How we rank

The finder adds the points below from the checked limits, then sorts. When two scores match, the carrier with more of weight, age, price, and positions checked comes first, then the English name. Those tie-breakers are not added to the score.

Affiliate links, photos, brand IHDI wording, and sale flags are not part of the score. An active recall is left out of every search. That is a safety rule. A comfort tick can add a small boost when a sourced statement supports it. Other parent opinions do not change the score. The remaining filters are labels drawn after the order exists. The results page scores once. Changing a filter does not ask the questions again.

With no age, weight, budget, type, position, or comfort tick, every eligible carrier scores zero. More complete records come first. That order is documentation coverage, not quality. The list shows 5 unless you ask for the rest.

A discontinued listing is omitted from results. The model page stays up with a notice. A record needs a checked type and a checked weight or age before it can be scored. If you set a budget other than “any”, a missing list price is left out. It is not treated as a match.

Country never changes the score. It only filters and labels. Available means you can buy it there, online or in a shop: the brand’s shop or a major retailer that delivers there. That listing stays in the list. If we did not find a shop that delivers there, the carrier is left out, and the model page says so. “Not yet checked” stays in the list and is labelled. “Somewhere else” skips the lookup.

Clearer fits and weaker matches

When you have given an age, a weight, a budget, a type, a position, or a comfort need, some carriers are still inside a stated limit but are a weaker match. They are listed after every clearer fit, even if their point total is higher.

• Close to the top of the stated weight range, or above the weight the maker says works best, is a weaker match. Being close to the minimum is not. A typical newborn just above the starting weight still counts as a fit.
• A missing list price is a weaker match. You can still open the page. It does not outrank a carrier whose price has been checked.
• A carrier the maker says is not hands-free does not get newborn points, and it is a weaker match in any search. It is listed after every clearer fit, even if its point total is higher. A hands-free status that has not been checked is not treated as a no.
• An independent test that disputes newborn fit also blocks newborn points and makes a weaker match. BabyBjörn Harmony and Cybex Coya are in that group because of the 2026 VKI test with Stiftung Warentest.

With no age, weight, budget, type, position, comfort, or hands-free tick, this split is not used. That list is only about how much has been checked.

What can leave a carrier out

A carrier is left out only for a safety limit or for a filter you set yourself. Safety limits are the stated weight range, the stated age range, a newborn search when the checked minimum is 1 month or later, and an active recall. Filters you set are the carrier type, the budget band, the country (when we did not find a shop that delivers there), and hands-free when you tick it. Hands-free leaves out only a carrier the maker says is not hands-free. If that line has not been checked, the carrier stays. The optional result filters, such as brand or sourced opinions, narrow the list after the score.

A missing carry position does not leave the carrier out. A comfort need the maker does not mention does not leave the carrier out.

Carry positions and use

Front, back, hip, facing out, easy on and off, quick trips, and all day are ticks you can combine. They share one pool of 12 points. Covering 2 of 4 selected positions is 6 points. The card lists what is covered and what is not.

Front, back, hip, and facing out count when the checked position list says so. “Front” with no facing direction counts as Front. It does not count as facing out. If the maker states a minimum age or weight for a position, and the age band ends before that age or the weight you entered is outside that range, that position is not covered. The carrier stays. Easy on and off, quick trips, and all day count only when a sourced review says so. We have not timed them, and carrier type does not add those points.

Comfort

Back or shoulder pain, hot climate, different-sized carers, and after a C-section never remove a carrier because the maker is silent. Each one adds 4 points only when a sourced statement supports it. The same 4 points apply whether the maker’s page states a suitable spec or an independent review says it. Two statements about the same need do not stack. A marketing line, such as a hip seat’s back-pain slogan, is shown as “Maker says” and adds no points. It cannot by itself put that carrier first.

Every selected comfort need has its own line on the result: “Maker says suitable”, “Maker says …” for a marketing line, “Independent review says…”, with a link, or “No information found”. Hot climate uses the maker’s line when mesh is a checked fact. Otherwise it uses a review that describes breathable fabric or warm-weather use. Nothing in the catalogue currently has a sourced statement about use after a C-section, so that line reads “No information found” and adds no points. This is not medical advice.

Budget currency

Symbols are US$, £, €, and A$. When the brand’s own store has a price in the currency you picked, the card shows that price as printed, including “on sale” when a struck-through regular price was recorded. If that currency was not on the store, the card uses one line such as “About £56 (converted from US$75 at the ECB rate of 20 Oct 2026)”. The budget switch is euros, pounds, or US dollars, and it starts from the country you live in. Italy, Germany, France and Spain start on euros. The UK starts on pounds. The United States, and “somewhere else”, start on US dollars. The same European Central Bank reference rates of 20 Oct 2026 are used for the budget band: €1 = US$1.1215, £0.84028, and A$1.6056. That is not a shop rate. A brand-store price in your currency is not converted.ECB reference rates.

What the form is asking

• Age can stay on “Not sure”. Weight is optional. A weight outside 0.5–40 kg is ignored.
• Carrier type defaults to “Help me choose”.
• Country is required. It filters the list and never adds points.
• Budget defaults to any. The currency switch starts from your country, and you can change it to euros, pounds, or US dollars. Another currency is converted at the European Central Bank rate of 20 Oct 2026. An unchecked price is left out of a narrower band.
• Carry positions share one pool of points. A partial match stays in the list.
• Comfort adds 4 points only from a sourced statement, and never removes a carrier on its own.
• The last step filters the finished list. It does not add points. Brand IHDI wording is the maker’s phrase, not a certification and not the partner list. “Has sourced parent opinions” keeps a model only when there are enough independent opinions. An active recall is already left out. The “no active recall” tick still asks for a checked clear status, and none of the current records have that check, so the tick matches nothing. On sale stays off because there is no live sale feed. A recorded struck-through price is labelled on the carrier and is not that filter.