The data behind the prices

Summary you can quote

• Locker storage units (under 2 m²) at the Melbourne sites we cover: median $61 a month; median 6-month total $353 with offers; 31 units, 13 sites; checked 9 November 2026. Source: StorageCheck, https://storagecheck.com.au/data.
• Small storage units (2–5 m²) at the Melbourne sites we cover: median $109 a month; median 6-month total $604 with offers; 244 units, 77 sites; checked 9 November 2026. Source: StorageCheck, https://storagecheck.com.au/data.
• Medium storage units (5–10 m²) at the Melbourne sites we cover: median $192 a month; median 6-month total $1,013 with offers; 277 units, 80 sites; checked 9 November 2026. Source: StorageCheck, https://storagecheck.com.au/data.
• Large storage units (10–20 m²) at the Melbourne sites we cover: median $354 a month; median 6-month total $1,955 with offers; 312 units, 79 sites; checked 9 November 2026. Source: StorageCheck, https://storagecheck.com.au/data.
• Extra large storage units (20 m² +) at the Melbourne sites we cover: median $750 a month; median 6-month total $4,125 with offers; 68 units, 27 sites; checked 9 November 2026. Source: StorageCheck, https://storagecheck.com.au/data.

Using this data

Our summaries and totals are yours to reuse under CC BY 4.0: credit “StorageCheck” and link this page. The prices themselves are the operators' advertised prices on the date shown; the operator's price on the day you book is the one that counts.

Suburb and council boundaries and suburb postcodes: © Australian Bureau of Statistics, CC BY 4.0. Map positions for some sites: G-NAF © Geoscape Australia, CC BY 4.0. Map listings of sites without prices, and some positions: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.

How it is kept up to date

Each operator's pages are read again once a week; every price carries the date it was read, and a site whose own page says it is closed is marked so and left out of rankings. If a price here does not match the operator's page, the operator's page is the one that counts; the next weekly read picks up the change, noting the date.

Indexed pages: suburbs with at least 3 open sites with published prices within 10 km, and facility pages with published unit prices. Facility pages that only quote by form are not indexed.

Coverage

Covered: National Storage (the unit prices and offers each Melbourne centre page shows (a few sizes per centre, read in a browser that stops at any security check), gate and office hours; terms from its storage agreement and insurance page); StoreLocal (unit prices, offers and gate hours from each location page); Wilson Storage (sites, office hours and the "From" price each page states; unit prices only by its quote form); Public Self Storage (unit prices and offers from each site's reservation page); Fort Knox Self Storage (unit prices and offers from each location's booking widget; terms from its FAQ, terms page and the standard agreement it links); Roomia (unit prices from the booking widget of each of its Victorian sites; terms from its offer terms, lease and refund policy); Troon Self Storage (unit prices and offers from each location page; terms from its FAQ); Storage Box Self Storage (unit prices from its Altona booking widget; it publishes no terms); Store It Cheap (unit prices from its Campbellfield price page; terms from its FAQ).

No prices for: Kennards Self Storage: its website stops automated reading with a security check, and we stop there; Storage King: its store pages stop automated reading, and unit prices come only after a quote form; Big Storage: we found no website for it; Independent sites: most give prices only by quote or phone, and some we have not read yet.

Method

Prices are read from each operator's own pages, slowly and within their robots.txt; we stop at any block page or human check. Operators who prefer not to be read can tell us at [email protected] and we will list them from public directories only. Each price is copied as published, with the page address and the time it was read; we do not round, estimate or fill gaps, so a site that only publishes an introductory price shows its ongoing rate as “not published”. Each unit keeps its first and latest sighting, and each weekly check records whether the price was unchanged, changed, not listed, or the page could not be read. Totals follow one rule. Sizes follow one rule. AI is used only to put operator page text into one standard, never for prices, and every AI line keeps the operator's words.

How sites are ranked

A suburb's results are ordered by what the whole stay costs for the size you choose: the total for the months you pick (6 unless you change it). By default a nearer site comes first unless a further one saves more than $15 for each extra km, about the cost of the extra driving over a stay; units open only in business hours, or whose offer the operator's own terms disagree on, come after the rest. You can sort by the lowest total, distance, the monthly rate after the offer, the first-month price or the rate per square metre instead. If you ask for drive-up or business use, the default is the rate per square metre instead.

Every site we cover in the area that has your size, or publishes no prices, is listed; sites with prices but no unit of that size are left out. Sites without prices appear below the ranked list with what their own page says.

How totals are worked out

The total is the advertised offer price for the months the offer runs, then the advertised standard rate for the rest of your stay. How long an offer runs comes from the operator's own booking data where it publishes it, otherwise from the offer's wording (“Three Months” is three). An offer that doesn't say how long it runs is counted as one month, and the page says so.

If an operator bills every 4 weeks, we count the 4-week bills your stay runs into, rounded up: a 12-month stay is 14 bills, not 12. If an offer needs a minimum stay, we cost both the offer over that minimum and your stay at the standard rate, and show the cheaper. Where an operator offers a discount for paying ahead, we use it when it is cheaper, without any other offer, and say so on the row. One-off fees are added only when the operator publishes the amount. Fees its terms mention without an amount are listed as “not published”, never estimated. Insurance is never added: it is often optional, and your home and contents policy may already cover storage.

The total assumes you give notice on time and the advertised rates hold. Where an operator refunds only whole months, giving notice late can cost one more month; each site's page quotes its refund and notice terms. When you compare sites side by side for 7 months or more, the comparison also shows what each total would be if the rate rose 10% from month 7. That 10% is an illustration of the effect of a rise, not a forecast.