Adidas Boston 13 vs Adios Pro 4 – Pick of the Pacers

Stack Height, Drop, Weight and Price

The Adidas Adios Pro 4 is among the lower stacked carbon race shoes with 39mm in the heel and 33mm in the forefoot for a 6mm drop. The Adidas Boston 13, meanwhile, packs less across the shoe with 36mm in the heel and 30mm in the forefoot, also for a 6mm drop.

On weight, the Adios Pro 4 comes in at 202g or 7.1oz in my men’s US 9 (UK 8.5) test shoe. Despite the lower stack, the Adidas Boston 13 lands at a heavier 9.1.oz or 259g.

When it comes to cost, one puts a bigger dent in your bank balance. You’ll pay $250 for the Adios Pro 4 and $160 for the Boston 13.

Design

The Adidas Boston 13 and the Adidas Pro 4 have undergone some significant updates for 2025. The changes put more clear distance between the two shoes, marking the Boston 13 out as a versatile speedy trainer while the Adios Pro 4 remains your race-day, guns-blazing PR chaser.

The big changes come in the uppers of the Boston 13. Some runners found the minimal, racy uppers of the Boston 12 worked well for speed – almost akin to the Adios Pro 3. But wanted more comfort for logging the longer training miles. Adidas answered that call.

The Boston 13 now adds more daily-mile comfort with more padded, traditional heel collars. The Adidas Pro 4 sticks with the internal-pads and thin race-ready heel packing.

In a bid to give the Boston 13 a snappier feel, there’s also more Lightstrike Pro foam in the dual-foam Lightstrike Pro and Lightstrike set up. That’s predominantly under the forefoot.

The Adios Pro 4 midsole is all Lightstrike Pro with a new formula foam tuned to provide a little extra softness compared to the Adidas Adios Pro 3. The forefoot rocker has also been moved back to boost efficiency.

It’s now positioned at 60% of the length of the shoe, the same as the Adidas Pro Evo 1. Beyond that, it sticks to the weight saving, stripped back design.

Both shoes feature Adidas’ carbon Energy Rods 2.0.

Up top, the Adidas Pro 4 uses brand new Lightlock uppers with new locking bands that wrap the foot for a snug and secure fit, providing some additional support. These one-way stretch woven mesh uppers aim to address one of the biggest gripes with the Adios Pro 3 – that some runners found the fit somewhat fussy. You still get a flat, wrapping tongue.

The Boston 13 also features engineered mesh uppers. They’re not as light and a bit more rigid but still airy.

Both shoes use a combination of Lighttraxion and Continental rubber on the outsole. There’s a little extra reinforcement in the key heel impact zone on the Boston 13 to help it handle the bigger training mileage.

Fit

In testing, I ran in my regular Adidas running shoe size which is a US 9.

On the whole I found the Adidas Adios Pro 4 fit much improved over the Adios Pro 3 but it still has some problems. It’s much easier to get them on, positioned and locked down than the fiddly Adios Pro 3. The improved stitched in tongues really help and the modified lace eyelets successfully remove any pinching or rubbing around the toe knuckles.

Generally I found the heel hold was reliable and the midfoot lockdown was secure. However, I had some bigger issues with the length of the toe box. It narrows and perhaps comes up a quarter of a size too short.

I only noticed this deep into my marathon test, where my big toenails caught the end of the shoe and I ended up with some of the worst bruised toe nails I’ve had from any shoe for a while. I’d pay close attention to length when choosing your Adidas Adios Pro 4 sizing.

The Adidas Boston 13 were a much better fit. There was good clearance towards the end of the toe box with no problems with toes bashing up against the end of the shoe.

The uppers hold really well with a fit that’s still snug and secure but not too tight across the toe knuckles. That’s aided by the stretch and flex from the uppers. So you get a secure midfoot hold that locks down without any trouble.

The medium-padded heel collars offer good comfort and the lightly padded tongues prevent any lace pitch.

I’d recommend going half a size up in the Adios Pro 4 but sticking true to size in the Boston 13 unless you plan to run longer runs over 90 minutes.

Performance

In testing, I’ve logged north of 50 miles in both shoes, pushing them across a range of paces and sessions. Everything from easy recovery runs, right up to 5km pace intervals.

My longest run in the Boston 13 took me up to 90 minutes on feet. I have also done a solo marathon test in the Adidas Adios Pro 4 and a mile with one shoe on each foot to really tune into the differences. Most of that was on the road but with some outings on light offroad.

These two shoes are designed to be partners and there’s some continuity here in terms of how they feel on the foot with the fit, the uppers and the stack height.

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But once you get moving, that all goes out of the window and in terms of ride they’re quite far apart. The Adios Pro 4 has the bouncy, springy foam energy of an all-out punchy carbon racer. The Boston 13 is notably tamer, and more controlled.

The Adios Pro 4 midsole sinks and compresses far deeper and then returns with much more punch and feedback. The Boston 13 serves up much more ground feel, ground control and the ride is much more balanced. It's firm and even blocky by comparison.

Depending on where you land, the Adios Pro 4 can feel like the midsole has a lot of moving parts. If you're striking mid to forefoot that’s less noticeable but if you land a bit further back, different parts of the shoe feel like they're moving separately. So it can feel a bit more wild, somewhat less stable and smooth.

The Boston 13 isn’t a big bouncy ride and even might be a shade blocky. But that brings good stability with just enough versatility to handle endurance miles, as well as faster sessions. Everything is more uniform throughout with a more consistent and smooth transition. That's probably down to that Lightstrike carrier which brings a bit more rigidity and stiffness.

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You can run fast in the Boston 13. In fact, it begins to open up and feel snappier as you pick up the pace but you're going to have to do more of the work. It’s not going to serve up the all-out energy of the Adios Pro 4 but it can sit with speed.