Forklift Guide
Forklift Types Explained
Counterbalance, reach truck, order picker, stacker, pallet jack — the right type depends on your aisles, racking height, loads, and whether you work indoors or out. Here's what each one does and where it fits.
The Main Types
Five Forklifts, Five Jobs
Most material-handling work is covered by these five machines.
Counterbalance Forklift
The all-rounder. A rear counterweight balances the front load so it can drive straight up to a pallet. Available in diesel, LPG, and electric from 1.5 to 10+ tonnes.
Best for: General indoor/outdoor use, yards, loading
Reach Truck
An extending mast reaches into racking, so it operates in narrow aisles and lifts to great heights. Compact and electric — built for smooth indoor floors.
Best for: High-bay, narrow-aisle indoor warehousing
Order Picker
Raises the operator up to the racking to pick individual items or cases at height, rather than moving a whole pallet.
Best for: Piece-picking, order fulfilment in high-bay stores
Stacker
A walk-behind or ride-on lift-and-stack machine for medium-height racking — a cost-effective, compact alternative to a full-size forklift.
Best for: Light stacking, tight spaces, lower budgets
Pallet Jack / Truck
Moves pallets at floor level over short distances. Manual or powered — the workhorse for horizontal transport rather than lifting.
Best for: Ground-level pallet movement, loading bays
Power Source
Diesel, LPG, or Electric?
After the type, the power source is your biggest decision — it's driven by where the forklift works.
Electric
Zero emissions, quiet, low running cost. The default indoors and essential for food, pharma, and cold-chain. Needs charging and battery management.
Diesel
High power and torque for heavy loads and rough outdoor terrain. Best kept outdoors or in very well-ventilated yards.
LPG
A flexible middle ground — usable indoors with good ventilation and outdoors, with quick gas-bottle swaps instead of charging downtime.
Making the Choice
Matching a Forklift to Your Work
Work backwards from your operation. Four questions get you most of the way to the right machine:
- Indoors or out? Indoor points to electric; heavy outdoor work points to diesel or LPG.
- How tight are the aisles? Wide aisles suit counterbalance; narrow racking calls for a reach truck.
- How high and how heavy? Lift height and load weight set the type and the capacity you need — see our capacity & sizing guide.
- Move or pick? Moving whole pallets suits forklifts and pallet jacks; picking individual items at height suits an order picker.
Common Questions
Forklift Types FAQ
A counterbalance forklift carries the load out front, balanced by a weight at the rear, and drives straight up to the load — versatile indoors and outdoors. A reach truck has a mast that extends (reaches) forward, so it works in much narrower aisles and lifts higher, but it's built for smooth indoor warehouse floors. Choose counterbalance for general and outdoor use, reach trucks for high-density indoor racking.
Reach trucks and, for the tightest aisles, articulated or specialised narrow-aisle trucks. They're designed to store and retrieve pallets in aisles far too tight for a counterbalance forklift, letting you fit more racking into the same floor area. Order pickers also work in narrow aisles where operators need to pick individual items at height.
Electric forklifts are clean, quiet, and ideal indoors — the default for warehouses and food-safe environments. Diesel is powerful and suited to heavy outdoor work in yards and on rough ground. LPG sits in between and can run indoors and out with good ventilation. Your environment, load, and shift pattern decide it — we can advise on the best fit.
An order picker raises the operator (and often a pallet) up to the racking so they can pick individual cases or items at height, rather than moving a whole pallet. It's used in high-bay warehouses and distribution centres for piece-picking and order fulfilment.
It depends on your aisle width, racking height, load weight, and whether you work indoors or out. A compact electric counterbalance or a stacker suits many small operations; tight racking may call for a reach truck. Tell us your space and loads and we'll recommend the right type and capacity.
Which Forklift Fits Your Operation?
Tell us your space, loads, and environment — we'll recommend the right type, power source, and capacity, to rent or to buy.