The Butterfly2 is Bugaboo’s cabin-bag stroller. It weighs 7.3 kg and folds in one second with one hand, to a package of 23 x 45 x 54 cm. Nothing in our Australian price survey lists it on its own. The two ways to buy it here are bundled: $938 with the Stardust Plus travel cot, or $1,137 with the Bugaboo Turtle by Nuna capsule and the car seat adapters included. If you fly with a baby more than twice a year, or you park in a car space that makes a full-size pram a negotiation, this is the shape of stroller you are looking at.
One thing to state before the numbers. The Butterfly2 does not carry a Bench Score. It was not scored in this round of the pram bench, and we will not attach a number to it that our scoring did not produce. Every score quoted in this review belongs to a rival that was scored, cited exactly as it appears in the full prams order of merit. Read this as a specification assessment of the Butterfly2 against scored competition, not as a ranking of it.
What it is, and what it costs
Bugaboo sells this as a travel stroller and the spec sheet does not pretend otherwise. The frame carries a child to 22 kg. The seat has multiple recline positions from fully upright to what the listing calls an almost fully flat recline, which is careful wording and worth reading as such. Suspension is fitted all round on puncture-proof wheels of 12 cm at the front and 15 cm at the rear. The underseat basket takes 8 kg, which is generous for the class. The harness is a quick-click five-point.
Prices here are as at 30 July 2026, lowest listed Australian retail. The $938 travel cot bundle is the cheaper entry, though you are paying for a Stardust Plus cot you may not want. The $1,137 capsule bundle is the one that makes the Butterfly2 usable from birth, because it brings the Turtle capsule and the adapters into the box.
There is a discrepancy in the listings you should know about. The capsule bundle describes the stroller as suitable from birth to approximately 48 months. The travel cot bundle describes the same stroller as suitable from 6 months up to 22 kg. Those are two different products in practice. Until Bugaboo’s Australian listings agree with each other, treat the Butterfly2 as a from-six-months seat and budget for the capsule if you need it from day one. That reading costs you nothing if the more generous listing turns out to be right, and it saves you an expensive surprise if it does not.
The case for it
The fold is the argument. One second, one hand, self-standing when folded, and a package of 23 x 45 x 54 cm that Bugaboo states is IATA-compatible for air travel. Put that against the Bugaboo Dragonfly, the same maker’s city pram, which folds to 36 x 52 x 90 cm. The Dragonfly’s folded package is almost exactly three times the volume of the Butterfly2’s. That is the difference between a stroller that lives in the overhead locker and one that lives in the hold, and between a boot you can still put a pram in and a boot that is now the pram’s.
At 7.3 kg it is light enough to carry up a flight of stairs at a train station without planning the manoeuvre first. The 8 kg basket is the quiet win. Travel strollers usually pay for their fold with storage, and 8 kg is the same figure the Joolz Aer2 publishes and 3 kg more than the Cybex Coya manages. You will notice that on a shopping run.
Suspension all round with puncture-proof rubber is more running gear than this class normally gets. Most cabin-bag strollers give you hard wheels and a firm ride and ask you to accept it as the cost of the fold. Bugaboo has not, at least on paper.
The case against it
The seat is where the compromise lives. An almost fully flat recline is not a lie-flat recline, and Bugaboo has chosen its words with care. The Cybex Coya, at $799 and 6.6 kg, publishes an ergonomic lie-flat recline and a from-birth rating without qualification. If your newborn does most of their sleeping in the pram, that distinction matters more than the fold does.
The wheels are small. Twelve centimetres at the front and 15 cm at the rear is city footpath equipment. Suspension improves what small wheels do, it does not change what they are. Take this onto grass or gravel and you will be lifting the front end. For context, our all-terrain pick, the Thule Urban Glide 3 Black Pram, runs 16 inch air-filled tyres and scores 9.5 for push and wheels. Nothing in this class comes close and the Butterfly2 does not try to.
Then there is what you actually pay. Because the Butterfly2 has no standalone listing in our survey, the cheapest route to one is $938 with a travel cot attached. That puts the entry price within $41 of the Bugaboo Dragonfly, which carries a Bench Score of 7.9, and $139 above a Cybex Coya you can buy on its own. Bundling is fine when you want both items. When you want one, it is a price rise with a bow on it.
Finally, service. Bugaboo’s Australian parts and service position is the same one that holds the Donkey and Dragonfly ranges to 7.5 for AU parts and service across our scored table. It is not bad. It is not the 9.0 that Australian-based Babyhood posts, and on a stroller you intend to take through airports repeatedly, the wait for a replacement wheel or a canopy clip is a real cost.
How it compares
Joolz Aer2 Stroller + Aer2 Bassinet, $1,058. The closest thing to a direct rival, and it holds our Best for travel award with a Bench Score of 7.7. It is 6.5 kg against the Butterfly2’s 7.3 kg, and its IATA-compliant fold of 44 x 53 x 23.5 cm works out within about two per cent of the Butterfly2’s folded volume. Practically, the two pack the same. What separates them is the box: the Joolz price includes a 4 kg bassinet, so you get a newborn sleeping surface without buying a capsule bundle. It scores 9.5 for fold and footprint, the highest in the field, against 6.5 for push and wheels and 6.5 for AU parts and service. That last figure is the lowest of the three rivals here.
Cybex Coya Travel Stroller, $799. Bench Score 7.4. The cheapest of the three rivals here, 6.6 kg, carry-on friendly, and rated from birth to approximately 4 years with a lie-flat recline. It scores 9.0 for fold and footprint. The catch is in the same two places every time: 6.5 for push and wheels on front-only suspension, and a 5 kg basket that is 3 kg down on both the Butterfly2 and the Joolz. If the stroller’s job is airports and hotel lobbies, the Coya does it for $139 less than the cheapest Butterfly2 bundle. If it is also doing the weekly shop, it will not.
Bugaboo Dragonfly Pram, $979. Bench Score 7.9, and our Best city fold. This is the honest internal comparison, because a lot of buyers looking at the Butterfly2 should be looking at this instead. The Dragonfly is 9.9 kg with a reversible fully reclining seat rated from birth, a 10 kg basket, full suspension, and a one-hand compact fold that keeps the seat attached. It outscores both travel strollers here. You give up the cabin bag: 36 x 52 x 90 cm folded is going in the boot, not the locker. Buy the Dragonfly if you push a pram every day and fly twice a year. Buy the Butterfly2 if that ratio runs the other way.
Where the Australian value option sits
Babyhood, this publication’s owner’s agency client, does not build a competitor to the Butterfly2 and we are not going to pretend it does. What it builds is the cheap end of the compact class. The Babyhood Air Compact Stroller Black is $499, holds our Best under $500 award, and scores 7.2 overall with 8.5 for fold and footprint. It has an assisted auto fold on a powder-coated aluminium frame weight-tested to 22 kg, with a newborn-ready recline and capsule compatibility.
It is not the Bugaboo’s equal and the sub-scores say so plainly: 6.0 for push and wheels on high-density EVA tyres, 6.5 for build and materials. The Butterfly2’s rubber wheels and all-round suspension are a better piece of engineering. Where the Babyhood wins is the two things travel strollers usually cost you most on. It posts 9.0 for AU parts and service, the equal highest in the entire pram field, and it costs $439 less than the cheapest Butterfly2 bundle. If the compact fold is the whole reason you are shopping and $938 is not a number you want to see, that is the pram to look at instead.
For completeness, the leader of this category is neither of them. Our Best overall goes to the UPPAbaby Vista V3 Pram + Bassinet at $1,499 with a Bench Score of 9.0, a full-size pram that answers a different question entirely.
Verdict
The Butterfly2 is a well-resolved piece of travel kit with two problems that are not really its fault and one that is. The fold is genuinely excellent and the 8 kg basket is better than the class norm. The small wheels and the qualified recline are the price of admission for anything that folds this small. What we would push back on is the way it reaches the Australian market. A stroller you can only buy attached to a travel cot or a capsule is a stroller with an artificial floor under its price, and at $938 that floor sits above rivals that score higher and come complete.
If you want the smallest good pram, the Joolz Aer2 Stroller + Aer2 Bassinet at $1,058 holds our Best for travel award on a Bench Score of 7.7, and it includes the bassinet. If you want the best pram Bugaboo sells at around $1,000, the Bugaboo Dragonfly Pram at $979 scores 7.9 and takes Best city fold. If the budget is the constraint, the Babyhood Air Compact Stroller Black at $499 scores 7.2 and holds Best under $500. The Butterfly2 is the one to buy when the aircraft locker is the specification that decides everything, and you have accepted the bundle price to get there.
Assessed on specification, 30 July 2026. Prices are lowest listed Australian retail as at that date. The Butterfly2 has not been assigned a Bench Score.
Disclosure: The Baby Bench is owned by Xpand Digital, which provides marketing services to Babyhood. Babyhood and Kaylula products are assessed and scored on the same published criteria as every other product in the field, and are named only where the scores support it.
Evidence record
Sources checked
Product specifications, claims and Australian pricing were checked against the following sources for this assessment. Prices and availability can change after publication.