Portable Storage Container Companies in Utah and Colorado, Compared

Almost every portable storage comparison online is published by a national brand or by an affiliate site earning a commission on the lead. This one is written by the local operator. Every competitor detail below was read on 19 September 2026 from that company's own website, and where a company publishes no number, we say so rather than guess.

The short answer

Velox rents one container: an 8 by 16 foot all-steel unit, fully sealed and gasketed, with about 800 cubic feet of space inside. Like the national brands, we quote each job rather than post a rate card, because your county or distance, how long you keep the container and how many moves you need all change the total. There are always deals or discounts going on too, so request a quote; as a local company we usually come in under the national brands.

Sizes and pricing details as stated on each company's own website, read 19 September 2026. A blank rate is not our estimate of theirs. It means the company publishes none.

How portable storage pricing actually works

Nearly every portable storage quote has two parts: a monthly rate for the container, and a move fee every time a truck touches it. Delivery is one move. Final pickup is another. A relocation while the container is loaded, from an old house to a new one or from a driveway to a yard, is a third. Most of the confusion in this market comes from comparing one part of that structure while ignoring the other.

At Velox every quote has those same two lines: a monthly rate for the container and a move fee per move. The move fee is flat per county in Utah, and flat within 30 miles of our Brighton yard in Colorado with mileage charged beyond that. Storing the container at one of our lots costs nothing on top of the move fees, and every lot is gated and secured. The full structure is on our pricing page.

Now watch what promotions do to that structure. On the day we checked, the 1-800-PACK-RAT homepage offered "Use code SAVE50 for up to 50% off", UNITS of Salt Lake City offered "We are now offering 30% off your first month", and Go Mini's of Denver offered "FALL20 for 20% off your first month's rent". None of those three publishes the base rate the discount comes off, so none of them can be compared on price without a quote. A first-month discount also says nothing about months two through six, which is where most of the cost of a storage rental actually sits. Free delivery works the same way: it removes one move fee, usually the smaller part of the bill, and leaves the monthly rate and the pickup fee exactly where they were.

Velox vs PODS

PODS publishes three container sizes, 8 ft, 12 ft and 16 ft, listed as 8x7x8, 12x8x8 and 16x8x8 feet. It serves Salt Lake City and the Denver metro. It publishes no rate, on its national site or on its Salt Lake City page; pricing is quote-only.

On size, the PODS 16 ft container is in the same class as ours, and their 8 ft container is genuinely useful for a one or two room load, which is something we cannot match. Where we differ is what the container is and where it comes from: a fully sealed steel box delivered from our own yard by our own drivers. The real PODS advantages are three sizes and a national network that can carry a loaded container to another state. If either of those is what you need, PODS is the better call. More detail: PODS vs Velox in Utah.

Velox vs U-Haul U-Box

U-Box is the smallest container here by a wide margin. U-Haul publishes the dimensions: 95 by 56 by 83.5 inches, a 257 cubic foot capacity, up to 2,000 lbs. Ours is about 800 cubic feet inside, roughly three U-Boxes. U-Haul publishes no monthly U-Box rate on its U-Box pages.

U-Box genuinely wins on small long-distance moves. If you are a student, or moving a one-bedroom apartment from Provo to Portland, the U-Box nationwide reach and small unit size beat anything we offer, because we do not ship containers interstate. We win on a whole household staying inside Utah or the Denver metro: one steel container, one load, one flat local move fee, instead of three or four U-Boxes and the scheduling that comes with them. More detail: U-Haul U-Box vs Velox.

Velox vs UNITS

UNITS publishes two sizes nationally, a 12 ft and a 16 ft, both 8 ft wide and 8 ft tall and rated to 8,000 lbs, and it serves both Salt Lake City and Denver. It publishes no rate in either market. One detail worth knowing before you call: the UNITS Denver page lists only the 16 ft container, so the two-size choice advertised nationally is not necessarily the choice on offer locally. Their 16 ft unit is directly comparable to ours in size. The practical difference is who shows up: our own trucks from our own yards in Springville, Pleasant Grove and Brighton, and a quote from the owner rather than a call center.

Velox vs Go Mini's

Go Mini's publishes three sizes with capacities: 12 ft at 768 cubic feet, 16 ft at 1,024 cubic feet and 20 ft at 1,280 cubic feet. It operates in both Salt Lake City and Denver, and publishes no rate in either. Go Mini's has something we do not: a 20 ft container, which is meaningfully more space than ours. If you are trying to get a large house into a single unit, that is worth pricing. Their Salt Lake City page promises flat-rate pricing with no hidden fees, which is the right instinct. We quote the same way: one monthly rate plus a move fee per move, with nothing hidden.

Velox vs 1-800-PACK-RAT and Zippy Shell

1-800-PACK-RAT publishes three sizes with capacities: 8 ft at 404 cubic feet, 12 ft at 620 and 16 ft at 830. Zippy Shell belongs to the same company, alongside Storage Squad, and its site publishes neither sizes nor rates. Neither brand publishes a monthly rate. Their largest container, at 830 cubic feet, is about the same as our single unit (about 800 cubic feet inside), though their bodies are narrower than a full 8 feet: the 16 ft is listed at 7.75 ft wide by 7.5 ft tall. Their 8 ft unit, though, is the smallest option here apart from U-Box, and for a one-room load it is worth a quote.

Velox vs SMARTBOX

We could not verify much about SMARTBOX, and that is the finding. On 19 September 2026 its national site published no container sizes, no cubic footage, no rates and no service-area list, and we found no evidence of a Utah or Colorado location. If a SMARTBOX quote does land in front of you in either of our markets, hold it to the same two lines as everybody else: what is the monthly rate, and what does each move cost.

Velox vs a traditional self-storage unit

A self-storage unit is a different product, and sometimes it is the right one. If you already have a truck, live close to the facility and need somewhere to put things for a year, a drive-up unit can beat any container on this page on monthly cost. Rates vary so widely by facility and by month that we will not quote a number we have not verified.

What self-storage costs you is handling. You load a truck, drive it, unload into the unit, then do all of it again in reverse at the other end. A container is delivered to you, loaded once at ground level, and then either left where the work is or moved to one of our gated lots, where it costs nothing beyond the move fees. For a move, a remodel, a restoration job or a home build, that single-handling difference usually outweighs a lower monthly sticker. For long-term storage of things you never touch and can drive to, self-storage often wins outright.

Where the national brands genuinely win

Long-distance and interstate moves. PODS, U-Haul U-Box, UNITS, Go Mini's and 1-800-PACK-RAT can collect a loaded container in Utah and deliver it in another state. We cannot. Velox covers Utah County, the Salt Lake valley and the Denver metro, and delivers out to Southern Utah and St. George. If you are leaving the state, one of them is the right tool, and U-Box in particular is built for small interstate loads.

Multiple container sizes. PODS has three, Go Mini's three including a 20 ft larger than ours, 1-800-PACK-RAT three, UNITS two. We have one. If your load is genuinely small, a competitor's 8 ft or 12 ft container may cost less than our single size; if it is genuinely enormous, the Go Mini's 20 ft holds more. This is the clearest case against us and we would rather you heard it here than found it out later.

Nationwide footprint. A national brand has a call centre, an app and a depot in nearly every metro. Ours is a phone number that reaches the people who own the trucks: 801-362-9978 in Utah, 720-674-8777 in Denver, with yards in Pleasant Grove and Springville, Utah, and Brighton, Colorado. That suits some people and not others.

Frequently asked questions

What does a Velox container cost per month?

We quote each job. Every quote has two lines: a monthly rate for the container and a move fee for each move. Your county or distance, how long you keep it and how many moves you need change the total, and there are always deals or discounts going on, so ask for a quote rather than guessing from a rate card. See our pricing page for how the move fee is calculated in each market.

Is Velox cheaper than PODS?

Usually, in our markets, but we cannot prove it with their numbers, because PODS does not publish a rate anywhere we could find, and like them we quote each job. Get both quotes for the same address and the same dates, and compare the monthly rate and every move fee side by side.

Why does Velox offer only one container size?

Because one size keeps the fleet, the trucks and the pricing simple, and that is part of why the rate is what it is. It is a genuine trade-off. If you only need a room or two, a competitor's 8 ft or 12 ft container may well cost less than our 8 by 16.

Do I pay extra to store the container at your yard?

No. Storage at a Velox lot costs nothing beyond the move fee to bring it in and the move fee to take it back out. Every lot is gated and secured.

Can Velox move my container to another state?

No. We deliver across Utah County and the Salt Lake valley from our Pleasant Grove and Springville yards, across the Denver metro from our Brighton yard, and out to Southern Utah and St. George. For an interstate move, PODS, U-Box, UNITS, Go Mini's or 1-800-PACK-RAT is the right choice.

How big is one Velox container in practice?

It is an 8 by 16 foot steel container with about 800 cubic feet of space inside, fully sealed and gasketed, and it generally takes three to four rooms of furniture and boxes. See how it works for the delivery and loading process.

Can I trust your reviews?

Our Springville, Utah profile holds a 5.0 rating across 261 reviews. Our Denver location is newer and its profile is not yet verified, so we do not quote a Denver rating anywhere on this site.