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Pallet calculator

How many cartons fit on a pallet, how many pallets your shipment needs, and whether height or weight runs out first.

Size 1

In mm, pallet deck included. Whatever caps it is the number to use - container interior, racking beam or forklift mast.

The pallet's own thickness. It comes off the load height before any carton goes on.

Published by the pallet maker and stamped on pooled pallets. Left blank the weight limit is simply not checked.

Enter your carton size, how many you have and what one weighs. The number of pallets appears here.

How this is calculated

Cartons per layer = floor(deck L / carton L) x floor(deck W / carton W)
taking the better of the two ways the carton sits on the deck

Layers by height = floor((max load height - deck height) / carton height)
Layers by weight = floor(safe working load / (cartons per layer x carton weight))
Layers          = the lower of the two

Cartons per pallet = cartons per layer x layers
Pallets            = carton quantity / cartons per pallet, rounded up

Assumptions

  • Pallet dimensions and safe working loads are the publisher's own figures - EPAL for the Euro, EPAL 2 and half pallet, PECO for the GMA. Both are cited below. A pallet in your warehouse can differ, and a pooled pallet has its rating stamped on it.
  • No overhang. Cartons are counted only where they sit fully on the deck, because overhanging freight gets rejected by carriers, crushes at the edges and voids the pallet's load rating. That makes this the conservative count, not the maximum one.
  • Layers are square-stacked, one orientation per layer. Interlocked and pinwheel patterns fit more in practice, and no calculator can promise them for an arbitrary carton - overstating capacity is what leaves freight standing on the dock.
  • Each carton size is palletised on its own, which is how warehouses build pallets. Mixing sizes on one pallet gives different totals and is a job for the person stacking it.
  • The load height is yours to set. Whatever caps it - container interior, racking beam, forklift mast - is the number to enter, and the pallet's own deck height comes off it before any carton goes on.
  • Cartons are assumed strong enough for the stack. Crush strength, not geometry, is what limits height on light cargo, and it is not something dimensions can tell you.

How this pallet calculator works

Two things decide how many cartons go on a pallet, and a pallet is only as tall as the lower of them. Height runs out first on light bulky cargo. Weight runs out first on tiles, tinned goods, liquids and fasteners, and those pallets look half built when they hit the rating.

Enter your carton size, how many you have and what one weighs, pick the pallet, and the result gives cartons per layer, layers, cartons per pallet and the number of pallets - with every step of the arithmetic printed underneath.

Several carton sizes, and why that matters here

Most pallet calculators take one carton and stop. A real packing list has several, and running the tool four times and adding up the answers is where the mistakes happen.

This one takes as many sizes as you have, and each size is palletised on its own - which is how warehouses actually build pallets, one product per pallet rather than a mixed stack. That is not just convenience. It is what makes every row an exact calculation rather than an estimate: there is no mixed-cargo packing problem to approximate, because nothing is mixed.

The layer, and the waste you cannot see

A layer is the honest part of the arithmetic:

cartons per layer = floor(deck L / carton L) x floor(deck W / carton W)

The tool tries both ways the carton sits on the deck and keeps the better one. What that formula exposes is the waste, and it repeats on every layer of every pallet:

  • A 40 x 30 cm carton on a Euro pallet gives 4 along by 2 across, 8 per layer, and covers the deck almost exactly.
  • A 45 x 35 cm carton is barely bigger, but gives 2 along by 2 across - 4 per layer - and leaves a third of the deck empty.

Same pallet, same freight cost, half the cargo. On 240 cartons that is the difference between 5 pallets and 10. Carton dimensions that divide the deck cleanly are worth designing for.

No overhang is counted. Cartons are only counted where they sit fully on the deck. Overhang costs a large share of a carton’s compression strength because the corner is unsupported, and it is a common reason a carrier refuses a pallet or a damage claim is denied. This is deliberately the conservative count.

Why weight caps the stack more often than people expect

Every pallet has a published safe working load. EPAL rates the Euro pallet at 1,500 kg, the EPAL 2 at 1,250 kg and the half pallet at 750 kg; PECO rates the GMA at 2,800 lb. Those are real limits, not guidance.

layers by weight = floor(safe working load / (cartons per layer x carton weight))

Take a 40 x 30 x 25 cm carton on a Euro pallet, 8 per layer. At 12 kg a carton that is 96 kg a layer, so weight would allow 15 layers and height stops you at 6 - height decides, and the finished pallet is 576 kg of cargo, well inside the rating. At 35 kg the same carton is 280 kg a layer, weight allows only 5, and the stack is capped one layer short of the height you have available.

The geometry did not change at all. That is why weight is not an optional field here, and why the result names which limit bound the answer.

Worked example: 240 cartons on Euro pallets

240 cartons at 40 x 30 x 25 cm, 12 kg each, on Euro pallets at a 1,800 mm load height.

The layer. The deck is 1200 x 800 mm and the carton is 400 x 300 mm. Laid one way that is 1200/400 = 3 along and 800/300 = 2 across, which is 6. Turned, it is 1200/300 = 4 along and 800/400 = 2 across, which is 8. The tool keeps the better of the two - 8 cartons per layer.

The layers. The Euro deck is 144 mm, leaving 1,656 mm of load height. 1,656 / 250 = 6 layers.

Weight check. 8 per layer at 12 kg is 96 kg a layer. 1,500 / 96 = 15 layers allowed by weight, far more than the 6 that height gives. Height binds.

The answer. 8 x 6 = 48 cartons per pallet, 576 kg of cargo plus the 25 kg pallet, so 601 kg gross. 240 / 48 = 5 pallets.

Now make them tinned goods at 35 kg a carton. 8 x 35 = 280 kg a layer, and 1,500 / 280 caps the stack at 5 layers - one short of the height available. That is 40 cartons a pallet at 1,425 kg gross, and the same 240 cartons now need 6 pallets instead of 5. Nothing about the boxes changed shape.

Pallet figures, and why carriers and poolers disagree

Every dimension and rating here comes from the organisation that publishes it - EPAL for the Euro, EPAL 2 and half pallet, PECO for the GMA - and both are cited at the foot of this page.

They are still specifications for a pallet in good condition. A repaired pallet, a wet one, or one from a pool with its own build standard carries less. If your pallets differ, choose Custom pallet and the deck dimensions, deck height and safe working load become yours - the tool will not mix your deck size with somebody else’s rating.

Nothing to install, no signup

The calculator runs entirely in your own browser as plain JavaScript, and your carton dimensions, quantities and weights are never transmitted anywhere. The site counts page visits with Google Analytics, but the page address it receives has the calculation stripped out of it first, so your shipment figures are not part of what it sees.

Frequently asked questions

How many boxes fit on a pallet?
It depends on the carton and the pallet, and the arithmetic is worth doing rather than guessing. A 40 x 30 x 25 cm carton on a Euro pallet fits 8 to a layer - 4 along by 2 across - and at a 1,800 mm load height the deck leaves 1,656 mm, which takes 6 layers, so 48 cartons. Change the carton height to 30 cm and you lose a layer and 8 cartons. Enter your own carton above and the tool prints the along, across and layer figures so you can check them.
How many cartons fit on a Euro pallet?
The Euro pallet deck is 1200 x 800 mm, so the layer count comes from how your carton divides into that. A 40 x 30 cm carton gives 8 per layer and covers the deck almost exactly, a 40 x 40 cm carton gives 6, and a 45 x 35 cm carton - barely bigger - gives only 4. Carton sizes that divide the deck cleanly are worth designing for, because the waste repeats on every layer and every pallet.
What is a standard pallet size?
There is no single world standard. Europe uses the EPAL Euro pallet at 1200 x 800 mm, North America the GMA at 48 x 40 inches, which is 1219 x 1016 mm, and the 1200 x 1000 mm EPAL 2 is common for industrial freight. The one you get is decided by where the goods ship from, so check before designing a carton around a deck size.
How many kg can one pallet hold?
EPAL publishes 1,500 kg as the safe working load for a Euro pallet, 1,250 kg for the EPAL 2 and 750 kg for the half pallet. PECO rates the GMA pallet at 2,800 lb, about 1,270 kg, edge-racked. Those are static ratings for an evenly spread load - a point load, a badly stacked pallet or a pallet in poor repair carries less, and a pooled pallet has its own rating stamped on it.
How many pallets fit in a 40ft container?
A 40ft standard is 12,032 mm long and 2,350 mm wide inside. Euro pallets laid 1200 mm along the length give 10 rows of 2, so 20 on the floor. GMA pallets at 1219 x 1016 mm give 9 rows of 2, so 18. Those are single-orientation counts - a real stow sometimes gains one or two by turning pallets near the doors, which is not something to plan against. Double stacking depends on your load height against the 2,390 mm interior. Work out the pallet count here first, then use the container load calculator for the container itself.
Does height or weight decide how many boxes go on a pallet?
Whichever runs out first, and it is worth knowing which. Light bulky cargo hits the load height while the pallet is nowhere near its rating. Dense cargo - tiles, tinned goods, liquids, fasteners - reaches the safe working load with the stack barely half built. This tool checks both and the result names the one that binds, so enter a weight against every carton size.
What load height should I use?
Use whatever actually caps your load. If the pallets go straight into a 40ft container the interior is 2,390 mm, so around 2,200 mm leaves working clearance. Warehouse racking is usually set lower, often 1,800 mm or less, and a hand-stacked pallet is limited by how high someone can lift. 1,800 mm is the default here because it clears most of those, but it is an input for a reason.
Can boxes overhang the edge of a pallet?
They should not, and this calculator does not count them if they do. Overhang loses a large share of the carton's compression strength because the corner is no longer supported, and it is a common reason carriers refuse a pallet or a claim gets denied. If your carton genuinely will not fit the deck without overhang, the answer is a different pallet or a different carton, not a wider stack.
What is the difference between a Euro pallet and a GMA pallet?
Size and where they are used. The EPAL Euro is 1200 x 800 mm and dominates Europe; the GMA is 48 x 40 inches, 1219 x 1016 mm, and dominates North America. The GMA is the larger deck and carries a higher rated load, but the Euro pallet fits two-abreast in a standard container width with less waste. Neither is better - the one to plan against is the one your shipper actually uses.
Is this pallet calculator free?
Yes, with no signup, no account and no paid tier. It runs entirely in your own browser, and your carton dimensions, quantities and weights are never transmitted anywhere. Your inputs are written into the page address as you type, so copying the link sends the exact calculation to a supplier or forwarder with every field already filled in.

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Sources & methodology

Last updated

Results are estimates for planning purposes. Verify with your carrier or customs broker before committing. This is not professional advice - see the disclaimer.

Every calculation runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to a server or stored anywhere.