In a welding wire storage device for a welding system including a housing with a wire core surrounding the welding wire being arcuately arranged to lie freely in a free space of the housing, one end of the wire core is fixed in an end region of the housing and a measuring means is provided to detect the deflection of the wire core. In order to provide a very simple and compact structure for such a welding wire storage device, the wire core is displaceably mounted in a guide element on the opposite end region, and two coupling mechanisms, for connection with a wire guide hose for the wire core are arranged on the housing.