balenaEtcher Alternatives for Linux

There are many alternatives to balenaEtcher for Linux if you are looking for a replacement. The best Linux alternative is Ventoy, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to balenaEtcher and many of them are available for Linux so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Linux alternatives to balenaEtcher are UNetbootin, dd, USBImager and MultiBootUSB.

filter to find the best alternatives

balenaEtcher alternatives are mainly Bootable USB Creators, but if you're looking for Disk Imaging Tools you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Android Tablet + 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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Ideal for creating bootable USBs and SD cards, ensuring safe, cross-platform use. Open-source, lightweight, and portable with a user-friendly interface.

More about balenaEtcher
balenaEtcher alternatives page was last updated Feb 13, 2025
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  1. Ventoy icon
     347 likes
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    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.

    45 Ventoy alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • CN flagChina

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Multi boot
    2.  Create bootable USB
    3.  Multiboot USB
    4.  Create Multiboot USB
    5.  UEFI Support
    6.  Persistent Storage
    7.  Portable
    8.  Multi-windows
    9.  VHD Boot
    10.  Command line interface
    11.  Ad-free

    Ventoy VS balenaEtcher

     
    Comments about Ventoy as an Alternative to balenaEtcher
    Top Positive Comment
    Aas
    Sep 30, 2022
    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?

    Most Recent Comment
    Guest
    Positive Nov 24, 2023
    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

    Jeremy Leik
    Positive Jun 8, 2022
    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.

    Show more comments
    3 of 5 comments
    balenaEtcher Icon
    Ventoy icon
    • Almost everyone thinks Ventoy is a great balenaEtcher alternative.

    • Ventoy is the most popular Linux alternative to balenaEtcher.

    • Ventoy is Free and Open SourcebalenaEtcher is also Free and Open Source
    • Ventoy is LightweightbalenaEtcher is not according to our users
  2. UNetbootin icon
     749 likes
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    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.

    55 UNetbootin alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • CA flagCanada

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • PortableApps.com
    Discontinued

    Last commit to the repository was on Jun 28, 2023, and latest version is from Feb 4, 2021.

    Properties

    1.  Privacy focused
    2.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Create bootable USB
    2.  Persistent Linux
    3.  Automatic downloading
    4.  Download ISO Images
    5.  Portable
    6.  Windows To Go
    7.  Ad-free
    8.  Portable Linux
    9.  Burn iso

    UNetbootin VS balenaEtcher

     
    Comments about UNetbootin as an Alternative to balenaEtcher
    Guest
    Negative May 5, 2016
    2

    I cannot choose Winshit 10

    Guest
    Negative Jun 16, 2022
    0

    It doesn't appear to just write images to disk

    balenaEtcher Icon
    UNetbootin icon
    • Most users think UNetbootin is a great balenaEtcher alternative.

    • UNetbootin is the most popular Mac alternative to balenaEtcher.

    • UNetbootin is Free and Open SourcebalenaEtcher is also Free and Open Source
    • UNetbootin is Privacy focused and LightweightbalenaEtcher is not according to our users
  3. dd icon
     98 likes
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    dd, that stands for ‘data duplicator’, is a command-line utility for Unix mainly used for copying and converting data.

    37 dd alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • BSD

    dd Features

    1.  Command line interface
    2.  Burn iso
    3.  Write ISO to SD card
    4.  Create image

    dd VS balenaEtcher

     
    Comments about dd as an Alternative to balenaEtcher
    Most Recent Comment
    Paul
    Positive Apr 2, 2020
    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 Jul 22, 2022
    0

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

    sharmaganesha2
    Positive Oct 9, 2020
    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.

    balenaEtcher Icon
    dd icon
    • Almost everyone thinks dd is a great balenaEtcher alternative.

    • dd is Free and Open SourcebalenaEtcher is also Free and Open Source
  4. USBImager icon
     23 likes
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    USBImager is a really really simple GUI application that writes compressed disk images to USB drives and creates backups.

    18 USBImager alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • International

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Raspberry Pi

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Disk Imaging
    2.  Write ISO to SD card
    3.  ARM support
    4.  Ad-free
    5.  Portable
    6.  Raspberry Pi Development

    USBImager VS balenaEtcher

     
    Comments about USBImager as an Alternative to balenaEtcher
    Most Recent Comment
    rescuezilla
    Positive Dec 27, 2020
    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 Dec 4, 2022
    1

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

    prog_uk
    Positive Nov 4, 2022
    0

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

    balenaEtcher Icon
    USBImager icon
    • Almost everyone thinks USBImager is a great balenaEtcher alternative.

    • USBImager is Free and Open SourcebalenaEtcher is also Free and Open Source
    • USBImager is LightweightbalenaEtcher is not according to our users
  5. MultiBootUSB icon
     72 likes
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    MultiBootUSB is a software to create multi boot live Linux on a removable media i.e USB disk. It is similar to UNetbootin but many distros can be installed, provided you have enough space on the disk.

    44 MultiBootUSB alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    Discontinued

    The project seems no longer developed and the official website is no longer available. Last version, 9.2.0, released in April 2018, can be still downloaded from GitHub.

    MultiBootUSB Features

    1.  Command line interface
    2.  Multiboot USB
    3.  Multi OS
    4.  Create Multiboot USB
    5.  Install Syslinux
    6.  Boot HDD Partition

    MultiBootUSB VS balenaEtcher

     
  6. WoeUSB icon
     26 likes
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    WoeUSB is a simple tool that enable you to create your own usb stick windows installer from an iso image or a real DVD. It is a fork of Congelli501 s WinUSB.

    30 WoeUSB alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • International

    Platforms

    • Linux

    WoeUSB Features

    1.  Bootable Windows Flashdrive's
    2.  Command line interface
    3.  Create UEFI bootable drive
    4.  Ad-free
    5.  Graphical User Interface

    WoeUSB VS balenaEtcher

     
  7. Easy2Boot icon
     38 likes
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    Flexible and configurable USB drive multiboot solution which also supports UEFI booting.

    49 Easy2Boot alternatives

    License model

    • FreeProprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux

    Properties

    1.  Customizable

    Features

    1.  Portable
    2.  Multiboot USB
    3.  UEFI Support
    4.  USB to NTFS
    5.  USB to FAT
    6.  Multi boot

    Easy2Boot VS balenaEtcher

     
  8. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    A tool to create a bootable live USB drive with an edition of Fedora. Not only can Fedora Media Writer write an image to your flash drive, it can also download it for you. It offers official editions (Server, Workstation), Fedora spins (KDE Plasma Desktop, Xfce Desktop, Cinnamon...

    47 Fedora Media Writer alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    Fedora Media Writer VS balenaEtcher

     
8 of 23 balenaEtcher alternatives