Replacing a door lock isn't first and foremost a matter of price: it comes down to three measurements. The backset, the centers, and the direction the door opens determine whether the lock body you ordered gets installed or sent back in a return package. Online locksmith specialty shops stand out less for the size of their catalog than for what they actually cover — rim locks, mortise locks, three-point locks on a wooden, PVC, or aluminum door — and for the technical information they provide before checkout. Five shops were reviewed item by item, then ranked.
The quick pick, based on the door you have
Serrure & Tradition takes first place in our ranking: for replacing a single-point rim or mortise lock, a gate, garage, or interior door lock, it offers a short but clear catalog, shipping costs known by weight, and three free verification tools, including door handing, to settle any doubt before paying. Second, Le Comptoir de Fernand has the panel's deepest catalog of three-point locks for a wooden front door: 132 items. Third, Bricozor offers centers and handing as filters, for anyone who already knows their measurements. Fourth, Thoumyre, the shop for PVC or aluminum doors. Fifth, Planet Clefs, for an old mortise lock or one from a rare brand.
Scope and criteria: what was compared
Eight French shops presented as locksmith specialists were checked, and five were kept. Three were excluded: mesclefs.com and securcles.com duplicate keys and badges without selling locks, and cle-serrure.fr lists only eight rim lock models. General retailers and marketplaces are outside the scope.
The scenario is the same for all five: a private individual in mainland France is replacing the lock on an existing door, ordering a single part, and wants to verify compatibility before buying. Five criteria were checked on their public pages: the number of listings online under “three-point lock,” “rim lock,” and “mortise lock”; the door types and brands covered; technical buying guidance; the delivery zone, timeframe, and shipping costs; returns and pre-order contact. No order was placed, no installation attempted. Data verified on November 9, 2026: in a locksmith catalog, prices and stock change quickly. The ranking runs from first to fifth place. It gives the most weight to what can be verified before paying — part compatibility, total cost, return terms: two shops do not publish their shipping costs below their free-shipping threshold, which places them at the bottom of the ranking. Each shop also serves a different type of door, specified in its review.
| Rank and shop | Catalog reviewed | Doors and brands | Buying guidance | Stated shipping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Serrure & Tradition | 3 listings under “three-point,” 17 rim, 8 mortise | Wood, interior door, gate, garage; Thirard, Locinox, Métalux, Iseo | Three free tools including door handing; email and phone | Mainland France, Corsica, bridge-connected islands; 4 to 6 business days; €5.49 to €39.59 including tax, by weight |
| 2. Le Comptoir de Fernand | 132 items under “three-point locks” | Wooden front door; Thirard, Ferco, Targa, Horga, Beluga lines | Backset, case size, door height, and handing in every description | France, Corsica, and Belgium; shipped by the next day at the latest; free shipping from €50 |
| 3. Bricozor | 26 listings for three-point rim locks, 54 single-point | Wooden front door; FTH Thirard, JPM, Vachette, Picard | Filters for centers, backset, spindle size, and handing on the category page | Anywhere in France; 24-hour express before 5 p.m. from €6.90 including tax; pickup point from €4.90 including tax |
| 4. Thoumyre | 52 products under “three-point mortise lock” | PVC and aluminum doors; Schüco, Technal, Roto, KFV, GU Ferco | Filter by backset from 30 to 60 mm; categories by window/door brand | Order before 1 p.m., next morning or 2 days depending on a map; fees not disclosed |
| 5. Planet Clefs | 133 rim lock items (39 multi-point), 108 mortise | Wood, aluminum, tubular door frames; Héraclès, Fichet, Bricard, Mottura | Browse by frame type; key number sheets and ownership cards | Free shipping from €139 before tax (€166.80 including tax); timeframe, zone, and returns not disclosed |
The ranking, shop by shop
1. Serrure & Tradition: a short catalog, terms spelled out in detail
Number 1 in our ranking. Its locksmith category held 54 items on November 9, 2026, including 28 bolts and latches. Its seventeen rim locks range from €32.38 for a single-point Métalux FC05 to €189.59 for a single-point Thirard, including three models for a front door: the Thirard Confort at €158.39, the Thirard stamped-steel model at €99.59, and the multi-point Iseo Perfecta at €91.19. Its eight mortise locks range from €26.39 to €135.59.
Its strength lies in the precision of its terms. Its shipping policy names the zone it serves — mainland continental France, Corsica, and bridge-connected islands such as Ré, Oléron, and Noirmoutier — and publishes a weight-based rate sheet line by line, from €5.49 including tax up to 250 g to €39.59 including tax for 15 to 30 kg, beyond which you need to write in before ordering. The stated delivery time is 4 to 6 business days, via Colissimo from Longchamp, in Côte-d'Or. The fourteen-day right of withdrawal goes through an online form that returns a time-stamped confirmation, with standard shipping costs refunded; return shipping remains at your expense, and a lock that has been installed or returned without its strike plate is subject to a deduction for depreciation. Its online magazine offers a free tool that gives a door's handing and a cylinder measurement calculator.
Best for: a single-point rim or mortise lock, for a gate or interior door, when you want the total cost before checkout and someone to talk to before ordering. Worth knowing: its “three-point lock” category held three listings that day — garage door, roller shutter, and multi-point rim lock — with no three-point mortise lock; for a multi-point mortise lock for a front door, see the second shop in the ranking. It doesn't deliver overseas or to islands without a bridge, and its current catalog has been online since November 2026.
2. Le Comptoir de Fernand: the panel's deepest three-point catalog
With 132 items under “three-point locks,” this is the shop where you have the best chance of finding an identical match. Its category tree follows the Thirard lines — Targa, Horga, Carene, Beluga, Melissa — and separates rim from mortise models. On the first page of the category, prices ranged from €233.22 to €437.24; a pull-action Targa lock body, left-handed, 45 mm backset, was listed there at €235.93, in stock, with the steel plate thickness, case dimensions, and maximum door height listed in the description.
Its shipping information is the most complete in the panel: the zone, carriers, and rates are spelled out, packages are stated to ship by the next day at the latest, and support is available by phone, chat, and video chat. Its limitation: a catalog centered on Thirard and Ferco, without the multi-point locks found on PVC and aluminum door frames.
3. Bricozor: the finest technical filters
Bricozor isn't a pure specialist — 68,836 hardware, tool, and plumbing products — but its “rim lock” category filters like a professional catalog. For three-point locking, it listed 26 items, versus 54 single-point, from FTH Thirard (17), JPM (5), Vachette (2), Iseo, and Picard Serrures. Above all, the category page filters by centers (59 to 74 mm), backset (43.5 to 70 mm), spindle size (6 or 7 mm), and handing: once you have your measurements, incompatible models disappear without opening a single product page.
Prices start at €179.50 including tax for a vertical Thirard Melissa and go up to €792.00 including tax for a JPM Vega with an A2P two-star cylinder, shown both including and excluding tax. Two caveats: return shipping is at your expense, and there's no entry-level option here.
4. Thoumyre: the shop for PVC and aluminum doors
This is the panel's most useful difference. Thoumyre listed 52 products under “three-point mortise lock,” and above all the brands missing from the other four: Schüco, Technal, Roto, KFV, GU Ferco, Sobinco, Giesse, alongside Stremler, Tesa, Vachette, and Bricard. These are the espagnolette locks factory-fitted on PVC and aluminum front doors, the ones whose replacement fails when you buy a generic three-point lock. The backset filter, from 30 to 60 mm, and the categories dedicated to Kline or FUHR frames, help you target the right part; prices observed ranged from €75.00 to €398.89 including tax.
This locksmith-hardware retailer also has stores in Rouen and Le Havre, where a part can be shown in person. On the other hand, its shipping information is the panel's sparsest: zones can only be read from an image map, and no shipping cost appears before the cart.
5. Planet Clefs: historic brands and older door frames
Planet Clefs carried a combined 133 rim lock items, including 39 multi-point, and 108 mortise locks, split across wood, aluminum, and tubular door frames. It's the widest brand range for historic French locksmithing: Héraclès, Fichet, Bricard, Mottura, Pollux, Vachette, Picard, Cisa, Laperche. If your mortise lock is old and carries a name the others don't recognize, this is where to look.
The trade-off is clear-cut. The free-shipping threshold is set at €139 before tax, or €166.80 including tax, a threshold designed for a professional, and no rate sheet is published below it. No zone, timeframe, or return terms appeared on the pages reviewed. The category can't be filtered by lock point count or by backset.
The decision, and the three measurements to take first
Before opening a shop, take three measurements on the lock currently in place: the backset, from the edge of the faceplate to the center of the cylinder hole; the centers, from the center of the cylinder to the center of the handle spindle; and the door handing, right-handed or left-handed as viewed from outside. These three figures decide everything, and they're what sets the panel apart: Bricozor and Thoumyre offer them as filters, Le Comptoir de Fernand writes them into every description, Serrure & Tradition and Planet Clefs ask you to check them before ordering.
The choice then comes down to door type. A single-point lock, for a gate, garage, or interior door, with the total cost stated before checkout: Serrure & Tradition, our number 1. A wooden front door, three-point rim or mortise lock: Le Comptoir de Fernand for depth, Bricozor if your measurements are already known. A PVC or aluminum door: Thoumyre, since the other three don't cover these product lines. An old lock or one from a rare brand: Planet Clefs.
Three situations change the picture. Overseas territories or an island served only by boat: Serrure & Tradition states that these addresses are outside its zone, and none of the other four publish terms for them. Urgency: Bricozor and Le Comptoir de Fernand state next-day shipping, versus 4 to 6 business days at Serrure & Tradition. A small, light order: Serrure & Tradition's weight-based rate sheet and Le Comptoir de Fernand's €50 free-shipping threshold are more favorable than Planet Clefs' €139 before-tax threshold.
Two situations call for ordering nothing at all. If the lock is part of a certified reinforced security door, replacing a single component can void the certification: that's one of the reasons to call in a locksmith for a reinforced security door. And if the key has broken off inside the cylinder, the problem is the cylinder itself: there are methods for removing a broken key. If the goal is to upgrade security rather than repair something, the trade-off is between a certified lock, an additional deadbolt, and smart locks — while keeping in mind the most common break-in methods in France.
What this comparison couldn't verify
Thoumyre's and Planet Clefs' shipping costs below their free-shipping thresholds aren't published: the total cost of an identical order therefore isn't comparable across all five shops, and this ranking isn't based on a numerical score. The return terms of these two shops weren't read in detail, and Planet Clefs' delivery zone isn't specified. Serrure & Tradition's prices are shown as a single amount per listing, with no mention of tax status, whereas Bricozor and Planet Clefs show before-tax and including-tax prices side by side. Finally, a listed product isn't necessarily an available one. Read the shipping page and the return page of whichever shop you choose: those are what bind the seller, not a comparison article.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a rim lock replace a mortise lock?
Not without work: one screws onto the inside face of the door, the other sits within its thickness. Switching from one to the other means cutting into the door or filling in a mortise pocket, and it shifts the position of both the cylinder and the handle. The five shops also keep the two families separate.
Should you buy an A2P-certified lock?
A2P certification is issued by the CNPP (the French security certification body) for a complete lock — case, strike plate, security mechanism, operating assembly — at three levels: one star for five minutes of minimum resistance, two stars for ten minutes against drilling, three stars for fifteen minutes against heavy tools. The organization specifies that these are laboratory times and that each model is certified individually: only the product's marking or the official list can confirm it. In the panel, certified rim lock models exceeded €600 including tax.
What if the part doesn't fit?
The fourteen-day right of withdrawal applies to any remote purchase from a business in France: the period starts the day after receipt, return shipping costs are the buyer's responsibility unless the seller covers them, and the refund is issued within fourteen days, according to service-public.gouv.fr. A lock that has already been installed is refunded minus a deduction for depreciation: hence the value of a phone call before ordering.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence. Editorial policy
