4 Milwaukee Tools That Are More Powerful Than Snap-On

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Milwaukee is well known in the world of power tools as a common go-to brand for professionals, and while that's certainly true for the manufacturer's most expensive products, it also has a strong presence in the DIY sector. The same can't be said for Snap-On, a brand that is rarely recommended for DIYers — though there are exceptions in the form of surprisingly budget hand tools. Once could expect, then, that finding Milwaukee tools that outperform Snap-On would require a lot of research and maybe some nitpicking, but that's not necessarily the case.

Often enough, Snap-On can't even outperform Harbor Freight, the hardware store of choice of DIYers on a budget; with this in mind, it wasn't so hard to find a few Milwaukee tools that have more power than its notoriously expensive competitor. Speaking of which, we did limit our research to power tools. Snap-On makes a lot of popular hand tools and accessories, like socket sets and wrenches, but you can hardly rank them by power. One could be more resistant or versatile than another, but all hand tools are as powerful as the hand that moves them. So, we stuck with power tools, and found four Milwaukee models that outperform Snap-On's strongest alternative.

All the cordless Milwaukee Fuel Drill/Drivers and Fuel Hammer Drill/Drivers come with a max speed of 2,100 RPM and produce as much as 1,400 in-lb of torque. The only difference between the hammer drill/driver and the regular drill/driver is the alternate hammering mode — and about $10 in price — but considering that the cheapest of these tools comes at $220, ten dollars for an extra drilling mode is basically a free upgrade.

There are two other drill/drivers in the Milwaukee Fuel line, but they share the exact same stats as the two we looked at. The only thing they add, for a not-insignificant $50, is One-Key, Milwaukee's proprietary tracking system that also lets you change settings, like max speed and torque control, from a smartphone instead of the tool itself. If you already track your valuables with AirTags, maybe give One-Key a try instead.

Meanwhile, Snap-On's Driver/Hammer Drill doesn't quite compare to the Milwaukee, even if it's far more expensive at $490. Its torque output maxes out at just 470 in-lb, and while speed is much more competitive reaching 2,000 RPM, it's still not at the level of the Milwaukee. None of the tools on this list come with a battery and charger, and they all have a brushless motor, an LED near the tool's head, and clutch settings for torque, as well as a variable speed trigger.

The strongest cordless impact wrench by Milwaukee, the M18 Fuel High-Torque ½-inch Impact Wrench, produces 1,600 ft-lb of breakaway torque (what Milwaukee calls "nut-busting torque") and 1,200 ft-lb of fastening torque. It's also quite fast, reaching 2,000 RPM and 2,400 impacts per minute (IPM), all of which helped land Milwaukee on the top of our ranking of major impact wrench brands. For controlling speed and toque, it uses Milwaukee's 4-Mode Drive Control, which some users say are very useful for delicate work, and also has Auto-Shutoff control, which is meant to prevent overtightening specifically. As with many machines of this kind, the Milwaukee impact wrench has a mode dedicated to safe bolt removal, which lets you unleash all the power of this tool on a tough bolt while slowing down automatically as soon as the bolt comes loose.

Meanwhile, the closest match to the Milwaukee M18 is the CT9080DB 18V Torque ½-inch Drive Impact Wrench from Snap-On. It comes with a similar functionality with a built-in brake to prevent fasteners from flying off the tool once they're loose. It also has a variable speed trigger and a brushless motor, just like the Milwaukee. And while it lacks a few of the quality of life features found on the M18 Fuel, opting instead for a standard three torque setting, what truly makes the Milwaukee shine in comparison is the power.

The Snap-On maxes out at 1,440 ft-lb of breakaway and 1,050 ft-lb of fastening torque. Blows-per-minute speed sits at a roughly comparable 2,300, but rotational speed is stuck at 1,570 RPM, significantly lower than the Milwaukee's 2,000 RPM. Price is also worlds apart, with the Milwaukee coming in at about $300 and the Snap-On at $622, over twice as much. Neither includes batteries and charger.

Milwaukee is one of the best brands of reciprocating saws, that much is clear, and its M18 Fuel Sawzall line of these tools is a testament to how dedicated the brand is to this type of product. The page dedicated to the different reciprocating saws on Milwaukee's website can be a little hard to navigate, since there is so much overlap between similar products. For our comparison, we selected only one for this article: the 2821-20 M18 Fuel Sawzall.

Like most of its companions, this 18V Sawzall reaches 3,000 strokes per minute (SPM) and has a stroke length of 1-¼ inches. Other Milwaukee reciprocating saws, even the more powerful (and heavier and more expensive) Super Sawzall, share the same range and max speed. Additionally, even though it's one of the simplest models of Sawzall, the 2821-20 has an adjustable shoe and a brushless motor.

The Snap-On alternative, simply called the 18V Reciprocating Saw, is the only cordless 18V reciprocating saw sold by the brand. It can only reach 2,400 SPM and it has a shorter stroke length of just 1 inch. While these two measures are not enough to definitely say that the Milwaukee is the most powerful tool, they are the only stats available to us, since neither manufacturer goes into further detail. Still, stroke speed is the main stat used to assess the power of a reciprocating saw, making it easy to declare the Sawzall the winner.

The Fuel ¼-inch 2-Speed Screwdriver is part of Milwaukee's M12 line of portable power tools. It's quite a capable screwdriver — it provides up to 325 in-lb of torque and 1,700 RPM of speed — but at $150 for the bare tool, we can only recommend it to those with a large budget or some M12 batteries already in their inventory. Price is one of the reasons why Milwaukee didn't make it far in our list of the best brands of power screwdrivers, but that won't be a problem here, since we're comparing it to the notoriously expensive Snap-On.

The Milwaukee cordless screwdriver's price point may not sound like a lot, until you remember that this is just an electric screwdriver. Strength-wise, it can go quite a bit above your human hand's ability to tighten screws with a regular screwdriver, but if you buy this thing, it's probably to make fastening tasks faster and less tiring, not to achieve more power. If you're only looking for strength, look for an impact driver instead.

With that in mind, the power difference between the Milwaukee and the Snap-On 14.4V ¼-inch Hex Screwdriver is still impressive. Speed is similar (1,550 RPM against 1,700 RPM), but when it comes to torque, Snap-On only delivers 200 in-lb, a full 125 in-lb less than Milwaukee's offering. Sure, the 14.4V tool features a manual spindle lock that allows you to reach 300 in-lb of force safely, but why buy a power screwdriver if you need to finish your screws by hand? The Snap-On isn't even a cheaper option, coming it as it does at $250 against the $150 of the Milwaukee.