You’re here because you need new cleats or spikes! This is a situation I find myself in every other year, and it can be overwhelming. What cleats are best, where should I buy from, and how do I avoid blisters – if you have questions like these, don’t worry! I’ve spent hours researching, cleats, and have over a decade of high-level playing experience. The Ultimate Frisbee Cleat Buyer’s Guide will help you make all these decisions and more!
If you’re in a hurry, click on one of the three links below. These links will get you to Amazon right away, where you can check out prices, reviews, and other cleat options.
The Best for Women
Adidas Women’s Predator 18.1
The Best for Men
Nike Men’s Vapor Untouchable Pro 3
The Best for Youth
Adidas Performance Messi 15.3
Ultimate Frisbee Cleat Buyer’s Guide
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The Best Options for Women
I get overwhelmed every time I look for new cleats, especially when searching for good Ultimate Frisbee cleats. I don’t like dealing with blisters, poor-quality material, or returns, and I’m sure you don’t either.
If you’re not sure where to start, I would suggest choosing a sport you’ve played before, and buying cleats for that sport. That way you are familiar with the cleat pattern and the feel of the shoe. There are a few different price options listed for each of the sports, so you can decide which will work best for your budget.
The cleats below are considered some of the best cleats for Ultimate Frisbee.
The Best Women’s Soccer Spikes for Ultimate
Nike Women’s Mercurial Superfly 7 Academy FG Soccer Cleat
These cleats are designed for speed on short grass fields. They are flexible, comfortable, and the side plates of the cleats overlap on the top, allowing for greater long term durability. The sizes on these cleats run small, so be prepared to order a size larger than you normally wear to avoid a return.
Adidas Women’s Goletto VI FG W Soccer Shoe
These cleats are durable and flexible, and are extremely lightweight. They are designed for maximum traction, which makes them ideal for all types of field surfaces. The sizes on these cleats also run small, so be prepared to order a size larger than you normally wear to avoid a return.
Adidas Women’s Predator 18.1 Firm Ground Cleats
These cleats are probably the most durable of all the soccer cleats on the list. Like the others, they are built for speed. The difference with these, is that they have a comfortable, stretchy collar that closes the cleat around the top of the ankle. This is very helpful for cold weather playing, as well as heel comfort. Like the others, the sizes run a bit small. These are probably the best soccer cleats under 100 dollars.
The Best Women’s Lacrosse Spikes for Ultimate
Under Armour Women’s Lax Finisher Mc Ankle-High Baseball Shoe
These cleats are built for lacrosse, but if you have experience with softball cleats they are very similar. They are comfortable and durable. Sizing for these cleats is similar to Nike cleats, and runs a bit small.
New Balance Women’s Burn Low X-2 Low Cut Lacrosse Cleat
Please Note: This is a single size listing, for size 8. If you need a different size, scroll down to “Compare with Similar Items.”
These cleats are a bit more durable than soccer cleats, but still designed for speed. If you are a powerful runner, these are a good fit for you. There’s room for a wide foot with these cleats, but other than that sizing appears relatively accurate. Additionally, I’ve found that New Balance has a wide variety of women’s cleats, so if these aren’t exactly what you are looking for, click around – New Balance may have something you like!
The Best Women’s Ultimate Spikes
Universe Point Cleats (1.0 or 2.0)
These are the only cleats on the market that are built specifically for Ultimate Frisbee players. The 2.0 version is tongueless, and has more durability, but the 1.0 is cheaper. Both cleats come with comfortable insoles, which you can buy replacements for if they ever show wear.
The Best Options for Men
I get overwhelmed every time I look for new cleats, especially when searching for good Ultimate Frisbee cleats. I don’t like dealing with blisters, poor quality material, or returns, and I’m sure you don’t either.
To keep things simple, I would suggest using cleats from a sport you’ve previously played. For example, I had a background in high school football, so I wear football cleats when I play ultimate. Using this strategy, you can cut away a lot of the options and focus on footwear you are already comfortable with.
The cleats below are considered some of the best cleats in different sports related to Ultimate.
The Best Men’s Football Spikes
Adidas Freak X Carbon Mid Football Shoe
These are high quality cleats that is flexible, durable, and like many others, built for speed. This cleat is a bit different, because it offers a heel cup. If you have narrow feet or get annoyed when your foot moves inside your cleat, this is a good choice. It is supportive and stable to prevent your foot from moving. It’s also quite flexible. They are great value for football cleats on Amazon.
Nike Men’s Vapor Untouchable Pro 3 Football Cleat
These are actually very similar to the model of cleat I wear for Ultimate (I usually buy older models of cleats to save money). I am always happy with something from the Nike Vapor Ultimate cleats line, and these are right at the top of my list for my next pair. They are light football cleats, flexible, and comfortable. The cleat pattern is ideal (and something I’m used to), and the mesh top is breathable if your feet get sweaty easily (like mine do).
The Best Men’s Soccer Spikes
Puma Men’s Evospeed 17.4 FG Soccer Shoe
From Adidas’ brother company (it literally is), Puma provides the best bargain cleat on the market. These lightweight cleats are durable, flexible, and supportive. They are built for speed, and even quite stylish. Most importantly, they use synthetic leather, driving the cost of the cleats much lower than other high end shoes. These are ankle cleats, so if you value ankle freedom, these will work well for you.
Adidas Unisex Copa Mundial Firm Ground Soccer Cleats
If you’ve watched soccer before, you probably recognize these cleats. These cleats have been at the top of the soccer world for decades, and continue to be one of the best, and most recognizable cleat models for soccer. They are great mid cut soccer cleats, and are tried and tested for flexibility, comfort, and speed. You can’t go wrong buying these cleats, especially if you are looking for soccer cleats with ankle support. They are by far the best Adidas cleats.
The Best Men’s Lacrosse Spikes
New Balance Men’s Freeze v1 Lacrosse Cleat
If you’ve played lacrosse, you know New Balance. The Freeze v1 is one of their best cleats. It’s quite durable, yet allows for great agility and speed on the field. It has higher ankle support than other similar cleats, like some adidas lacrosse cleats. Perhaps most importantly, it has an outside “rail” cleat that provides for extra grip, especially on less than ideal playing surfaces.
The Best Men’s Ultimate Spikes
Universe Point Cleats (1.0 or 2.0)
These are the only cleats on the market that are built specifically for Ultimate Frisbee players. The 2.0 version is tongueless, and has more durability, but the 1.0 is cheaper. Both cleats come with comfortable insoles, which you can buy replacements for if they ever show wear.
The Best Options for Youth
Shopping for youth cleats can be a little trickier, because kids will eventually grow out of them! Finding high quality cleats for youth ultimate is still very important. I suggest checking out the section on How to Buy Ultimate Frisbee Cleats Cheap – this can help you save (a lot of) money in the long run!
The Best Youth Football Spikes
Adidas Kids’ Adizero 5 Star 7.0 Football Shoe
This shoe is built for speed, and is flexible for different (and growing) sizes of feet. It’s quite durable, making it last longer, especially in adverse weather conditions. It’s also quite comfortable. The cleats sizes seem to be accurate, so feel free to order on size.
Nike Kids’ Alpha Menace Shark Football Cleats
Besides the absurdly “kid-cool” name, the Alpha Menace Shark Football cleats are a very high-quality cleat. They are very flexible and certainly built for speed, yet very sturdy. The shoe comes up a bit further on the ankle than other youth cleats, providing a bit of ankle protection. Also, it has cool shark teeth-shaped cleats. It’s Nike so the sizes run a bit small, and they also don’t work that well with a wide foot pattern.
The Best Youth Soccer Spikes
Vizari Striker FG Soccer Shoe (Toddler/Little Kid/Big Kid)
Vizari has several different youth soccer cleats that are all relatively high quality, but not as expensive as other brands like Adidas. These happen to be black, but they have a bunch of different colors and models, including a set of Frozen themed cleats. They are durable, lightweight, and somewhat resistant to water.
Adidas Performance Messi 15.3 J Soccer Shoe (Little Kid/Big Kid)
Adidas is somewhat of a leader in soccer cleats, and these are no exception. The synthetic leather helps with speed on the field, and lets the shoe stay flexible with fast change of direction. The shoe size does run a bit small, and the verdict is still out on whether or not they are durable for the long term.
Why Quality Is Important
Shoes are important to your long term health and mobility, and Ultimate Frisbee cleats are no different. A pair of awesome cleats will:
- Last longer than a poor-quality pair
- Reduce blistering and other surface pain
- Reduce long-term knee and back pain
- Allows you to run faster and jump higher
- Make you look good on the field
I’ve found that buying a high-quality pair of cleats (sometimes misspelled cleats) is always worth the money when compared to buying a low-quality but cheaper pair of cleats. If you’ve suffered through painful heel and toe blisters like me, you know what I’m talking about!
How To Save Money
As I said earlier, you must find high-quality cleats for Ultimate. Even if you don’t play that much, a good pair of cleats can save you a lot of pain, injury, and money in the long run.
A good pair of cleats will last longer, but the up-front cost does seem steep. Over the time I’ve played Ultimate Frisbee, I (and some of my teammates) have come up with a lot of ways on how to save money, year to year, on cleats. Here are a few tips I suggest when buying cheap cleats for Ultimate Frisbee.
- Make sure your cleats are durable. A $70 cleat that lasts two years saves more money than a $40 cleat that only lasts one year.
- Take the time to make sure your cleats feel good! I know I own at least 1 pair of cleats that just sit in my garage because they ended up causing blisters. Avoid wasting money like I did!
- After you find a pair of durable cleats, you can buy a second (or third) pair right away. This saves you time in the coming years, of having to find a good pair of cleats again.
- Alternatively, find a pair of durable cleats. Then, about 8 months later, search eBay, Amazon, or any other site that sells cleats from previous years. Search for the pair you own. Since it’s 8 months later and an outdated model, you will often find it at 50% off or more!
- If you still want a high-quality, durable cleat, but don’t want to spend $70 or more right away, try searching eBay for high-quality cleats that are a few years old. Buy a pair or two for $40. Try them out, and if they don’t work, return them. You will probably find an older model, that’s still very high quality, at a severely discounted rate!
- If you have smaller feet, I suggest checking out Youth Cleats. They are still high quality and durable, but often cheaper!
Great Indoor Shoes
If you live in a climate that has a cold winter (like I do), then you’re probably familiar with indoor Ultimate. Cleats won’t cut it on a gym floor. So what are the best Ultimate Frisbee shoes for indoor Ultimate?
Women’s Nike Air Zoom Vapor X
Men’s Adidas Adizero Ubersonic 3
In my opinion, tennis shoes are the best for indoor Ultimate. I’m not talking the generic “tennis shoes” term. What I’m talking about is the shoe specifically made for playing tennis, indoor.
Indoor Ultimate has very similar movement to how a tennis player moves on the court. Specifically, the quick, agile motion a tennis player has is almost identical to what Ultimate players would experience in indoor Ultimate.
A lot of people wear running shoes indoors – that will work too. But the change of direction that a tennis shoe supports is going to hold up for much longer, and give you much better results, than a running shoe will.
High Quality Socks
I’ve worn all sorts of socks while playing Ultimate, from thick winter wool socks, to dress socks, and athletic socks. Quality Ultimate Frisbee socks, believe it or not, are almost as important as quality Ultimate Frisbee cleats. A good Ultimate Frisbee sock will reduce blisters, increase comfort, and even wick moisture away from your foot. After years and years of playing, here is my favorite sock for Ultimate Frisbee.
Smartwool PhD Outdoor Performance Socks
Smartwool socks are some of the most durable and most comfortable socks out there. I’ve had incredible success and longevity with Smartwool performance socks. They don’t bunch up in your toe, they help to reduce blisters, and they feel great. Perhaps most importantly, these socks last a long time. I can’t tell you how many socks I used to go through in an Ultimate Frisbee season. Now, I get a few pairs of these, and I am set for years.
Getting Ready for the Field
Once you have your cleats, you are ready to play! This is one of the great things about Ultimate Frisbee. Once you own your pair of cleats, the only other thing you need is a disc – and then you can play!
If you are anything like me (and some of my teammates), you probably want a little more Ultimate gear. If so, you’ll want to find out where to buy an Ultimate Frisbee. You can find other Ultimate gear in the list below!