Related: Brushless vs Brushed Drills: What the Motor Actually Changes
Start with the battery platform, not the drill
I have 30-some dead tools bolted to the wall of my shop outside Cleveland. Screwguns with melted brushes, a hammer drill that caught fire mid-pour, an impact driver that stripped its own anvil. Every one of them taught me the same lesson: a cordless drill set is not a drill. It is a battery platform, and once you buy in, you are married to it for the next ten years.
So I do not rank drills by the torque number printed on the box. Spec torque gets measured on a warm battery with a fresh charge. Real torque is what is left at screw 200, with a tired arm, on a 40-degree Cleveland morning. I run every drill I recommend through a 200-screw deck build, time the battery from full charge to dead, and check the chuck after 200 bit changes. If it cannot take that, it does not ride on my truck.
The four drills below cover the whole spread: a pro-grade hammer drill for people who make a living with a tool in their hand, a brushless homeowner drill that punches above its class, and two small starter kits that are genuinely useful for the jobs a big drill is wrong for.
Best Overall for Serious Work: DEWALT 20V MAX XR Brushless Hammer Drill
DeWalt XR is the best value for serious work in my book. Slightly less brute force than the red stuff, but the cost per year of service is the best in the business, and the 20V MAX platform is deep enough that this drill is only the first tool you hang on it.
Two things to know before you buy. First, this is a bare tool. No battery, no charger in the box. If you already run DeWalt 20V MAX packs, that is exactly what you want, because you are paying for the tool and nothing else. If you are starting from zero, add a battery and charger to your math before you decide. Second, it is a hammer drill, which means it has a mode the other three here do not: the percussive action that lets you sink a fastener into block or mortar without dragging out a second tool.
The rest is what you would expect at this level. A 1/2-inch chuck, which is the size you want the moment you step up to spade bits, hole saws, or anything that actually has to bite. A brushless motor, which is not a marketing word. It is the difference between a tool that lasts a season and a tool that lasts a decade.
Who it is for: the person who already owns DeWalt batteries, uses a drill every week, and wants the tool still working long after the warranty is a memory. 
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Best for Homeowners Who Want a Real Tool: BLACK+DECKER 20V MAX POWERCONNECT Brushless Drill/Driver
This is the one I hand to homeowners who tell me they are tired of borrowing a drill every time they hang a shelf. It is brushless, it runs on the 20V MAX POWERCONNECT platform, and it comes with a 2Ah battery and a charger in the box, so you are not buying a paperweight and then shopping for a battery. There is even a double ended screwdriver bit in the kit, which is the small thing that lets you drive a screw the day the box shows up.
The 1/2-inch chuck is the part I care about most at this level. A lot of homeowner drills give you a 3/8-inch chuck, and then you go to buy a hole saw and find out your drill cannot hold the arbor. Half-inch keeps your options open.
The LED light sounds like a gimmick until you are working in a basement stairwell or under a sink, which is where most homeowner drilling actually happens. The ergonomic grip and light weight matter more than the spec sheet suggests, too. If a drill is heavy, you stop reaching for it, and a drill you do not use is money you wasted.
The honest limitation is the platform. POWERCONNECT is a smaller ecosystem than DeWalt 20V MAX or Milwaukee M18. That is fine for a homeowner with a drill, a sander, and a string trimmer. It is not the platform I would build a crew around.
Who it is for: the homeowner who wants one cordless drill set that covers hanging, assembling, driving, and the occasional hole through a stud, battery and charger included. 
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Best Budget Starter Kit: WORKPRO 8V Cordless Drill Set
I keep a cheap drill in the truck for the jobs I know are going to wreck a good tool, and an 8V kit is that tool for a homeowner. It is small, it is light enough to use one-handed on a ladder, and it comes with a battery and charger, which is the whole point of a starter set.
What it is good at: assembling furniture, driving cabinet screws, running pilot holes for trim, hanging curtain rods and pictures, snugging up the hardware on a deck railing. The 3/8-inch keyless chuck handles standard round-shank bits and the hex-shank drivers these kits ship with.
What it is not good at: anything structural. If you are driving 3-inch deck screws, you want an impact driver, not a drill, and you certainly do not want an 8V one. This is the category where people burn out tools and then blame the brand.
The 3/8-inch chuck is the tradeoff. It will not hold a hole saw arbor, and it will not hold the big spade bits. For what this tool is, that is an acceptable trade, but you should know it going in.
Who it is for: a first drill, a gift, a kitchen drawer kit for a small apartment, or a second drill for small work where a full-size tool is overkill. 
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Best Compact Gift Kit: DEKO PRO 12V Cordless Drill Set
The DEKO PRO kit sits one step up the ladder from the 8V class: 12V instead of 8V, still a 3/8-inch keyless chuck, and it ships in a gift box with a small tool set, which is why it keeps showing up on gift lists.
For a beginner, that extra voltage is not nothing. It gives you a little more headroom for driving screws into softwood and for running a modest spade bit through a pine board. It is still a light-duty drill, and I would not pretend otherwise.
The gift box presentation is real value if you are buying for someone else. A drill that arrives in a case with bits and drivers in it gets used. A bare drill and a loose bag of accessories sits in a closet. For a first apartment, a dorm room, or a kid heading off to a place with no tools in it, this is the kit I would hand over.
The honest read: this and the WORKPRO are in the same class, and the right answer comes down to which one is on sale and whether you want the case. Neither one replaces a 20V brushless drill, and neither one is supposed to.
Who it is for: a gift, a starter kit, a light-duty drill for small assembly and hanging work. 
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The reference table
This is the same table I keep on the shop wall, and it is the fastest way to sort four drills that are not really competing with each other. Battery and charger are listed as they ship in the box, so read that column before you decide anything.
| Drill | Best for | Battery and charger | Chuck | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visit on Amazon → DEWALT 20V MAX XR Brushless Hammer Drill |
Decks, framing, masonry fasteners, daily pro use | Not included, bare tool | 1/2 in. | Hammer mode; DeWalt 20V MAX platform |
| Visit on Amazon → BLACK+DECKER 20V MAX POWERCONNECT Brushless Drill/Driver |
Homeowners who want one real drill | Included, 2Ah battery and charger | 1/2 in. | Brushless; LED light; light weight |
| Visit on Amazon → WORKPRO 8V Cordless Drill Set |
Small assembly, pilot holes, light driving | Included | 3/8 in. | Smallest and lightest of the four |
| Visit on Amazon → DEKO PRO 12V Cordless Drill Set |
Gifts, first drills, light duty | Included | 3/8 in. | Ships in a gift box with a small tool set |
How I tested
Every drill that gets a recommendation here goes through the same three-part run: a 200-screw deck build, a battery rundown from full charge to dead with the clock running, and 200 bit changes with a slip check under load. I also drop each one off a ladder onto a concrete floor, because jobsites are not labs and a drill that cannot survive one clumsy moment does not belong on a truck.
What I am watching for is not peak performance. It is screw 50, not screw 5. A chuck that bites on day one and slips on day thirty is a lying tool. A battery that runs strong for twenty minutes and then sags is a battery that leaves you on a ladder. A motor that smells hot after a dozen holes is a motor headed for my graveyard wall.
I do not test drills on drywall in an office. I test them on wet lumber, in the cold, with real fasteners, because that is the only test that predicts whether a tool still works next spring.
What the specs actually mean
Voltage is a platform, not a power rating. An 8V kit and a 20V kit are not the same tool at different strengths; they are different classes of tool. The 8V and 12V kits here are for assembly and light driving. The 20V tools are for building.
Brushless is not a marketing word. A brushless motor has no carbon brushes to wear out, which means more runtime per charge and a much longer life. The two 20V drills here are brushless. The two small kits are not, and at their price and duty level that is a fair trade.
Chuck size is the spec people ignore and then regret. A 3/8-inch chuck will not hold a hole saw arbor, and it will not hold large spade bits. A 1/2-inch chuck will hold everything you are likely to need, which is why both 20V picks here use one.
Battery included or bare tool is the last decision. The DeWalt is a bare tool, which is a feature for anyone already on the 20V MAX platform and a hidden cost for anyone who is not. The other three come with a battery and charger, which is why they work as a first drill.
Which cordless drill set should you buy?
If you make a living with tools and already own DeWalt 20V MAX batteries, buy the DEWALT 20V MAX XR hammer drill. It is the only one of the four with a hammer mode, the only one built for masonry fasteners, and the only one I would expect to still be working a decade from now. Remember to factor in a battery and charger if you are starting fresh. Visit on Amazon →
If you are a homeowner who wants one drill that does everything around the house and arrives ready to work, buy the BLACK+DECKER 20V MAX POWERCONNECT brushless drill/driver. Brushless, 1/2-inch chuck, battery and charger in the box. That combination is hard to argue with at this level.
If you want a small kit for assembly, pilot holes, and hanging work, the WORKPRO 8V set is the light one you can hold over your head without your arm quitting. If you are buying it as a gift, the DEKO PRO 12V set comes in a case with accessories, which is the difference between a tool that gets used and a tool that gets stored. Either way, keep the deck screws for a 20V drill and an impact driver, because that is a job those little kits were never built for. Visit on Amazon → Visit on Amazon →