The order matters, because these decisions are not equally reversible. Buying a heavier stroller than you wanted is a daily annoyance you cannot undo. A colour you regret is invisible. Work down the list and stop when a stroller has answered every line.
1. Weight and folded size — decide this first. It is the specification you will live with most often and regret most reliably. You lift a stroller in and out of a car repeatedly, fold it one-handed while holding a child, and carry it up steps. The strollers on this page run from 11.6 lb to about 30 lb — the heaviest is two and a half times the lightest. Folded size matters as much as weight: a stroller that folds long will not fit a small boot even when it is light, and the smallest fold here is roughly 23 by 19 by 7 in, about the footprint of a large backpack. If you will fold it several times a day, this is the only line that matters.
2. Terrain — pavement, or something else? Wheel count and tire type are the honest signals. Four small wheels are built for smooth floors, shops and pavement. Three large wheels with bicycle-style tires are built for gravel, grass, park paths and running. One stroller here has three wheels, all-terrain tires, and a maker's statement that the tires will not go flat. If nearly all of your walking is on pavement, you are paying for capability you will not use.
3. Does the seat have to lie flat? This is what decides whether a stroller works for a newborn at all. A seat that reclines to near-flat can hold an infant; one that does not, cannot. One stroller here converts — the seat becomes a pramette and reverses to face you or the world. Another reclines to near-flat, which covers the same stage in a lighter package. If your baby will sleep in the stroller, the recline is not a comfort feature, it is the requirement that decides the purchase. Buying well after the newborn stage, you can skip it.
4. Will an infant car seat click onto it? This is a separate question from whether the stroller is any good — it is about whether the two products are compatible at all. Some strollers are built as frames specifically to carry an infant seat. Others accept one only through a brand-specific adapter, sold separately. Some accept none. Compatibility is set by the manufacturer, not by the shape of the seat, so check the specific pairing rather than assuming a standard connection. For the first months, clicking a sleeping baby out of the car onto a frame is the largest convenience in stroller ownership — and a frame usually costs less than a full stroller.
5. One child, or two? Seating capacity is the least reversible decision of the six, because a single cannot later become a double. If a second child is likely within a few years, that changes which stroller you should buy now. The two-seat option here is rated to 80 lb across both seats, so read it as roughly 40 lb per child — not 80 for one. Where a maker quotes a double's limit as a single figure, that is almost always the pair.
6. Cost — and what the money actually buys. The strollers on this page span roughly a threefold range, and the difference is capability rather than quality. The least expensive is a genuine, certified stroller with a 45 lb child limit. The most expensive folds smaller, carries two, or converts. The trap is buying premium capability you will not use: all-terrain tires for a city, or a two-seat frame for one child. Settle decisions one to five, then spend on the stroller that answered them.
What does not decide it. Colour, brand, and how many accessories come in the box. None of the six decisions above is about those, and all of them are recoverable if you get them wrong.
