What Is a Systainer?

A Systainer is a stackable, modular storage case system engineered and manufactured by Tanos in Germany. For more than thirty years it has been the organizing system of choice for professionals and makers, refined across three generations of product.

Four things define it: a broad portfolio of case types and sizes, a range of color schemes to organize by, a one-handed catch that stacks and locks cases into a single unit, and — with Systainer³ — a rail system built into the case for mounting in vehicles and workshops.

Who Makes the Systainer

Tanos GmbH, based in Illertissen, Germany, engineers and manufactures every Systainer. Tanos is part of the TTS Group, which also owns Festool and SawStop.

That corporate relationship is the source of a common mix-up. Festool sells its power tools in Systainers and did more than any other brand to popularize them, so the case and the tool brand are often treated as the same thing. They aren’t: Festool does not manufacture Systainers. Tanos does. Festool is one of hundreds of brands that buy Systainers from Tanos to package their own products.

Where the Systainer Came From

Tanos launched the first Systainer — the design the community now calls the Classic — in 1993. More than 35 million have been produced since.

The locking mechanism has changed since then. The Classic used four separate catches, one at each corner. In 2010 the T-Loc generation replaced them with a single patented catch — one twist locks a case to the stack, opens the lid, or releases it again, all one-handed — working against a redesigned cleated foot.

Systainer³ followed in 2019, developed by Tanos together with Bott and Festool. It refined the catch again and stiffened the case, but the significant change was mounting: Systainer³ has a rail profile built into the case itself, so it slides directly into compatible vehicle and workshop racking instead of needing separate rail hardware bolted on. That is what turned the Systainer from a case that travels well into one that is part of the vehicle.

What survived every change is the stack itself. Each generation reworked how a case locks, and none of them broke compatibility with what came before, which is why the system spans three decades instead of replacing itself every few years.

The Three Generations

All three generations remain part of one compatible stack. A Classic can sit under a T-Loc or a Systainer³ without an adapter — see all three stacked together.

What Sizes Systainers Come In

Systainer³ footprints are named like t-shirt sizes — XXS, S, M, L, and XXL — describing the front-to-back and left-to-right dimensions. M is the most common. Each footprint is then offered in a range of heights.

That range is the point. Organizing a real kit takes more than one size of container — a set of drill bits and a cordless saw do not want the same box — so a system that only comes one way ends up half-used. Several footprints, each in several heights, each available as more than one type of case, is what lets one system cover a whole kit rather than part of it.

The model names read straight off that scheme. A Systainer³ M 112 is the Systainer³ generation, in the M footprint, 112 mm tall measured outside. An M 437 is the same footprint and a good deal deeper. Where a case is a specific type rather than a plain box, that gets named too — Systainer³ Organizer M, Systainer³ Sortainer, Systainer³ Combi.

The lineup goes well beyond a box with a lid. The same stacking footprint is used for:

• Boxes — the standard case, in every footprint and height
• Drawers — the Sortainer line in two- and three-drawer configurations, plus the SYS-Combi, which pairs a drawer with a lidded compartment above it
• Organizers — insert boxes for fasteners and small parts
• Tool boxes — open-top carriers built on the same base
• Tool bags — soft-sided, stacking on the same geometry

Two color schemes are standard: an all-anthracite case in dark gray, or a light gray body, lid, and handle with a signal blue catch — the case pictured at the top of this page. Festool’s own Systainers use that same light gray body with a Festool green catch. Beyond the two standards, many models offer color options for the body, catch, and handle. The current range is at Systainer USA.

Organizing Within the System

The breadth of the range is what makes Systainer an organizing system rather than a set of containers. Because every format shares one footprint, the container can be matched to the contents without breaking the stack: an organizer of insert boxes for fasteners, a drawer for the things reached for hourly, a deep box for bulky kit, a bag for what gets carried by hand.

Two more layers sit on top of that, and both are used heavily by the people who submit fitouts here:

• Color — because body, catch, and handle colors vary across the range, a stack can be coded by trade, by job, by vehicle, or by who owns it, and read at a glance across a workshop.
• Labeling — Systainer³ has two card slots molded into the front face, each sized for a standard CR80 card, the same dimensions as a credit card. A printed card drops straight in and can be pulled and swapped when the contents change, with no adhesive and no residue. Beyond the slots, the flat lid and front faces take labels well, and this community uses vinyl, die-cut stickers, direct-to-film transfers, and 3D-printed label holders.

Inside the case, custom inserts — cut foam, 3D prints, or off-the-shelf insert boxes — hold each tool in a known place. None of this is required to use a Systainer, and how far to take it is a matter of taste; the point is that the system is built to be organized rather than merely filled.

How Festool and the Other Brands Fit In

Tanos uses two terms for the businesses around the Systainer, and they mean different things.

A System Partner is a brand that packages its own products inside Systainers. Festool is the best known, but there are hundreds — Mirka, Veritas, and Mafell each ship products in Systainers bought from Tanos, with their own branded colors, molded logos, and custom inserts. A Systainer made for Festool and one made for another System Partner are fully compatible with each other: same geometry, same catches.

A Systainer Partner is different. It’s a business making things compatible with Systainers rather than shipping products in them — mounting hardware, racks, inserts, organizers, or professional fitout work built for the Systainer footprint. Real examples are tagged Systainer Partners across this site.

What Stacks With What

The short answer is that nearly all of it stacks together. The detail:

• Across generations — thirty years on, compatibility has largely held. A Classic sits under a T-Loc or a Systainer³, and T-Loc and Systainer³ are freely interchangeable.
• Across brands — a System Partner’s Systainer is a Tanos Systainer with different branding, so a Festool case and a Mirka case stack together normally.
• Across formats — boxes, drawers, organizers, and tool bags in the same footprint all connect to each other.
• Across systems — Systainer³ in particular drops into a wider ecosystem: Bott van and workshop racking, FORG3D mounts and accessories, community 3D prints, and plenty more built by Systainer Partners.

The practical consequence is that a Systainer bought today still works with one bought decades ago, and a stack can mix brands, generations, and formats without adapters.

See Real Systainers in Use

Everything above describes the system. The rest of this site is what people actually do with it — every entry is submitted by the person who built it.

• Fitouts — individual Systainer builds: inserts, layout, labeling
• Workshops — full shop setups built around Systainer storage
• Vehicles — vans, trucks, and trailers with Systainer racking
• Worksites — job site and field setups
• Browse by tag — by size, brand, trade, or use case

Wondering whether it’s the right system for you? Read Why Systainer.