7 Harbor Freight Tools That Are More Powerful Than Milwaukee

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Over the century-plus of its existence, Milwaukee Tool has proven time and again that it's one of the most reliable, innovative, and powerful premium-grade tool brands on the market. It's no surprise that Milwaukee products are typically seen as a superior option to the house brands of retailers like Lowe's and Walmart. However, just because a brand is made in-house and likely much more affordable doesn't mean it's inferior.

Harbor Freight has many different house brands, and its Hercules line of tools targets professionals. Like Milwaukee, Hercules offers a wide range of power tools, including drills, drivers, saws, sanders, and much more. For its cordless tools, it also has its own proprietary system of interchangeable batteries in the same way most major tool brands do. Many Milwaukee tools have a Hercules counterpart sold by Harbor Freight that is of the same or similar size and function.

In some cases, though not all, Hercules' version of a particular tool proves to be even more powerful than Milwaukee — even when costing significantly less money. There are even certain power tools made by Bauer — another Harbor Freight private-label that's considered to be more mid-tier — that can outperform Milwaukee models. Here are seven Harbor Freight tools that have proven to be more powerful than their Milwaukee counterparts, based on manufacturer specs and real-world comparisons by expert tool testers. More information on how these tools were selected can be found at the end of this list.

Those unsure about whether or not Hercules power tools are any good would likely be convinced of the brand's quality after using its impact driver. Harbor Freight says the Hercules 20V ¼-inch Compact, 3-Speed Impact Driver, powered by a brushless motor, can deliver up to 2,200 in-lbs of torque. That's higher than the 2,000 max torque of the Milwaukee M18 Fuel ¼-inch Hex Impact Driver, which costs over $100 and which Harbor Freight directly compares its tool to. The Hercules Impact Driver utilizes a variable-speed trigger for more precise application and has three distinct speed ranges — 0 to 1,800, 0 to 2,700, and 0 to 3,600 rpm. Plus, it produces all this with a compact 4 ¾-inch length for better use in tighter spaces.

To find out how accurate the posted specs are, Torque Test Channel put the Hercules tool head-to-head against Milwaukee's, as well as Milwaukee's previous-generation hex impact driver and those from several other brands. Each test was recorded in real time. In the end, the Hercules 20V ¼-inch Compact, 3-Speed Impact Driver surpassed the max working torque and max forward torque of the two Milwaukee models.

For what it's worth, Milwaukee's fourth-gen 2953-20 did beat out Harbor Freight when it came to breakaway torque, with its older model tying Hercules. It also delivered exactly one more ft-lb of torque density, though Hercules exceeded the torque density of the third-gen tool. Combined with other metrics used for its own scoring system, Torque Test Channel gave each impact driver an overall score. Hercules' overall score not only topped both Milwaukee drivers but all other tested brands, including DeWalt, Flex, and Kobalt.

Harbor Freight sells the Hercules 20V ¼-inch Compact, 3-Speed Impact Driver (model HCB81B) for $69.99.

Not one, but two, Harbor Freight brands make multi-tools that have proven more powerful than Milwaukee's in comparison tests. Its premium-grade brand, Hercules, makes a 20V Variable-Speed Oscillating Multi-Tool, as does its mid-tier brand, Bauer, making its multi-tool one of several Bauer power tools worthy of your home garage. The Milwaukee M18 Cordless Oscillating Multi-Tool has a range of 11,000 to 18,000 oscillations per minute (opm). Hercules' 20V multi-tool has a wider range — 8,000 to 19,000 opm and Bauer's product maxes out at 20,000 opm. On paper, Harbor Freight beats out Milwaukee.

This isn't a total surprise — even though Milwaukee is known for its high-quality, powerful cordless tools, it has shown to perform poorly compared to several other major brands in actual tool tests, such as one conducted by Pro Tool Reviews. Project Farm, which has a strong reputation for its in-depth, informative tool comparison tests, once tested the blades that come with several brands' multi-tool. The test, which is available to watch on Project Farm's YouTube channel, had multiple brands — including Milwaukee, Bauer, and Hercules — perform several different tasks. 

Milwaukee started out strong and its blade was able to easily cut through one nail much faster than any other brand. However, it struggled over time and failed to even make it through 25 nails, whereas Bauer and Hercules scored in the top three. Milwaukee's blade also couldn't cut through a drywall screw, though Hercules could manage one. Bauer cut through four, beating out all but one brand in the test.

The Bauer 20V Variable-Speed Oscillating Multi-Tool is available from Harbor Freight for $39.99.

The Hercules 20V Variable-Speed Oscillating Multi-Tool is available from Harbor Freight for $79.99.

The second-generation Hercules 20V ¾-inch Ultra Torque Impact Wrench is Harbor Freight's most powerful impact wrench to date, offering a max breakaway torque of 1,650 ft-lbs, max rpm of 1,880, and a max impacts per minute (ipm) of 2,250. This means that it's not only one of the Harbor Freight tools more powerful than Ryobi's, but that it also exceeds the Milwaukee's M18 Fuel High-Torque ¾-inch Impact Wrench. Harbor Freight directly compares its ¾-inch impact wrench to Milwaukee's, which both come with friction rings, and — while you never want to fully trust marketers — it looks like, in this case, "ultra" is indeed better than "high" when it comes to torque.

For those keeping score at home, Milwaukee says the maximum torque of its model is 1,500 ft-lbs and that its max rpm and ipm are 1,800 and 2,400, respectively. Torque Test Channel, which is never one to take the spec claims of a manufacturer at face value, posted a video that confirmed Harbor Freight's boast that its Hercules tool delivers its highest torque yet. Its testing also put the Hercules cordless impact wrench up against those from several other tool brands, including Milwaukee.

The results were mixed. While Hercules' tool is certainly capable of more torque than previous generations, its working and 15-second torque ended up a little under Milwaukee's. However, its max torque did indeed surpass Milwaukee, just as Harbor Freight claims on the product page of Hercules' impact wrench. Interestingly, Torque Test Channel also found that the difference between actual torque and claimed torque was much greater for Milwaukee, with Hercules' posted specs being closer to the real thing.

Harbor Freight sells the Hercules 20V ¾-inch Ultra Torque Impact Wrench (HCB95B) for $219.99.

As with many other power tools, Harbor Freight makes and sells its own angle grinders, and its Hercules 20V 4-½-inch/5-inch Slide-Switch Angle Grinder can even outperform Milwaukee's. The retailer directly connects its Hercules cordless tool to the M18 Fuel 4 1/2/5-inch Slide-Switch Braking Grinder Slide, which has a posted max rpm of 8,500. That's the exact same disc speed that Harbor Freight says its Hercules angle grinder, but Hercules has proven to maintain a faster speed overall.

Torque Test Channel put both tools through its expert testing, alongside other brands like Hart and Makita. It did so by building a custom dyno using the same heavy-duty AmpFlow motors found in BattleBots used for robot combat. This allowed TTC to get the actual maximum torque, rpm, and power output of the tools and compare them to their listed specs.

After its testing, Torque Test Channel found the Hercules 20V 4-½-inch/5-inch Slide-Switch Angle Grinder delivered faster disc speed than its M18 Fuel counterpart, despite the latter having higher maximum watts out (mwo). Hercules also had a much longer runtime, which enabled it to provide more revolutions overall. Also included in the test was another Harbor Freight cordless angle grinder — the Bauer 20V 4-½-inch Slide Switch Angle Grinder.

Bauer's cordless tool actually generates much faster disc speed than both Hercules and Milwaukee — maxing out at 7,470 rpm at 200 watts, compared to Hercules' 6,660 and Milwaukee's 62.6. However, it would be a stretch to call the tool more powerful than either, as it has a lower mwo and significantly lower runtime and total revolutions across that runtime.

Harbor Freight sells the Hercules 20V 4-½-inch/5-inch Slide-Switch Angle Grinder for $79.99.

When the tool review YouTube channel TBKHomeworld put several cordless hammer drill/drivers to the test, both Hercules and Bauer outmatched Milwaukee. The test had each tool perform multiple tasks, including concrete drilling and wood fastener driving, with speed and max torque among the metrics measured. Hercules proved faster than every other brand, including Milwaukee and Ryobi, with average 6.78 seconds per hole. Bauer took 11.74 seconds on average, while Milwaukee took nearly two seconds longer — 13.71 seconds. As the host put it, "Man, that Hercules smoked all those holes."

Hercules also delivered a ton more torque in the tests than Milwaukee — 449 in-lb versus 259 in-lb, though the latter surpassed Bauer's 151 in-lb. Milwaukee beating out Bauer in this regard is impressive, as its 12V ½-inch Hammer Drill was the model tested against the 20V (technically, 18-volt) drills from Harbor Freight. That may seem like an unfair fight, but Milwaukee's lower-voltage tool is twice the price of Hercules' hammer drill/driver, which is made in-house. Harbor Freight also designed the Hercules tool to be compact, so that it can be as portable and useful in tight spaces as Milwaukee's M12 model.

Overall, Bauer's tool didn't impress TBKHomeworld, despite having an average faster speed than Milwaukee's. But Hercules performed well across the board. Even when compared to Milwaukee's 18V hammer drill/driver, Hercules holds its own. Milwaukee does slightly edge out Hercules when it comes to rpm, bpm, and torque, but Harbor Freight isn't afraid to invite shoppers to directly compare the two models.

The Bauer 20V ½-inch Hammer Drill/Driver is available from Harbor Freight for $64.99.

The Hercules 20V ½-inch Compact Hammer Drill/Driver is available from Harbor Freight for $79.99

To compare tools made by Harbor Freight and Milwaukee, only those with very similar sizes and functions were balanced against one another head-to-head. In many cases, Harbor Freight explicitly invites shoppers to compare its products to those from other brands, including Milwaukee, to show that its models offer similar-to-superior specs but, usually, with a significantly lower price. In most cases, these were used as a starting point for selecting which tools to compare to one another.

The listed manufacturer specs were taken from either product manuals or product pages on the websites of Harbor Freight and Milwaukee. However, only tools that have proven to actually be more powerful than Milwaukee in real-world testing were included in this list. You'll always want to find out, if possible, what the given specs of a tool actually are compared to what's marketed, which are usually the maximum and under optimal conditions at best. These tests were documented on video and conducted by various popular tool testing YouTube channels with strong reputations and subscriber bases. Different metrics were used to compare "power" between the brands, including average torque, max torque, rpm, mwo, overall performance, more, with both the expert opinions of the testers and the hard data taken into account.