The Kit Keeper alternative for students with more than boxes to store
Kit Keeper is a well-regarded student storage service, and if your belongings fit neatly into cardboard boxes it does the job. But student life rarely packs that tidily: there is a bike, a desk chair, a monitor, a suitcase you cannot lift. YouStock collects all of it, straight from your room. Here is how the two compare for storing in London.
Both collect from you, so there is no van to hire
Neither service expects a student to rent a van or beg a favour from the one friend with a car. Kit Keeper sends you empty boxes, then a courier comes on a day you choose and takes your belongings to a storage facility. YouStock sends a team to your address, loads everything up and stores it for you.
Both are also built around the academic calendar, whether you are storing for a few weeks over Easter, the whole summer, or a full year abroad. So on the basic promise, someone else does the driving, the two agree. What they will actually take, and how far they will come to get it, is where they separate.
YouStock comes into your room, and takes more than boxes
Two limits are worth knowing about Kit Keeper before you book. First, it stores what fits in a box or a suitcase: nothing larger than 75 by 55 by 55 centimetres, nothing over 25 kilos, and no glass or breakable items. A bike, a desk chair or a small chest of drawers falls outside that. Second, its couriers cannot come into your room. Collection is from the ground-floor door or your reception, and having your things picked up from your own flat door costs an extra £45, where it is offered at all.
YouStock does neither. The team comes up to your room, does the lifting, and takes furniture as readily as boxes, from a bike to a desk to the contents of a full student room. Collection is free on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays right across London Zones 1 to 6, so nothing needs carrying down three flights before the storage even begins.
Both keep your belongings secure while you are away
Leaving everything you own with a company you found online is a leap of faith, particularly when you are about to be a thousand miles away for four months. Both services take that seriously.
Kit Keeper stores student belongings in secure facilities monitored around the clock by CCTV. YouStock keeps them in double-locked warehouses under 24/7 CCTV surveillance, and covers them with its insurance from the moment they are collected to the moment they come back. Two setups, the same principle: while you are on a beach or back home, your things are watched over and nobody else can get to them.
With YouStock, every item is photographed and visible in your account
Four months is a long time to remember which box you put your passport photocopy in, or whether the good headphones went into storage at all.
With YouStock, they are photographed. Every item is captured at collection and listed in your online account, so you can scroll through your belongings from your phone, know exactly what is in storage, and request a single item back rather than the lot. It turns a summer of vague worry into something you can just look at.
| YouStock | Kit Keeper | |
|---|---|---|
| Collection from your address | ✅ | ✅ |
| Team comes into your room and does the lifting | ✅ | ❌ |
| Stores furniture, bikes and bulky items as standard | ✅ | ❌ |
| Online photo inventory of every item | ✅ | ❌ |
| Secure, CCTV-monitored storage | ✅ | ✅ |
| Packing materials provided | ✅ | ✅ |
| Flexible from a few weeks to a full year | ✅ | ✅ |
YouStock or Kit Keeper: which suits your term?
Both were designed for students. Here is where each one leads.
Studying in Oxford, Durham or York, or shipping your things home to another country? Kit Keeper has that covered. Storing in London with a bike, a chair and more than you can carry downstairs? That is YouStock.
Students rate YouStock Excellent on Trustpilot
Move-out week is stressful enough. Here is what students and their parents say about how YouStock handles it.
Storage from £9.75 a week, free collection midweek, and a team that carries it all downstairs for you. Get an instant quote in under three minutes, or book a call if you would rather talk it through.
Comparing other storage options?
If Kit Keeper is one of several names on your list, these guides cover the rest:
YouStock vs Kit Keeper: FAQs
Not through its standard storage, which takes belongings in boxes or suitcases only, with nothing larger than 75 by 55 by 55 centimetres or heavier than 25 kilos. Kit Keeper does run separate services for bikes, instruments and sports kit. YouStock stores furniture, bikes, desk chairs and bulky items as part of the same service, so a full student room goes in one go.
With YouStock, yes: the team comes into your room and handles the lifting. Kit Keeper’s couriers cannot enter your room, and collect from the ground-floor door or your reception instead. It offers a doorstep collection from your own flat for an extra £45, and notes it is not available everywhere. If you live on the fourth floor with no lift, that is a difference worth weighing.
YouStock collects for free on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays across London Zones 1 to 6, with a transport charge on other days. Kit Keeper charges a collection fee of £45, plus £12.99 for the empty boxes it sends out. Delivery back to you is charged separately by YouStock, so factor in both legs when you compare.
With YouStock, yes, because every item is photographed and listed individually in your account, so you can request a single box or a single piece and leave the rest in storage. Kit Keeper returns your belongings when you ask, with at least three working days’ notice, and does not offer an item-level photo inventory.
Both work for a year away. Kit Keeper can ship your belongings internationally, which is useful if you are moving to another country for good. YouStock stores everything while you are gone and delivers it back to your London address, or a new one if you have moved, and also runs storage facilities in France, Belgium and Monaco.
Kit Keeper works across UK university cities including Oxford, Cambridge, York, Durham and Sheffield, as well as London, which is a real strength if you are not in the capital. YouStock’s student storage is London-based, covering Zones 1 to 6.
Both are flexible. Kit Keeper covers everything from a few days to a full year. YouStock has no minimum commitment either, whether you need a few weeks over Easter or the entire summer, with bigger discounts on longer stays.