By Jacob Chambers, Founder & Lead Reviewer · Updated 23 September 2026
We'd pick a treadmill if you run or want to start running, and an elliptical if your joints complain or you want low-impact cardio you can do every day. That's the short answer. The longer one depends on four things: your knees, your goal, your space and how much you'll actually use it.
This is the biggest difference between the two machines. On an elliptical your feet stay on the pedals the whole time, so there's no landing. A lab study of 30 adults measured foot loading on an elliptical at 70 to 81 percent of body weight, even as resistance and incline went up (study on elliptical trainer parameters). Every running stride, by contrast, lands with a force several times body weight.
Treadmill walking sits in between. It's still a landing, but a gentle one, and for most people with healthy joints it's fine. If running hurts your knees, hips or shins and walking doesn't, you have two good options, not one.
Both machines burn roughly the same calories at the same heart rate, because calorie burn tracks effort. The console numbers are a different story: elliptical displays are notorious for overestimating, and neither machine knows your weight or fitness unless you tell it. Use a heart rate monitor if you care about the number.
One lab study did find a real difference. Nine men took peak tests on a treadmill, an elliptical and a rowing machine; their peak VO2 was similar on all three, but maximal fat oxidation was about 50 percent higher on the treadmill (0.61 g per minute against 0.41 on the elliptical) (study comparing treadmill, elliptical and rowing). It's a small sample of fit young men, and fat burned during a session isn't the same as fat lost over months. We wouldn't choose a machine on it, but it's a point to the treadmill.
For weight loss, the machine you'll use five times a week beats the one you'll use twice. Our guide to treadmills for weight loss goes into the maths.
Treadmill running works the calves, quads, hamstrings and glutes, and incline walking shifts more of the load to the glutes and calves. It's a lower-body machine.
An elliptical with moving handles adds pushing and pulling through the arms, chest, shoulders and back. The leg pattern is different too: a study comparing movement patterns found elliptical training resembled overground walking more closely than cycling did, but it was still clearly different from walking or treadmill work (study on elliptical, cycling and treadmill movement). Pedalling backwards puts more work on the hamstrings and glutes, which is a useful variation. Our cross trainer workout guide uses both directions.
If you want to run, train on a treadmill. Running is a skill with its own impact demands, and bones, tendons and calves only adapt to it by doing it. An elliptical builds the heart and lungs, but a runner who trains only on one will find their legs aren't ready on race day.
That said, the elliptical is excellent alongside running. It lets you add easy aerobic minutes without the pounding, and it's the classic cross-training tool when a running injury needs rest. Track the effort with heart rate zones so those sessions stay easy.
| Treadmill | Elliptical | |
|---|---|---|
| Footprint | Long, often folds | Tall and long, rarely folds |
| Noise | Motor plus footstrikes | Quiet, especially magnetic models |
| Power | Mains needed | Often battery or self-powered |
| Maintenance | Belt lubrication and alignment | Very little |
| Entry price for a decent model | Roughly £300 to £500 | Roughly £250 to £400 |
Treadmills are the louder machine, and footstrikes carry through floors in a flat. A magnetic elliptical is much quieter. For small spaces, a walking pad slides under a sofa, and a folding elliptical like the YOSUDA folds to about 2 square feet, though its 38cm stride suits users up to about 5ft 9in.
Whichever one you'll use more often. At the same effort, both burn a similar number of calories, and one lab study found the treadmill burned more fat at peak. The bigger factor is consistency, and people with sore joints or a lot of weight to lose often manage more minutes on an elliptical.
Usually, yes. Your feet never leave the pedals, and a study measuring foot loading on an elliptical found it stayed at 70 to 81 percent of body weight even at higher resistance and incline. Running loads each landing with a multiple of body weight. If walking on a treadmill is comfortable, that's low impact too.
It can. With moving handles you push and pull with your arms, chest and back as well as your legs, while treadmill running is almost all lower body. In practice many people rest their arms on elliptical handles, which cancels most of that advantage.
It'll build your aerobic fitness, which helps, but it won't prepare your legs, tendons and feet for the impact of running. If you want to run a 5K or 10K, most of your training needs to be running. The elliptical is useful for extra low-impact volume or while you're injured.
It depends on the model. Folding treadmills and walking pads can be very compact, and a few ellipticals fold to about 2 square feet. Full-size ellipticals are tall and long and usually don't fold at all.
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