Free Rufus Alternatives

    The best free alternative to Rufus is UNetbootin, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Rufus and loads of them is free so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free alternatives to Rufus are balenaEtcher (Free, Open Source), YUMI (Free, Open Source), dd (Free, Open Source) and Ventoy (Free, Open Source).

    The list of alternatives was last updated Apr 26, 2021
    Rufus info, screenshots & reviewsAlternatives to Rufus
    • 58 alternatives
    •  51 showing

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Mac
    • PortableApps.com
    • Android
    • Android Tablet
    • Ubuntu
    • Debian
    • Raspbian
    • WineBottler
    • Pardus
    • BSD
    • Linux Mint
    • Wine

    Features

    • Create bootable USB
    • Portable
    • Multiboot USB
    • UEFI Support
    • Create bootable CD
    • USB to FAT
    • USB to NTFS
    • Persistent Storage
    • Create UEFI bootable drive
    • Create Multiboot USB
    • Preinstalled Environment builder
    • Multi boot
    • Multiple languages
    • Install Syslinux
    • Convert installation CD/DVD to USB
    • Burn iso
    • Create bootable Image
    • Command line interface
    • Download ISO Images
    • Write ISO to SD card

    License

    × Clear
    • Free
    • Open Source
    • Paid
    All Filters

    • UNetbootin

      Cross-platform tool to create bootable USB drive or create Live USB drives with built-in downloader for Linux ISO images and rescue disks. View 46 alternatives to UNetbootin
      Most users think UNetbootin is a great alternative to Rufus.
      • Free • Open Source
      • Mac
      • Windows
      • Linux
      • PortableApps.com
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      UNetbootin vs Rufus
      pros, cons and recent comments
       all • positive • negative      relevance • date
      Kandi Easy to use. Supports a huge variety of platforms
      Top positive comment  about 4 years ago

      19
      Fast, easy to use and in a few clicks you're good to go
      Top positive comment  about 3 years ago

      12
      does not do UEFI mode does not recognize external hdd/ sdd does not do windows bootable drives and have issues even with some linux distros does not do multiple booting images on single drive
      Top negative comment  over 1 year ago

      7
      UNetbootin is for Linux Distributions. Rufus is for creating bootable USBs in general, independant from the target OS.
      Negative comment • over 1 year ago

      -2
      Does use current versions of "syslinux" and therefore does not create bootable media for a lot firmware ISO files, etc..
      Negative comment • almost 2 years ago

      7
      Easy to use GUI that is compatible with lot's of ISO's. UNetbootin is my 3rd favorite bootable USB creator next to YUMI for Windows and Rufus.
      Positive comment • about 2 years ago

      -2
      Rufus made for me working bootable pendrive with windows 8.1, from iso which I had, and it worked. I tried this same with UNetbootin, and it didn't work.
      Negative comment • over 2 years ago

      7
      Show more comments ▾
      7 of 13 comments

    • balenaEtcher

      balenaEtcher is a free and open-source image burner with support for Windows, macOS and GNU/Linux. It makes USB and SD card image burning as simple and fast as possible. View 44 alternatives to balenaEtcher
      Most users think balenaEtcher is a great alternative to Rufus.
      • Free • Open Source
      • Mac
      • Windows
      • Linux
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      balenaEtcher vs Rufus
      pros, cons and recent comments
       all • positive • negative      relevance • date
      etcher is better than most image burners i have used.
      Top positive comment  about 1 year ago

      2
      espectalll It's simple, it's easy, it's slick, and it's multiplatform, May not be for everyone, but surely is for most people.
      Top positive comment  over 4 years ago

      8
      Cannot select between gpt and mbr partition styles
      Top negative comment  over 4 years ago

      55
      For installing Linux Distros, it just works
      Positive comment • 7 months ago

      0
      Can make bootable usb for linux not windows.
      Positive comment • 11 months ago

      0
      Cam Make Bootable Linux And Other
      Positive comment • 12 months ago

      0
      22Ezra22 Fairly fast and works great for flashing Raspberry Pi. It supports validation to make sure the image was successfully flashed.
      Positive comment • about 1 year ago

      0
      Show more comments ▾
      7 of 32 comments

    • YUMI

      YUMI (Your Universal Multiboot Installer), is the successor to our MultibootISOs. It can be used to create a Multiboot Bootable USB Flash Drive containing multiple operating systems, antivirus utilities, disc cloning, diagnostic tools, and more. View 37 alternatives to YUMI
      Most users think YUMI is a great alternative to Rufus.
      • Free • Open Source
      • Windows
      • PortableApps.com
      • Wine
      • WineBottler
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      YUMI vs Rufus
      pros, cons and recent comments
      DiGiTaL_CORE YUMI now has (albeit alpha) support for UEFI. I have yet to need anything while making multiboot USBs. I love the fact I can make a single partition bootable without having to reformat my entire EHD.
      Positive comment • almost 3 years ago

      10
      Multiboot abilities that are useful in making a useful debugging bootable usb
      Positive comment • 9 months ago

      0
      Has moltiboot option, persistent file with ubuntu, windows to go with other distros in the same USB
      Positive comment • 10 months ago

      -1

    • dd

      Command-line utility for Unix and Unix-like operating systems to convert and copy a file. View 23 alternatives to dd
      Almost everyone thinks dd is a great alternative to Rufus.
      No screenshots yet
      • Free • Open Source
      • Mac
      • Linux
      • BSD
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      dd vs Rufus
      pros, cons and recent comments
      It's the only one that seems to be able to create BSD flash drives
      Top positive comment  over 1 year ago

      2
      Considering this has been developed since 1974, it is very good at what it does.
      Top positive comment  almost 2 years ago

      -1
      It works very well, only for the non Dufus.
      Positive comment • almost 2 years ago

      -2
      allows use of the command line
      Positive comment • over 2 years ago

      0
      It's not flashing automatically
      Negative comment • over 2 years ago

      -23

    • Ventoy

      Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files. View 34 alternatives to Ventoy
      Almost everyone thinks Ventoy is a great alternative to Rufus.
      • Free • Open Source
      • Windows
      • Linux
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      Ventoy vs Rufus
      pros, cons and recent comments
      Hau_Kai It offers the option to multiboot, whilst retaining other files. Add multiple ISOs, remove or update them, all the while other files are unchanged so you can use your fastest and largest USB pendrives, without affecting their use for other tasks.
      Positive comment • 5 months ago

      1
      ATShields934 Allows you to easily create a multiboot drive by simply formatting a flash drive with the software and adding the .iso files. Incredibly simple to use, but a major breakthrough in simple boot drive making.
      Positive comment • 11 months ago

      3
      Mat3o It creates separete partitions for booting, so you can use your USB drive as regular pendrive. Ventoy's boot menu list all iso which you place on the drive, it's the most flexible solution I've used.
      Positive comment • 12 months ago

      3
      Multiple ISO image files on one drive
      Positive comment • 8 months ago

      0

    • MultiBootUSB

      Cross-platform utility for creating live Linux distro multi-boot USBs nondestructively. View 34 alternatives to MultiBootUSB
      Most users think MultiBootUSB is a great alternative to Rufus.

      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.

      • Free • Open Source
      • Windows
      • Linux
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      MultiBootUSB vs Rufus
      pros, cons and recent comments
      NickFreeman support for multiple live linux distros
      Positive comment • about 2 years ago

      -2

    • Universal USB Installer

      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. View 33 alternatives to Universal USB Installer
      Most users think Universal USB Installer is a great alternative to Rufus.
      • Free • Open Source
      • Windows
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      Universal USB Installer vs Rufus
      pros, cons and recent comments
      checholin Very simple and easy to use. Supports Persistent Linux.
      Positive comment • over 4 years ago

      -1
      It is complete, with all you need, to put an OS in yur USB
      Positive comment • about 4 years ago

      -1

    • WoeUSB

      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. View 18 alternatives to WoeUSB
      Almost everyone thinks WoeUSB is a great alternative to Rufus.
      • Free • Open Source
      • Linux
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      WoeUSB vs Rufus
      pros, cons and recent comments
      shampuan It is the best of windows iso writer on linux.
      Top positive comment  2 months ago

      1
      Simple to use, even my grandma could figure it out, Not that she'd need to flash a iso to a USB.
      Top positive comment  about 1 year ago

      5
      Perfect! It is the only one on linux that make bootable usb for windows iso files. Simple and easy to use.
      Positive comment • 11 months ago

      1
      Well maintained and simple to use, it gets the job done
      Positive comment • about 2 years ago

      3
      Only create Windows ISO bootable USB!
      Positive comment • about 3 years ago

      2

    • Easy2Boot

      Flexible and configurable USB drive multiboot solution which also supports UEFI booting. View 14 alternatives to Easy2Boot
      Most users think Easy2Boot is a great alternative to Rufus.
      • Free • Proprietary
      • Windows
      • Linux
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    • LinuxLive USB Creator

      LiLi USB Creator is a free software for Windows that allows you to create a bootable Live USB key with a Linux on it. View 36 alternatives to LinuxLive USB Creator
      Most users think LinuxLive USB Creator is a great alternative to Rufus.

      Discontinued

      The program seems to be no longer updated. Last version, 2.9.4, released in September 2015, can be still downloaded from the official website. The project has officially been abandonned on December, 22nd 2020 (announcement on their blog).

      • Free • Open Source
      • Windows
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    Showing 10 of 51 alternatives