Direct torque control (DTC) was originally developed for induction machine drives, and, more recently has been applied to permanent magnet brushless AC (BLAC) drives. In this paper, the performance of DTC controlled brushless DC (BLDC) drives is compared with that of PWM current controlled BLDC drives, both with and without current shaping. Both simulation and experimental results are presented, as well as the analysis of the resulting torque waveforms. It is shown that, in addition to exhibiting a fast torque response, a DTC controlled BLDC drive has a significantly lower low-frequency torque ripple than the PWM current controlled BLDC drive without current shaping, and that it is easier to implement than PWM current control with current shaping.