Free Rufus Alternatives for Windows

There are many alternatives to Rufus for Windows if you are looking for a replacement. The best free Windows alternative is Ventoy, which is also Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Rufus and many of them are free and available for Windows so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free Windows alternatives to Rufus are balenaEtcher, UNetbootin, YUMI exFAT and Universal USB Installer.

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Rufus alternatives are mainly Bootable USB Creators but may also be Disk Imaging Tools or ISO Creators. Other popular filters includes Windows + Free and Android + Create bootable USB. Filter by these or use the filter bar below if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Rufus.

Rufus

1465

Bootable USB Creator
Free • Open Source

Rufus is a utility that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives, such as USB keys/pendrives, memory sticks, etc.

More about Rufus

Rufus alternatives page was last updated Mar 22, 2024

Ventoy
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.
48 Ventoy alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
- Bootable USB Creator
Platforms
- Windows
- Linux
Top Ventoy 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. Lightweight
10. VHD Boot
11. Command line interface
12. Ad-free
Show all NaN Ventoy features ▾
Ventoy VS Rufus
Is Ventoy a good alternative to Rufus?
Comments about Ventoy as an Alternative to Rufus

Barrett
I have over 20 ISOs on one flash drive because of this utility. It's my favorite software for multiboot USBs. Keep in mind, however, that it doesn't work on any Mac hardware.
Top positive comment •Nov 24, 2021
5
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.
Top positive comment •Jun 28, 2020
5
Guest
It allows simple drag & drop of ISO files to a USB drive and then offers a Grub-style menu to select which ISO to boot from, as opposed to having to outright "burn" the ISO to a drive.

Not 100% compatible, but 99.999%.
Positive comment •Dec 8, 2021
2
Matheus Bastos
Create a separate partition for booting and a special one for placing OS ".iso" files easily.
Positive comment •Sep 19, 2021
2
umitseyhan
You don't need to reformat the stick every single time. Just a casual copy-paste operation of .iso files.
Positive comment •Jul 9, 2021
2
Show more comments
5 of 8 comments
- Almost everyone thinks Ventoy is a great Rufus alternative.
- Ventoy is the most popular Windows & Linux alternative to Rufus.
- Ventoy is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Rufus.
- Ventoy is Free and Open SourceRufus is also Free and Open Source

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.
53 balenaEtcher alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
- Bootable USB Creator
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
+1
Top balenaEtcher Features
1. Create bootable USB
2. User friendly
3. Graphical User Interface
4. Write ISO to SD card
5. Portable
6. Burn iso
7. Create bootable Image
8. Validated Burning
9. Lightweight
10. Material design
11. Electron based
12. Persistent Storage
Show all NaN balenaEtcher features ▾
balenaEtcher VS Rufus
Is balenaEtcher a good alternative to Rufus?
Comments about balenaEtcher as an Alternative to Rufus

Ezra Dulaney
Fairly fast and works great for flashing Raspberry Pi. It supports validation to make sure the image was successfully flashed.
Top positive comment •May 7, 2020
1
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 •Feb 14, 2017
9
Guest
Cannot select between gpt and mbr partition styles
Top negative comment •Nov 21, 2016
56
4xfzgb7iy
Making Ubuntu boot disk failed all the time in balenaEtcher, but succeed on the first try with Rufus.
Negative comment •Mar 22, 2024
0
Vinay Malhotra
Stable secure less confusing Easy and Fast
Positive comment •Jun 28, 2022
0
Show more comments
5 of 35 comments
- Most users think balenaEtcher is a great Rufus alternative.
- balenaEtcher is the most popular Mac alternative to Rufus.
- balenaEtcher is Free and Open SourceRufus is also Free and Open Source

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.
57 UNetbootin alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- Bootable USB Creator
- Linux Distro
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- PortableApps.com
Top UNetbootin Features
1. Create bootable USB
2. Persistent Linux
3. Automatic downloading
4. Download ISO Images
5. Portable
6. Privacy focused
7. Windows To Go
8. Ad-free
9. Lightweight
10. Portable Linux
11. Burn iso
Show all NaN UNetbootin features ▾
Discontinued
Last commit to the repository was on Jun 28, 2023, and latest version is from Feb 4, 2021.
UNetbootin VS Rufus
Is UNetbootin a good alternative to Rufus?
Comments about UNetbootin as an Alternative to Rufus

Kandi
Easy to use. Supports a huge variety of platforms
Top positive comment •May 16, 2017
18
Guest
Fast, easy to use and in a few clicks you're good to go
Top positive comment •Apr 28, 2018
12
Guest
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 •Mar 15, 2020
12
Guest
UNetbootin is for Linux Distributions. Rufus is for creating bootable USBs in general, independant from the target OS.
Negative comment •Feb 3, 2020
1
Guest
Does use current versions of "syslinux" and therefore does not create bootable media for a lot firmware ISO files, etc..
Negative comment •Aug 7, 2019
7
Show more comments
5 of 13 comments
- Most users think UNetbootin is a great Rufus alternative.
- UNetbootin is Free and Open SourceRufus is also Free and Open Source
- UNetbootin is Privacy focusedRufus is not according to our users

Ad
BurnAware
Lightweight program that enables you to create audio, video and data discs, generate images for later use, copy DVDs, CDs or Blu-rays and erase disc contents.

https://www.burnaware.com/
Learn More
YUMI exFAT
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
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
- Bootable USB Creator
Platforms
- Windows
- PortableApps.com
- Wine
- WineBottler
YUMI exFAT Features
1. Create Multiboot USB
2. Multiboot USB
3. Create bootable USB
4. Can install to internal hard drives/ssds
5. Persistent Storage
6. UEFI Support
7. Portable
8. Multi boot
9. Lightweight
10. Multi-windows
Show all NaN YUMI exFAT features ▾
YUMI exFAT VS Rufus
Is YUMI exFAT a good alternative to Rufus?
Comments about YUMI exFAT as an Alternative to Rufus

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 •Jun 26, 2018
10
Lehuga ntaps
It has all of it, support even Linux in one flashdrive
Positive comment •Jul 23, 2021
0
Guest
Multiboot abilities that are useful in making a useful debugging bootable usb
Positive comment •Sep 9, 2020
0
Guest
Has moltiboot option, persistent file with ubuntu, windows to go with other distros in the same USB
Positive comment •Aug 21, 2020
-1
- Most users think YUMI exFAT is a great Rufus alternative.
- YUMI exFAT is Free and Open SourceRufus is also Free and Open Source

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. The Universal USB Installer is easy to use. Simply choose a Live Linux Distribution, the ISO file, your Flash Drive and, Click...
45 Universal USB Installer alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- Bootable USB Creator
- Linux Distro
Platforms
- Windows
Universal USB Installer Features
1. Portable
2. No need to format
3. Portable Linux
4. Persistent Linux
5. Multiple languages
Show all NaN Universal USB Installer features ▾
Universal USB Installer VS Rufus
Is this a good alternative to Rufus?
Comments about Universal USB Installer as an Alternative to Rufus

checholin
Very simple and easy to use. Supports Persistent Linux.
Positive comment •Feb 10, 2017
0
Guest
It is complete, with all you need, to put an OS in yur USB
Positive comment •May 20, 2017
0
- Most users think Universal USB Installer is a great Rufus alternative.
- Universal USB Installer is Free and Open SourceRufus is also Free and Open Source

MultiBootUSB
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.
45 MultiBootUSB alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
- Bootable USB Creator
Platforms
- Windows
- Linux
+1
MultiBootUSB Features
1. Command line interface
2. Multiboot USB
3. Multi OS
4. Create Multiboot USB
5. Install Syslinux
6. Boot HDD Partition
Show all NaN MultiBootUSB features ▾
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 VS Rufus
Is MultiBootUSB a good alternative to Rufus?
Comments about MultiBootUSB as an Alternative to Rufus

NickFreeman
support for multiple live linux distros
Positive comment •Apr 10, 2019
-2
- Most users think MultiBootUSB is a great Rufus alternative.
- MultiBootUSB is Free and Open SourceRufus is also Free and Open Source

Easy2Boot
Flexible and configurable USB drive multiboot solution which also supports UEFI booting.
50 Easy2Boot alternatives
License model
- Free • Proprietary
Application type
- Bootable USB Creator
Platforms
- Windows
- Linux
Easy2Boot Features
1. Portable
2. Multiboot USB
3. Highly costomizable
4. UEFI Support
5. USB to NTFS
6. USB to FAT
7. Multi boot
Show all NaN Easy2Boot features ▾
Easy2Boot VS Rufus
Is Easy2Boot a good alternative to Rufus?