Last reviewed and updated: 29 September 2026
Home lift types compared · 29 lifts · prices checked 29 September 2026
We sorted the 29 home lifts sold in the UK by how they move. The type that Checkatrade and Home Lift UK price highest is the one with the cheapest lifts on sale. Checkatrade puts a traction home lift at £28,000 to £33,000. The ten rope and drum lifts we checked have published prices from £13,000 to £19,995.
The short answer
- Two floors, a normal ceiling, a plug-in lift: a rope or drum (traction) through-floor lift. Ten models, published prices from £13,000 ex VAT to £19,995.
- Two floors and a heavier user: a hydraulic through-floor lift from Terry or Wessex. They carry 250 to 325 kg but most climb at 0.06 m/s and all need a dedicated electrical supply. Neither maker publishes a price.
- Three floors or more: a screw-driven shaft lift (Aritco, Cibes, SWIFT; 2 to 6 floors, from £18,000) or a vacuum lift (PVE; 2 to 5 stops, from £29,500). None of the 16 through-floor lifts serves more than two floors.
- Low upstairs ceiling: rule out vacuum first. It needs 2,700 mm upstairs, or 2,470 mm with a split head unit.
The four home lift types side by side
Every UK home lift is moved by one of four drives. The table groups the 29 lifts in our data by the drive each maker names, then gives the range of published figures for that group. Where a cell names one lift, it is the only one in the group that publishes the figure.
| Rope or drum (traction) | Hydraulic | Screw and nut (shaft or platform) | Vacuum (pneumatic) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lifts in our data | 10: Stiltz Duo+ and Trio+, Lifton DUO and TRIO, Stannah Uplifts S2 and S3, Savaria Luma, Companion Cygnus, Aurora and Stratus | 6: Terry Harmony, Harmony FE, Lifestyle and Affinity, Wessex VM and VE | 10: Aritco HomeLift, Compact and Access, Cibes A4000, Air, A5000, Cloud Plus and C1 Pure, SWIFT Pro and Lite | 3: PVE30, PVE37 and PVE52 |
| How it moves | A motor winds a rope or drum in the car, which runs on its own rails. Stiltz calls it a “roped drum, braked gear motor drive” | A hydraulic power unit drives the car up its rails. On the Terry Affinity the power unit sits away from the car | A motor turns a nut up a long threaded screw inside the lift’s own shaft | A pump changes the air pressure above the cabin inside a sealed clear tube |
| Where it goes | Through a hole cut in the ceiling, on its own rails. No shaft | Through a hole cut in the ceiling. No shaft. Wessex fire-seals the opening | Inside an enclosure supplied with the lift, which stands on every floor it serves | Through a round hole in the floor. The tube stays on every floor it serves |
| Floors served | 2 | 2 (Wessex VM: optional mid-floor stop) | 2 to 6 | 2 to 5 |
| Longest travel published | 4.2 m (Luma) to 6 m (Stiltz Trio+), where published | 3.0 to 3.6 m | 13 to 20 m | 15 m |
| Load | 170 to 255 kg | 250 to 325 kg | 250 to 630 kg | 159 to 238 kg |
| Speed, and time to climb 3 m | 0.07 m/s (Luma) to 0.15 m/s (Stiltz): 43 to 20 seconds | 0.06 m/s on 5 of 6: about 50 seconds | 0.15 m/s on all 10: 20 seconds | 0.18 to 0.20 m/s on PVE’s own pages: 15 to 17 seconds |
| Upstairs ceiling height needed (where published) | 2,370 mm (Stiltz, all models; a cab 150 mm shorter is offered), 2,400 mm (Luma) | 2,230 mm (Terry Affinity). The other five publish none | 2,225 mm (Aritco HomeLift) to 2,550 mm (Cibes C1 Pure), on the top floor | 2,700 mm, or 2,470 mm with the split head unit |
| Pit | None | None | 37 to 100 mm recess, or a ramp | None |
| Power | 13 A socket on 6 of 10 (Stiltz, Lifton, Uplifts). The Luma runs from a battery | A dedicated supply on all 6. The Wessex VM is hard-wired with a 20 A switch | From 6 A single phase (SWIFT) to three phase (Cibes C1 Pure) | A 30 to 40 A, 220 V circuit on PVE’s pages. Its UK dealer says 230 V single phase |
| Takes a wheelchair | 6 of 10 | 4 of 6 | 2 of 10 say yes; Cibes Air depends on the size you order | 1 of 3 (PVE52), and PVE says not every wheelchair fits |
| Noise figure published | Stannah S2 “below 60 dB”; Lifton 50 to 58 dB on a German datasheet only | Wessex VM: 70 dB, given as a maximum | Cibes Cloud Plus: 40 dB. None of the other 9 | None |
| Lowest published price | £13,000 ex VAT (dealer, Stiltz Duo) to £19,995 (Uplifts S3). Stiltz £17,000 ex VAT, Lifton £18,000 plus VAT | No maker publishes one. One dealer gives £13,000 ex VAT for the Wessex VM and Stiltz Duo together | £18,000 (Cibes A4000) to £27,000 (Cibes C1 Pure). Aritco about £22,000 | £29,500 (Morgan Ellis, the UK dealer; VAT not stated) |
| What cost guides say for this type | “Traction”: £28,000 to £33,000 (Checkatrade), £28,000 to £40,000+ (Home Lift UK) | “Hydraulic”: £23,000 to £28,000 (Checkatrade), £30,000 to £45,000 (Morgan Ellis) | “Shaft-based”: £25,000 to £50,000 (Morgan Ellis) | “Vacuum”: from about £28,000 (Checkatrade), £30,000 to £60,000 (Morgan Ellis) |
| Suits | Two floors, a standard ceiling, and a lift that plugs into a normal socket | Two floors and a heavier load, where a slow ride is acceptable and an electrician can run a dedicated supply | Three floors or more, including a basement, and wheelchair users who need a larger platform | Two to five floors in a room with a high ceiling, where a see-through lift is wanted |
Specifications from each maker’s own UK website, brochures and planning guides; prices from maker and dealer websites. Trip time is 3 m divided by the published speed. “Not published” means we could not find the figure; the lift may still have one. Sources are listed at the foot of the page.
Through-floor describes where a lift goes. The drive is a separate choice
Home Lift UK’s cost guide lists through-floor, hydraulic, vacuum and traction lifts as four rival types, each with its own price. They answer different questions. The drive is what lifts the car. The placement is how the lift passes between floors, and it decides the building work.
In our data the two questions line up neatly. All 16 through-floor lifts are rope, drum or hydraulic, and every lift that serves three floors or more is screw-driven or vacuum. So the first real choice is the number of floors, and the drive follows from it.
A through-floor lift (rope, drum or hydraulic)
The car runs on its own rails through a hole cut in the ceiling. There is no shaft and no enclosure on either floor. Stiltz, Lifton and Stannah do not publish the size of the hole; Terry’s Affinity needs 970 × 750 mm and the Savaria Luma 1,186 × 956 mm.
A shaft or platform lift (screw and nut)
The lift arrives with its own enclosure, which stands on every floor it serves, so it takes that floor area permanently. In return it can serve up to six floors, run to a basement, and carry up to 630 kg. It usually needs a shallow recess of 37 to 100 mm, or a ramp.
A vacuum lift
A clear tube passes through a round hole in each floor and stays in place on every level. It needs no pit, but its head unit needs the most height upstairs of any type in our data. The smallest, the PVE30, is a 750 mm tube for one person.
For every lift’s footprint, hole size and ceiling height, see how much space a home lift needs.
Why the cost guides get the order wrong
The UK’s cost guides price home lifts by drive. When we set those ranges beside the prices sellers publish for real lifts, two of the four are upside down.
| Drive | Cost guide says | Lowest prices sellers publish |
|---|---|---|
| Rope or drum (traction) | £28,000 to £33,000 (Checkatrade, “traction”) | £13,000 ex VAT to £19,995 across 10 lifts |
| Hydraulic | £23,000 to £28,000 (Checkatrade) | £13,000 ex VAT, the only figure, shared with the Stiltz Duo |
| Screw and nut | £25,000 to £50,000 (Morgan Ellis, “shaft-based”) | £18,000 to £27,000 from Cibes and Aritco |
| Vacuum | From about £28,000 (Checkatrade) | £29,500 (Morgan Ellis, PVE) |
Checkatrade’s guide was last updated May 2024; Home Lift UK’s was modified 11 March 2026. Seller prices re-read 29 September 2026. VAT basis differs by seller and is shown in the tables above.
- “Traction” covers two different products. Checkatrade and Home Lift UK price a traction home lift from £28,000. The sellers that use the word for their own lifts are far cheaper: Morgan Ellis installs Stiltz lifts, which it calls traction, from £14,800, and Companion, whose brochure names a traction drive, prices its range at £14,000 to £19,000 ex VAT. Checkatrade also lists a separate “non-hydraulic” lift from £15,000 without saying what drives it. If a quote says traction, ask whether it means a rope lift on its own rails or a lift in a built shaft.
- Nobody publishes a price for a hydraulic lift alone. Terry and Wessex, the two makers of hydraulic home lifts in our data, publish no price for any model. The only figure is a 1st Choice Home Lifts line giving £13,000 ex VAT for “the Stiltz Duo model range” and the Wessex VM together, far below the £23,000 to £45,000 the guides quote.
- Vacuum is the one type where guides and sellers agree. Checkatrade says from about £28,000; Morgan Ellis, which sells PVE lifts in the UK, says from £29,500.
All 29 lifts by type
Filter by drive to see each group. Each lift links to its maker’s page, and each price to the page that publishes it.
| Lift | Drive | Floors | Travel | Load | Speed | Power | Wheelchair | Lowest published price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stiltz Duo+Specs: maker’s own site | Rope / drum | 2 | 4.5 m | 170 kg | 0.15 m/s | 13 A socket | No | From £17,000 ex VAT (Stiltz, all models)price source |
| Stiltz Trio+Specs: maker’s own site | Rope / drum | 2 | 6 m (4.5 m standard) | 250 kg | 0.15 m/s | 13 A socket | Yes | From £17,000 ex VAT (Stiltz, all models)price source |
| Lifton DUOSpecs: maker’s own site | Rope / drum | 2 | Not stated | 170 kg | Not stated | 13 A socket | Not stated | From £18,000 plus VAT (Lifton, range)price source |
| Lifton TRIOSpecs: maker’s own site | Rope / drum | 2 | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | 13 A socket | Yes | From £18,000 plus VAT (Lifton, range)price source |
| Stannah (Uplifts) S2Specs: maker’s own site | Rope / drum | 2 | Not stated | 250 kg | Not stated | 13 A socket or fused spur | No | £17,995 installed (Uplifts)price source |
| Stannah (Uplifts) S3Specs: maker’s own site | Rope / drum | 2 | Not stated | 250 kg | Not stated | 13 A socket or fused spur | Yes | £19,500 installed (Uplifts)price source |
| Savaria LumaSpecs: maker’s own site | Rope / drum | 2 | 4.2 m (other Savaria pages give 4.14 or 3.0 m) | 180 kg | 0.07 to 0.08 m/s (two figures published) | Battery, charged from the mains | No | £14,000 to £19,000 ex VAT (Companion, whole range)price source |
| Companion CygnusSpecs: maker’s own site | Rope / drum | 2 | Not stated | 255 kg | Not stated | Not stated | Yes | £14,000 to £19,000 ex VAT (Companion, whole range)price source |
| Companion AuroraSpecs: maker’s own site | Rope / drum | 2 | Not stated | 255 kg | Not stated | Not stated | Yes | £14,000 to £19,000 ex VAT (Companion, whole range)price source |
| Companion StratusSpecs: maker’s own site | Rope / drum | 2 | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Yes | £14,000 to £19,000 ex VAT (Companion, whole range)price source |
| Terry HarmonySpecs: maker’s own site | Hydraulic | 2 | 3.6 m | 250 to 280 kg | 0.06 m/s | Dedicated 240 V supply | Yes | Not publishedpage checked |
| Terry Harmony FESpecs: maker’s own site | Hydraulic | 2 | 3.6 m | 325 kg | 0.06 m/s | Dedicated 240 V supply | Yes | Not publishedpage checked |
| Terry LifestyleSpecs: maker’s own site | Hydraulic | 2 | 3.6 m | 250 kg | 0.15 m/s (every other Terry lift is 0.06) | Dedicated 240 V supply | Not stated | Not publishedpage checked |
| Terry AffinitySpecs: maker’s own site | Hydraulic | 2 | 3.6 m | 250 kg | 0.06 m/s | Dedicated 13 A fused spur | No | Not publishedpage checked |
| Wessex VMSpecs: maker’s own site | Hydraulic | 2 (mid-floor stop optional) | 3.0 or 3.5 m | 250 kg | 0.06 m/s | Hard-wired, 20 A double-pole switch | Yes (VM31, 36, 38) | Not published by Wessex. A dealer gives from £13,000 ex VAT for the VM and the Stiltz Duo togetherpage checked |
| Wessex VESpecs: maker’s own site | Hydraulic | 2 | 3.0 or 3.5 m | 250 kg (300 kg option) | 0.06 m/s | Hard-wired, RCD protected | Yes | Not publishedpage checked |
| Aritco HomeLift CompactSpecs: maker’s own site | Screw and nut | 2 to 6 | 15 m | 250 kg | 0.15 m/s | 230 V single phase | Not stated | About £22,000, its smallest two-floor lift (Aritco, VAT not stated)price source |
| Aritco HomeLiftSpecs: maker’s own site | Screw and nut | 2 to 6 | 15 m | 250 to 400 kg | 0.15 m/s | 230 V single or 400 V three phase | Not stated | No pound price (375,000 SEK in Aritco price guide)page checked |
| Aritco HomeLift AccessSpecs: maker’s own site | Screw and nut | 2 to 6 | 13 m | 250 to 500 kg | 0.15 m/s | 230 V single or 400 V three phase | Yes | Not published in poundspage checked |
| Cibes A4000Specs: maker’s own site | Screw and nut | 2 to 6 | 15 m | 300 kg | 0.15 m/s | 230 V 16 A | Not stated | From £18,000 (Cibes, VAT not stated)price source |
| Cibes AirSpecs: maker’s own site | Screw and nut | 2 to 6 | 15 m | 300 to 500 kg | 0.15 m/s | 230 V 16 A | Depends on size | From £19,000 ex VAT (Cibes)price source |
| Cibes A5000Specs: maker’s own site | Screw and nut | 2 to 6 | 15 m | 400 to 500 kg | 0.15 m/s | 230 V 16 A | Yes | Not publishedpage checked |
| Cibes Cloud PlusSpecs: maker’s own site | Screw and nut | 2 to 6 | 20 m | 300 to 500 kg | 0.15 m/s | 16 A single or three phase | Not stated | Not publishedpage checked |
| Cibes C1 PureSpecs: maker’s own site | Screw and nut | 2 to 6 | 15 m | 300 to 630 kg | 0.15 m/s | Three phase 16 A, or 32 A single phase | Not stated | From £27,000 (Cibes, VAT not stated)price source |
| SWIFT ProSpecs: maker’s own site | Screw and nut | 2 to 6 | 15 m | 250 to 400 kg | 0.15 m/s | 230 V single phase 6 A | Not stated | Not publishedpage checked |
| SWIFT LiteSpecs: maker’s own site | Screw and nut | 2 to 6 | 15 m | 250 to 400 kg | 0.15 m/s | 230 V single phase 6 A | Not stated | Not publishedpage checked |
| PVE PVE30Specs: maker’s own site | Vacuum | 2 to 5 | 15 m | 159 kg (1 person) | 0.20 m/s | 30 A, 220 V single phase | No | From £29,500 (Morgan Ellis, dealer, VAT not stated)price source |
| PVE PVE37Specs: maker’s own site | Vacuum | 2 to 5 | 15 m | 204 kg (2 people) | 0.20 m/s | 30 A, 220 V single phase | No | From £29,500 (Morgan Ellis, dealer, VAT not stated)price source |
| PVE PVE52Specs: maker’s own site | Vacuum | 2 to 5 | 15 m | 238 kg (3 people) | 0.18 m/s | 40 A, 220 V single phase | Yes, but PVE says not all wheelchairs fit | From £29,500 (Morgan Ellis, dealer, VAT not stated)price source |
Where a maker publishes one price for a whole range, every model in that range shows it. Stannah’s Uplifts FAQ gives £18,995 and £19,995 for the same two lifts; the price tracker logs both. Download this table as a CSV.
Know which type you need? Get quotes for that type
Tell us how many floors, who will use the lift and roughly where it would go. We pass your details to installers who fit that kind of lift, so the quotes you get back compare like with like. It’s free and there’s no obligation.
Choose a type in five questions
- How many floors? Two floors opens all four types. Three or more leaves screw-driven shaft lifts and vacuum lifts.
- Will it carry a wheelchair? Six of the ten rope and drum lifts and four of the six hydraulic lifts say yes. Among the shaft lifts, Aritco’s HomeLift Access and the Cibes A5000 say yes and the Cibes Air depends on size. Only one vacuum lift, the PVE52, is sold for wheelchairs, and PVE says not every chair fits.
- How tall is the upstairs ceiling? Measure from floor to ceiling where the lift would arrive. Below 2,470 mm rules out vacuum. Stiltz asks for 2,370 mm and offers a cab 150 mm shorter. Shaft lifts start at 2,225 mm on the top floor.
- What can your electrics take? Only Stiltz, Lifton and Stannah Uplifts say their lifts plug into a 13 A socket. Hydraulic lifts need a dedicated supply, the Cibes C1 Pure needs three phase or 32 A, and PVE lists a 30 to 40 A circuit.
- How long will each trip take? Over a 3 m floor-to-floor height, a hydraulic lift at 0.06 m/s takes about 50 seconds. A Stiltz or a screw-driven shaft lift at 0.15 m/s takes 20.
Then set a budget with the cost calculator, and check how VAT applies, because the prices above mix ex VAT, plus VAT and unstated figures. The home lift finder filters the models against your answers.
Questions buyers ask about home lift types
These answers use the same published figures as the tables.
Which type of home lift is cheapest in the UK?
A rope or drum through-floor lift. The lowest published prices are £13,000 ex VAT from 1st Choice Home Lifts for the Stiltz Duo (a figure it shares with the hydraulic Wessex VM) and £14,000 including VAT from My Mobility UK for the Stiltz Duo+. Stiltz itself says from £17,000 ex VAT. The cheapest screw-driven shaft lift with a published price is the Cibes A4000 at £18,000, and the only published vacuum lift price is £29,500.
Is a traction home lift better than a hydraulic one?
It depends on the load and the power supply. In our data the rope and drum lifts from Stiltz and Savaria run at 0.07 to 0.15 m/s and six of the ten plug into a 13 A socket. Five of the six hydraulic lifts run at 0.06 m/s, so a 3 m climb takes about 50 seconds against 20 for a Stiltz, and all six need a dedicated supply. The hydraulic lifts carry 250 to 325 kg, against 170 to 255 kg for the rope and drum lifts.
Can a through-floor home lift serve three floors?
Not on published specifications. All 16 through-floor lifts we checked, rope or hydraulic, serve two floors. Every lift in our data that serves three floors or more is a screw-driven shaft lift from Aritco, Cibes or SWIFT (2 to 6 floors) or a PVE vacuum lift (2 to 5 stops).
Does a vacuum lift need a hole in the floor?
Yes. The tube passes through a round opening in each floor: PVE gives about 813 mm across for the PVE30 and about 1,389 mm for the PVE52. It needs no pit, but it needs the tallest upstairs ceiling of any type: 2,700 mm, or 2,470 mm with the split head unit.
Which home lifts need a pit?
Only the screw-driven shaft and platform lifts, and only a shallow one: Aritco asks for 37 or 50 mm, Cibes and SWIFT 50 mm, and the Cibes C1 Pure cabin lift 100 mm. Most can stand on the floor with a ramp instead. Through-floor and vacuum lifts need no pit.
How we built this comparison. The specifications come from our spec database of UK home lifts, read from each maker’s own website, brochures and datasheets on 17 August 2026, with ceiling, hole and pit figures from our 28 September 2026 space capture and the PVE vacuum lifts added on the same date. Prices come from our price tracker of published UK prices, captured on 20 August 2026. On 29 September 2026 we re-read the prices this page depends on: Stiltz, Uplifts, My Mobility UK, 1st Choice Home Lifts, Morgan Ellis, Checkatrade and Home Lift UK.
How we grouped them. Each lift sits under the drive its maker names. Companion’s product pages name no drive for the Cygnus, Aurora and Stratus; its brochure describes a soft start and stop traction drive, and they are grouped on that basis. Stiltz’s Duo+ Thru-Car is a variant of the Duo+ and is counted once.
What the figures are. Prices are the lowest figure each seller publishes, as written. They are starting prices, a survey quote can differ, and the VAT basis varies. PVE publishes speeds and power ratings on its international site; its UK dealer gives 0.15 m/s for the PVE30 Eco and 230 V single phase.
Independence. UK Homelifts is an independent guide. We are not paid by any maker in this comparison to include or rank its lifts. If you ask for quotes through us, we pass your details to installers.
Sources
- Stiltz Duo: price from £17,000 ex VAT, drive, speed, power
- Stiltz measuring guide: 2,370 mm ceiling
- Lifton FAQ: from £18,000 plus VAT
- Uplifts (Stannah): S2 £17,995, S3 £19,500, installed
- Companion: £14,000 to £19,000 ex VAT
- Savaria Luma specifications
- Savaria Luma planning guide: ceiling heights
- Terry Harmony specifications
- Terry Affinity specifying guide: ceiling heights
- Wessex VM specifications
- 1st Choice Home Lifts: Stiltz Duo and Wessex VM from £13,000, ex VAT
- My Mobility UK: Stiltz Duo+ £14,000 inc VAT
- Morgan Ellis: Stiltz (traction) from £14,800
- Morgan Ellis cost guide: shaft, vacuum and hydraulic ranges
- Morgan Ellis: PVE vacuum lifts from £29,500
- Aritco: about £22,000 for its smallest two-floor lift
- Cibes A4000: from £18,000
- Cibes Air: from £19,000 ex VAT
- Cibes C1 Pure: from £27,000, power and pit
- Cibes Cloud Plus: 40 dB
- SWIFT Pro specifications
- PVE30 specifications
- PVE37 specifications
- PVE52 specifications
- PVE installation requirements: ceiling heights and floor openings
- Checkatrade cost guide: traction, hydraulic and vacuum ranges
- Home Lift UK cost guide: traction and hydraulic ranges
Related
Types of home lift · Through-floor lifts · Traction lifts · Vacuum lifts · Electric lifts · Brand comparison table · Stairlift or home lift? · Market Report 2026 · How loud is a home lift?
Compiled by the UK Homelifts research team. Prices checked 29 September 2026. We recheck them with the monthly price tracker, and makers change specifications, so confirm them with your installer.
