the midfoot than the Clifton. Cushioning is underfoot volume, not width, and the two have nothing to do with each other.
What size HOKA should I get for running?
Half a size up from your walking size if you are running long, and your usual size for daily miles or everyday wear. The reason is your foot rather than the shoe: it swells and spreads over distance, so the same person genuinely needs two different numbers in the same model depending on what they do in it.
Are HOKA Speedgoats narrow?
Yes, and deliberately so. It is a trail shoe, and a trail shoe has to hold your foot still on ground that moves under you, so the upper is the most closely fitted in the line. That is a design decision rather than a sizing fault. It is also the model where a wide foot notices HOKA most, and the wide is worth ordering.
How do HOKA sizes convert to UK and EU?
UK is half a size below US men's and EU is US men's plus 33, so a US men's 10 is a UK 9.5 and an EU 43, about 27.1 cm of foot. Those are the same conversions our shoe size converter uses, so the two pages cannot give you different answers.
Are HOKA men's and women's the same shoe?
The lasts differ, but the number conversion is the usual retail swap: a women's size is the men's size plus about 1.5, so a women's 8.5 and a men's 7 are the same length. Women's HOKAs are cut narrower than men's at the equivalent length, so a woman with broad feet should look at the wide before assuming she needs a longer shoe.