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The one thing this page ranks on: head length and weight, not torque. Home drilling happens inside cabinets, above your head and up a ladder, and in those positions a short light tool finishes the job while a powerful one will not fit or will not stay steady. Rank on that and the compact 12V Bosch PS31-2A wins, ahead of the 20V DEWALT that tops our general drill rankings.
Two other consequences of that criterion are worth flagging up front. The two pro-grade 18V brushless kits from our best cordless drill guide are not on this page at all, because overbuying is the commonest regret in this category. And the last two entries are impact drivers rather than drills, clearly labelled — they are here because the question every homeowner eventually asks is what to do when a long screw defeats the drill. See also drill vs impact driver.
Match the Tool to Your Home Jobs
| Your typical jobs | What to get | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Furniture, shelves, fixtures, cabinet work | Compact 12V drill | Reaches and stays steady where it matters |
| The above plus decking, fences, masonry anchors | Mainstream 20V kit | Reserve torque and a low gear |
| A few jobs a year, nothing heavy | Budget 20V | Cheapest way to own one at all |
| Long screws, lag bolts, repeated fastening | Add an impact driver | Drives without twisting your wrist |
Top Picks at a Glance
Our #1 Pick: Bosch PS31-2A 12V Max
Picture the last three times you used a drill at home. Almost certainly one of them was inside a cabinet, reaching in past a door to a hinge plate. One was above your head, putting up a rail or a smoke alarm, holding the tool one-handed while the other hand steadied the fitting. One was in a corner, or under a sink, or up a ladder. That is what home drilling is, and it explains why the most powerful drill is so rarely the most useful one.
The Bosch PS31 is about seven inches from the back of the housing to the tip of the chuck. That number is the whole argument. A full-size 20V drill is closer to nine, and the difference decides whether you can get square to a hinge screw inside a 15-inch carcass or whether you end up driving at an angle and stripping it. Weight does the same work overhead: a light tool stays on the mark for the minute it takes to start a screw in a ceiling, and a heavy one starts to wander after fifteen seconds no matter how strong you are.
What you are not giving up is capability for household work. Two speeds plus a proper clutch cover everything from a small screw into MDF to a 1-inch spade bit through a stud. It comes with two batteries and a charger in a case, so one is always ready, and 12V packs are small enough that the spare lives in the case rather than on a shelf. For flat-pack, shelves, curtain rails, blinds, cabinet hardware, door furniture and general repairs, this is simply a nicer tool to use than anything bigger.
The honest limits, and they are real. Long deck screws will make it work hard and drain a pack quickly. Masonry is possible with the right bit and a lot of patience, and unpleasant. A 2-inch hole saw is beyond it. If any of that is on your list, the DEWALT below is the correct answer and it is not a close call. And a 12V platform has a narrower tool range to expand into than 20V MAX.
The Ranked Field
Best for the awkward positions that home jobs actually happen in
- Around 7 inches head to chuck — fits inside a cabinet
- Light enough to hold overhead one-handed
- Two-speed gearbox, 20+1 clutch settings
- Two batteries and a charger in the case
Why buy it: nearly every household job happens above your head, inside a cupboard or under a sink, and in those positions the specification that decides the outcome is how short and light the tool is, not how much torque it has spare.
Best for the home that occasionally does deck screws and masonry anchors
- 20V MAX with two batteries and a charger
- Two-speed transmission with a high-torque low gear
- Hundreds of tools on the same battery platform
- Compact for a 20V, though not a 12V
Why buy it: the reserve torque a 12V lacks, and the platform to grow into — the right buy the moment your job list includes anything into brick or a deck frame.
Best for a first real drill without overspending
- 20V with a battery and charger included
- Half-inch chuck takes larger bits and spade bits
- Comfortable balance for a full-size drill
- Affordable platform to expand into
Why buy it: almost everything the DEWALT does for twenty dollars less, on a battery platform cheap enough that a second tool is an easy decision.
Best for the drill that lives in a kitchen drawer and comes out four times a year
- Very light and simple to operate
- LED work light for the back of a cupboard
- 11-position clutch stops overdriving
- Cheapest way into a cordless drill
Why buy it: honest about what it is — flat-pack, curtain rods, a shelf, four times a year — and at this price there is no argument for going without one.
Best for long screws that make a drill clutch slip and your wrist twist
- Shares batteries and charger with the PS31 above
- Hammering action drives long screws with no wrist torque
- Shorter and lighter than any drill here
- Not a drill — no chuck, hex bits only
Why buy it: this is not a drill and we have not ranked it as one; it is the tool that makes the #1 pick complete, because a 12V drill is the weakest thing here at driving a 3-inch screw and an impact driver is the strongest.
Best for pairing with the CRAFTSMAN drill on the same batteries
- 2,800 RPM with 1/4-inch hex drive
- Runs on the same V20 packs as the drill above
- LED work light
- Battery and charger included
Why buy it: the cheapest complete two-tool home kit on this page — buy it alongside the V20 drill and you have covered every fastening job a house produces.
Quick Comparison
| Product | Best for | Rating | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOSCH Cordless Drill PS31-2A 12V Max 3/8 Inch Drill/Driver Kit with 2 Batteries and Charger | Best Overall for Home Use | 4.72,797 ratings | ~$139 | Price |
| DEWALT 20V Max Cordless Drill Driver Set with 2 XR Batteries and Charger | Best Headroom | 4.849,617 ratings | ~$99 | Price |
| CRAFTSMAN V20 Cordless Drill/Driver Kit, 1/2 inch, Battery and Charger Included | Best Value | 4.75,989 ratings | ~$79 | Price |
| BLACK+DECKER 20V MAX Cordless Drill and Driver with LED Work Light and Battery | Best Budget | 4.532,170 ratings | ~$59 | Price |
| Bosch PS41-2A 12V Max Impact Driver Kit | Best Second Tool: 12V Impact Driver | 4.81,059 ratings | ~$120 | Price |
| CRAFTSMAN 20V MAX Impact Driver Kit, 1/4 Inch, Battery and Charger Included | Best Second Tool: 20V Impact Driver | 4.72,365 ratings | ~$79 | Price |
Specifications Side by Side
| Tool | Type | Voltage | Size class | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bosch PS31-2A | Drill/driver | 12V Max | Shortest, lightest | Cabinets, overhead, all-round home |
| DEWALT 20V MAX | Drill/driver | 20V MAX | Compact full-size | Decks, masonry, headroom |
| CRAFTSMAN V20 | Drill/driver | 20V | Full-size | Value first drill |
| BLACK+DECKER LDX120C | Drill/driver | 20V MAX | Very light | Occasional use |
| Bosch PS41-2A | Impact driver | 12V Max | Shortest | Second tool for the PS31 |
| CRAFTSMAN 20V Impact | Impact driver | 20V MAX | Compact | Second tool for the V20 |
How We Rank for This Use Case
We never buy or bench-test these tools. For home use the priorities are deliberately different from a professional roundup, and they run in this order. Access and control — head length, weight and balance, because these decide whether the job gets done squarely in the position it has to be done in. Sufficient rather than maximum power, judged against a realistic household job list rather than a job site. Complete in the box, meaning batteries and a charger included, since a single-battery kit means downtime. Platform, last, because most households never buy a second tool on it. Aggregated owner ratings are weighted toward long-term reliability reviews. Prices were checked at the time of writing. Full method: how we rank.
The Six, Reviewed for Home Use
1. Bosch PS31-2A 12V — Best Overall for Home Use
Covered above. Owners praise: how short it is, how little your arm tires overhead, the clutch, and two batteries in the case. Owners gripe about: 12V running out of puff on long screws and masonry, and a narrower tool range than 20V platforms. First because home jobs are decided by access, and nothing here reaches like it does.
2. DEWALT 20V MAX Drill Driver Set — Best Headroom
The winner of our general drill page and second here, which is a comment on the criterion rather than the tool. It has far more torque than furniture assembly or shelf-hanging ever demands, two batteries and a charger, and the largest battery ecosystem in the category. The moment your job list includes deck screws, lag bolts, a hole saw or an anchor into brick, it moves back to first place and the 12V stops being the right answer. Owners gripe about: a brushed motor a heavy user would upgrade, and a body that is compact for a 20V and still noticeably longer than a 12V.
3. CRAFTSMAN V20 Drill/Driver Kit — Best Value
Nearly everything the DEWALT does for twenty dollars less, with a battery and charger included and a half-inch chuck that takes spade bits and larger drills. The V20 platform is cheap enough that adding a second tool later is an easy decision, which is why its matching impact driver appears at sixth on this page. Owners gripe about: a single battery in some kits, and a smaller tool lineup than DEWALT or Makita.
4. BLACK+DECKER 20V MAX Drill and Driver — Best Budget
The drill that lives in a kitchen drawer, and there is no shame in that being the right purchase. Flat-pack furniture, a curtain rod, hanging a mirror, tightening a loose hinge — four or five jobs a year, none of them hard. It is light, simple, has a clutch that stops you sinking screws through drywall, and an LED that lights the back of the cupboard you are working in. Owners gripe about: limited torque in hardwood or masonry, and a basic battery. Buy it with correct expectations and it is excellent value; buy it expecting a deck and it will disappoint.
5. Bosch PS41-2A 12V Impact Driver — Best Second Tool
Not a drill. It is on this page because the PS31 at the top has one genuine weakness — a long screw — and this is the tool that erases it. An impact driver adds a rotational hammering action to the rotation — and it is loud enough that NIOSH's 85 dBA hazard threshold is worth respecting, which drives a 3-inch screw into a stud without the tool trying to twist out of your hand and without the clutch slipping. It shares the PS31's batteries and charger, so the pair is a genuinely complete home kit in one small case. It cannot drill a clean hole and has no clutch, so it never replaces the drill. Owners gripe about: noise, which is considerable, and hex bits only. Drilling masonry anchors is the other thing to prepare for: NIOSH notes that drilling concrete and brick releases respirable crystalline silica, so extract the dust or work outside.
6. CRAFTSMAN 20V MAX Impact Driver Kit — Best Second Tool on a Budget
The same argument at the other end of the price range. Buy it alongside the V20 drill at third and you have two tools, a shared battery platform, a charger and every fastening job a house produces covered, for less than a single mid-range brushless drill. Owners gripe about: noise, and a battery you will want to duplicate. If money is the constraint and you want a complete kit rather than one good tool, this is the pairing to buy.
What Homeowners Actually Complain About
Overbuying. The commonest regret in this category, and it runs opposite to most tools: people buy a heavy pro drill for occasional shelf-hanging and then find it awkward in every position that matters. It is the reason two brushless pro kits from our general page are absent here.
Underbuying for the one heavy job. The flip side. A light drill stalls in hardwood or masonry, and the person who bought purely on price ends up borrowing a drill anyway. Read your own job list honestly before you choose voltage.
One battery. A single pack means the job stops while it charges, which on a Saturday afternoon is the whole afternoon. Prefer kits with two.
Stripped screws and sunken drywall. Almost always a clutch that was never set. Turn it down until the clutch slips, then up one notch. Free, and it solves most of what people blame on the tool.
How to Choose a Home Drill
Be honest about where the drilling happens, not just what it goes into. Cabinets, overhead, tight corners, general household fixtures? A compact 12V, and you will enjoy using it. Anything into brick, a deck or a fence? A mainstream 20V kit. Four jobs a year? The budget option, without guilt. Long screws in any quantity? Add an impact driver on whatever platform you chose — it is a more useful second purchase than a better drill.
Then get a kit with two batteries where you can, pick a platform you might add to, and start with a drill/driver rather than an impact driver, because the drill is the tool that does both jobs adequately and the impact driver is the one that does half of them brilliantly.
The Verdict
Ranked on access and weight rather than torque, the Bosch PS31-2A 12V is the drill we would put in most homes: short enough to work inside a cabinet, light enough to hold above your head, and powerful enough for everything a house asks short of decking. Step to the DEWALT 20V MAX if brick or deck screws are on your list, save with the CRAFTSMAN V20, and take the BLACK+DECKER if the drill is genuinely coming out four times a year. If long screws are your problem rather than holes, the answer is not a bigger drill — it is adding an impact driver. Check price on Amazon →
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