A cordless framing nailer finally cuts the compressor and the hose out of framing, decking, and fence work. No air line dragging through the mud, no waiting for a tank to build pressure, no gas cartridges to buy like the old fuel-cell guns. Modern brushless models drive a 3-1/2 inch nail flush into a doubled-up header about as well as a pneumatic, and they'll run all day off one battery.
Before you pick a model, pick the battery. A framing nailer is rarely your only cordless tool, so the smart move is to buy into the platform you already own or plan to grow. Milwaukee M18, DeWalt 20V MAX, Metabo HPT MultiVolt, and Ridgid 18V all make a strong gun, and none of them share batteries with each other. Worth repeating the traps people fall into here: Milwaukee M12 packs won't fit an M18 tool, and a DeWalt FLEXVOLT battery auto-switches to run 20V MAX tools while a plain 20V MAX pack will never power a 60V FLEXVOLT tool. Sort the platform first.
One more decision: nail collation. The 21-degree guns here use plastic-collated, full-round-head nails, which most local codes accept and which feed reliably. The 30 to 34-degree paper-collated style lets the magazine reach tighter into corners and leaves no plastic shrapnel, but the nails cost a little more and the paper can swell if it gets wet. Neither is wrong. It's mostly what your supplier stocks and what your hands are used to.
For everyday framing: Milwaukee 2744-20
The M18 FUEL 2744-20 is the one I'd hand a framer. It uses a nitrogen air-spring mechanism and a POWERSTATE brushless motor, so there's zero ramp-up time, it fires up to three nails a second, and it sinks 2 to 3-1/2 inch nails from .113 to .148 shank without bogging. It lives on M18, the deepest battery lineup in the trades, so the same pack feeds your circular saw and your impact. The catch is heft. It's a dense, front-heavy tool, and toe-nailing overhead all day will let you know it. For production framing, buy this.
If you run DeWalt: DCN21PL or the DCN692
DeWalt owners get two good choices. The DCN21PL is the heavy hitter, a 21-degree plastic-collated gun that drives full-round-head nails up to .148 into engineered lumber and holds around 49 in the magazine. If you'd rather run paper tape, the DCN692 takes 30 to 34-degree paper-collated nails, has a dual-speed motor for short versus long nails, and holds about 55. Both live on 20V MAX, and a FLEXVOLT pack runs either one. The flywheel design has a tiny spin-up delay you can feel next to the Milwaukee, but the drive power is there.
Best value: Metabo HPT NR1890DR
The NR1890DR punches well above its price. Its Air Spring Drive system mimics the feel of a pneumatic so closely that contractors switching off a hose barely notice, and it drives roughly 500 nails per charge from an 18V pack while weighing about 8.4 pounds. Metabo HPT backs the tool with a lifetime warranty, which is rare in this category. The version most people want is the NR1890DRA MultiVolt kit, since a MultiVolt battery runs on both the 18V tools and Metabo's 36V line. The catch is a smaller dealer network, so parts and service aren't as easy to find as the big two.
The budget pro pick: Ridgid R09894B
Ridgid's R09894B is the sleeper. It's a brushless 21-degree gun that sinks full-round-head nails up to 3-1/2 inches, fires three a second, and squeezes up to 750 nails out of a charge, which is the best runtime number on this list. Pair it with Ridgid's Lifetime Service Agreement and the value is hard to argue with. The honest catch is that Ridgid's overall 18V tool lineup is smaller than Milwaukee's or DeWalt's, so if you're starting from scratch you have fewer tools to grow into.
What I'd buy
If money is no object and you frame for a living, the Milwaukee 2744-20 is the most refined tool here. If you already own DeWalt or Metabo batteries, the DCN21PL and NR1890DR are both excellent and save you a charger and packs. And if you want the most nail-driving for the least cash, the Ridgid R09894B quietly wins on runtime and warranty. Match the gun to the batteries already in your truck and you can leave the compressor at home for good.