Free InstallShield AlternativesSoftware Installers and other similar apps like InstallShield

The best free alternative to InstallShield is Inno Setup. It's not free, so if you're looking for a free alternative, you could try Inno Setup or NSIS. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 25 alternatives to InstallShield and many of them is free so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free alternatives to InstallShield are DCP Setup Maker, Advanced Installer, IzPack and InstallForge.

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InstallShield alternatives page was last updated

Alternatives list

  1. Inno Setup icon
     117 likes

    Inno Setup is a free installer for Windows programs. First introduced in 1997, Inno Setup today rivals and even surpasses many commercial installers in feature set and stability.

    51 Inno Setup alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free Personal
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Wine
     
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    2
    Inno Setup vs InstallShield Comments
    Guest
    Negative
    0

    It is quite different and doesn't open the files created by InstallShield

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

    was able to create setup for an app in less than 2 mins

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    • Inno Setup is Free Personal and ProprietaryInstallShield is Paid and Proprietary
    • Inno Setup is CustomizableInstallShield is not according to our users
  2. NSIS icon
     70 likes

    NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) is a professional open source system to create Windows installers. It is designed to be as small and flexible as possible and is therefore very suitable for internet distribution.

    51 NSIS alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • PortableApps.com
     
  3. WiX icon
     22 likes

    The Windows Installer XML (WiX) is a toolset that builds Windows installation packages from XML source code. The toolset supports a command line environment that developers may integrate into their build processes to build MSI and MSM setup packages.

    39 WiX alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  4. Powerful simple-to-use application to generate stable and multi-platform installers. Its intuitive user interface and exceptional ease of use makes it very easy to build complex desktop or web installers with large amounts of files.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Wine
     
  5. Advanced Installer is a powerful and easy to use setup authoring tool which offers full Windows Installer support and more. You can configure every aspect of your installer through a simple graphical user interface or through its command line.

    42 Advanced Installer alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  6. IzPack icon
     11 likes

    IzPack is a one-stop solution for packaging, distributing and deploying applications.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Java
     
  7. InstallForge icon
     8 likes

    InstallForge is a very easy-to-use and flexible tool for creating fast installation packages for Windows.

    24 InstallForge alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Wine
     
  8. Wix# icon
     6 likes

    WixSharp enables creating MSI files or WiX source code by using C# source code. Upon execution, the C# code is transformed into a MSI file or WiX source code. Thanks to C# features such as inheritance, it becomes easy to create installers.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  9. CreateInstall icon
     5 likes

    Professional installer software is an essential component for any software developer. The ideology behind the CreateInstall installer is based on two main principles. Complete control over the installation process and unlimited scalability.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  10. Spend your time developing your creations not building the installers. Download the fully functional freeware version of Install Creator and create your first installation in less than one minute!

    39 ClickTeam Install Creator alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  11. CyberInstaller Suite is a packetization and installation software, oriented to every kind of developer. Thus, it can be applied to any language or development environment (.Net, C++, C#, Delphi, Java, PHP, Visual Basic, etc.

    Cost / License

    • Free Personal
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  12. Velopack icon
     1 like

    Velopack is an installation and auto-update framework for cross-platform desktop applications. It's opinionated, extremely easy to use with zero config needed. With just one command you can be up and running with an installable application, and it's lightning fast for...

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Mac
    • Linux
     
12 of 33 InstallShield alternatives