To determine the best soft climbing shoes I spent hours scouring the internet watching youtube videos, reading blog articles, and diving into forums. After my extensive research, I can confidently say that every shoe that made my top 5 list deserves to be on it. So, without further ado:
The 5 Best Soft Climbing Shoes
I personally hate having to scroll through tremendously long blog articles to find the information I am looking for. So, to save y’all the effort, I like to put my summary tables and important takeaways at the beginning of my posts.
The table below summarizes the 5 best soft climbing shoes
| Soft Climbing Shoe | Ideal Climbing Use | Downturn |
| La Sportiva Cobra | Indoor gym climbing and speed climbing | Moderate |
| La Sportiva Skwama | Bouldering and technical sport climbing | Aggressive |
| Scarpa Chimera | Bouldering and sport climbing | Aggressive |
| Scarpa Drago | Bouldering and steep sport climbing | Aggressive |
| Scarpa Instinct VSR | Bouldering, sport climbing, and technical face climbing | Moderate |
If you are interested in why these 5 shoes made the list and what their individual pros and cons are, I suggest reading on below. The shoes are discussed in the same order that they were presented on the above table (alphabetical).
La Sportiva Cobra
| Ideal Use | Indoor gym climbing and speed climbing |
| Downturn | Moderate |
| Symmetry | Straight |
| Material | Leather |
| Lining | Unlined |
| Price | Latest price on Amazon here |
Pros
The La Sportiva Cobras have been praised for their fit to a wide variety of foot shapes. Also, they have been noted to be incredibly durable and provide climbers with good sensitivity while maintaining a decent edging performance. These are great all-around soft climbing shoes.
Cons
Like with most soft climbing shoes, the Cobras have been reported to not be the most comfortable option on this list. In addition, they may not provide as much support as the other shoes on the list.
Overall, the La Sportiva Cobras will most likely provide climbers with the greatest durability and will fit a wide variety of foot shapes. Customer reviews have reported that the shoes may not be the most comfortable option and lack support.
La Sportiva Skwama
| Ideal Use | Bouldering and technical sport climbing |
| Downturn | Aggressive |
| Symmetry | Asymmetric |
| Material | Leather |
| Lining | Unlined |
| Price | Latest price on Amazon here |
Pros
The La Sportiva Skwama are known for their ability to provide climbers with fantastic comfort and sensitivity at the same time. A combination not frequently heard of. In addition to this, they have been reported to be incredibly well-rounded and capable for all kinds of climbing routes.
Cons
According to customer reviews, the Skwama can stretch out more than other shoes and not provide a great fit after they have been broken in.
Overall, the La Sportiva Skwamas are probably the most well-rounded soft climbing shoe on this list. Customers have reported that the shoes stretch out quite a bit. To counteract this, I recommend sizing down a little (breaking them in might be a pain if you do this).
Scarpa Chimera
| Ideal Use | Bouldering and sport climbing |
| Downturn | Aggressive |
| Symmetry | Highly Asymmetric |
| Material | Synthetic |
| Lining | Unlined |
| Price | Latest price on Amazon here |
Pros
The Scarpa Chimera are some of the best climbing shoes if you are looking for a very sticky shoe. These have been well touted as providing climbers with great sensitivity and grip like Spiderman.
This shoe will provide you with the best smearing ability of all of the shoes on this list. It is very well known for providing climbers with unbelievable grip on incredibly tiny footholds.
Cons
According to customer reviews, these shoes have been noted to have difficulties with edging on slab routes and may lack durability.
Overall, the Scarpa Chimeras will provide climbers the best grip while smearing. However, these extremely grippy shoes may not perform the best while edging on slab routes.
Scarpa Drago
| Ideal Use | Bouldering and steep sport climbing |
| Downturn | Aggressive |
| Symmetry | Highly Asymmetric |
| Material | Synthetic |
| Lining | Unlined |
| Price | Latest price on Amazon here |
Pros
The Scarpa Dragos are incredibly great shoes for bouldering. They have been noted to provide climbers with potentially the greatest sensitivity of the shoes on this list. Climbers have noted that they were surprised by how much of the rock they could feel while wearing these shoes.
Cons
They have been reported to be too soft and not provide customers with the desired durability that other shoes on this list do.
Overall, the Scarpa Dragos will provide climbers with the best bouldering performance of the shoes on this list. It does come at a cost however as they have been reported to wear out a bit quicker than desired.
Scarpa Instinct VSR
| Ideal Uses | Bouldering, sport climbing, and technical face climbing |
| Downturn | Moderate |
| Symmetry | Asymmetric |
| Material | Synthetic |
| Lining | Unlined |
| Price | Latest price on Amazon here |
Pros
Most of the time, opting for an ultra-soft climbing shoe comes at the sacrifice of comfort. However, this is not the case for the Scarpa Instinct VSR. These shoes have been praised on numerous occasions for not only providing incredible amounts of sensitivity but also being very comfortable.
In addition to their sensitivity and comfort, these shoes have been said to provide climbers with great edging ability. Soft climbing shoes are not typically known for their edging capabilities so this was quite surprising to me.
Cons
My research wouldn’t have been complete without a few negative reviews popping up as always. Of the negative reviews, the most significant/notable stated that the heel of these shoes is a bit too big for low volume feet and stretches out more than expected.
Overall, the Scarpa Instinct VSRs are breaking the mold of soft climbing shoes by not only providing climbers with the expected increase in sensitivity but also fantastic comfortability and edging performance. However, the heel may stretch a bit more than expected and be too big for low volume feet.
