Two Straight Stairlifts or One Curved Stairlift? A UK Comparison

Key facts

• Two straight lifts mean two separate journeys with a transfer on the landing in between. One curved lift means a single uninterrupted journey.
• At median advertised prices captured on 20 August 2026, two new straight stairlifts total about £3,990, and one new curved stairlift about £4,395.
• The saving grows if you buy reconditioned. Two reconditioned straight lifts can come to £2,000 to £4,000 against £4,000 or more for a new curved lift.
• Two lifts mean two annual services, two sets of batteries, and two warranties to track. Budget £160 to £360 a year for servicing instead of £80 to £180.
• The landing has to be big enough to stand, turn and sit safely, with something to hold. A cramped half-landing rules the option out.
• An occupational therapist assessment is the right way to settle whether the transfer is safe, and it is free through the NHS or social services.

Who this suits, and who it does not

This option suits someone who can walk short distances unaided or with a stick, who can stand up from a seated position without help, and whose staircase has a half-landing with room to move. If you can already walk across a landing and manage a couple of steps, two straight lifts are a reasonable way to spend less.

It does not suit a wheelchair user, because the transfer cannot be made at all without a second wheelchair waiting on the landing. It does not suit anyone whose balance is unreliable, anyone who cannot stand without help, or anyone likely to become less mobile over the next few years. It is a poor choice where memory or confusion is a factor, because the sequence of getting off one lift and finding the second is easy to lose halfway through. And it will not work on a staircase whose landing is too small to stand and turn on safely.

The honest framing is that two straight lifts solve a money problem and create a mobility problem. Whether that trade is worth making depends entirely on the person, not the staircase.

How the two options actually differ

A straight stairlift runs on a length of off-the-shelf rail up a single flight. Because the rail needs no shaping, it is the cheapest type of lift and usually goes in within a few hours. A curved stairlift has a rail manufactured to the exact shape of your staircase after a survey, following every bend and landing, which adds weeks to the lead time and a substantial amount to the price. Our guide on when you need a curved stairlift covers where the line falls.

On a staircase that turns at a half-landing, both approaches are technically possible. With two straight lifts, one runs up the lower flight and parks at the landing, and a second runs up the upper flight from the landing to the top. The user rides the first lift, stands, walks across the landing, sits on the second, and rides up. Coming down, the sequence reverses.

With one curved lift, the rail carries the chair round the turn in one movement. The user sits down at the bottom and stands up at the top, once.

Which? notes that two straight lifts can work out cheaper than a single curved one, with the caveat that you need to be mobile enough to move between them. Installers make the same point. Trent Stairlifts describes the user having to get off the first lift on the intermediate landing, move across, and transfer onto the second chair, and advises weighing whether the landing is large enough and whether the person can safely manage that, on the grounds that a cheaper solution is not better if it makes the journey harder.

Cost comparison

The narrower comparison, using median advertised prices instead of ranges:

That £400 gap is the finding most buyers are not told about. The common claim that two straight lifts are much cheaper than one curved lift holds up against the top of the curved range, not against the middle of it. Ask any installer quoting you for two lifts what discount applies to the second, because the answer decides whether this option saves you anything at all.

Two figures move the comparison more than anything else. A short upper flight needs a shorter rail, so the second lift can come in below the median. And a staircase with several turns, a spiral section or a very tight landing pushes a curved quote towards the upper end, which is where two straight lifts start to look substantially cheaper. Our curved stairlift costs and straight stairlift costs guides break both down.

Ongoing costs

Two lifts double most of the running costs. An annual service runs £80 to £180 per lift, so plan for £160 to £360 a year, not a single bill. Batteries need replacing every three to five years at £60 to £120 per lift. Electricity is negligible either way, a few pounds a year. When the lifts are no longer needed, you pay to remove two units instead of one.

Over ten years, the servicing difference alone can erase the purchase saving. That is the calculation to run before deciding, and our servicing guide has brand-level figures.

What a council will fund

The funding position is the same whichever configuration you choose, with one wrinkle worth knowing.

VAT relief applies to both. Where the lift is for someone who is chronically sick or disabled, HMRC’s VAT Notice 701/7 allows the supply and installation to be zero-rated, on a written declaration from the customer. HMRC defines chronically sick or disabled as having a physical or mental impairment with a long-term and substantial adverse effect on the ability to carry out everyday activities, or a condition the medical profession treats as a chronic sickness. Separately, people aged 60 or over who are not disabled can get a reduced 5 per cent rate on certain mobility aids including stair lifts, but only where the same supplier both supplies and installs them. Your installer handles the paperwork. If a quote shows full VAT and you think relief applies, ask why before you sign.

The Disabled Facilities Grant can pay towards either option. In England the maximum is £30,000 and in Wales £36,000. For adults it is means-tested on household income and on savings over £6,000. For children it is not: GOV.UK states that disabled children under 18 can get a grant without their parents’ income being taken into account.

The wrinkle is that a council will fund what an occupational therapist assesses as necessary and appropriate, not simply the cheapest option available. If an OT concludes that a transfer on the landing is unsafe, a council may fund the curved lift even though two straight lifts would cost less. The reverse also happens: where the OT is satisfied the transfer is safe, a council may fund only the cheaper configuration. Get the assessment before you commit to either, not after. Our stairlift grants guide covers the process.

The catches

The transfer is the risk, and it is not a small one. Standing up, walking and sitting down are the movements behind most falls in the home, and this option asks the person to do all three at the top of a flight of stairs, several times a day, often at night. A lift installed to prevent falls should not introduce a new place to have one.

Mobility changes. A transfer that is manageable at 74 may not be at 79, and the second lift is then a stranded asset. People who buy two lifts sometimes end up buying a curved one within a few years, having paid for both.

There is also a practical point about the landing itself. Two parked lifts take up space on a half-landing that may be needed for turning, for a walking frame, or as a route to a bathroom. Ask the surveyor to show you where both chairs sit when folded and parked, and walk the route yourself before agreeing.

Finally, two lifts mean two relationships. If the lifts come from different suppliers or different brands, a fault on the landing lift and a fault on the upper lift may involve two call-outs, two warranties and two engineers. Buying both from one supplier avoids most of that.

Frequently asked questions

Is it cheaper to have two straight stairlifts or one curved?

Usually cheaper, but by less than most people assume. At median advertised UK prices captured in August 2026, two new straight lifts come to about £3,990 against £4,395 for one new curved lift. The saving becomes meaningful if you buy reconditioned, or if your staircase is complex enough that a curved quote reaches the upper end of its range.

Do I have to get off one stairlift and onto the other?

Yes. That is how the arrangement works. You ride the lower lift to the half-landing, stand, move across the landing, sit on the second lift and continue up. There is no configuration of two straight lifts that avoids the transfer.

Can a wheelchair user use two straight stairlifts?

Not practically. The transfer would need a second wheelchair kept on the landing and someone to help. Where a wheelchair goes up with the user, a through-floor lift or a platform lift is the appropriate route instead.

Will a council pay for two straight stairlifts?

It may, if an occupational therapist assesses the transfer as safe and appropriate. Councils fund what the assessment recommends. If the OT judges the transfer unsafe, the council may fund a curved lift instead, and if the OT is satisfied it is safe, the council may decline to fund the more expensive option. The assessment comes first.

How much room does the landing need?

Enough to stand up, turn, take a few steps and sit down, with something solid to hold on to, and with both chairs parked out of the way. There is no single measurement that settles it, because it depends on the person as much as the landing. A surveyor and an OT should both see it.

Is two stairlifts more reliable than one?

Neither arrangement is more reliable as such, but two lifts give you two things that can need attention and two services a year. If one fails, you are left part of the way up and not at the bottom, which some people find reassuring and others do not.

Can I fit one now and the second later?

Often yes, and it can be a sensible way to spread the cost if the lower flight is the immediate problem. Tell the surveyor that is the plan, so the first installation does not block the second.

Next steps

Ask your GP, district nurse or council adult social care team for an occupational therapist assessment, which is free and is the only reliable way to settle whether the landing transfer is safe. If it is, get three quotes covering both configurations, one curved lift and two straight lifts, from the same installers, so you are comparing like with like. Ask each what discount applies to a second lift. Check your Disabled Facilities Grant position with your council before you commit, because approval depends on the assessment, not on the quote. If you already hold a quote, our quote checker will show you where the figure sits against current UK prices.

Related guides

• Curved stairlifts
• Straight stairlifts
• When you need a curved stairlift
• Stairlifts for multiple turns and landings
• Reconditioned stairlifts
• What an occupational therapist does
• Stairlift grants

Sources

• Reliefs from VAT for disabled and older people (VAT Notice 701/7), HMRC, last updated 31 December 2020, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/reliefs-from-vat-for-disabled-and-older-people-notice-7017, accessed 25 September 2026.
• Disabled Facilities Grants: what you’ll get, GOV.UK, https://www.gov.uk/disabled-facilities-grants/what-youll-get, accessed 25 September 2026.
• Disabled Facilities Grants: eligibility, GOV.UK, https://www.gov.uk/disabled-facilities-grants/eligibility, accessed 25 September 2026.
• Buying and installing a stairlift, Which?, https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/stairlifts/article/buying-and-installing-a-stairlift-a5jIA3Z0MbA9, accessed 25 September 2026.
• One curved stairlift or two straight stairlifts, Trent Stairlifts, published 9 August 2026, https://www.trentstairlifts.co.uk/one-curved-stairlift-or-two-straight-stairlifts/, accessed 25 September 2026.
• UK Stairlift Price Index, Stairlift Guru, medians from 73 new-stairlift prices published by 25 UK sellers, captured 20 August 2026, https://stairliftguru.co.uk/stairlift-prices/uk-stairlift-price-index/

How we are funded

We do not sell or install stairlifts. Quotes go to UK suppliers. If you buy a stairlift from a supplier we introduced you to, that supplier pays us a fee. Requesting quotes is free and we are not paid for the request itself. Stairlift Guru is published by Whito Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (number 10918465), and we have no ownership link to any supplier.

How to cite this page

Stairlift Guru, “Two Straight Stairlifts or One Curved Stairlift? A UK Comparison”, stairliftguru.co.uk, reviewed September 2026. For the price medians, cite the UK Stairlift Price Index and keep the date and the quantity attached to the figure.

Last reviewed: September 2026. Editor: Jacob Whitmore.