Every Expert-Approved Affordable Infant Car Seat on This List is Under $200

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Car seats are a necessary item (they won't let you leave the hospital without one), but they can be really pricey. Finding a great affordable car seat may feel like a fantastical notion, but I promise you that they exist, and I will tell you all about them. They are the exclusively rear-facing car seats designed just for new babies, and they are made to be mobile, unlike convertible car seats which can be used in infancy, but they stay in the car. Infant car seats are the top choice for new parents because they're so convenient and safe.

I have been testing car seats for more than a decade, and I've tested dozens of infant car seats, convertible car seats, rotating car seats, and boosters, and my standards are exacting. When it comes to infant car seats, I am especially picky because this is often the first car seat that parents will ever interact with, and they are a learning curve as far as installation and use are concerned, so they need to be safe, convenient, and user-friendly.

The Best Affordable Infant Car Seats

• Best Overall: Chicco KeyFit 30 ClearTex Infant Car Seat and Base

• Easiest to Clean: Chicco KeyFit 30 Zip Air Infant Car Seat and Base

• Best for Bigger Babies: Graco SnugRide SnugFit 35 DLX Infant Car Seat

• Load Leg Included: Evenflo LiteMax DLX Infant Car Seat with FreeFlow Fabric
  

What to Consider

All of the car seats on this list are considered safe by the National Highway and Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) as well as the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC). That's the biggest point I want to stress. I'm not giving you a list of "good, but not great" car seats, all of these car seats have incredible safety mechanisms, they're made of high-quality materials, and they're just plain easy. Having crushed more than a few fingers in latches in my time testing car seats, and dropping more F-bombs than your average teenager playing Call of Duty, I am a very good judge of car seat installation.

The main things you need to consider with car seats are, height and weight limits, how much the seat weighs, how they install, and how they clean up. All four car seats on this list are compatible with various strollers, but because the adapters needed are so vast, I'm not including those as a key factor. (My queendom for universal adapters!)

• Height and Weight Limits: All the car seats on this list are for babies starting at 4 pounds, and they go up to 30 or 32 inches depending on the brand, and 30 to 35 pounds.

• Seat Weight: Babies are heavy enough on their own when you're carrying them all day, a super heavy car seat can be a real pain in the neck — literally.

• Installation: What kind of latch does it have? Does it have visual guides to let you know it's sitting properly? Does it have a load leg or anti-rebound bar? All important questions.

• Cleaning: How easy do the fabrics come off, and how do you clean them? Babies aren't notoriously the cleanest beings on planet Earth, so these bad boys will be taking their licks. You'll want to know how to get them clean.

How We Tested

I tested every car seat on this list in a 2013 Nissan Rogue and in a 2023 Volvo XC-90. I tested them with and without tiny, fresh humans. I cleaned them according to manufacturer instructions, with the base, and without. I tested them with latch installation and with belt installation. (But never both at the same time, as most car seats are actually less-safe if you do this.)

Every affordable infant car seat on this list performed exquisitely in all of these areas. In fact, the best overall pick on this list, is actually my best overall infant car seat, period. Regardless of price.

Some of the car seats I tested that didn't make the list, are the Baby Trend EZ Lift 35 Plus and the Century Carry-On 35. While they're decent infant car seats, they were not great on install, and the Century's fabrics do not come clean the way you'd want them. Also, I noticed that my tiny tester got really sweaty in the Century where he didn't in the others.

Read on to check out the four affordable infant car seats that I recommend.

KeyFit 30 ClearTex Infant Car Seat and Base

There is truly no other car seat that I like as much as this one. It's the easiest to install, it's light, easy to carry, easy to clean, and the insert is oh-so-soft and plush, yet very breathable. No swamp butt for your baby.

This one hasn't just been tested by me, this is the car seat I gift to family members having their first baby. There's really no learning curve involved because of all of the guides right on the seat itself. It has leveling indicators, and spring-load leveling that lets you get it right every time.

The latch isn't rigid, it's adjustable and flexible, and I love the clamp on the Chicco KeyFit 30. You can operate it even with a ridiculously long manicure. Plus, getting a second base for another car won't put you back a ton of cash.

The fabric, including the infant insert, is machine-washable, and really stain-resistant. There has been some gnarly happenings in this car seat, and you'd never know. No smell, no stains, just clean seat made of Greenguard Gold-certified fabrics.

The no-rethread harness and buckle don't require the strength of 10 men to operate, but they are very secure. The closures wipe-clean, and so do the straps, and you'll be doing that probably every day, and if we're honest, probably with baby wipes.

The canopy is UPF 50+ rated, and having hosed it off so many times, I can tell you that it is just as durable as the rest of the seat.

This is the number one car seat in the United States, and it's our number one as well.

More: The Best Strollers of 2023

KeyFit 30 Zip Air Infant Car Seat and Base

Everything I said about the KeyFit above is true for this one, but add in an even more breathable fabric that's even easier to remove. Yes, it costs a bit more to have that level of convenience, but when you consider that many car seats that are way harder to clean cost hundreds more than this one, I think you'll agree with me about the value of this car seat.

You also get a little warming muff with the KeyFit 30 Zip that you don't get with the standard, and I really love it. I thought it would be a superfluous addition to a great car seat, but it's genuinely wonderful. You can't put your baby in a car seat with a coat on, because then the straps don't fit properly, so babies can slip out in an accident, and bundling can be a pain. This gives you a little bit of extra warmth and protection for your baby.

The handle is the same on this model, but oddly, when you use the muff, it's easier to carry because it's softer when you inevitably bang the everloving crap out of your thighs and knees when you carry it. It cushions the blow, and after hours and hours of carrying kids like this? The joy of not having bruised thighs cannot be overstated.

SnugRide SnugFit 35 DLX Infant Car Seat

Safety advancements happen at a rapid pace for car seats, and for that, we're grateful. The Graco SnugRide was the car seat I used for my kids, and the differences between the SnugRide now, versus 12 years ago are mighty. The biggest innovation is the anti-rebound bar. That's the U-shaped bar you see in the front of the car seat. It works to redistribute the force of impact away from the baby. It would hit the car's seat, slowing the motion of the baby in the seat in the event of a crash.

The installation of the Graco SnugRide SnugFit GLX is almost as easy as the Chicco, there's a great "click" sound that you can hear and feel as you put the seat in its base. It has bubble-level indicators and five recline positions to ensure your baby is positioned properly. The flexible InRight latch's clamp is a bit more finicky than the Chicco, which is why I think it's just a hair shy of the Chicco as far as ease is concerned.

I like the feel of the fabrics of the Graco maybe a little more than on the Chicco, and it cleans just as well, but the fabric is a bit harder to get off over the no-rethread harness.

One thing I should mention is that if your family is tall or known for babies who are more generously-sized, this may be a better fit for you because the height limit is a whopping 32 inches and the weight limit is 35 pounds.

Another benefit of the Graco is that it is one of the car seats that fits the most strollers or at least is adaptable for the most strollers. That adds value all on its own.

LiteMax DLX Infant Car Seat with FreeFlow Fabric

Consumer Reports found in their research that car seats with a load leg performed extremely well in their safety tests. Evenflo's LiteMax DLX is a high-performing car seat with a load leg that doesn't pinch your budget.

What I loved, other than the safety aspect of this car seat is that the fabrics aren't just machine washable, they can also be put in the dryer on low heat. Talk about a win. That being said, the installation is easy, but the Evenflo's installation is the hardest on this list. The leveling indicators are color-based with red, green, and blue, and the adjustment of the recline of the base is done with a knob under the seat, which may confuse at first. Their instruction booklet is easy to follow, with pictures and maps, so even if it's a bit harder, it's not as hard as many others.

It has a no-rethread harness, the latch is flexible and not impossible to open and close. I love how easy a belt-install is on this seat. You can really feel it lock into place.

The fabric is structured so that there's a lot of airflow, which does end up making it feel a bit waffle-like, but it's still very soft, durable, and easy to care for. The UPF 50+ rated canopy is dense and thick, and I believe it's the best of this group. Live in a super-sunny area? This is the car seat for you.

And like the Graco, this car seat is made for tall and juicy babies from 4 to 35 pounds and 32 inches tall.

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