The driver has to match both the motor type and its current. Get either wrong and you get overheating, stalling or a dead board.
Match the driver to the motor type
Brushed DC needs an H-bridge for both directions — simple and cheap. Stepper needs a bipolar chopper driver that regulates current (not voltage); microstepping smooths motion but gives you less incremental torque than people expect (see the stepper tool). BLDC needs a three-phase driver plus commutation — sensored (Hall) for reliable start-up under load, sensorless for cost.
Rate for current, not for volts
Voltage sets speed; current sets torque and heat. Size the driver for the stall or acceleration current, which can be several times the running current — a motor at stall is just its winding resistance across the supply. Check the driver's continuous rating (not its peak headline number) and whether that rating assumes a heat sink or airflow.
Protection you actually need
Look for over-current limit, thermal shutdown, and under-voltage lockout. Add flyback/freewheeling paths for the inductive winding. A regenerating load (lowering a mass, decelerating a flywheel) pumps energy back into the supply — you may need a brake resistor or a supply that tolerates it. Check the FET losses if you are building the bridge yourself.
Control and feedback
Decide what you actually need: open-loop (steppers, if never overloaded), velocity loop (encoder + PI), or full position control. PWM above ~20 kHz keeps the whine out of hearing. And confirm the logic voltage matches your controller, or add level shifting.