Active@ KillDisk vs Strix Disk Cleaner
Active@ KillDisk
killdisk.comStrix Disk Cleaner
strix-tool.github.ioSide by side
| Figure | Active@ KillDisk | Strix Disk Cleaner |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 22 | 1 |
| Spec score · Disk Wiping Software | 9.3 (#1) | 8.0 (#11) |
| Spec score · Data Erasure Software | 9.3 (#1) | 7.9 (#7) |
| Intended users | The maker identifies home users, businesses, IT departments, ITAD providers, electronics recyclers, refurbishers, government organizations, healthcare providers, and large enterprises as audiences. | The maker describes Strix Advanced Tools as open-source privacy and security tools made for people who care about privacy. |
| Purpose | Active@ KillDisk permanently erases data from HDDs, SSDs, NVMe disks, USB drives, and other storage media. | Strix Disk Cleaner permanently wipes entire drives to NIST SP 800-88 and DoD 5220.22-M standards. |
| What it does | Active@ KillDisk permanently sanitizes HDDs, SSDs, NVMe disks and USB drives to prevent data recovery. | Strix Disk Cleaner permanently erases entire drives using hardware sanitization where available or overwrite passes. |
Plans
Active@ KillDisk
- Personal Professional$64.95, paid once
- Personal Suite$79.95, paid once
- Personal Ultimate$119.95, paid once
- Corporate Professional$84.95, paid once
- Corporate Suite$109.95, paid once
- Corporate Ultimate$149.95, paid once
- Site Professional$1,999, paid once
- Site Suite$2,299, paid once
- Site Ultimate$3,999, paid once
- FreewareFree
In their own words
Active@ KillDisk
Active@ KillDisk permanently erases data from HDDs, SSDs, NVMe disks, USB drives and other storage media. It is available for Windows, Linux and macOS, with bootable media for Windows PE, Linux and console environments. The product lists more than 25 sanitization standards, including NIST 800-88 and DoD 5220.22-M. The freeware edition uses only the One Pass Zeros method, allows two parallel erases and lacks batch scripting and post-erase verification. Paid editions list erase verification, resuming interrupted erases, PDF certificates and XML reports; professional editions also list batch scripting that can run without user interaction. Some editions include low-level ATA Secure Erase for SSDs. The comparison also lists remote monitoring and HTTP process control through a Web Service, plus export of operation journals to external databases. Personal Professional costs $64.95, paid once; Personal Suite costs $79.95, paid once. Commercial and site licenses have separate listed prices. The maker describes the tool for home users, businesses, IT departments, recyclers, refurbishers, government and healthcare organizations, among others.
Strix Disk Cleaner
Strix Disk Cleaner is a free tool for permanently wiping whole drives on Windows and Linux. It uses hardware sanitize where possible or multi-pass overwriting, and detects SSDs to recommend hardware sanitization because wear-levelling can make overwriting unreliable. The Windows edition provides a graphical interface and a printable destruction certificate; the Linux edition is a unit-tested command-line eraser. It cannot target individual files: its scope is whole drives. To reduce accidental selection, the system disk and mounted disks are unavailable, and destructive actions require typed confirmation. The tool makes no network calls and requires no account. SHA-256 checksums are published with each release for download verification. Builds are not yet code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may warn on first run. The Free plan costs nothing and is open-source under the MIT license. The product page links to source code, documentation, and a security guide.