Open Source InstallShield AlternativesSoftware Installers and other similar apps like InstallShield

The best open source alternative to InstallShield is NSIS. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to InstallShield and many of them is open source so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternatives to InstallShield are WiX, DCP Setup Maker, IzPack and Wix#.

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Alternatives list

  1. 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.

    52 NSIS alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • PortableApps.com
     
  2. 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.

    40 WiX alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  3. 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
     
  4. 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
     
  5. 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
     
  6. 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
     
  7. The packaging formats used by different distributions of Linux can be a pain point for software developers wishing to release their projects in an easily consumable way. Debian and Ubuntu rely on .deb packages, while Fedora and RedHat both use .rpm style packaging systems.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • OpenSolaris
     
  8. SFX Tool icon
     3 likes

    SFX Tool is a graphical user interface and script generator for the Nullsoft Scriptable Install System. It allows the user to create simple setup files in minutes without writing a line of code. Advanced users may also edit the install script before it is compiled.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  9. Debreate icon
     7 likes

    Debreate is a utility to aid in creating installable Debian (.deb) packages. The goal behind the project is to make developing for Debian based Linux distributions more appealing, with an easy to use interface for packaging applications, artwork, media, themes, etc.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Platforms

    • Linux
     
  10. Squirrel is both a set of tools and a library, to completely manage both installation and updating your Desktop Windows application, written in either C# or any other language (i.e., Squirrel can manage native C++ applications).

    17 Squirrel.Windows alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  11. Makeself icon
     3 likes

    makeself.sh is a small shell script that generates a self-extractable tar.gz archive from a directory. The resulting file appears as a shell script (many of those have a .run suffix), and can be launched as is.

    32 Makeself alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • BSD
     
  12. HM NIS EDIT icon
     5 likes

    HM NIS Edit is the best Editor/IDE for NSIS . It's useful for experts and beginners in the creation of Setup programs with the NSIS. Its Script Wizard will help you to create standard Setup programs with only few clicks, also its...

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • PortableApps.com
     
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