How Much Torque Do You Actually Need in a Drill?

For almost all household jobs, a cordless drill with 40 to 60Nm of torque is plenty. Step up to 60 to 90Nm if you regularly drive long screws into structural timber or work with masonry, and only go past 90Nm if you are doing decking, fencing or joinery week in, week out. The number on the box matters far less than most buyers assume, and here is why.

What torque actually measures

Torque is twisting force. In drill specs it is quoted in newton metres (Nm), and it tells you how hard the chuck can turn before it stalls. Higher torque means the drill can keep spinning a big screw or a wide bit through dense material without giving up.

Speed is a separate thing. A drill can have huge torque and still be slow, or spin fast and stall the moment it meets resistance. Drilling small holes in soft wood needs speed more than grunt. Driving a 100mm screw into a joist needs grunt more than speed. Most decent drills give you both through a two speed gearbox, and switching gears changes the torque you have available far more than buying a bigger number ever will.

The torque figures you see quoted are not comparable

This is the part manufacturers do not advertise. There are two common ways to quote torque, and they produce very different numbers from the same tool.

• Hard torque is measured against a rigid joint, roughly what happens when a bolt seats against metal. It is the lower, more honest figure.
• Soft torque is measured against a joint that gives, like screwing into timber. It reads higher.

Some brands publish hard torque, some publish soft, some publish a "maximum" figure with no explanation at all. So a 60Nm drill from one brand can genuinely outpull a 90Nm drill from another. Comparing the headline number across brands is close to meaningless. Comparing within a single brand's range is fine, because they will at least have used the same test method.

Matching torque to the work you actually do

Light DIY: 20 to 40Nm

Flat pack furniture, curtain poles, picture hooks, small shelves, plasterboard fixings, changing a door handle. A compact 12V drill in this range handles all of it and weighs half as much as a big 18V unit, which matters when you are working overhead. The main limitation is masonry, where these drills struggle beyond very small holes.

General home use: 40 to 60Nm

This is the sweet spot for most people. It covers everything above plus wall mounting a TV, hanging heavy shelves, drilling into brick with a hammer function, building garden furniture and light stud work. An 18V combi drill in this band will not embarrass itself on anything a homeowner throws at it.

Heavier DIY and trade: 60 to 90Nm

Long screws into structural timber, decking, fence posts, repeated masonry drilling, hole saws through joists, big spade bits. If you find your current drill stalling and the clutch slipping under load, this is the band you want.

Above 90Nm

Genuinely useful for trades doing repetitive heavy fixing, but for a homeowner it mostly buys weight, bulk and price. A drill this powerful will also twist your wrist hard if a bit binds, which is a real injury risk with large diameter bits.

An impact driver beats more drill torque

If your frustration is driving screws rather than making holes, more drill torque is the wrong solution. An impact driver uses rotational hammering to deliver short bursts of force, typically 150 to 200Nm, and it does it without transmitting the twist back into your wrist. It will sink a 150mm screw into timber that would stall a 90Nm drill outright.

The trade off is control. Impact drivers are loud, they only take hex shank bits, and they will happily snap a small screw or chew a soft head. Use the drill for holes and delicate driving, the impact driver for anything long or stubborn. This is why combo kits pairing the two are such good value compared to buying one very powerful drill.

Torque settings versus torque rating

Do not confuse the numbers on the clutch collar with the drill's torque rating. The collar numbers are not Nm. They are relative positions on a spring loaded clutch that lets the chuck slip once resistance reaches a set point, which stops you overdriving screws or stripping heads. A low number means the clutch releases early, a high number means it holds longer, and the drill symbol means the clutch is bypassed entirely for drilling.

A drill with a good clutch and moderate torque is more useful than a powerful drill with a crude one. The clutch is what stops you sinking a screw straight through a cabinet back or shearing the head off in hardwood.

What else to weigh up

• Battery capacity. A 2.0Ah battery cannot deliver sustained current to a high torque motor. Big torque figures assume a healthy 4.0Ah or 5.0Ah pack.
• Brushless motors. They deliver torque more efficiently and hold it better as the battery drains, so a brushless 55Nm drill often outperforms a brushed 65Nm one in real use.
• Weight and balance. Torque costs grams. A 2.2kg drill is tiring at arm's length in a loft.
• Chuck size. A 13mm chuck takes larger bits than a 10mm one, which limits what your torque can even be applied to.

The honest summary: buy for the heaviest job you do regularly, not the heaviest job you can imagine. For the vast majority of people that lands somewhere around 50Nm from a reputable brand with a brushless motor and a decent clutch, and the money saved is better spent on a second battery.