Deciding Between Nuna and Uppababy? Our Parenting Editor Tested Their Most Popular Strollers Head-to-Head

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In the past few years, luxury strollers have dominated the baby market, with two of the biggest names in the game being Uppababy and Nuna. People, myself included, love these brands and their strollers, which are known for their high-quality materials, contemporary styling, and reliable performance. Nuna and Uppababy are even a favorite among celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence, Joe Jonas, Jessica Alba, Beyonce, and Khloe Kardashian, who are frequently photographed pushing their littles in these reputable strollers.

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Founded just a year apart in the 2000s — Uppababy in 2006 and Nuna in 2007 — they came into the U.S. market at a time when there were just a few options for high-end strollers. They promised a new kind of bougie baby carriage that combined style and utility in a way that most other strollers of the time simply were not delivering on. Don't get me wrong, there were some killer affordable strollers available, but they weren't giving.

Uppababy and Nuna eventually added car seats to the mix, adding another layer to their business and providing another product for brand loyalists to purchase. This allowed them to eschew offering universal adapters in favor of their own infant car seats. In the past few years, Nuna has started making car seats for other stroller brands like Stokke and Bugaboo.

For this matchup, I will strictly focus on strollers, as they're the most sought-after Uppababy and Nuna products from the two brands that have become synonymous with one another for their quality and price. I've also spent the most time testing these strollers, and they are, unsurprisingly, the companies' biggest sellers. They're also standout products all on their own. While the car seats are great, there are a lot of fantastic car seats on the market. However, people love the Nuna and Uppababy strollers because they're so well-made, they are incredibly convenient, and there is a certain level of social status attached to these strollers. Car seats are largely unseen by others, but strollers? Everyone is looking.

I chose three strollers from each brand: a double stroller, a single stroller, and a lightweight stroller to do the most apples-to-apples comparisons — all of which are sold at similar price points. I looked at each stroller from every possible angle to see just how similar and how different they really are.

Nuna vs. Uppababy Strollers

Double Strollers:

Nuna Demi Next / Uppababy Vista V2

Single Strollers:

Nuna Mixx Next Stroller / Uppababy Cruz V2

Lightweight Strollers:

Nuna Trvl / Uppababy Minu V2

The Biggest Differences Between Nuna and Uppababy Strollers

Essentially, for every Uppababy stroller, there's a similar stroller in the Nuna line, and vice versa. The only place this does not ring true is with running strollers (Uppababy has the Ridge stroller, and Nuna does not yet have a running stroller in their line). Both brands offer a similar look and feel to their strollers with premium fabrics, leather or leatherette-wrapped handles, and all-terrain wheels. There are, however, a few major differences between the line of Uppababy and Nuna strollers. Those fall in the accessories, the double stroller models, and folding. These differences are critical whether you're buying for yourself or for a loved one.

Accessories

For accessories, in the Uppababy line, the bassinet is universal between the Vista and the Cruz, and it only costs $199. The Nuna has different bassinets for their Mixx and Demi strollers, and if you're looking to purchase them separately, they can be a bit difficult to find. Most of the time, they're only available as a combined bassinet and stand, which costs around $400.

Double Stroller Options

The Nuna and Uppababy both have single-to-double (or triple, in the case of the Vista V2 and Demi Grow) modular strollers available. The difference is that the Uppababy acts more like a true double stroller, even though you have to purchase your second seat separately. It has multiple configurations available to you, and you don't lose cargo capacity. With the Nuna Demi strollers, you also need to purchase the second seat separately, but when you have it in two-seater mode, you lose the cargo compartment, as baby is essentially sitting in the cargo compartment, as the bottom seat faces into it.

Folding

When it comes to folding, this is where the Nuna shines. They have mastered the one-hand, one-step fold, and they fold up smaller and more easily than the Uppababy. Each seat is just a bit more compact, with more folding options, and it's very intuitive.

How We Tested

I've spent hundreds of hours pushing strollers, with Nuna and Uppababy strollers being two of the brands I've tested the most extensively. In order to thoroughly put them head to head, I took them all out for a spin again to refresh my memory and, in the case of the Mixx, get a better feel for it overall. I compared the stroller's apples-to-apples style, choosing the models that most closely resemble each other. For strollers with bassinet or car seat attachments, I tested them with their matching bassinets or car seats to see how they perform with different configurations. The double strollers were tested with two kids, and if there was the option for a scooter board, that was also tested.

Why Trust Us

The team at Best Products has been testing and recommending products for almost a decade, testing hundreds of products each year. Personally, I have been in the parenting space since 2011 (a parent since before that), and I've tested dozens of strollers, car seats, wagons, and more. I am in constant contact with the brands and other parents, learning the market from all sides so that I can help you make an informed purchase, whether you're buying for yourself or a loved one.

Nuna Demi Next vs Uppababy Vista V2

There's a lot to like about both of these strollers and they truly each have their place. They share a lot more similarities than they do differences, and that's a common theme for these two brands. I chose these as the first two to compare between the two brands because they are the most-asked-about strollers that I cover, and they are both double strollers that can carry car seats, have bassinets available, and have available scooter (rider) boards.

The Nuna Demi Next or Grow costs $950 for one seat, a stroller, and a scooter board, with an additional seat costing $250, and the bassinet package is $400. The Uppababy Vista V2 package comes with the stroller, one seat, and the bassinet for $999. The scooter board is $134, and the rumble seat is $199. That puts you all in at $1,600 for the Demi Next/Grow (with everything mentioned) and $1,332 for the Vista V2.

The materials have an almost identical feel, and both are reliably sturdy. I will say that the all-season mesh seat on the Nuna Demi is a bit more breathable than that of the Uppababy, so if you know that your babies tend to be sweaty or if you live in a particularly humid or hot climate, the Nuna may be the better choice for you.

The handle of the Uppababy is wrapped in premium leather with a perforated texture, and I found that it does feel more comfortable to hold and ages better than the Nuna leatherette handle. However, the Nuna stroller is a full six inches taller, and the handlebar telescopes further than the Uppababy, so if you're a tall family, the Nuna is going to win on that angle.

Both have easily visible and easy-to-employ braking mechanisms, and both steer really well. The Nuna has a dual suspension that allows it to glide over stranger terrains a bit more easily, and it has a tighter turning ratio than the Uppababy. That being said, the front wheels on the Nuna tend to be a bit more precious than the front wheels on the Uppababy and they need adjusting more frequently. Both strollers have foam-filled tires that can truly take a beating, though.

One thing I noticed about the Demi is that they have a front-wheel locking ability that keeps the wheels in a forward-facing direction that's great if you're on a slope when you want to stay put, but they can be a bit of a pain to release and engage, and a few times they engaged when I didn't touch them, between opening and folding the stroller. (Never while the stroller was in motion.)

The canopy on the Uppababy Vista and the Nuna Demi are comparable, and both are UPF 50+ rated, but the canopy on the Vista is larger and glides into place a bit more easily. That being said, the Nuna's canopy is easier to remove for cleaning purposes. They both have peekaboo windows on the top, with Nuna's magnets making it easier to operate and Uppababy's being slightly larger. Nuna has a built-in net for mosquitoes, but it's not as large as the mosquito net that's provided with the Vista, and I noticed it smells a bit more of the plastic it comes wrapped in for a bit longer than the Vista. It is, however, more convenient.

The seats of the stroller are where we're going to hit rocky territory with the Demi and Uppababy. The Uppababy Vista V2 has the ability to have two places of attachment, but the seats are not the same, and they don't have the same weight capacity and the third is a scooter board. That's also true for the Nuna Demi Grow model, but it feels more crowded than the Vista due to the seat positioning. The primary seat is the one on the top, and it has a 50-pound capacity, but the jump seat that fits to the lower part of the stroller has only a 35-pound capacity.

The Demi's seats each have a 50-pound capacity and are basically the same. That said, the only place to put the second seat is in the bottom facing the person pushing the stroller, which eliminates the cargo compartment. Also, some riders don't love the fact that their legs are essentially always in the elevated position. One of my testers would violently protest sitting on the bottom because he couldn't see anything and his legs "weren't free."

They each have a wide range of seat configurations and car seat placements available, but the Vista allows for rear and forward-facing seats on the bottom, which the Nuna does not, which can spell disaster for kids who suffer from motion sickness.

That brings us to the cargo compartment, which is once again a sticky area. Nuna will win every time in one area of this, and that's the very front of the basket. It is flush with the bottom of the footrest of the seat, which keeps everything in the basket at all times for the most part, while the Vista has a gap of several inches, where stuff can and does occasionally escape. However, the cargo basket goes away when you put the second seat in the Nuna, as I said before, and it has a lower weight capacity of 23 pounds compared to Vista's 30. (Though I've definitely done my fair share of going over that limit — think kids, plus a 36-pack of soda and diapers!)

I love that both the Vista V2 and the Demi feature no-rethread harnesses that are easy to adjust and remove for cleaning. I prefer Demi clasps because they're magnetic and easier to use. Both brands lose points on the areas of the seats around the harness, though, because, like every stroller, these areas do tend to get gross, but neither the Vista nor the Demi has machine-washable fabrics, and really, that's a damn shame.

Both strollers have an available "rider board" or "scooter board." The Demi comes with the board, while the Vista requires an additional $134 scooter board purchase. I found both to be perfectly adequate and reasonably useful additions to the stroller. They're pretty identical overall and are nice to have as your kids get older when they don't want to be in the seat of a stroller, but they don't want to walk all the time, either. If you're giving these to a family of three, you can't go wrong with either.

The bassinet attachment comes included with the Vista, and that's no small purchase, considering the bassinet and stand are an additional cost of $400 for the Demi. Both are suitable for overnight sleeping and naps and again, they're virtually identical. As far as the stands for the bassinets go, I prefer the Nuna's click-in stand to the Uppababy's wooden stand, that is not included, and costs $160.

Winner: I suggest the Nuna Demi for families with kids spaced a bit further apart than the Uppababy Vista and the Vista for parents of twins or born close together.

Nuna Mixx Next vs. Uppababy Cruz V2

In my opinion, the Mixx Next and the Cruz V2 are the most apples-to-apples strollers of the bunch. They are both single strollers with the ability to be used with their respective company's car seats, the Nuna Pipa and the Uppababy Mesa. They both have optional bassinet attachments, neither have machine washable fabrics (get on that, y'all), and both have fantastic suspensions with big ol' wheels. The Nuna Mixx seat pad can be washed in the machine, but I found that even on the most gentle cycle, the pad got a bit lumpy.

The Nuna Mixx Next is $800 for just the stroller (including the seat), and the bassinet and stand are, once again, a cool $400, putting you all in at $1,200. The Uppababy Cruz V2 is $699, the bassinet is $200, the scooter board is $120, and the infant snug seat is $50, putting you all in (but with more options) at $1069. There are packages for both that include their own proprietary car seats for an additional cost of about $400 a piece.

Don't worry — there are several bones I have to pick with each one and many praises to heap upon them. First, the size! Once again, Nuna is winning at life with their folding, and their height. The telescoping handle and larger wheels are really giving "We're hoping Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce use this stroller in all of their vertical glory if they have a kid" (for all of the non-Swifties out there, that translates to this stroller being perfect for tall people). The Uppababy is great and a decent size and it's wrapped in genuine leather vs. the Nuna's leatherette, but it simply doesn't compete for the extra tall like myself and those in my gigantic family. Basically, if you've ever been asked if you play basketball, you need the Nuna. If you're under 6-foot-3, the Uppababy is perfection. I'd go so far as to say that if you're on the more petite side, the Cruz is going to be your bestie for the height and for the weight of the stroller. The Nuna folds up smaller than the Cruz, but it's still a few pounds heavier.

Unlike the Nuna, the Uppababy Cruz cannot carry an infant without an infant seat insert on its own without the bassinet or the car seat attachment. However, the Cruz's bassinet is more affordable than the Nuna's and universal to the brand. So, if you're looking for one stroller that's easy peasy from day one, the Nuna may be it if you're using, say, a Maxi Cosi or Chicco car seat and don't want to fuss with a bassinet.

The cargo compartments of the Nuna Mixx and the Uppababy Cruz are similarly sized, but once again, the Uppababy has a higher weight limit: 30 pounds compared to the Nuna Mixx's 10 pounds. I could do without the Uppababy's cargo net gap in the front of the stroller, where things fly out on the occasion of a hard stop. If you're getting a stroller for someone who lives in a city and tends to haul a ton of crap like us, the Cruz wins.

One important aspect of the Uppababy Vista that I feel I should mention when it comes to their Cruz stroller is that Uppababy has car seat adapters that can be used with a variety of seats, like the Maxi Cosi, Clek, or Chicco. The Nuna only accepts the Nuna Pipa car seat models, so if you're not a brand enthusiast and you want to use the car seat in the stroller, the only one that you can choose is one from the Uppababy line.

I love the easy-to-operate rear braking systems in both the Mixx and the Cruz. They use a red/green color model to guide parents on which way to brake and which way to release the brake.

The Uppababy Cruz's canopy is significantly bigger than the Nuna Mixx's, which will provide much more shade to your baby. This is a great feature because the seat isn't the all-weather mesh that the Mixx has, so cool air is needed in super-hot or muggy climates, so this is really the better choice if your giving it to someone who lives in, say, Florida or Houston.

Speaking of the seat, the Nuna's is a lie-flat traditional seat while the Cruz features a bucket-like seat that reclines in a way that the feet are always a bit elevated. No babies complained about this, but it does change how you fold the seat and who can sit in it. The Nuna Mixx Next has magnetic buckles that are easy to engage, but they do get sticky quicker than the Cruz.

Winner: I love both of these strollers and pushing both of them, so choosing between the two is basically impossible for someone like me. For the reasons I just stated, if you're a tall couple who doesn't mind using a Nuna car seat (which are great, by the way), the Nuna Mixx Next is your best option. If you're a more average-height parent or a petite parent and you want more car seat compatibility, the Cruz is an excellent choice.

Nuna Trvl vs. Uppababy Minu

If you're looking to give your loved one the gift of on-the-go ease, you're going to want a travel stroller. The Minu and the Trvl are the lightweight strollers on this list going head-to-head, both of which are virtually the same size (shocking, I know!). In both folded and unfolded modes, they're both petite, compact strollers — their features, however, are anything but. Since these are travel strollers, they're meant to be lightweight and easy to fold. They're the modern-day equivalent of the umbrella strollers of yesteryear, and both the Nuna and the Uppababy do a great job when it comes to on-the-go convenience.

The Uppababy Minu's base model without a car seat or bassinet is $399. The Nuna Trvl's base model without the car seat is $450. The Trvl, unlike the Minu, the Trvl is not compatible with a bassinet.

Both the Uppababy Minu and the Nuna Trvl can hold car seats with their adapters, but only the Minu can be used with the (Uppababy) bassinet. Both strollers on their own are really only suitable for babies aged 3 months and up because they are not built for babies without head control.

The seats themselves are similar, but once again, Nuna has a more breathable seat and magnetic buckles. Uppababy's feels more luxe, but the buckles require a bit more assistance, and the seat doesn't have an all-weather mesh back.

Folding these strollers is a cinch — once you learn how. While the Trvl has a simple fold mechanism that basically folds itself, the Minu has a one-handed fold that admittedly takes a moment to learn. What I especially like about the Minu in this department vs the Trvl is that the Minu's seat always stays off the ground, even in the folded mode. Portions of the canopy and the seat of the Trvl hit the ground when folded, and that leads to quicker wear on those parts, in my opinion.

The canopies are similarly sized, with the Minu's extending just a bit further. And if I could scream this at the sky and have the manufacturers hear me I would beg for machine-washable fabrics all over the seat, pad and canopy included (!). If other brands can do it, so can the bougie brands.

The cargo compartments are basically the same size and shape, but Nuna can't seem to get more than a 10-pound weight limit on these. The Minu's weight limit is 20 pounds. The Minu has more available accessories like an accessory tray, bug net, weather shield, and phone holders. The Trvl has a weather shield, cup holder, and universal footmuff, but honestly, I prefer third-party stroller covers in this instance.

Winner: This is the one stroller in the line where I will tell you that I prefer the Uppababy Minu over the Nuna Trvl. Simply put, the design is cleaner and better, and the fact that it doesn't brush the ground is a major win for me. It also has more range than the Trvl, even though folding it is a little more challenging.

To Sum it Up

Nuna and Uppababy are stroller titans in this industry for good reason. Their strollers and their car seats, along with accessories, are tough to beat, and comparing them to each other is not easy. I love all of these strollers for different reasons, and I do think there's a stroller in these lines for any family — if they're in your budget, which is a big if. These strollers are aspirational for many families, and if you can't afford them, worry not — there are so many reliable and affordable stroller options at so many price points. But if you're splurging on a loved one? We say "go for it."

While there is no clear winner for the double stroller picks, I will say that the Nuna Demi wins for the tall people among us, and the Vista wins at configurations and cargo basket. For single strollers, you get a slightly easier stroller for your money with the Nuna Mixx, but the Cruz has more overall compatibility with other accessories. For the travel stroller, I pick the Minu every time because I just think it's a better design and more useful overall.

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