balenaEtcher vs Fedora Media Writer
balenaEtcher
etcher.balena.io
Fedora Media Writer
fedoraproject.orgSide by side
| Figure | balenaEtcher | Fedora Media Writer |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $143.33/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 9 | 1 |
| Spec score · Bootable USB Software | 8.7 (#1) | 8.0 (#7) |
| Founded | 2011 | 2003 |
| Purpose | Etcher flashes OS images to SD cards and USB drives. | Fedora Media Writer writes Fedora images to USB flash drives. |
| Support | The documentation directs users with problems to raise an issue on GitHub, where the balena.io team can help. | The project asks users experiencing crashes or writing errors to open an issue on GitHub. |
Plans
balenaEtcher
- balenaCloud FreeFree
- balenaEtcherFree
- balenaCloud Prototype$159 a month
- balenaCloud Pilot$329 a month
- balenaCloud Production$1,439 a month
- balenaCloud Prototype$1,720 a year
- balenaCloud Pilot$3,588 a year
- balenaCloud Production$15,588 a year
- balenaCloud EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
balenaEtcher
balenaEtcher flashes operating system images to SD cards and USB drives, and can create USB installation media from bootable ISOs. Its three-step interface requires no command line. After flashing, it confirms completion to help users check that a card can boot and is not corrupted. To reduce the risk of choosing the wrong target, it warns users and hides system drives by default. Flashing erases the entire target drive and replaces its data. Etcher runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows: listed support covers most Linux distributions on Intel 64-bit systems, Windows 10 and later on Intel 64-bit systems, and macOS 10.13 and later on Intel and Apple Silicon. It can directly flash Raspberry Pi devices that support USB device boot mode. Etcher is free and open source. It does not configure persistent storage for live USB drives, and Windows images may need special boot preparation that Etcher is not designed to perform.
Fedora Media Writer
Fedora Media Writer creates bootable USB drives by writing Fedora images to them. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and can download the image before writing. A Live Fedora drive can be booted to try Fedora without making permanent changes to the computer. Getting started requires a 4GB USB flash drive.
Writing uses direct access to the device and replaces its existing contents and partition layout. Fedora Media Writer includes a Restore feature to put the drive back into a standard single-partition layout. Image checks can include comparing the USB device with the downloaded ISO or booting it and running a media check. Fedora also advises verifying downloaded images with a checksum file signed by a Fedora Project OpenPGP certificate. Installation options include Fedora's RPM package, Flathub on Linux, Windows releases, and a macOS DMG. The project identifies the software as GPL-2.0 licensed and directs users with crashes or writing errors to open a GitHub issue. It is free: free.