How much does a stroller cost?

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When we first became parents we struggled getting even an idea of how much it costs to be a parent. Especially when buying our first stroller, we had no clue what a stroller costs, or should cost for that matter. A quick look on Amazon gave us an idea, but it was still hard to identify what is common for different types of strollers, e.g. simple vs premium strollers. This made financial planning hard, or even saying if something is a good or bad deal, so we decided to run the numbers to at least have an idea based on something.

What a stroller cost depends on the type. A full-size stroller (with bassinet) costs on average 1149 USD, 551 USD or 240 USD, depending on if you look for a premium, mid-range or low-end stroller, respectively. For compact strollers (no bassinet), the averages for premium, mid-range and low-end are 408 USD, 233 USD and 94 USD, respectively.

With no further ado, let’s look at our analysis of different groups of strollers with a few examples of brands from each group.

Prams / strollers with bassinet included

For a newborn a bassinet is almost a must. We felt it was both easier for us as parents and more comfortable for the baby. In this section we have limited the data to strollers where a bassinet is included.

Using machine learning (artificial intelligence), we identified that splitting the data into three groups makes sense. This also intuitively makes sense to us, as products tend to try to be low-end, mid-end or high-end. Within each group the price can still vary greatly. But the average is still a good way to get a rough idea of what strollers cost.

It is important to note that brands can have strollers in all these categories. And the categorization in this article is only based on price.

Premium (average price 1149 USD)

Here you find brands such as UPPAbaby and Bugaboo. Well-known premium brands. We actually had a Bugaboo ourselves, and we can contribute to the body of anecdotal evidence saying that Bugaboo strollers are going strong for a decade or more.

In this category, you get top quality as well as many features such as a height-adjustable handle, great suspension and shock absorption, and clever ventilation.

We did hesitate to spend so much on a stroller ourselves, but in hindsight we are happy we did. We believe it is a good investment for yourself and your baby. While not necessary, it isn’t a bad way to spend your money if you afford it.

Mid-End (average price 551 USD)

In this segment you find offers from brands such as Maxi-Cosi and Hot Mom. We haven’t tried these brands ourselves, but they are highly rated.

While you can get a great stroller, the quality and premium feeling can’t match those in the premium category based on our experience.

Low end (average price 240 USD)

This segment includes many more brands. Perhaps it is easier to make these, as they generally have more straight forward designs and fewer features. Brands that offer strollers in this price group include Mompush, Baby Jogger, Cynebaby, Blahoo, Infans, Graco, Evenflo and Century.

You might have seen cheaper strollers and be surprised that 240 USD is still a fairly high amount. However, remember that we’re discussing strollers with a bassinet now. If you do not need one, prices go down, as we’ll see in the next section below.

Compact strollers (no bassinet supported)

If you don’t need a bassinet, for instance because your child is a bit older already, you can save some money while getting other advantages, in particular that the stroller is more compact. A compact stroller is especially great when traveling.

Once again, we have categorized strollers only based on price. A specific brand can offer strollers at different price ranges, so our examples do not imply that the brand only offers for instance low end strollers.

Premium (average price 408 USD)

If you don’t need a bassinet (you can’t put one on the stroller) prices quickly drop. A premium stroller for a little older child is much cheaper than for a newborn. Some brands that offer strollers in this category are Thule, Chicco, gb, Mockingbird, Elittle, Babyzen, and Peg Perego.

Mid-End (average price 233 USD)

Mid-range includes offers from plenty of brands too, among them: Zoe, gb, Besrey, Cybex, Century, Baby Jogger, Chicco, and Hagaday.

Low end (average price 94 USD)

Low-end without support for a bassinet are very basic. But perhaps that is all you need. We got such a stroller ourselves, to have when traveling. We wanted a stroller that we don’t need to worry too much about. For instance if it breaks when flying somewhere, or perhaps gets stolen. On top of letting you be a bit more relaxed, a basic stroller without any special features simply takes little space and weights little. Something very appreciated when traveling.

Some brands with offerings in this category are Century, Summer Infant, Graco, Pamo Babe, Safety 1st and Kolcraft.

Conclusion

We hope this gave you an idea of what the market has to offer with respect to price categories. Just to recap:

It is important to remember that while features and premium feeling can vary with what you pay, you can be reassured that all strollers are safe if they have been certified according to your local, or a widely recognized, standard. So do look for a safety certification.

It is also important to note we’re just looking at price and created groups based on that. Naturally, this doesn’t say much about the value you get for the cost of each stroller, which can vary a lot. For this we have created top-lists that you can see on the right side or bottom (if you are on a phone) of this page. These are hand-picked strollers that we believe offer great value for the money. Note that if you purchase a stroller after clicking on one of our links, we may get a commission (the seller shares a bit of their profit). That’s what makes articles such as this possible.

How did we analyze?

A warning, this is probably a bit confusing for you unless you are a software engineer or similar. But for completeness, we figured we give curious minds (or perhaps you happen to be a software engineer) the complete picture. Our analysis was made as following:

1. We collected data from multiple popular sources, places where you can buy strollers. We categorized strollers as full-size or compact strollers based on if they support a bassinet. We also made a note of whether a bassinet was included or not.
2. We used a technique called k-means to identify clusters (or groups) of strollers. This technique helps you find the best groups with respect to something, in our case price.
3. We used the so called elbow technique to decide what number of groups makes most sense. This technique gives you a way to say whether it is better to have, for instance, 3 groups or 100 groups.

No worries if you didn’t understand this part, the people that do are in minority.