Best Barefoot Cleats & Barefoot Cleat Alternatives
- Sean Haber
- Dec 14, 2020
- 9 min read
Updated: Jul 17
Barefoot enthusiasts and athletes have been searching for a shoe that seems mysterious and somewhat elusive... a "barefoot cleat." Whether it's parents seeking shoes for their children, or athletes themselves — sports like baseball, rugby, soccer, lacrosse, ultimate frisbee, American football, and so many more all require cleats with treads or spikes to optimize changes in direction at a moment's notice.
Unfortunately, for most barefoot enthusiasts, wearing a non-barefoot shoe is akin to undermining their own ideology — and potentially damaging the feet in the process. When activities require alternative footwear, this creates a problem.
Most cleats are notorious for their extremely narrow fit, tight toe box, and inflexible sole. The reason behind the narrow toe box is to assist in cutting (changing direction on a field); the shoe acts as a snug extension of your foot, which ensures that your toes don't slip or move around. That said, for those of us with wider feet and a nice splay, there are some options out there.
One other thing to note: I don't recommend competing in your high-level sport in the below-mentioned cleat alternatives, as the ability to play sports at a high level in minimalist shoes can be difficult for many people. However, what I do recommend is practicing in them in order to achieve better foot stability, mobility, and strength.
If you want to skip straight to the true barefoot cleats currently available, click here
THE CLEAT ALTERNATIVES
One of the most popular barefoot brands on the market; Vivobarefoot has designed a number of shoes targeted at trail runners. The trail range comes in both SG (Soft Ground) and FG (Firm Ground) soles, and are particularly useful for trail runners/hikers facing a myriad of terrain, such as grass, snow and mud. The SG sole has 5mm lugs, providing an adequate amount of traction on turf. Furthermore, I have personally used these, and am happy with the result on turf and grass. However, it is important to note that due to Vivos wide toe-box, your toes can slip when changing direction.
Pictured below is the Primus Trail SG Mens (available in women's also). It is priced at $160 USD and available in sizes US7-US15. Click here to view on the Vivobarefoot website.
You can use our Code VIVOTBSR for 10% off!
Cost: 160$
Best for: Short Grass.
Available on market: YES!
If you want a bit more traction than the Primus Trail SG for turf, then the newest grippiest tread the ESC is what you are looking for. Still lightweight and flexible but an upgrade on the previous soft ground model.
What is noticeably helpful here is the heel counter which helps with lateral stability.
Having it sit slightly higher on the ankle makes it similar to many cleats that football players wear. You can also swap out the quick zip laces for regular ones.
Despite being very non slip on wetter surfaces especially combined with higher turf like high grass or real turf you will still sometimes slip when changing direction.
You can find it here and you can use our code VIVOTBSR to save 10%.
It also looks like this model has been discounted but you can still find it on some sites or stores of Vivobarefoot or on Amazon here.
Recently Vivo has rereleased this model in a different color called the Hydra Esc. It essentially functions the same and can be found here Code VIVOTBSR
Cost: 179$
Best For: Artificial Grass & Low Grass
Available on market: Usually gets discontinued and released in a new colorway
This is a new release of vivo and after some testing is quite promising, it has a more lugged sole then their popular firm ground model and is coated with circular lugs making it quite grippy on regular grass or artificial turf. We tested it in 2 sizes, one based on sizing chart and one size smaller. Both fit us well, with the smaller size working better because of its added snugness (but not too snug) it allows for optimal force transfer to the ground with minimal slipping in the toe box or heel. It features a slip on wool upper along with leather edging to make both a water repellent and beautifully aesthetic functional shoe. While it is designed as an all-around shoe and even trail runner, we have found this excellent for playing sports in on turf/grass.
We also reviewed it in full here.
You can find it here on Vivobarefoot and can use discount code VIVOTBSR FOR 10% OFF.
Cost: 199$
Best For: Park Activities
Avaible on Market: YES!
4. Altra Lone Peak 4
Altra is a popular minimalist shoe brand based in the US. They don't produce truly barefoot shoes, however, all their shoes are zero-drop, and include a wide toe-box. Fortunately, Altra also cater to trail runners, and produce excellent trail shoes, albeit with a bit more padding, when compared to other brands. Their trail shoes range from approximately 25-33mm, with sizing running from approximately US 7 - 15. The Lone Peak for is currently priced at $105 USD. This shoe has great traction and can be great for someone transitioning to more minimalist style shoes while continuing to play sports. The thick cushion while being beginner friendly may be a downside due to reduced proprioception
Click here to view the Lone Peak 4, in addition to other Altra trail shoes.
Best For: Park Activities & Beginners.
Softstar hand makes some of the softest flexible shoes out there all out of their workshop in Oregan. Their Mega-grip Outsole is Vibram's grippiest sole yet and results in an extremely soft flexible shoe with an extremely rugged sole, due to the upper being a very soft leather, it's crucial that you be careful not to get stepped on or cleated while in this, but it can be a great option for solo agility drills or team practices. We chose the custom option and got to choose all the color schemes and the mega grip outsole. We chose Blue & White for our country and an orange stripe for the local tackle Football Team we play for. While the outsole is quite grippy these are a little too flexible to allow one to play high level sport in them, being that the leather is extremely soft with no heel counter or rigidness your entire foot or your toes can bend under while moving at high speeds. To be fair this shoe is not designed as a cleat but as a trail runner but proceed with caution.
They can be found here.
Code: TBSR5
Best For: Low Intensity Ball Sports
A direct predecessor to the Feldom, the calver is a lugged trail runner featuring 6mm grippy lugs covering the entire base of the outsole. Made of recycled plastic bottles, it is not to stiff but not super flexible either giving you a little more structure to push off of when changing direction, after testing both the Feldom and the calver. The calver is likely the most available nonactual cleat barefoot shoe available on the market for field sports, I personally use it often in ultimate frisbee and some of my athletes use it in rugby as well. The only con for was the insole sometimes sliding inside and the tonge shifting a lot in change of direction.
The calver has had a V2 released with an improved toebox shape.
Best For: Artificial Grass, Grass, Turf
Available on market: YES!
Cost: 115$
Discount Code: TBSR_10
The True Cleats
A true cleat alternative that has popped up on the scene is Natur Athletics. Specializing initially in youth sizes, they plan to expand to a full adult range and are also releasing minimalist basketball shoes. Their plan was to launch via Kickstarter in September 2022.
Updates:
Oct 2022: Kickstarter launched. You could back the campaign to receive youth or adult cleats and minimalist basketball shoes.
Nov 2022: Kickstarter did not reach its goal. They began looking for alternate funding.
Mar 2023: Pre-orders opened for both youth and adult models.
Oct 2023: Personally tested — decent on firm ground and grass, okay on turf. Very wide toe box requires toe spacers.
Apr 2024: Now shipping worldwide in green, black, white, and pink.
After over 100 hours of testing, we found that performance on grass is excellent. However, the toe box may be too wide for some, especially if you don’t like toe spacers. For strong, muscular feet with a solid splay, it performs well.
Cost: $159.99 (Adult) / $91.99 (Youth)
Available on Market: ✅
Best For: Grass, Turf
Link can be found here
Cost: 159.99$ per Adult Shoe and 91.99$ Per kid's shoes
Available on market: YES!
Best For: Grass, Turf
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2. Free Kickz
Free Kickz is a soccer-specific turf shoe and cleat model for youth and adults. Its standout feature is a sticky upper for ball handling — the first true barefoot-style soccer shoe. Designed by soccer player/trainer Nico Vaccaro.
Highlights:
Wide, rounded toe box for natural splay and ball feel
Flexible outsole with just the right give
Zero-drop sole for improved ankle mobility
Sock-like flyknit upper that hugs the foot
Turf and cleat outsole options for dry/wet grass or artificial turf
Update June 2024 from Founder Nico:
Pre-order available in late June
First 300 customers get lowest pricing and first delivery
Estimated Price: ~$174.99
Not Yet Available on Market
Best For: Soccer (all levels)
After speaking with Chad, the owner of Code Footwear, here’s what we learned:
Fully custom cleats based on foot scans, photos, and athlete background
Zero-drop and engineered for flex under the midfoot
Comes with toe spacers, swappable insoles, and multiple foam options
TPU upper for lightweight performance
Seamless microfiber interior for better ball feel
Textured insole to prevent slipping
Update June 2024: After 200+ hours of personal testing, this is possibly the best cleat on the barefoot market. The downsides: high cost and long production time. Custom fit is crucial — if the fit isn’t perfect, it could cause injury or discomfort.
NFL players are currently using custom pairs. Code is working to streamline production and lower prices for individuals.
Currently Available: ❌
Link: Code Footwear
Best For: Custom Elite Use
4. Prevolve
Pre Evolve Custom makes cleats based off your foot scan as well.
They are fully custom fit based on your foot scans and data. 3D printed and made on demand in the USA. They Include custom fit toe spacers and modular metpads to help you gradually strengthen your feet.
It's all custom, so they don't do sizes. There is no limit on minimum size, and a maximum size of Men's 17.
After dozens of hours of testing these seem promising but it may take some wiggle room to get the perfect custom fit down for your foot shape.
Cost: 595$ with free shipping in the USA
Currently Available: YES!
Unboxing Video: Prevolve Unboxing Video.
There are several other barefoot brands working on bringing barefoot cleats to the scene making the dream a potential reality of seeing athletes worldwide wearing shoes that are good for their foot health and performance
This is not a true barefoot cleat — it’s mostly marketed towards ultimate frisbee players (my favorite sport). But since I’m always on the hunt for cleat alternatives, we logged some solid testing time with these in both ultimate frisbee and flag football.
The toe box leaves a bit to be desired in terms of width — especially if you’re used to a fully splayed, barefoot-style fit. That said, one of the interesting features is the two removable insoles. I found that removing both significantly increases internal volume and gives you more room throughout the cleat, especially up front. It’s a bit of a game-changer if you're trying to adapt these to a wider foot.
Like most standard cleats, it’s zero drop and fairly flexible, and in terms of on-field function, it performs quite well. I’d love to see a slightly wider toe box in future versions, but overall, this is a pretty solid option — especially if you’re not ready to go fully custom or want something more available.
Link:
There are several other barefoot brands working on bringing barefoot cleats to the scene making the dream a potential reality of seeing athletes worldwide wearing shoes that are good for their foot health and performance
Conclusion:
The main reason behind why barefoot cleats have been slow to the scene is due to a wide toe-box having the ability to cause slipping of the foot. In addition to this, the barefoot market is a niche, and people within that market requiring cleats would be of low demand, which would not be worth investing in for most companies.
Perhaps one solution could be to educate sports professionals of the benefits of barefoot footwear, however it would be extremely difficult to convince professionals to sacrifice their performance for the sake of foot health.
You can also see our various tests of many of these cleats and various cleat alternatives on our Instagram
Click here to view our shoe review Instagram or our performance page
