Three buying situations, no affiliate links

Most drill buying guides are ranked lists with store links. This one is shorter: the three situations people actually buy in, and what spec class solves each. Then use the comparison table to find current models in that class.

Your first drill

You need a mid-torque brushless drill/driver (roughly 450 to 600 in-lbs or its class equivalent), under 3 lb bare, from a battery platform you can grow into. Kits with two compact batteries and a charger make sense here even at a slight premium, because the batteries are the recurring cost. The Ryobi ONE+ and DeWalt 20V MAX ecosystems have the deepest affordable tool selections; Milwaukee M12 if compactness matters more than raw power.

Skip hammer function on a first drill unless you already know you will drill masonry. It adds weight and cost to a tool you will mostly use for screws and wood.

Overhead and precision work

Cabinet installs, shelf mounting, drywall: the enemy is fatigue, not torque shortage. Target under 2.6 lb bare and pair it with the smallest battery that finishes the job (a 2.0 Ah pack, not the 5.0 Ah that lives in your big drill). A 12V class tool (Bosch 12V Max, Milwaukee M12) is often the right answer and cheaper than the 18V flagship you do not need.

Concrete and masonry

Drilling concrete needs a hammer drill at minimum, and honestly, an SDS rotary hammer if the volume is more than a handful of holes. Hammer drills in the 1200+ in-lbs class handle anchor holes in brick and block; rotary hammers with SDS bits do it faster and destroy less of the tool. If concrete is occasional, a mid hammer drill is fine. If it is weekly, buy the rotary hammer separately and keep the drill for wood and steel.

What to ignore

Voltage marketing. 18V and 20V MAX are the same cells; 20V MAX is a nominal-maximum naming convention, not extra power. See specs explained.
Peak torque as a sole criterion. Two drills 100 in-lbs apart in peak torque can rank opposite under real load.
Kit piece count. A kit with a flashlight and two bags is not more drill.

Related guides

Deeper on each situation: eight cordless drills for home use with sourced picks, hammer drills for concrete and masonry, and 18V vs 20V Max drills if the voltage labels confuse you.