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The complete Hoka Challenger lineage

The Challenger is Hoka's door-to-trail shoe, the one for runs that leave the pavement without getting serious about it. Trail Runner Magazine called it a trail cousin of the Clifton, and that is the brief: Hoka cushioning, moderate lugs, no rock plate, a shoe you can run to the trailhead in. ATR stood for all-terrain; Hoka dropped the suffix from the official name at the 7 in early 2023, though retailers and reviewers kept writing ATR 7 for years, and Amazon listings still do. For two generations the formula just got better. The ATR 6 (2021) was the door-to-trail benchmark, and the 7 cut nearly an ounce while adding foam, which Road Trail Run called a notable engineering achievement. Then the 8 (July 2025) rebuilt the shoe upward: a quoted 42 mm heel, the drop moved from Hoka's traditional 5 mm to 8, the fit narrowed, and the low-slung terrain feel that defined the line went away. Reviewers split cleanly over whether that was growth or loss, and Outdoor Gear Lab ranked it last of the sixteen trail shoes it tested. The reading of the quoted stack takes care: 2025 is also when Hoka started quoting full stack including outsole and sockliner instead of midsole only, so the 31-to-42 jump on paper is roughly seven millimetres of real foam. Each generation has a GTX variant that shares the platform without joining the succession, and the Challenger Mid GTX is a leather hiking boot wearing the name. There is no Challenger 9 as of August 2026; one Road Trail Run article title says otherwise and its own body text is about the 8.

Version timeline

  1. 62021REPLACED
  2. 72023REPLACED
  3. 82025CURRENT

Every version, newest first

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Buy the current model: Hoka Challenger 8

Sizes running out

Discontinued at retail. Amazon carries what remains, so treat an in-stock size as a closing window, and expect prices to swing.

Men's: Check remaining stockWomen's: Check remaining stock

Availability last checked Sep 10, 2026.

Replacing a shoe you bought two versions ago?

Most runners skip a version or two rather than buying every update. These compare a version against the one two updates on, with the net change rather than a single step.

Thinking about leaving the Challenger?

We ranked the shoes that ride closest to it (a cushioned road-to-trail crossover with moderate lugs and a road-shoe manner) and called out the honest differences.

See shoes similar to the Hoka Challenger

Questions runners ask

What is the newest Hoka Challenger?
The Hoka Challenger 8, released in 2025. List price at launch was $155.
Which Hoka Challenger versions are hard to find now?
Challenger 6, Challenger 7, Challenger 8. They are discontinued at retail, so Amazon carries whatever stock remains and sizes disappear one by one.
Which Hoka Challenger should I buy?
New to the line: buy the Challenger 8. Loyal to the older ride: the previous version rides differently from the current one, and remaining old stock is the only way to get it. See the what-replaced page for that version before deciding.