We looked at customer reviews across major retailers like Amazon, U-Haul, and HomeDepot to find the most popular moving boxes for 2024. Read through our list to learn about top picks for small, medium, and large boxes, and the best options for specialty items. Or, if you’re trying to save money on your move, check out our tips to get boxes for free.
If you’re hiring a moving company, your mover might provide boxes as part of your packing fee, or sell you boxes at a discounted rate. Make sure you ask about packing supplies when you book.
👉 Jump to section: Best small | Best medium | Best large | Best for special items
Best moving boxes for 2024
| Box name | Price per box* | Average customer rating |
|---|---|---|
| ⭐ Best small: Home Depot Small Moving Box with Handles | $1.38 | 4.6 (13,238) |
| Lowe’s Small Box | $1.38 | 4.5 (4,427) |
| U-Haul Small Box | $1.89 | 4.5 (4,124) |
| ⭐ Best medium: Home Depot Medium Moving Box | $1.98 | 4.6 (13,238) |
| Medium Moving Boxes (Amazon) | $2.05 | 4.6 (5,490) |
| Classic Medium Cardboard Moving Box with Handle Holes | $1.98 | 4.5 (4,426) |
| ⭐ Best large: Large Cardboard Moving Box from Lowe’s | $2.48 | 4.5 (4,424) |
| Pen+Gear Large Recycled Moving and Storage Boxes | $2.06 | 4.4 (2,036) |
| U-Haul Large Moving Box | $3.10 | 4.5 (3,563) |
Best small moving boxes
Small moving boxes are a good fit for small appliances like toasters and other lighter items.
Top pick: Home Depot Small Moving Box with Handles
The Home Depot Small Moving Box with Handles is our top pick for small moving boxes. At $1.38 per box, it’s well priced and has received more positive reviews with higher ratings than the competition. It’s sturdy, easy-to-carry, and made with eco-friendly materials.
Dimensions: 17" x 11" x 11"
Price per box: $1.38
Runner-up: Lowe’s Small Box
The Lowe’s Small Box is a fantastic choice for your moving needs. We’ve selected it due to its great price and the positive feedback it has received from over 4,000 customers. It’s easy to carry, thanks to the handle holes.
Dimensions: 16" x 12" x 12"
Price per box: $1.38
Third place: U-Haul Small Box
The U-Haul Small Box is a solid pick for your moving needs. Despite being a bit pricier than its competitors, it’s highly rated by customers for its sturdiness, durability, and ease of carrying.
Dimensions: 16" x 12" x 12"
Price per box: $1.89
🚚 Looking for help with your move? Answer a few simple questions and get connected with a mover for FREE today.
Best medium moving boxes
Medium moving boxes can hold irregularly shaped items from around your home, like kitchenware and home decor.
Top pick: Home Depot Medium Moving Box
The Home Depot Medium Moving Box is a fantastic choice for your moving needs. It’s our top pick, boasting the most positive customer reviews. This box is perfect for packing light items such as clothes, kitchenwares, light decor, canned food, and books. We noticed some reviews from customers who complained that it wasn’t sturdy enough to handle heavy items, so opt for the Amazon boxes for a few more cents if you’re concerned about durability, or consider purchasing extra moving insurance if you have valuable items.
Dimensions: 18" x 14" x 12"
Price per box: $2.05
Runner-up: Medium Moving Boxes (Amazon)
The Medium Moving Boxes from Amazon are a fantastic choice for your next move. We picked these boxes because they’ve received rave reviews from customers for their sturdiness and reliability. These boxes come in bundles of 10 and can be shipped to any address in the U.S.
Dimensions: 21" x 15" x 16"
Price per box: $1.98
Third place: Classic Medium Cardboard Moving Box with Handle Holes
The Classic Medium Cardboard Moving Box with Handle Holes from Lowe’s offers great value for the price. On Lowes.com, this product has a high customer rating of 4.5 and over 4,000 reviews praising its sturdiness and reasonable price.
Dimensions: 18" x 16" x 18"
Price per box: $1.98
Best large moving boxes
Large moving boxes are essential for all of the big, bulky items in your home that you don’t want carelessly thrown in the back of a moving truck, like electronics and pots and pans.
Top pick: Large Cardboard Moving Box from Lowes
The Large Cardboard Moving Box from Lowes is a top pick for packing large items. With its slightly larger dimensions than the U-Haul Large box, it offers more space for your belongings. Customers have given it the best reviews overall, praising its sturdiness and ease of assembly.
Dimensions: 24" x 18" x 18"
Price per box: $2.48
Runner-up: Pen+Gear Large Recycled Moving and Storage Boxes
The Pen+Gear Large Recycled Moving and Storage Boxes are a fantastic choice for your moving needs. We picked these boxes because they offer great value for the price, being a full dollar cheaper than similar products from U-Haul. Despite the lower price, these boxes are sturdy and durable, with a good average rating from users.
Dimensions: 24" x 16" x 19"
Price per box: $2.06
Third place: U-Haul Large Moving Box
The U-Haul Large Moving Box is a fantastic choice for your moving needs. We picked this box because it’s not only large, measuring 18 x 18 x 24 inches, but it’s also sturdy and reliable. It’s a bit pricier than some other options, but according to reviews, the quality is worth the extra cost. Customers rave about its great size and the handy stay-open feature, which makes packing easier. These could be a great solution for long term storage since the uniform size and large capacity makes them easy to fill and stack in a storage unit.
Dimensions: 18" x 18" x 24"
Price per box: $3.10
Boxes for special items
These boxes are useful for big, bulky items like heavy winter coats and pillows, as well as breakable items like dishes.
Grand Wardrobe Moving Box
The Grand Wardrobe Moving Box from U-Haul is a good solution for moving winter gear and clothing that you might not want packed in a suitcase or stuff in a normal box. With dimensions of 24 x 21 x 48, the U-Haul box offers ample space to hang shirts, coats, and other items from your wardrobe . It’s priced at $19.95, which is significantly more than normal boxes, but it’s a great solution for packing up an entire closet. The box has a stellar rating of 4.5 stars from 473 reviews, indicating high customer satisfaction. Keep in mind that this box is available for in-store purchase only at Uhaul locations.
Dimensions: 24" x 21" x 48"
Price per box: $19.95
Heavy-Duty Medium Moving Box
The Heavy-Duty Medium Moving Box from The Home Depot is perfect for heavy items you wouldn’t want to place in an average moving box, including heavy fragile items like glassware. It’s also highly rated with a 4.6-star rating from over 13,000 reviews.
Dimensions: 21" x 15" x 16"
Price per box: $3.48
How to get free moving boxes
It’s usually easy to get free cardboard boxes from local stores or community groups if you don’t want to spend any money. Stores and individuals often give used boxes away for free. Keep in mind that it’ll be harder to get standard sizes this way, and used boxes probably won’t be in perfect shape.
- Visit a retail store: Stores usually have stacks of boxes that they throw out once products are unpacked. If you want sturdy boxes, try a liquor store. Most of their boxes are made to handle glass bottles.
- Check out Nextdoor or Facebook Marketplace: People give boxes away all of the time on community pages to get rid of them quickly and help make sure that someone else can get more use out of them before they end up in a landfill.
How we chose
Our goal was to find some of the most reliable and well-liked moving boxes online. We searched for moving boxes with a minimum of 300 customer reviews and an average rating of 4.0 or higher. All of our selections can easily be purchased online and, in some cases, in-store as well. We also factored in the latest price-per-box to identify affordable options in each category (small, medium, and large).
The Home Bay team created parts of this article with the assistance of an AI tool. AI allows us to update this page more frequently to ensure the information you’re seeing is up to date. Human reviewers are still essential to our process. Our team researched the companies, collected and analyzed the data, ranked the results, then used AI to assist in writing. We fact-checked and edited the text, as we do for all of our content. Learn more about our editorial policy.
