How Much Does Storage Cost In Manchester?
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A small 25 sq ft storage unit in Manchester costs around £9 a week, or about £40 a month, going by the prices storage companies across the city were publishing when we checked in October 2026.
A 100 sq ft unit, which is roughly what you'd need for the contents of a two or three bedroom house, averages about £23 a week.
Before you book anything, it's worth knowing that most of those headline prices are introductory offers. Half price for the first eight weeks is common in Manchester, so the figure on the website often isn't what you'll be paying by week nine.
And if what you need to store is a dozen boxes rather than a houseful of furniture, a whole unit might not be the cheapest way to do it.
With The Box Co., storage starts from £3.56 per box per month and we collect from your door, so ten boxes cost £35.60 a month and there's no van to hire.
If you want to explore this as an option, get in touch with the team for a free quote.
We've put together current prices from Manchester storage companies, what they look like once the offer runs out, and an honest look at when paying per box saves you money and when it doesn't.
How Much Does A Storage Unit Cost In Manchester?
Most Manchester storage companies are advertising 25 sq ft units from around £7.50 to £10 a week, 50 sq ft units from about £12.50 to £17.50, and 100 sq ft units from £22 to £26.
Prices move with demand and availability, so treat these as a snapshot from 7 October 2026 rather than a fixed price list.
Manchester Storage Prices Compared
| Storage company | 25 sq ft | 50 sq ft | 100 sq ft | What the price is |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storage Manchester (Denton) | £7.50/wk | £12.50/wk | £22/wk | 50% off for the first 8 weeks |
| Self Storage Tameside | £10/wk | £16/wk | £26/wk | Price for the first 8 weeks |
| Storage World | £10/wk (£44/mo) | £17.50/wk (£75/mo) | £22/wk (£94.60/mo) | Average price when availability is good |
| Big Yellow Manchester | Online quote | Online quote | Online quote | From £5.55/wk for a 5 sq ft room, including discount |
| Safestore Cheetham Hill | Online quote | Online quote | Online quote | 50% off for up to 8 weeks |
| Ready Steady Store | Online quote | Online quote | Online quote | From £5.50/wk for locker space |
*Note, these are snapshots from October 2026 and are subject to change.
Average Storage Prices In Manchester By Unit Size
| Unit size | Roughly holds | Average per week | Average per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 sq ft | A studio flat, or around 40 boxes | £9.17 | £39.72 |
| 50 sq ft | A one or two bedroom flat | £15.33 | £66.44 |
| 100 sq ft | A two or three bedroom house | £23.33 | £101.11 |
These averages are based on the three companies above that publish a full price list, and most of their prices are introductory rates, so think of them as what you'd pay for the first couple of months.
Monthly figures are the weekly price multiplied by 52 and divided by 12. If you're curious how Manchester sits against the rest of the country, our UK storage statistics show how prices compare nationally.
What Do You Pay Once The Introductory Offer Ends?
At most Manchester sites, roughly double. Half-price deals for the first eight weeks are running at Safestore, Storage Manchester and Self Storage Tameside, among others, so the price that catches your eye usually isn't the one you'll be paying for most of your stay.
Here's what that looks like over six months for a 25 sq ft unit at Storage Manchester, which costs £7.50 a week for the first eight weeks and £15 a week after that.
| Period | Weekly price | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1 to 8 | £7.50 | £60 |
| Weeks 9 to 26 | £15.00 | £270 |
| Six months in total | £12.69 on average | £330 |
£12.69 a week is still a fair price for the space, but it's nearly 70% more than the headline figure. If you're storing for a summer between tenancies, or for a few months while a house sale goes through, work out the total for the time you'll actually need rather than comparing weekly prices side by side.
Some companies give you other ways to bring the cost down, like a first month for £1 or a discount for paying upfront. Storage Manchester, for example, takes 5% off if you pay six months in advance and 10% off if you pay for twelve.
Whoever you book with, these are the questions we'd always ask first:
What's the full weekly rate once the offer ends? Am I billed weekly, monthly or every four weeks? How much notice do I need to give before moving out? Is there a minimum stay?
With The Box Co., there's no minimum term and you can add or take out boxes as you go, so you aren't committing to a unit size or an end date before you know what you need.
Get in touch with the team for a free quote.
How Much Storage Space Do You Actually Need?
Usually less than people expect. A 25 sq ft unit is about the size of a small garden shed and will take around 40 boxes, so if you've got ten boxes and a suitcase, most of what you're paying for is empty floor.
As a rough guide, based on Storage Manchester's size guide:
10 sq ft: 10 to 15 boxes, suitcases or the contents of a student room
25 sq ft: the contents of a studio flat, or around 40 boxes
50 sq ft: a large one bedroom or small two bedroom flat
100 sq ft: the contents of a two to three bedroom house
The most useful thing you can do before booking anything is count your boxes and jot down any furniture.
That number decides whether a unit or per-box storage works out cheaper, and if you're struggling to picture it, our storage calculator will give you a rough idea of how much space it all takes up.
How Much Does Storage By The Box Cost In Manchester?
With The Box Co., storage starts from £3.56 per box per month. That includes collecting your things from your door and £100 of cover for each box, there's no minimum term, and the price is the same whether you're in a flat off Deansgate or a semi in Chorlton.
The idea is that you don't have to organise the move into storage yourself. Instead of picking a unit, hiring a van and losing a Saturday to loading and unloading it, you pack your things, book a collection slot online and we come and pick everything up. When you want something back, we bring it to your door.
The monthly price covers:
- Collection from anywhere in Manchester
- Transport to storage
- £100 of cover per box
The one extra worth knowing about is the return. If you want your things delivered to an address more than 20 miles from where we collected them, there's a surcharge per mile of the total distance, which only really comes into play if you're moving out of the area.
Because you're paying for boxes rather than floor space, the cost goes up and down with what you store:
| Boxes stored | Per month (prices from) | Over six months (prices from) |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | £17.80 | £106.80 |
| 10 | £35.60 | £213.60 |
| 15 | £53.40 | £320.40 |
| 20 | £71.20 | £427.20 |
It tends to work best for people with a small amount to store and no easy way of moving it. If you're at the University of Manchester or Manchester Met and heading home for the summer, student storage between tenancies saves you taking everything home and bringing it all back up again in September.
And if you're in an apartment in Ancoats or the Northern Quarter, it saves you trying to load a hired van with nowhere to park outside.
You can read more about how storage by the box works, or have a look at our page on storage in Manchester with collection included.
Only storing a few boxes? Get a quote and we'll collect them from your door.
Is Paying Per Box Cheaper Than Renting A Unit?
For a small number of boxes, yes. Once you're past about 20 boxes for six months, a unit usually works out cheaper, even after you've paid to get your things there and back.
Going back to the Storage Manchester example, a 25 sq ft unit costs £330 over six months once the introductory weeks are done. You then need to get your things there and home again. A small van from Salford Van Hire costs £58.80 including VAT for a day, so a day to move in and a day to move out adds £117.60 before fuel, which brings the total to about £448.
Storing by the box over the same six months costs £213.60 for 10 boxes, £320.40 for 15 and £427.20 for 20. So per box comes out cheaper up to around 20 boxes once van hire is included.
A unit usually makes more sense if you're storing furniture or the contents of a whole flat or house, if you need to get to your things regularly to swap stock or seasonal bits, or if you're storing for a long time and can pay several months upfront for a discount.
Per-box storage usually makes more sense if you've got a few boxes, suitcases or a student room's worth of things, you don't have a car or anywhere to park a van, and you only need things back now and then.
You don't have to change company if you need more space, either. We can also arrange a whole storage unit, or container storage for furniture and bulky items in a half or full container, collected from your door in the same way.
For a fuller breakdown, see our guide to whether paying per box is cheaper than renting a storage unit.
What Else Should You Budget For?
The weekly price for a self-storage unit usually covers the space and not much else, so check what's included before you start comparing quotes.
Insurance or contents cover: usually charged on top of the unit price. At Big Yellow, £4,000 of cover starts from £6.25 a week, which on a small unit can be as much as the introductory price of the unit itself.
A padlock: normally bought on the day if you don't bring your own.
Van hire and fuel: around £58.80 a day for a small van from Salford Van Hire, plus fuel, unless the site includes free van hire or collection.
Getting things back: the trip home costs the same as the trip there.
Your time: a day packing the van and unloading into the unit, plus a return visit every time you need something.
With The Box Co., collection and £100 of cover per box are already in the £3.56 monthly price, so the main thing to budget around is how many boxes you're storing.
If storage is part of a bigger move, our guide to the average cost of moving house in the UK covers the other costs worth allowing for, and our page on storing without hiring a van explains how collection works.
Is Storage Cheaper Outside Manchester City Centre?
Often, yes. Big Yellow's Manchester store, close to the city centre, is currently advertising its smallest 5 sq ft room from £5.55 a week, while its Stockport store off the M60 offers the same size from £3.90, both including their introductory discount. A few of the lower prices in our table are also from sites outside the centre, in Denton and Tameside.
The catch is getting there. A unit half an hour's drive away costs you fuel and an hour of your day every time you need your winter coat or a box of paperwork, and if you don't have a car, the cheaper unit can quickly become the more expensive one.
With per-box storage, the distance to the storage site doesn't come into it, because you pay the same per box wherever you are and your things come back to you. We collect right across Greater Manchester, including Stockport, Trafford and Bury.
Tell us roughly what you've got, whether that's ten boxes or a flat's worth of furniture, and we'll quote for per-box storage or a unit, with collection from anywhere in Manchester included.
Sources
Prices were checked on 7 October 2026. Storage prices change often, so check with each company for a current quote.
