Hammer Drill vs Drill/Driver: Do You Need the Hammer?
Updated 2026-09-29
Short answer
A hammer drill is a drill/driver with a hammer mode added for masonry. With the mode switched off it does everything a drill/driver does, but it's usually a little longer and heavier. If you will ever drill into concrete, brick or block, buy the hammer drill; the price gap is small. If you never will, the plain drill/driver saves weight. For regular or large masonry holes, get an SDS rotary hammer instead.
What the hammer mode adds
Two ridged discs inside the gearbox ride over each other as the chuck turns, knocking the bit forward. That's what lets a masonry bit chip its way into concrete instead of polishing the bottom of the hole. The 13 hammer drills here publish 25,500 to 48,000 blows per minute. Switch the mode off and the discs disengage, leaving an ordinary drill/driver with a clutch.
It's the right tool for anchors, Tapcons and the odd hole through a block foundation. It's the wrong one for a day of 5/8 in holes in poured concrete. That needs an SDS rotary hammer, which hits with a piston and makes a hammer drill feel like a toy.
What it costs you
Weight and length, mostly. Bare hammer drills here weigh 2.3 to 4.6 lbs, median 3.4, from the Milwaukee 3602 M18 Compact Brushless Hammer Drill to the Metabo HPT MultiVolt DV36DC Hammer Drill and the Bosch PROFACTOR GSB18V-1330C Hammer Drill. Those that publish a length run 5.8 to 7.75 in.
The 7 drill/drivers with a published bare weight come in at 2.3 to 4.6 lbs, median 3.2.
The honest buying rule
Makers sell the same drill with and without the hammer mode, usually for a small difference, and it's the kind of feature you only miss the one afternoon you need it. That's the case for the hammer drill as the only drill in the kit.
The case against is overhead work and cabinet installs, where every ounce counts and masonry never comes up. Then a compact drill/driver is the better tool. How BPM and hammer mode work.