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Types of crane at a glance
There are many types of crane, but they fall into a few families: mobile cranes that drive to site, compact cranes for indoor and restricted work, lorry-mounted cranes, tower cranes, heavy crawler cranes, and fixed industrial cranes such as overhead and gantry cranes. Each is built for a different mix of load, reach, access and time on site, and choosing the right type matters more than choosing the biggest.
In short
- Heavy lifts with room to set up: an all-terrain crane, or a crawler crane on major projects.
- Tight urban sites: a city crane, or a mobile tower crane for long reach over a building.
- Inside buildings: a spider crane, or a pick and carry crane where the load has to travel.
- Delivering and placing a load: a loader crane.
- Light materials to height: a light truck crane.
- Months of lifting on one site: a tower crane.
- Repeated lifting inside a factory: an overhead or gantry crane.
We supply mobile, compact, lorry-mounted and tower cranes for crane hire and contract lifting. This guide covers those and the other main types of crane used in the UK, compares them side by side and links to a full guide on each type we supply.
Crane types compared
The table gives a quick comparison. The figures are typical ranges across the market, not the limits of any one crane, and every lift is checked against the load chart for the crane chosen.
| Crane type | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| All-terrain crane | Road-going, telescopic boom, 40 to over 1,000 tonnes | Heavy lifts and long reach where there is room to set up |
| City crane | Compact mobile crane, about 10 to 70 tonnes | Restricted urban sites and inside large buildings |
| Mobile tower crane | Self-erecting tower on a road chassis, jibs up to about 60 metres | Lighter loads a long way over a building, for days or weeks |
| Tower crane | Fixed tower on a base, flat top, luffing or self-erecting | Repeated lifting on one site for months |
| Light truck crane | Lorry with a long, light telescopic boom | Roofing, glazing and light materials to height |
| Loader crane | Lorry with a folding knuckle boom, rated in tonne-metres | Delivering and placing machinery, plant and materials |
| Spider crane | Tracked, four fold-out outriggers, under 1 to about 9 tonnes | Inside buildings, through doorways and on roofs |
| Pick and carry crane | Lifts on its wheels and travels with the load | Lifting and moving loads indoors without outriggers |
| Crawler crane | Tracks and usually a lattice boom, assembled on site | Very heavy lifts and long projects |
| Rough-terrain and truck-mounted cranes | Off-road or road chassis, telescopic boom | Large open sites, or firm and level ones |
| Overhead and gantry cranes | Fixed to a building or running on rails | Repeated lifting in factories, warehouses and yards |
| Jib cranes | Arm on a wall or pillar with a hoist | Light, repeated lifts at one workstation |
Mobile cranes
Mobile cranes drive to site on their own wheels, set up on outriggers and lift with a telescopic boom. They are the most common cranes for one-off lifts in the UK.
All-terrain cranes
Road-legal cranes with all-wheel drive and steering, from around 40 tonnes to over 1,000 tonnes. The larger ones bring their counterweight on separate lorries. See What is an all-terrain crane?
City cranes
Compact mobile cranes built short, narrow and low for tight sites, from about 10 to 70 tonnes. See What is a city crane?
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Compact and indoor cranes
When the lift is inside a building or behind something a road crane cannot get past, a compact crane is usually the answer.
Spider cranes
Small tracked cranes with four fold-out outriggers, also called mini cranes. The smallest pass through a single door, and the largest lift around 8 or 9 tonnes. See What is a spider crane?
Pick and carry cranes
Cranes that lift on their wheels, with no outriggers, and can drive with the load on the hook. Electric models work inside factories with no fumes. See What is a pick and carry crane?
Lorry-mounted cranes
Lorry-mounted cranes combine a crane and its transport in one vehicle, which makes them quick to deploy for lighter work.
Light truck cranes
A lorry with a long, lightweight telescopic boom, reaching 30 to over 50 metres with light loads. Common for roofing, solar panels and glazing. See What is a light truck crane?
Loader cranes
A lorry with a folding knuckle-boom crane that delivers a load and lifts it into place, often called a HIAB or lorry loader. See What is a loader crane?
Tower cranes
Tower cranes lift from a tall, fixed tower and are the familiar skyline cranes on building sites.
Static tower cranes
Built up on a base for the length of a build, and erected and dismantled by a specialist crew with an assist crane. The main types are flat top, luffing jib and self-erecting. See What is a tower crane?
Mobile tower cranes
A tower crane on a road chassis that unfolds itself on site, giving tower crane reach for days or weeks without a base. See What is a mobile tower crane?
Crawler, rough-terrain and other heavy cranes
Some cranes are built for particular conditions or for the very heaviest work.
Crawler cranes
Heavy cranes that run on tracks, usually with a lattice boom. They arrive in pieces on many lorries and are assembled on site, often with an assist crane, which suits major projects and long periods of lifting rather than a single lift. The largest crawler cranes carry out some of the heaviest lifts in construction and energy work, and on prepared ground a crawler can move with a load on the hook. Smaller telescopic crawler cranes are used for piling and general site work.
Rough-terrain cranes
Mobile cranes with large tyres and a short wheelbase, built for off-road work on big sites such as quarries and energy projects. They cannot travel far on public roads, so they are brought to site on a low loader, and are less common in the UK than all-terrain cranes.
Truck-mounted cranes
Telescopic cranes on a road-going truck chassis. They travel quickly between jobs but are less able than an all-terrain crane to cross rough ground or manoeuvre into tight spots.
Railway and marine cranes
Railway cranes run on the track and are used for track renewal and recovering rolling stock. Floating cranes and sheerlegs are mounted on barges or vessels for lifts in ports, offshore and on rivers.
Overhead, gantry and jib cranes
Industrial cranes are fixed installations rather than hired machines. They handle repeated lifting in one place, and often work alongside mobile cranes when heavy items arrive or leave.
Overhead cranes
Also called bridge cranes or overhead travelling cranes, they run on beams along the length of a factory or warehouse, with a hoist that travels across the building. They lift materials and machine parts over the working floor.
Gantry cranes
Similar to an overhead crane, but carried on legs that run on rails or wheels at ground level. Large gantry cranes handle containers in ports and precast units in yards; small portable gantries are used for lifting in workshops.
Jib cranes
A horizontal arm on a wall or pillar with a hoist, swinging round a single workstation for light, repeated lifts such as loading machines.
When an overhead crane cannot reach, is too small or is being installed or removed itself, a mobile, spider or pick and carry crane is usually brought in. See machine delivery and installation.
How to choose the right type of crane
The right crane comes from the job, not the other way round. These are the questions that decide it.
- How heavy is the load, and how far does it need to go? Capacity falls with radius, so weight and reach are always considered together. Our guide What size crane do I need? explains how.
- Where can the crane stand? Open ground suits an all-terrain crane. A narrow street suits a city crane or light truck crane. Inside a building calls for a spider or pick and carry crane.
- How long is the crane needed? A single lift suits a mobile crane. Weeks of lifting may suit a mobile tower crane, and months a tower crane or crawler crane.
- Does the load need delivering too? If so, a loader crane can often do both.
- What is the ground or floor like? Outrigger, track and wheel loads have to be supported, whether on a pavement, a yard or a suspended floor.
Every lift, whatever the crane, must be planned under regulation 8 of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER). The HSE’s LOLER guidance explains what that means in practice, and the BS 7121 codes of practice cover the safe use of each type of crane.
Common questions
What are the main types of crane?
The main types used in the UK are all-terrain and city cranes, tower and mobile tower cranes, lorry-mounted light truck and loader cranes, spider cranes, pick and carry cranes and crawler cranes, plus fixed overhead, gantry and jib cranes in factories and yards.
How many types of crane are there?
There is no fixed number, because cranes are grouped in different ways. Most guides describe between 10 and 20 types; this one covers the main ones you are likely to meet in the UK, from mobile and tower cranes to fixed industrial cranes.
What is the most common type of crane?
For one-off lifts, the all-terrain mobile crane is the most common, because it drives to site and sets up quickly. On building sites, tower cranes are the most common for long projects.
Which crane can work inside a building?
Spider cranes and electric pick and carry cranes are built for indoor work. Some small city cranes can also work inside large buildings where the doors and headroom allow, and many factories have their own overhead cranes.
How do I know which crane I need?
Start with the weight of the load, how far it needs to reach, where the crane can stand and how long it is needed. Send us those details and we will recommend the right crane.
Get help choosing a crane
Call us on 0800 008 6096 or email office@synergy-lifting.co.uk. Tell us what you are lifting, where it needs to go and what the site is like, and we will recommend the right type and size of crane.
Find out more about our crane hire and contract lifting and electric pick and carry crane hire services.
All crane guides
- Crane Hire or Contract Lift: What Is The Difference?Crane hire or contract lift: who plans the lift, who supervises it and who insures it, what you must provide, and how to choose.
- How Much Does Crane Hire Cost?What decides the cost of crane hire: the crane, time on site, access, ground, crew and extras, and what to send us for a fast quote.
- What Size Crane Do I Need?How to work out what size crane you need from the weight, radius and height of the lift, and why load charts matter.
