balenaEtcher vs MediCat USB
balenaEtcher
etcher.balena.ioMediCat USB
medicatusb.comSide by side
| Figure | balenaEtcher | MediCat USB |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $143.33/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 9 | 1 |
| Spec score · Bootable USB Software | 8.7 (#1) | 7.9 (#10) |
| Founded | 2011 | 2014 |
| Purpose | Etcher flashes OS images to SD cards and USB drives. | MediCat compiles computer diagnostic and recovery tools into a toolkit. |
| Support | The documentation directs users with problems to raise an issue on GitHub, where the balena.io team can help. | The troubleshooting guide directs users to the Medicat Discord for community support. |
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.
MediCat USB
MediCat USB is a free, bootable toolkit for diagnosing, repairing, recovering, and maintaining computers. It combines tools for diagnostics, data recovery, partition management, system repair, password recovery, backup, cloning, and maintenance in one USB environment. The toolkit supports both UEFI and Legacy BIOS boot options, multiboot, persistent storage, and both partition schemes. Windows and Linux installers are available in batch and Bash forms. MediCat supports drives of 32 GB or larger, with USB 3.0 or above recommended. Manual installation requires Ventoy, 7-Zip, and the latest MediCat release. Downloads are offered through torrent, magnet, direct mirrors, Google Drive, and Mega, with MD5 and SHA1 hashes published for MediCat.USB.v21.12.7z. It was founded in 2014. The maker provides the software and downloads free, with optional donations. Community support is available through the Medicat Discord.