Best Key Safe 2026: 10 Ranked, and the Numbers That Don't Add Up

This key safe takes the top spot on volume rather than on price. The interior measures 11.7 x 7.9 x 4.2 cm — roughly 388 cm³ — against about 159 cm³ for the light-up model in second place, which costs £4 more at £31.00. That is the difference between carrying a couple of house keys and storing a full set with a fob.

The body is aluminium with a shutter door that closes over the four dials, so the combination is covered when the box is locked. The code is resettable, the mounting kit is in the box, and there is nothing to power. Master Lock backs it with a limited lifetime warranty against mechanical failure.

That said, 'Weather Resistant' is a description, not a grade — the listing gives no IP number, and aluminium is softer than the hardened alloy on the £68.95 box further down this list. If your wall takes driving rain all winter, or your insurer wants a documented rating, this isn't the one.

Second place goes to the biggest review base here: 5,723 ratings at 4.7 stars, the highest rating in the ten. The trade-off is space. Interior dimensions are 106 x 60 x 25 mm, about 159 cm³, against 388 cm³ for the XL above it, which is also £4 cheaper.

The point of this model is the dial. It lights up automatically each time the weather cover opens, running on a replaceable CR2032 that comes installed. Worth noting if the box goes on a north-facing wall or beside a door with no light.

Here the numbers get looser. The listing's own Special Features field says 'Waterproof' while the water resistance field says only 'Water Resistant', and the chamber depth is given as 2.05 cm in the spec table against 25 mm in the copy. Either way, 25 mm of usable depth is thin: flat keys yes, bulky fobs no. If you need a wall mounted key safe for a car key, look at the XL instead.

At £68.95 this is the most expensive product in the list, close to three times the £23.41 Yale at the other end. What you pay for is the claim in the title: 'Secured by Design' police preferred specification, a single-piece hardened zinc alloy body, and a stated capacity of six keys.

It is fully mechanical. No power, no internet, no battery; over 4,000 combinations by the maker's count, tested from -32°C to 68°C, with an ABS weather cover, a mounting kit and a code-changing tool in the box. The internal hook keeps keys from dropping out of reach when you open it.

The catch is on the same page. The bullet copy says 'rust and water resistant' and 'designed to be wall mounted outdoors'; the spec table gives the water resistance level as 'Not Water Resistant'. Those two statements cannot both be right. At 6.3 cm deep and 1.8 kg it is also the heaviest box here, so it needs a solid fixing — not hollow plasterboard.

This is the only combination key safe in the list that isn't fixed to a wall. It hangs from a shackle over a door knob, and the interior measures 7.4 x 6.8 x 3.0 cm — about 151 cm³, the smallest cavity of the ten, against 388 cm³ for the XL at the top.

In practice that makes it the option for a rented flat, a carer's round or a holiday let where you can't drill. The four-digit combination is resettable, a shutter door covers the dials, and the metal body follows the same construction as the Master Lock XL.

Even so, a shackle is only as strong as whatever it hangs on, and this is the lowest rating in the top five: 4.3 stars from 1,626 ratings, with 8 of the 100 ratings shown at one star. If the door handle is the weak point, the box adds little.

Over 1,300 buyers have rated it, and it holds at 4.5 stars. The claimed internal storage is approximately 300 cm³, more space on paper than either of the Master Lock boxes above it. The price sits in the middle of the range at £26.95.

The practical extra is recovery. Two code-recovery keys come in the box, so a forgotten combination doesn't mean a new safe; there is also an emergency key route and a removable internal drawer for cards or cash. The wall mounting kit, a key hook and instructions are included.

However, the spec table lists the depth as 10 cm, where every other wall-mounted box in this list runs from 4 to 6.3 cm deep. Either it stands unusually far off the wall or that figure is wrong. If you want a low-profile outdoor key safe beside a front door, this is not it.

The headline is a 12-digit code, far more than the four-digit dials used by most of this list. The same bullet, though, ends with 'Pro Tip: 4-8 dig...' — so the maker recommends setting four to eight digits. The 12 is a ceiling, not the intended setting.

Physically it is a wall box with large, high-contrast buttons, aimed at anyone who finds a small dial awkward. The claimed interior of 4.13 x 2.36 x 1.77 inches works out at about 283 cm³, said to hold roughly 10 standard keys, with internal hooks to stop them sliding out of reach.

The catch is smaller but real: the spec sheet says no assembly is required, and the assembly instructions field on the same page says 'Yes'. In practice it is four screws and four expansion anchors, and a screwdriver is included. If you want someone else to fit it, budget for that.

This is the lowest price in the list at £23.41, rated 4.5 stars from 1,103 buyers. The spec fields are where it gets interesting. Capacity is given as 1 litre — 1,000 cm³ — and the dimensions as 18.7 cm deep, 13 cm wide and 18.7 cm high.

Do the arithmetic and the two figures stop agreeing. Depth and height are listed as the same number, 18.7 cm, when every other wall box here is 4 to 6.3 cm deep. A steel box 13 cm wide holding a full litre would be a deep, chunky unit, not the flat box in the photos. What is solid is the construction: thick steel, a 4-wheel resettable combination, a key hook and a two-year warranty.

By contrast, there are no internal dimensions at all, so the 1 litre cannot be checked against anything. 'Portable' also appears under Special Features for a box designed to be screwed to a wall. Even so, if you want the cheapest steel combination box in the list, this is it.

From the same maker as the Secure Pro, this one claims less: approximately 167 cm³ of internal storage against 300 cm³, inside a body listed at 4 x 9.5 x 11.5 cm. That exterior works out at about 437 cm³, so the claimed interior is roughly 38% of the box — a believable ratio, unlike a couple of others here.

The mechanism is a four-digit combination with a small push button for quick access, both sitting behind a black weather cover. At 480 g it is under a third of the weight of the £68.95 model, so one brick fixing is realistic, and the mounting kit is included.

One field does not line up: 'Chamber Depth' is given as 11.5 cm, which is the full height of the box rather than a chamber measurement. If you need to know whether a chunky car fob fits, don't read that figure as usable depth. This is a key lock box for a porch or a back door, not a high-security unit.

With 725 ratings at 4.2 stars, this sits at the bottom of the list on rating, and 7 of the 100 ratings shown are one star. What it does offer is codes: 12 push buttons and over 10,000 combinations, the highest claimed figure among the mechanical boxes here.

The body is diecast alloy with a shutter over the buttons, and Squire backs it with a 10-year guarantee — the longest warranty in this list by some distance. The footprint is small, about 12 cm tall, which suits a porch or a cupboard door.

Two fields are worth flagging. Water resistance is listed as 'Waterproof' in the spec table while the bullet copy only says weatherproof, and 'Alarm: acoustic' appears in the spec sheet even though nothing in the copy describes an alarm. In theory the 10,000 combinations are the selling point; in practice ask the maker for a rating before you trust it on an exposed wall.