Best cordless drill

How to choose

Pick the battery family first

Batteries fit only their own brand line, so this choice outlasts the drill.^{6 7}

Go with 18V class unless you only do light work

Twelve-volt drills are lighter but gave up real capacity in GearLab's runs. They took 40 to 201 seconds on the 5-inch hole saw, while the best 18V-class drills took 11 to 21. A 12V drill still handles picture hanging and furniture.¹

Take brushless when it costs about the same

Brushless motors use electronics in place of the carbon brushes in older motors.¹⁷ The top four drills in GearLab's table are all brushless, but GearLab also says a brushed drill is plenty for occasional use.^{1 2} Nobody has measured motor life across home drills, so treat long-life claims as theory.

Ignore the big numbers on the box

"20V MAX" means 18 volts nominal, as DeWalt says in its own footnote. DeWalt's UWO rating isn't torque, so you can't compare it with a torque claim from Ryobi or Bosch.¹⁸

Torque ratings don't rank drills either. In Project Farm's 2025 test on a 10-inch lag bolt, a Milwaukee rated at 1,400 inch-pounds reached 455. A Ridgid rated at 1,250 reached 203, behind a Ryobi rated at only 750, which reached 263.¹⁹

The clutch is the numbered ring that makes the drill slip at a set force, so you don't strip a screw. A high count proves little: GearLab's LD120VA had more than 20 positions and still couldn't get a lag screw halfway in.^{1 13}

Look at charge time and battery size

Measured charge times in GearLab's table ran from 23 to 230 minutes, and the slowest were the cheapest drills.¹ One larger pack can match two small ones. The Atomic did about twice as many cycles on its 2.0 Ah pack as the DCD771C2 did on a 1.3 Ah pack.^{1 2 3}

Buy hammer mode only for masonry, and plan for the dust

A compact hammer drill suits a few anchors in brick or block. A full-size hammer drill or right-angle drill makes a poor only drill, because Bob Vila's team found them heavy for everyday screwdriving.¹¹

Drilling masonry makes silica dust, and breathing it over time can cause silicosis and lung cancer.²⁰ A 2026 study of an hour's hammer drilling into concrete found personal exposure fell 87.6 percent with built-in extractors and 93.3 percent with an external vacuum and shroud.²⁰ If you'll drill more than a couple of holes, buy a drilling dust shroud, use a HEPA vacuum, and clean the holes with the vacuum as well.²¹ Empty the dust bin outdoors and wear a respirator while you do it.²⁰

A jammed bit can also break your hand. Doctors in the United Arab Emirates reviewed 43 construction workers with the same spiral hand fracture after drill kickback, typically when the bit lodged suddenly in concrete. They tie the injury to a one-handed grip. Keep both hands on the drill and use a side handle if you can fit one.²²

Don't buy a no-name drill from a marketplace listing

In October 2024, CPSC told owners of AILUKI drills, sold online from 2020 to 2024, to stop using them. It had nine reports of the drills exploding, igniting, melting, smoking or overheating, including one burn injury, and the maker didn't answer its requests. If you own one, stop using it, pull the battery and take it to household hazardous waste, not a store recycling box.²³

Buy from a brand with a real recall process, however good a listing's star rating looks. Big names have had recalls too: about 1.7 million Harbor Freight Drill Master drills in 2015, 455,000 Ryobi HP 1802M drills in 2010 and several DeWalt models in 2007, all for overheating. If you own an older cordless drill, look up its model on CPSC's recall list. CPSC's database showed no recall of any drill in this guide in November 2026.^{24 25 26}