The best cordless drills in the UK for DIY and home renovation, tested against the clock

4 days ago 24

There’s immense possibility in a good cordless drill, electrically and functionally. These tools can be creators, destroyers and connectors, with functions (depending on the type of drill) including screw driving, hammer-drilling into brick or stone, mixing building materials, and plain-old drilling.

Most DIY drills are powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery – so there’s no cause to swear at an innocent power cable as you accidentally yank it from the plug socket. Usually, the same battery can also be used across a brand’s range of tools, including Bosch, Makita and Ryobi.

If you’re interested in DIY, or if you’re a fully fledged home renovator, then owning a good cordless drill is a must. The most versatile type – and the one we’ve focused on here –is a combi drill, which features drill, hammer drill and screwdriver modes. SDS or SDS+ hammer drills, purpose-designed for breaking or drilling hard materials, are handy for home renovation, so you’ll see some of those, too.

At a glance

Best cordless drill overall:
Makita DHP490Z 18V LXT brushless combi drill

£68.50 at B&Q

Best budget cordless drill:
Guild 18V cordless impact drill with 100 accessories

£48.75 at Argos

Best lightweight cordless drill:
Ryobi 18V ONE+ HP compact cordless brushless combi drill

£109.99 at Ryobi

Best cordless hammer drill:
Makita DHR202 cordless rotary hammer drill

£119.98 at Toolstation

Why you should trust me

I’ve been renovating my home for the past seven years, and I’ve used all sorts of drills – from lightweight combi drills, SDS+ drills and even a kango demolition drill – to help me do it. The experience has taught me plenty, from how to use the torque settings on a combi drill to the types of drill bits needed for each task. (I shudder to recall all the time I wasted trying to drill into brick without a masonry bit.)

As a seasoned product reviewer, I’ve also tested cordless drills on several occasions. These tools are more varied than they may appear at first glance – in drilling and battery performance, as well as in design – so I’ll highlight what’s special about each model in my reviews.

How I tested

Pete Wise using a cordless drill to make holes in some wood

I first tested using scrap wood and breeze blocks to weed out my least favourite of an initial group of 12, then challenged the best nine cordless drills to a multifunctional gauntlet of workstations – a challenge known affectionately among our team as the “Drillympics”.

I timed how quickly each combi drill could complete a series of drilling, screw-driving and hammer-drilling challenges, while larger SDS+ drills faced having to drill multiple holes in a breeze block. In doing so, I was able to evaluate drill speed, ease and comfort in use, and how effectively they completed each task. The best performers could then take a moment to bask on a concrete podium, while I shivered in my sportswear, slightly regretting my commitment on such a chilly day.

The Drillympics put our test subjects through a gauntlet of workstations. Video: Christian Hopewell

With some top performers identified, I put the best drills through additional tests on my home renovation, drilling screw holes into brick and screwing skirting boards on to the walls. I considered performance across all functions, as well as battery runtime and ease of use.

A few of the tool brands didn’t want their drills back after testing, so I donated these to the facilities team at Map Charity, a Leeds-based creative alternative education provider. The charity works with young people who have difficulties accessing mainstream schooling, and it offers creative opportunities from its home at the Grade II listed Hope House and Foundry.

The best cordless drills for home DIY in 2026

Three drills have their own concrete block podium against a red brick wall.

A close up of the Makita cordless drilling a grid of holes through a sheet of MDF. The writers hands are in view holding the sheet of wood.

The Guild Cordless impact drill is standing upright in the sunlight against a red brick wall. The drill is neon yellow and black.

The Ryobi Brushless Combi is being tested by drilling into sheet of MDF which is being held upright by the writer. His arms and hands are in frame.

The writers legs are in view and he is wearing sports shoes socks and shorts. The Marika Brushless Combi drill is being used by the writer to drill down into a concrete slab.

The best of the rest

A man drills a hole into a wooden plank with a Bosch drill

A close up of a Bosch Universal Impact 18V-60 Combi Drill drilling into a concrete brick.

Draper D20 20V Brushless Combi Drill stands upright on a wooden work bench in the sunshine against a red brick wall.

The Bosch UniversalHammer 18V on a wooden work bench in the sunlight against a red brick wall.

The writer tests the Black + Decker Cordless Hammer Drill 18V BCD700S1K to drill down into a concrete brick. It is a close up image of the writers hand and drill. There is a pack of drill bits on the ground.

The Draper 12V Combi Drill 70256 us laid flat on a wooden workbench. The drill is electric blue and black.

What you need to know

Let’s drill down into what you need and what you don’t. Video: Christian Hopewell/The Guardian

What type of drill do I need?

This depends on the work you intend to do with your cordless drill. Most models are of the following types:

Combi drill: a multifunctional type with different modes for drilling, hammer drilling (which adds a back-and-forth motion to drill into masonry) and screw driving. If you’re only going to get one cordless drill for DIY, I’d recommend a combi drill: it will cover most tasks.

Drill-driver: similar to a combi drill, but without a hammer-drilling mode. They’re marginally less expensive and suitable for woodworking or lighter DIY tasks. However, they’re not for drilling into brick, which will be a major disadvantage for many DIYers.

Hammer drill: a higher-powered drill designed for hammer-drilling tasks. If you’re likely to do a lot of drilling into walls, which is a common task for home renovators, then a dedicated hammer drill will be useful. I’d definitely recommend one if your property has walls made from very hard brick or stone.

SDS drill/SDS+drill: a large-format hammer drill that accepts special drill bits called SDS bits. I use a corded SDS+ drill – this highly rated model from Clarke – for heavy-duty tasks, such as mixing grout or demolition work.

For the average DIYer who isn’t embarking on major renovation work, one good combi drill should be sufficient.

What are the key cordless drill features to look out for?

Pay attention to the battery specifications, as this affects how much work you can do with the drill before it needs recharging. Battery storage is measured in amp hours (eg 2Ah or 4Ah), with higher ratings theoretically offering longer runtimes. The main downside to using a higher-capacity battery is that this will make the drill heavier.

The design of the chuck is also important. This is the opening that holds the drill bit in place, and some examples are more secure than others. Most DIY drills have a keyless chuck that’s simple to tighten by hand, but you might prefer to use a drill with a keyed chuck for heavy-duty tasks. These use a key accessory to tighten and tend to be more secure.

A cordless drill’s voltage is a good guide to its likely power. Some entry-level combi drill models are 12V, while 18V cordless drills are the industry standard for DIY use; 20V cordless drills can provide a meaningful advantage in power during intensive work.

There are various useful, nice-to-have features that can make a drill well suited to certain tasks or users, too. A depth stop and auxiliary handle can help with accurate, steady hammer-drilling into walls, while an LED light at the front of the drill will aid visibility. For screw-driving, it’s useful to have a wide range of torque settings (denoted by numbers on the barrel of the drill) with which you can adjust the drill’s turning force to suit the task in hand.

Which drill bits should I use?

Most combi drills, drill-drivers and hammer drills (with the exception of SDS+ models) are compatible with standard drill bits. There are many types designed for drilling into different materials:

Universal drill bits do a decent job of drilling into most materials, including plastics, woods and soft metals.
Diamond-tipped drill bits are best for drilling into shatter-prone materials such as ceramic tiles.
Masonry bits are essential for drilling into brick, stone or concrete. They’re distinguishable by their angular tips.
HSS drill bits have a heat-resistant coating that makes them well suited for drilling into metal. They often have a yellowish-gold colour.
Wood bits are specialised for accurate, effective drilling into wood. You can get away with using universal bits instead, but proper wood bits are superior for woodcrafts and carpentry.
Screwdriver bits are used to install or uninstall screws. They come with lots of different profiles to turn different screw types and sizes.

Another useful type to have in your toolbox is a countersink bit. These have a mushroom-shaped tip that bores a dip into the top of a drill hole, so that a screw can be inserted without its head protruding. You can then apply filler over the countersunk screw to make it invisible.

Most types of drill bits come in many sizes, and you’ll need a diverse selection to cater for a household’s worth of maintenance and DIY tasks. I use an affordable, 246-piece VonHaus set to cover all bases, supplemented with higher-quality drill bits for frequent or important tasks. This Bosch 103-piece set would give you better quality from the off.

For more:
The best home storage hacks
Space-saving tricks to make small rooms feel bigger
Easy ways to update your rental home on a budget

Pete Wise is a journalist from Leeds. A highly experienced product reviewer, Pete has tested all sorts of useful items for the Filter, from power banks to electric heaters. He also writes features on various topics, including nutrition, traditional crafts and – most pertinently – DIY. Renovations on his formerly tumble-down Victorian house are ongoing, with plenty of help from his cordless drills

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