Which athletic footwear brands do ChatGPT and Gemini recommend?

We asked both assistants three questions a shopper would ask about athletic footwear brands, with web search on, and wrote down every brand they named in the order they named it. Last asked 29 Oct 2026. Brands we track link to their pages.

What are the best athletic footwear brands?

ChatGPT

  1. Nike
  2. Brooks
  3. ASICS
  4. Hoka
  5. New Balance
  6. Saucony
  7. Adidas
  8. On
  9. Mizuno
  10. Altra

Asked 29 Oct 2026

Gemini

  1. Nike
  2. Adidas
  3. Brooks
  4. Asics
  5. Hoka
  6. Saucony
  7. New Balance
  8. On
  9. Under Armour
  10. Reebok
  11. Salomon

Asked 29 Oct 2026

Which athletic footwear brand would you recommend for a first-time buyer?

ChatGPT

  1. Nike
  2. Adidas
  3. New Balance
  4. ASICS

Asked 29 Oct 2026

Gemini

  1. Brooks
  2. New Balance
  3. Asics
  4. Nike

Asked 29 Oct 2026

What are some popular athletic footwear brands people love right now?

ChatGPT

  1. Nike
  2. adidas
  3. New Balance
  4. Jordan
  5. ASICS
  6. On
  7. HOKA

Asked 29 Oct 2026

Gemini

  1. Nike
  2. Adidas
  3. Hoka
  4. On
  5. New Balance
  6. Asics
  7. Brooks
  8. Salomon

Asked 29 Oct 2026

The athletic footwear brands named in more than one answer

Out of 6 answers on this page. A count of answers, not a ranking.

  • ASICS: named in 6 of 6
  • New Balance: named in 6 of 6
  • Nike: named in 6 of 6
  • Adidas: named in 5 of 6
  • Brooks: named in 4 of 6
  • Hoka: named in 4 of 6
  • On: named in 4 of 6
  • Salomon: named in 2 of 6
  • Saucony: named in 2 of 6

Why the answers change

Ask an assistant the same question twice and the list moves. It changes between runs, between people, and with whatever the assistant found when it searched that day. These are the answers we got on the dates shown, asked with no account history and no location. We ask again every month with the same wording, so the next set can be compared with this one.

A brand missing from these lists is not a verdict on the brand. It means a shopper asking this question on this day would not have heard of it from the assistant.

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