If I can only buy one tool, drill or impact driver?

Buy the drill. It is the more general tool: it accepts any bit shank, drills holes, has a clutch for delicate fasteners, and with a hammer function it handles masonry. A modern 18V or 20V brushless drill will drive 3 inch deck screws with pilot holes, just more slowly and with more wrist strain. The impact driver is the specialist you add second, and it is the one that transforms repetitive fastening rather than the one that covers the widest range of jobs.

Is a combo kit worth it over buying separately?

Almost always, on price. Manufacturers price two-tool drill and impact driver kits with two batteries and a charger well below the sum of the bare tools plus a battery kit, because the battery platform is what they are really selling. The trap is buying a cheap kit on a platform you will not expand. Choose the battery system first based on the other tools you might want — saws, blowers, vacuums — then buy the combo kit within it.

Can I just use a drill on its highest torque setting?

For short screws, yes. For long fasteners it stops working, and the reason is physical rather than a setting. A drill applies steady torque, so when resistance exceeds what the motor can deliver, the tool stops and your wrist absorbs the reaction. An impact driver applies torque in pulses that the fastener feels and your arm largely does not. That is why a 1,800 in-lb impact driver sinks a lag bolt that a 650 in-lb drill cannot, even at maximum clutch.

Is an impact driver worth it for occasional use?

If your projects are furniture assembly, curtain rails, shelves and picture hanging, no. A drill covers all of it better because of the clutch. If even once a year you build a deck, a fence, a shed, raised beds or a workbench, it changes the day enough to justify the cost, and it is the tool people say they should have bought sooner. The deciding factor is fastener length, not how often you use the tool.

Do you still need a drill if you own an impact driver?

Yes, for almost everyone. The 1/4 inch hex collet rejects round-shank bits, hole saws and masonry bits, and the absence of a clutch makes the impact driver a poor choice for hardware, hinges and small screws. Owners who try to run a single-tool setup consistently report snapped screws and stripped cabinet hardware. The two are complements, which is exactly why they are sold together.

Do You Need an Impact Driver?

Written & researched by Priya Anand DIY & Tools Editor

Updated October 2026

Wide view of a person drilling into a timber board on a workbench, sawdust in the air, in warm late-afternoon light

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You need an impact driver if you regularly drive screws longer than about two inches — decking, fencing, framing, subfloor, lag bolts and structural screws. For those jobs it is transformative: roughly 1,500 to 2,000 in-lb of torque against 400 to 700 from a drill, delivered in pulses your wrist barely feels. If your projects are furniture assembly, shelf brackets, curtain rails and picture hooks, a cordless drill with a clutch does the job better and an impact driver is the wrong tool. The honest test is fastener length, not frequency.

What is the deciding question?

Ask what the longest screw you drive in a typical year is. Below two inches, a drill on a moderate clutch setting handles everything and gives you control the impact driver cannot. At three inches and beyond — deck boards, fence rails, ledger screws, cabinet mounting into studs, 4 inch structural screws — the drill starts stalling, camming out and twisting your wrist, and that is exactly where the impact driver takes over. The second question is volume: driving twenty long screws is tolerable with a drill, and driving four hundred deck screws is not.

What you build	Do you need one?
Flat-pack furniture, shelves, picture hooks	No — a drill with a clutch is better
Cabinets, trim, hinges, hardware	No — no clutch means stripped screws
Decks, fences, pergolas, raised beds	Yes — this is the core use case
Framing, subfloor, sheathing, ledgers	Yes — lags and structural screws
Steel studs, self-tapping screws	Yes — fast and does not cam out
Seized bolts, lawn equipment, automotive	Yes, with a hex socket adapter

Three-quarter view of a person drilling into a timber board on a workbench, sawdust in the air, in soft early-morning light

What does it actually change day to day?

Three things, and they are the reasons owners consistently give for keeping one. First, speed: a 3 inch deck screw sinks in a second or two rather than ten, and it does so without a pilot hole in most softwoods. Second, wrist strain — because the torque arrives as thousands of rotational hammer blows rather than a steady twist, almost none of the reaction reaches your hand, so a day of fastening does not leave your forearm aching. Third, cam-out: the tool keeps the bit pressed into the recess through each blow, so screws strip far less often. The trade-offs are equally consistent: it is loud, commonly measured in the 95 to 105 dBA range, and without a clutch it will snap small brass and stainless screws without warning.

Wide view of a person drilling into a timber board on a workbench, sawdust in the air, in soft overcast light

What does it cost to add one?

Buying a bare impact driver on a battery platform you already own is the cheapest route, and a drill-plus-impact combo kit with two batteries and a charger is nearly always cheaper than the two tools bought separately. The important decision is the battery platform rather than the tool: the same packs will later run a circular saw, a leaf blower, a cordless shop vac and a work light, and switching platforms later means buying batteries twice. Choose the system first, then the kit within it. If you already own a drill on a platform, adding the bare impact driver is usually the best value in the whole cordless catalog.

Wide environmental view of a person drilling into a timber board on a workbench, sawdust in the air, in warm late-afternoon light

What should you buy alongside it?

Impact-rated bits. Standard bits shatter under the hammering. Look for impact ready or torsion on the packaging.
A hex-shank socket adapter set. Turns the driver into a light nut runner for lag bolts and equipment hardware.
Hearing protection. NIOSH sets its recommended exposure limit at 85 dBA averaged over eight hours; an impact driver comfortably exceeds that at the ear.
A second battery. Fastening is the highest-drain job most homeowners do with cordless tools.

Where to go next

If the answer is yes, our ranked best impact drivers compares current models on aggregated owner ratings and the complaints that keep recurring, and the best cordless drills covers the other half of the pair. For the underlying comparison, see impact driver vs drill driver and what an impact driver is used for. Everything sits under the power tools and workshop hub.

We never buy or physically handle the tools we rank — our recommendations come from aggregated owner reviews and expert consensus, and the method is on how we rank.