The Best balenaEtcher AlternativesTop Bootable USB Creators and other similar apps like balenaEtcher

balenaEtcher is described as 'Ideal for creating bootable USBs and SD cards, ensuring safe, cross-platform use. Open-source, lightweight, and portable with a user-friendly interface' and is a leading bootable usb creator in the os & utilities category. There are more than 50 alternatives to balenaEtcher for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac, Flathub and Flatpak apps. The best balenaEtcher alternative is Rufus, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like balenaEtcher are Ventoy, UNetbootin, YUMI exFAT and Win32 Disk Imager.

filter to find the best alternatives

balenaEtcher alternatives are mainly Bootable USB Creators, but if you're looking for Disk Imaging Tools or Linux Distros you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Mac, Linux, Windows, Android Tablet, Android Tablet + Create bootable USB, Create bootable USB and Linux + Create bootable USB. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to balenaEtcher.
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Alternatives list

  1. Rufus icon

    Rufus

     1576 likes

    Formats USB drives to FAT, NTFS, exFAT, and more, while creating bootable USBs from diverse ISOs. Supports MS-DOS/FreeDOS with no external files and offers BIOS or UEFI mode, including bad block check. Ideal for systems lacking an OS or flashing BIOS and lightweight, ad-free.

    73 Rufus alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • PortableApps.com
    Rufus screenshot 1
     
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    11
    Comments about Rufus as an Alternative to balenaEtcher
    Top Positive Comment
    DL300
    1

    I am convinced BalenaEtcher is recommended by people who have never used it. I have never even witnessed it successfully complete a write. Rufus has always worked.

    AbelBermudezM
    Positive
    0

    It can host multiple OS', while balenaEtcher can't.

    Guest
    Positive
    1

    It works best and has features needed most.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    3 of 11 comments
    Rufus icon
    Rufus icon
    • Rufus is Free and Open SourcebalenaEtcher is also Free and Open Source
    • Rufus is Privacy focusedbalenaEtcher is not according to our users
  2. Ventoy icon

    Ventoy

     384 likes

    Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files. With ventoy, you don't need to format the disk again and again, you just need to copy the iso file to the USB drive and boot it.

    55 Ventoy alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    Ventoy screenshot 1
     
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    5
    Comments about Ventoy as an Alternative to balenaEtcher
    Top Positive Comment
    Aas
    5

    balenaEtcher had some privacy issue in the past. Ventoy doesn't "phone home". Why an USB image creator needs to send some data out anyway?

    Guest
    Positive
    0

    Ventoy only needs a one time setup and all bootable ISOs are just placed in your USB drive. Also your USB drive keeps being a storage device when you're in your OS

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Jeremy Leik
    Positive
    2

    Ventoy is a great tool. I had used YUMI extensively before Ventoy came out. What is great about Ventoy is the cross-platform support and the fact that your ISO image stay intact on your USB stick. Being able to have a large 256GB USB stick with Ventoy on it also gives it an edge against tools like Balena Etcher (one image per USB) or Rufus (ISO images are not intact).

    As a bonus, Ventoy can create USB sticks that will work with BOTH UEFI and BIOS.

    3 of 5 comments
    Ventoy icon
    Ventoy icon
    • Ventoy is Free and Open SourcebalenaEtcher is also Free and Open Source
  4. UNetbootin icon

    UNetbootin

     760 likes

    Cross-platform tool for making bootable USB and Live USB drives, featuring a built-in downloader for Linux ISO images and rescue disks, supporting BSD and various utilities. No installation required, it runs directly and offers compatibility and community support for many distributions.

    58 UNetbootin alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • PortableApps.com
    Welcome screen
     
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    2
    Comments about UNetbootin as an Alternative to balenaEtcher
    Guest
    Negative
    2

    I cannot choose Winshit 10

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Negative
    0

    It doesn't appear to just write images to disk

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    UNetbootin icon
    UNetbootin icon
    • UNetbootin is Free and Open SourcebalenaEtcher is also Free and Open Source
    • UNetbootin is Privacy focusedbalenaEtcher is not according to our users
  5. YUMI exFAT icon

    YUMI exFAT

     285 likes

    The YUMI exFAT (Your Universal Multiboot Installer) media creation tool can be used to automatically create an exFAT bootable USB flash drive containing multiple operating systems, antivirus utilities, disc cloning, diagnostic tools, and more.

    48 YUMI exFAT alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • PortableApps.com
    • Wine
    • WineBottler
    YUMI exFAT screenshot 1
     
  6. Win32 Disk Imager icon

    Win32 Disk Imager

     84 likes

    A utility that can write a raw backup image of your hard drive to a removable device or vice versa.

    48 Win32 Disk Imager alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Win32 Disk Imager screenshot 1
     
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    2
    Comments about Win32 Disk Imager as an Alternative to balenaEtcher
    TheDcoder
    Positive
    1

    A lot smaller and more native to the Windows platform than Etcher

    Guest
    Negative
    -4

    Win32 Disk Imager, despite its name, does not "create" disk images: it only writes/mounts pre-existing .img files to flash storage.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Win32 Disk Imager icon
    Win32 Disk Imager icon
    • Win32 Disk Imager is Free and Open SourcebalenaEtcher is also Free and Open Source
  7. dd icon

    dd

     100 likes

    dd, that stands for ‘data duplicator’, is a command-line utility for Unix mainly used for copying and converting data.

    40 dd alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • BSD
     
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    3
    Comments about dd as an Alternative to balenaEtcher
    Paul
    Positive
    1

    A good command-line alternative that comes with Unix-based operating systems. It's what I use on my MacBook to burn Linux ISO images on my USB drive.

    Guest
    Positive
    0

    It's application free, and already, always installed in system !

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    sharmaganesha2
    Positive
    0

    It's command line. That means it does not have garbage inside the program. But it might freak some people out. But Literally, you have Git Bash so you can use DD on Windows.

    The usage:

    $ lsblk /dev/sdb 28G /dev/sda 931G $ dd if=popos.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=1M status=progress

    It's really nice.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    dd icon
    dd icon
    • dd is Free and Open SourcebalenaEtcher is also Free and Open Source
  9. Universal USB Installer icon

    Universal USB Installer

     180 likes

    Universal USB Installer is a Live Linux USB Creator that allows you to choose from a selection of Linux Distributions to put on your USB Flash Drive. The Universal USB Installer is easy to use. Simply choose a Live Linux Distribution, the ISO file, your Flash Drive and, Click...

    46 Universal USB Installer alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Universal USB Installer screenshot 1
     
  12. USBImager icon

    USBImager

     23 likes

    USBImager is a really really simple GUI application that writes compressed disk images to USB drives and creates backups.

    22 USBImager alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Raspberry Pi
    Linux
     
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    3
    Comments about USBImager as an Alternative to balenaEtcher
    rescuezilla
    Positive
    1

    USBImager is a 300 kilobyte download compared to balenaEtcher's 80+ megabyte. They're both cross-platform (Windows/macOS/Linux). The reason is USBImager is a native app while balenaEtcher is an Electron app.

    balenaEtcher is still a bit more user-friendly, but USBImager is by far the best cross-platform alternative right now.

    docampoangel
    Positive
    1

    Is like etcher but installed occupies 508,43 KiB in disk, instead 500MB of spyware and electron crap.

    prog_uk
    Positive
    0

    Small, simple and does everything it needs to without any unnecessary bells and whistles.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    USBImager icon
    USBImager icon
    • USBImager is Free and Open SourcebalenaEtcher is also Free and Open Source
12 of 56 balenaEtcher alternatives