Best Masonry Drill Bits of 2026

What settles this set as our top pick is fit, in both senses. The three flats machined into each shank give a three-jaw chuck something to bite on, so the bit keeps turning once the hammer starts instead of spinning in the jaws, and seven pieces mean the diameter you need is usually already in the box. For a homeowner with a corded or cordless hammer drill, that is the whole job described in one sentence.

The cutting end is a two-cutter carbide tip on a four-flute body, and the flute count is worth more than it looks. Dust is what finishes masonry bits: once grit packs around the tip, the carbide overheats and chips. Four flutes lift that dust out of the hole instead of letting it grind, which is why this set keeps cutting through a run of holes in block.

The one thing worth knowing before you start is that these bits want a light hand. Carbide is hard and brittle, and leaning into old, hard concrete is how tips snap. Let the hammer do the work, back the bit out every inch or so to clear the dust, and you will finish the job with the same bit you started with.

The case is the first thing out of the box, and it is the detail that makes this set feel thought through: a hard, molded box with a slot for every bit, so a missing 3/8-inch is obvious at a glance rather than discovered up a ladder. Bits that rattle loose in a bag arrive at the wall with chipped tips.

Inside, seven bits run from 3/16 inch to 1/2 inch, with the 1/4-inch size appearing three times across two lengths. That repetition is not padding. Quarter-inch holes cover a lot of plugs and small anchors, and the short 2-inch working length is the one that gets used when you are drilling next to a baseboard or inside a cabinet.

The tips are centric-ground carbide with a wear mark ground into the flute, so you can see when a bit is past its best, and the SDS-Plus shank drops into any rotary hammer that takes the format. In concrete they start without skating, which is the difference between a clean hole and a wandering scratch you have to fill.

Where this set earns its place over a mixed assortment is consistency: seven bits that all cut the same way, a case that keeps them that way, and a wear mark that tells you when to stop rather than letting you find out on the last hole. Anyone who already owns a rotary hammer should start here rather than buying round-shank bits for a tool that cannot use them.

Five chisels is what makes this set worth a second look. Two points and three flats, plus twelve SDS-Plus drill bits, all in one case: if the job means taking tile off a wall or opening a hole in block as well as drilling it, this is one purchase instead of two, and it is the only set here that covers both.

The drill bits are cemented carbide with a U-shaped flute, arranged in four groups of lengths and diameters, and they run in any SDS-Plus hammer. In brick and softer stone they cut quickly. The chisels are the more convincing half: they break out block and mortar rather than drilling it, which is a job a drill bit simply cannot do.

Seventeen pieces need somewhere to live, and the case handles that, with a slot for each bit and chisel so the whole set travels as one box. For a bathroom strip-out or a wall you need to open up, that is a fair trade; for four clean holes in a garage wall, it is more tool than the job needs.

Ten inches of working length is the number that matters here. This is a half-inch SDS-Plus bit with a 10-inch flute on a 12-inch body, which is what you need when the hole has to pass through a wall cavity, a thick concrete slab, or a layer of plaster before it reaches anything structural.

The tip is two-flute, self-centering carbide, and the flutes are shaped to push dust back out of the hole rather than let it pack around the cutting edge. The longer the bit, the more that matters, because a deep hole has a long way to clear. It seats in any SDS-Plus hammer and starts without skating on a smooth surface.

We keep coming back to it for the jobs where a short bit simply is not an option: running cable or pipe through a wall, setting a long anchor, or finding a fixing point buried behind plaster. It is one bit in one diameter, so plan the run before you start, because a half-inch hole is not the one to practice on.

Five bits, all the same size, which looks like a mistake until you have spent an afternoon on a ladder with a dull 5/32-inch and no spare. This is the diameter that does the small work, from pilot holes to light fixings and cable clips, and it is the one that dies first, so a pack of five is a supply rather than a set.

We appreciate the grip-point tip: it bites into concrete without walking across the surface, which on a small bit is the difference between a hole where you marked it and a scratch an inch away. The hex shank fits a three-jaw chuck and a quick-change impact driver, and three inches of working length is generous for a bit this size, so pilot holes can go deeper than the fixing.

Not every masonry bit is meant to be hammered. The BM5000 is a fast-spiral rotary bit, ground to cut brick, block and mortar with a plain spinning drill rather than a percussion action. If your drill has no hammer setting, or you are working in soft brick that crumbles under impact, that distinction is the whole reason to own it.

Fourteen pieces, and the shape of the set is smarter than the count suggests: three each of 1/8, 3/16 and 1/4 inch, then one each of 5/16, 3/8 and 1/2 inch. We noticed those duplicates land exactly on the diameters that see the most use and break first, which makes this more practical than a set with fourteen different sizes, most of which go unused.

The single-flute design moves dust, the taper point resists walking, and the round shanks spin in any keyed or keyless chuck, including the old corded drill in the back of the garage. It is happiest at high speed with light pressure, and it is the set that turns a brick wall or a block partition into an ordinary afternoon's work.

Three-quarters of an inch is a different kind of hole. At that diameter you are not hanging a picture, you are running a pipe through a wall, setting a heavy anchor, or bolting a railing down, and the bit has to move a lot of material without wandering. This one carries 6 inches of working length on an 8-inch body, with four flutes to take the dust out.

Those flutes are why it clears itself: coarse fluting lifts drillings up and away instead of letting them pack around the tip, which keeps the carbide cooler in a deep hole. The tip is brazed carbide built for heavy loads, and in concrete the bit cuts faster than the size suggests, so a three-quarter-inch hole stops feeling like a project.

What earns it shelf space is that combination of speed and reach. It is the bit you keep for the one job a year that needs a big hole, and it will outlast that job. Buy it for the specific anchor or pipe you have in mind rather than as part of a collection, because a single large bit only earns its place when the size is one you actually need.

One size, one bit, no case. The DW5224 is what you buy when the job is a few 1/4-inch holes for plugs or anchors and a set would be beside the point. At four inches overall it fits a standard three-jaw chuck, and it is a percussion bit, so it wants a hammer drill and a light hand rather than muscle.

In concrete and block it bites quickly for the first holes, and the four-flute body clears dust the way a masonry bit should. Nothing about it is fancy, from the straight shank to the plated finish, and that is fine for a bit that lives in a drawer until a shelf needs hanging.

The edge is the part that gives out. A bit this size working old concrete can go off after a handful of holes, and once the carbide rounds over, a file will not bring it back. Buy it knowing it is a job-sized bit rather than the start of a collection.

Where it makes sense is small, finished work: two brackets, a doorbell, a grab bar into a solid wall. A single quarter-inch bit gets those done without dragging out a set, and a bit you do not have to protect is one you will actually use.