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Best Overall Stroller
Baby Jogger GT2 City Mini
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Best City Stroller
Thule Shine Stroller
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Best to Fold and Carry
Nuna TRVL
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Best Lightweight Stroller for the Money
Zoe Tour
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When I started shopping for a stroller, I purchased the cheapest one that worked with my car seat and called it a day. To no one’s surprise, that stroller is terrible, and both my child and I hated using it.
A good stroller, it turns out, goes a long way for you and your little one’s enjoyment while going for a walk, running errands, or just lugging them from one location to the next. When your kid is small, safely using a stroller requires car seat adapters or the right bassinet-style attachment. Then, they get bigger, and so does all the stuff you have to carry around. But if the wheels don’t work or something breaks? I don’t know about you, but I’m going home.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the options and scared off by the sticker shock. After a bad experience with a cheap stroller, I’m here to tell you it’s worth investing in a great one. After months of testing by two different parents, these 10 strollers are all fantastic and cover a wide range of styles and budgets. If you aren’t sure what type of stroller you need, get our tips over on How to Shop for a Stroller.
Updated December 2023: We added the Zoe Tour as our new lightweight and affordable stroller pick, and added the Guava Roam to our Honorable Mentions. We’ve also updated some prices of our recommended strollers.
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Photograph: Baby Jogger
Best Overall Stroller
Baby Jogger GT2 City Mini
Baby Jogger combines the best of city and jogging strollers to create the GT2 City Mini. It has the suspension of a jogger, but still folds down easily with one hand, is fairly flat, and has small wheels that make it much more convenient to store. Even though Jogger is in the name, it’s not made for jogging.
The GT2 City Mini comes with an adapter that works with a handful of major car seat brands, such as Graco and Chicco, for use with an infant. Many stroller brands will make you purchase an adapter to work with other car seats, so it’s nice that this one comes with it, and there are other adapters you can buy if you have a car seat that isn’t compatible with the included one. Without the infant adapter, the stroller only faces outward. It doesn’t stand up while folded, but it folds so well and has such small wheels that I could lean it next to my entryway table and barely notice the Baby Jogger.
Overall, this stroller is a smooth ride. The only thing missing is being able to face inward, but instead your kiddo can stay in the car seat until they’re ready to face the great big world.
Infant car seat adapter (included). Weight limit: 65 pounds.
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Photograph: Thule
Best City Stroller
Thule Shine Stroller
This stroller does it all, particularly for that first year of your baby’s life. The Thule Shine (9/10, WIRED Recommends) works with both an infant car seat adapter and a bassinet attachment (both the adapter and bassinet are sold separately, though). It also faces both inward and outward, so as your baby grows and changes in that first year, this stroller can easily change with them with a quick switch of the seat. It’s not cheap, but it’s priced a little better than other popular strollers with similar features.
The Shine’s handle has four adjustable heights, which is fantastic if your household has a lot of heights (and even with only a few inches between us, my husband and I both had different handle height preferences). It has a slim profile that feels comfortable on busy sidewalks and store aisles. I also love how low the canopy can go to shade my little one’s eyes when we take late afternoon walks. The stroller folds pretty easily too—just make sure you do everything in the right order. I will say it doesn’t fold quite as small as I’d like, and it was a pain to fit into a smaller sedan trunk.
Infant bassinet attachment (sold separately), infant car seat attachment (sold separately). Weight limit: 49 pounds.
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Photograph: Nuna
Best to Fold and Carry
Nuna TRVL
I live in an apartment building that has a small staircase right before the path to my door, which means I need to break down my stroller in the parking lot before lugging it, and my baby, inside. So many strollers require me to fold the stroller flat and then lean all the way down to grab it again, while balancing my baby and a diaper bag. Not this stroller. The Nuna TRVL is a lightweight travel stroller that basically folds itself after I hit the buttons on the handle. Once it’s folded, it has a bar that sticks straight up so I can grab it and start walking down the stairs without bending over. It sounds lazy, but after a day of bending over to pick up my child and everything he throws on the ground, it’s a relief to not have to bend and lift a larger item while balancing my son at the same time.
The stroller is lightweight and super easy to carry while also carrying a kid. It has a large lower pocket that fits a massive giant diaper bag and water bottles with ease while walking around Legoland. It also comes with a travel bag to place it in, so you can bring it on a plane. It’s pricier than other travel strollers that have just as many features, but I love it now that my kid faces forward, and he looks the most comfortable lounging in this soft stroller. It’s not as full-featured as something like the Thule Shine, and doesn’t have storage extras like the Joovy Kooper, but if I were shopping for a convenient stroller to use for my forward-facing kid, this is the one I’d buy.
Compatible with Nuna’s car seats only. Weight limit: 50 pounds.
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Photograph: Zoe
Best Lightweight Stroller for the Money
Zoe Tour
Looking at the Zoe Tour stroller next to the Nuna TRVL stroller, it’s hard to tell the difference right away. They have similar looking materials, designs, and colorways. But the Tour is almost half the price of the TRVL, and comes with accessories that allow for more storage, including a removable parent organizer and kid snack compartments you can install instead of the stroller grab bar.
The Zoe Tour isn’t quite as easy to fold and won’t stand up on its own like the TRVL will, and the material feels a little cheaper. It was also easy for my son to dislodge the canopy from the stroller when he got annoyed with it. But for half the price, it’s a pretty great travel stroller with just as much class as the TRVL.
Infant car seat adapter (sold separately). Weight limit: 45 pounds.
★ An alternative: The Joovy Kooper ($200) is the same price and has a similar non-stand fold, but comes with a full tray for your kiddo if you’re looking for something with more kid storage. It also has a higher weight limit of 55 pounds.
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Photograph: Doona
Best for Newborns
Doona Car Seat & Stroller
I remember looking at the Doona while I was pregnant, seeing the price tag, and closing the tab. But I had assumed, wrongly, that the $550 price tag was for a car seat plus a separate car seat carrier, like the Baby Trend Snap-N-Go, and figured I could create the same configuration for cheaper. It’s not! It’s two in one! The legs and wheels fold into the car seat itself, so you can easily switch it from stroller mode to car seat mode, no additional stroller or wheeled device required.
It takes a little practice to get the motion right, but I was impressed with how easy it was once I got it down. I was also pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t heavier to carry than the Graco infant car seat I had used, even though it comes with wheels. The price tag of $550 is scary, but many of us will spend that much on a car seat, stroller, and bassinet accessories anyway. This way, you can buy just one device you know you’ll use right away, and decide what kind of long-term stroller you want once you’re more settled into parenthood.
Built-in infant car seat. Weight limit: 35 pounds (and 32 inches).
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Photograph: Veer
Best Wagon
Veer Cruiser
Every time I take my children out in the Veer Cruiser (9/10, WIRED Recommends), someone asks me where they can get one. And we’ve taken it everywhere. The rugged wagon is made of matte-black aluminum, with a locking handle that allows you to either pull or push it. The airless tires have made it through muddy trails, beaches, and gravel paths.
Tons of different accessories—like a storage basket, snack tray, and infant car seat attachment—make it suitable for a wide range of ages and number of children. This was by far the most durable piece of baby gear we used, and we used it almost every day, from when my son was 5 months old until he was 6 and my daughter was 8. We hauled chairs for a picnic in the park. We’ve fit four kids under 7 in it without a problem, as well as crayons, dog leashes, and water bottles. We’ve even folded it down and put it in a travel bag to take it on flights. We have since passed it on, in almost perfect condition, to another family to use and abuse for years. —Adrienne So
Infant car seat attachment (sold separately). Weight limit: 55 pounds per seat (two seats).
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Photograph: Thule
Best Jogging Stroller
Thule Urban Glide 2
Joggers are big, full stop, but the Thule does a good job of not being too big. It has a slim enough form to pass through the walkway dividers meant to discourage my local skateboarders. My favorite part is in the hand brake that sits in the middle of the handle. Instead of being a massive bike-like handle, it’s a simple cylinder you grab and turn. Thule also sells accessories, so you can use this jogger with an infant, either with Thule’s bassinet attachment or one of the various car seat adapters.
★ An alternative: The BOB Gear Wayfinder ($580) is pretty similar to the Thule, but folds a little bigger, is a few pounds heavier, and stands taller than the Urban Glide 2, so it’s a good fit for taller families. It’s also a little cheaper than the Thule.
Bassinet attachment (sold separately), infant car seat adapter (sold separately). Weight limit: 49 pounds.
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Photograph: Thule
Best Stroller and Bike Trailer Combo
Thule Chariot Lite 2
If you bike, run, hike, or ski with your children, you might want to consider investing in a multisport trailer. When my children were in preschool, I biked my children around our neighborhood in the Thule Chariot Lite 2. It’s 28 pounds, but light for its size.
When we get to our destination, I click the front wheels out of their holders and convert it into a stroller. If you want to pack a few groceries or backpacks in there with your kids, it has a weight capacity of up to 100 pounds, and it folds down small enough to fit into a car trunk. There’s also a ski attachment, which I highly recommend if you like snow sports and you have one or two kids that are just too small to strap into skis. —Adrienne So
No infant options. Weight limit: 49 pounds per seat (two seats).
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Photograph: Doona
Best Trike Stroller
Doona Liki Trike S3
This handy trike stroller (7/10, WIRED Review) lets your kid feel a little more involved in your strolling adventure. The cute folding trike has five different modes to grow with your child from 10 months old all the way to 3 years old, and even becomes a regular trike they can drive once they’re big enough. It travels nice-ish, since it breaks down super small and has a soft carrying handle, but the large parent handle doesn’t fold and has to be removed (Doona sells a little backpack that can hold both the trike and handle). The seat cushions are thinner and there’s less room to lounge, though, so my 1-year-old got more annoyed with longer walks in this trike than he would in a regular stroller. It’s great for short walks on nice days, though.
No infant options (only for ages 10 months and up). Weight limit: 37 pounds.
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Photograph: Cybex
Best Electric Stroller
Cybex E-Priam
If you think an electric stroller is overkill, then you’ve never walked down a steep hill while holding on to 60 pounds of stroller and kid, terrified that a trip will send your little one careening into traffic.
Yes, Cybex’s E-Priam is a very glamorous luxury stroller, with leather trim, front suspension, and never-flat tires. But sensors in the handlebars also deliver carefully calibrated electric assistance when you’re going uphill, downhill, or even struggling across rough ground. It’s a little difficult to assemble, and I wish you could manually adjust the assistance level, but it has provided much physical and psychological relief. —Adrienne So
Infant car seat adapter (included), infant cot attachment (sold separately). Weight limit: 55 pounds.
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Photograph: Joovy
Honorable Mentions
More Strollers
- Guava Roam for $550: I love the Guava Roam jogging stroller (7/10, WIRED Recommends) for its compact fold, but the lack of a hand brake makes it better for power walkers than for runners. If you like nice long walks and want your kid to be comfy, and want a stroller that isn’t a behemoth, this is a great choice.
- Nuna Mixx Next for $800: This stroller has a smooth ride that rivals a jogging stroller. It’s great for the first year, as it works with an infant car seat and can face both inward and outward. It folds better while facing outward, though, and the controls aren’t as intuitive as other strollers. It also works only with Nuna’s infant car seat, so if you have a different car seat, you’ll need to purchase a bassinet attachment to use it for the first few months.
- BOB Gear Revolution Flex 3 for $550: This is a popular jogger, but I found it frustrating to fold and was disappointed it didn’t have any hand brakes. It’s only $30 cheaper than the Wayfinder, so you might as well go with that one. I’d only recommend the Revolution Flex 3 for shorter runners who won’t be folding it often, since the Wayfinder is quite tall.
- Joovy Tricycoo 4.1 for $130: This trike stroller is cheaper than the Doona, but is larger and doesn’t fold. If you don’t intend to take it anywhere beyond walking distance of your home, though, it’s a fine trike stroller.
