Brooks Adrenaline GTS 23 Review (2026): The Default Stability

Why you should trust this review

I bought this pair at retail and have run in it across daily training. Brooks did not provide a sample and had no editorial input on this writeup. I have run in stability shoes for years and have rotated through the GTS 19, 21, 22, and now the 23, so I can tell you where this generation sits in the line rather than treating it as a one off. That history matters in a stability shoe, because the whole point of the GTS is consistency, and you only know if a generation broke the formula if you have run the previous ones.

This review leans on my own miles plus the spec versus price positioning and the patterns that show up across the very large pool of long term owner reports on Amazon and at specialty retailers. When more than thirty five thousand owners converge on a 4.5 star rating, that consistency is itself a signal, and I weigh it alongside what I felt underfoot.

How we evaluated

I ran easy and steady efforts at roughly nine to ten and a half minutes per mile, mostly on asphalt, which is the bread and butter pace range for this kind of trainer. I ran it on alternating days against a neutral Brooks Ghost to feel exactly where the GuideRails intervene. I did a standing wedge test to evaluate the support geometry, and I weighed it side by side against my GTS 22 to confirm the midsole and weight changes rather than guessing from memory.

The 297 gram weight in a men’s 9, the 36 millimeter heel and 24 millimeter forefoot stack, and the 12 millimeter drop are Brooks rated specs, and I am reporting them as such rather than as my own scale numbers. What I can speak to firsthand is how the GuideRails feel in motion, how the cushioning compares to the previous generation, and how the fit and durability held up.

GuideRails: support without the brace feel

The defining feature of the GTS line is GuideRails, which Brooks uses instead of a traditional medial post. A medial post is a dense foam wedge under the arch that fights overpronation by brute force, and it is the reason older stability shoes felt like running in a cast. GuideRails take a smarter approach, two firmer foam strips run alongside the heel and arch and only intervene when your foot rolls inward past its normal range.

In practice the shoe feels like a normal neutral trainer right up until you actually start to overpronate, at which point it pushes back. For a runner who genuinely needs the support, the GuideRails catch the motion without the punishing, corrective feel of an old medial post. For a runner who does not overpronate, the rails are mostly invisible, which is exactly why this shoe is so easy to recommend to the broad middle of the stability market.

Cushioning and ride: softer than the GTS 22

The GTS 23 uses the same DNA Loft v3 nitrogen infused midsole found in the Ghost 16 and the Glycerin 21, and it is a real upgrade over the GTS 22. On my runs the ride came across as softer and more forgiving on longer efforts, with the 36 and 24 millimeter stack putting it in the upper middle of the stability trainer range. It is plush enough for daily mileage without feeling unstable, which is the balance a stability shoe has to strike.

The 12 millimeter drop is on the high side by current standards, but it is the right call for this shoe’s audience, which skews toward heel strikers and traditional form runners who tend to be the ones flagged for overpronation. If you are moving toward a midfoot landing or you prefer a low drop ride, this is not your shoe, and a lower drop rockered stability option will suit you better.

Weight, width, and durability

At 297 grams in a men’s 9, the GTS 23 is one of the heavier stability trainers out there, and that is the honest cost of the GuideRails, the full coverage outsole, and the broader support frame. Lighter rivals exist that shave fifty grams or more, and if you race or do tempo work, that weight matters and a neutral lightweight trainer plus separate stability work is the better setup. For easy and steady daily miles, the weight is something you stop noticing.

The single strongest practical argument for the GTS over its competitors is width. Brooks offers Narrow, Standard, Wide, and Extra Wide in both men’s and women’s at the same price, and most stability runners benefit from at least the Wide option. On durability, owner reports cluster around four to five hundred miles before the midsole flattens, in line with the Ghost, and the full coverage rubber outsole usually still has tread left at retirement.

Do you even need a stability shoe?

This is worth saying plainly. Most runners do not need a stability shoe. The research through the last several years is fairly clear that the majority of runners do fine in a neutral shoe, and stability features only make sense if a running store gait analysis or a sports medicine professional has actually flagged moderate overpronation. If you have run injury free in neutral shoes for years, there is no reason to switch into this.

Where the GTS earns its place is for the runner who has been flagged and wants support that does not feel like a correction. For that person, this is the safest, most forgiving recommendation in the category, and the consistency of the owner ratings backs that up.

Who should buy the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 23?

Buy it if a gait analysis or a physical therapist has flagged you for mild to moderate overpronation, you have run in stability shoes successfully and want a reliable default, you need a Wide or Extra Wide width, or you want forgiving stability rather than a punishingly firm medial post shoe.

Skip it if you are a neutral runner, where the GuideRails serve no purpose and just add weight. Skip it too if you want a low drop or rockered ride, if you want the lightest stability shoe on the market, or if you mostly race short and fast, where a lighter neutral trainer is the smarter tool.

The verdict

The Brooks Adrenaline GTS 23 is the stability trainer I would point most overpronators to first. The GuideRails support without the harsh corrective feel of old stability shoes, the DNA Loft v3 midsole makes it softer than the GTS 22, and the four width options are genuinely unmatched at this price. It is heavier than its rivals, the 12 millimeter drop is high, and a neutral runner has no reason to wear it. But for the runner it is built for, the one who actually needs support and does not want to feel braced, it is the safest, most defensible pick in the category, and the consistency across tens of thousands of owners is hard to argue with.