Both haul your junk in Austin. The difference is how — who does the work, when you find out the price, and where your money goes. We publish ours: a sofa is $126, a fridge $164, a half-truck $431. The franchises quote on site. Here's an honest, specific comparison — including where the free city option and the $79–$99 curbside apps actually fit.
Snap a photo — itemized price back in seconds, no on-site estimate
Upload a Photo & Get Quote →The national chains work one way: you call, get a rough phone range, and the crew gives you the real number only once they're standing in your driveway — priced by how much of the truck you fill, with a franchise premium baked in. At that point you're unlikely to send them away.
JunkRabbit flips it. You send a photo, and we price every item up front from real Austin market data — before anyone is dispatched. A sofa is $126, a refrigerator $164, a queen mattress $103, a half-truck load $431. That price is locked at checkout. No on-site surprise, no "well, it's more than we thought."
It's worth being precise about what we can and can't claim here. 1-800-GOT-JUNK, College Hunks Hauling Junk and Junk King all operate on a phone or on-site estimate in this market — none of them publishes an upfront Austin number, so nobody can honestly print "their price" next to ours. What the industry does publish is the band: traditional full-service truck-load junk removal is commonly cited at $150 to $600 and up. That spread is the whole story. It's wide because the number is decided in your driveway rather than on a website.
With a franchise, you get whichever truck the franchisee sends. With JunkRabbit, vetted, insured local Austin haulers compete for your job, and you're matched to the best-priced one. Same trucks, same lifting — but you're paying a local crew instead of a franchise fee, which is why the number is usually lower.
One picture of the item, the room or the open garage. An exact itemized flat price comes back in seconds — no phone estimator, no appointment just to be quoted.
The number you accept is the number you pay. A local hauler takes the job at that rate; there's no second conversation about price when the truck arrives.
From the room, the upstairs bedroom or the back of the garage — same-day when a slot's open, COI filed and dock window booked if the building needs it.
The point of the comparison is that this list exists at all. Per item, flat, before dispatch:
| Item | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Queen mattress | $103 |
| Treadmill | $115 |
| Sofa / couch | $126 |
| Refrigerator | $164 |
| Sectional — 3-piece | $185 |
And when it's a cleanout rather than a few pieces, it's priced by truck fill: $241 quarter-load · $338 · $431 half-load · $513 · $587 · $661 · $732 full truck. The minimum order is $75. Carry-out, the drive and the disposal are inside every one of those numbers, and your checkout total is confirmed before you book.
Third-party context: the range commonly cited for traditional full-service truck-load junk removal is $150–$600+; Muvr publishes upfront pricing from $99 and Dropcurb advertises $79, both curbside models; and if you self-haul, Texas Disposal Systems lists a 2025 Creedmoor gate rate near $60/ton with a two-ton minimum while the City of Austin resident drop-off is about $4.33 per visit-cubic-yard.
A fair comparison isn't two columns — the franchise isn't your only alternative. Here's the whole ladder, from free to full-service.
| Option | Cost | Speed | Effort | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City on-demand bulk (Austin Resource Recovery) | Free | Scheduled out | You drag it to the curb | A city-of-Austin house, one or two pieces, no deadline, no HOA |
| Donation | Free | Days–weeks | You transport, or wait for a slot | Clean, sound furniture worth rehoming |
| Self-haul to the landfill | TDS Creedmoor ~$60/ton, 2-ton minimum; city resident drop-off ~$4.33/visit-cubic-yard | Half a day | High | Truck owners clearing one big mixed pile |
| Traditional franchise (1-800-GOT-JUNK, College Hunks, Junk King) | On-site estimate — industry range commonly $150–$600+ | 1–3 days | None | People comfortable learning the price in the driveway |
| Curbside app (Muvr from $99, Dropcurb $79, LoadUp) | Published upfront | 1–2 days | You stage it at the curb | Ground-floor homes, lighter items, no HOA covenant |
| JunkRabbit | $126 sofa · $431 half-truck, flat | Same day | None | Anything heavy, upstairs, in a tower, or in an HOA suburb where nothing can sit at the curb |
Competitor and municipal figures are third-party and shown for comparison; we don't publish anyone else's quote as if it were ours.
Worth checking before you pay anyone. Austin Resource Recovery runs residential bulk as an on-demand request — you book it at austintexas.gov/service/ondemand, you get a set number of free collections a year, each has a volume cap, and it is curbside only for City of Austin residential curbside-trash customers. If you own a house inside the city limits, have one couch, and can wait — take the free option. We'll still be here when you've used your collections.
Three things knock most searchers out of it. Apartments and condos have no access at all, because multifamily properties here contract private haulers — that's West Campus, the Riverside belt, the Domain mid-rises and every downtown tower. The suburbs aren't in it either: Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander, Georgetown, Pflugerville, Hutto, Buda and Kyle are separate cities running their own or contracted collection on set bulk days. And the HOA problem catches everyone else — in a master-planned subdivision, a sofa sitting at the curb waiting for a collection date is precisely the thing the covenant fines you for. That's the gap both we and the franchises are actually competing in.
| JunkRabbit | National chain | |
|---|---|---|
| When you learn the price | Up front, from a photo | On-site, after they arrive |
| Pricing basis | Per item, flat | Truck fraction + brand premium |
| Published Austin price | Yes — sofa $126, fridge $164, half-truck $431 | No — estimate only |
| Who hauls it | Vetted local haulers | Franchise crew |
| Suburb drive | Included in quote | May add a trip charge |
| Same-day | Often, no surcharge | Varies |
| COI + freight elevator | Filed and booked, in the price | Varies by franchise |
| Second appointment to get quoted | None | Usually the estimate visit |
Prices are flat and photo-quoted; $75 minimum, disposal included. Comparison reflects the typical franchise on-site model.
This is the part no comparison table captures, and it's worth asking whoever you hire. Anything usable goes to donation first — Goodwill Central Texas, Habitat for Humanity ReStore Austin, ARC Resale, the Austin Furniture Bank and the Salvation Army — with a receipt on request. Metal goes to scrap. Electronics go to an e-waste processor. Refrigerant appliances have their refrigerant recovered before the shell is scrapped, which is a real cost line and the reason a fridge prices differently from a dresser. What's left goes to a permitted disposal facility. Ask any hauler what happens to your load; a straight answer is a decent proxy for everything else.
"Prompt and professional. I will definitely use again."
"Fast, considerate, and thorough"
"Bart's communication was great. He came ready with a large well-equipped truck and moved my furniture in less than 15 minutes. Thank you!"
Is JunkRabbit cheaper than 1-800-GOT-JUNK in Austin?
They don't publish an Austin price — 1-800-GOT-JUNK, College Hunks and Junk King all quote by phone or on site here — so nobody can honestly print a head-to-head number. Ours is published: sofa $126, fridge $164, queen mattress $103, half-truck $431. The industry range commonly cited for full-service truck-load work is $150–$600+.
Do I get a price before the crew shows up?
Yes — a flat, itemized price from a photo, locked at checkout before dispatch. The franchise model gives a rough range on the phone and the real number in your driveway.
Who actually does the pickup?
Vetted, insured local Austin haulers. We're the marketplace that matches you and locks the rate, so the money goes to a local crew rather than a franchise fee.
Would the city do it for free?
Possibly — Austin Resource Recovery's on-demand bulk is free, but it's a set number of collections a year, capped by volume, curbside only, and city-of-Austin residential curbside-trash customers only. Apartments are excluded and the suburbs run their own collection.
How does this compare with Muvr or Dropcurb?
They publish upfront prices (Muvr from $99, Dropcurb $79) but they're curbside models — you get the item out front yourself. We carry it from the room, which is the whole difference in a two-storey slab house or an HOA subdivision.
Is there a high-rise surcharge?
No. COI naming the association and management, freight elevator or dock booked several business days ahead — filed, booked, and inside the flat price.
Do you charge extra for the suburb drive?
No. Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander, Georgetown, Pflugerville, Hutto, Buda and Kyle are all inside the quoted price.
Is self-hauling cheaper?
Only with a truck you already own. TDS Creedmoor is around $60/ton with a two-ton minimum; the city resident drop-off about $4.33 per visit-cubic-yard. Both leave the lifting and the drive to you.
Sometimes, narrowly. Austin Resource Recovery runs residential bulk as an on-demand request at austintexas.gov/service/ondemand: a set number of free collections a year, each with a volume cap, curbside only, and only for city-of-Austin residential curbside-trash customers. Apartments and condos are on private hauling and excluded entirely, the suburb cities run their own separate collection, and in an HOA subdivision anything waiting at the curb for a collection date is what gets cited.
Those are a different service. Muvr publishes upfront pricing from $99 and Dropcurb advertises $79, and LoadUp also prices upfront — but they are curbside or self-stage models, meaning you get the item out to the curb and they collect it from there. We are full-service: the crew starts in the room or the garage and carries it out. In an Austin HOA suburb, where nothing is allowed to sit out front, the curbside model doesn't work at all.
No. Towers on Rainey Street, in the 2nd Street District and around the Domain require a Certificate of Insurance naming the association and management, plus a freight elevator or loading dock booked several business days ahead. We file the COI and book the window as part of the job, and it's inside the flat price rather than added on site.
No. The drive out to Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander, Georgetown, Pflugerville, Hutto, Buda or Kyle is already inside the quoted flat price — no trip charge appearing at the end. Suburb jobs are the bulk of what we do here, so the routing is planned, not exceptional.
Only if you already own a truck. Texas Disposal Systems lists a 2025 gate rate of roughly $60 per ton for municipal solid waste at its Creedmoor landfill with a two-ton minimum, so a small load still bills as two tons. The City of Austin resident drop-off is about $4.33 per visit-cubic-yard — cheap at the gate, but you're still doing the lifting, the loading and the drive.