Nickel foam supported hierarchical mesoporous Zn–Ni–Co ternary oxide (ZNCO) nanowire arrays are synthesized by a simple two-step approach including a hydrothermal method and subsequent calcination process and directly utilized for supercapacitive investigation for the first time. The nickel foam supported hierarchical mesoporous ZNCO nanowire arrays possess an ultrahigh specific capacitance value of 2481.8 F g–1 at 1 A g–1 and excellent rate capability of about 91.9% capacitance retention at 5 A g–1. More importantly, an asymmetric supercapacitor with a high energy density (35.6 Wh kg–1) and remarkable cycle stability performance (94% capacitance retention over 3000 cycles) is assembled successfully by employing the ZNCO electrode as positive electrode and activated carbon as negative electrode. The remarkable electrochemical behaviors demonstrate that the nickel foam supported hierarchical mesoporous ZNCO nanowire array electrodes are highly desirable for application as advanced supercapacitor electrodes.