balenaEtcher vs SARDU MultiBoot Creator
balenaEtcher
etcher.balena.io
SARDU MultiBoot Creator
sardu.proSide by side
| Figure | balenaEtcher | SARDU MultiBoot Creator |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | 7 |
| Spec score · Bootable USB Software | 8.7 (#1) | 7.7 (#16) |
| Founded | 2011 | 2008 |
| Purpose | Etcher flashes OS images to SD cards and USB drives. | SARDU creates a bootable multiboot USB drive for computer maintenance from a catalog of bootable ISO images. |
| Support | The documentation directs users with problems to raise an issue on GitHub, where the balena.io team can help. | SARDU directs users to its FAQ and accepts questions by email in Italian or English. |
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
SARDU MultiBoot Creator
- Free registeredFree
- Free standardFree
- PRO AdvancedPrice not published
- PRO Advanced LifetimePrice not published
- PRO BasicPrice not published
- PRO Basic LifetimePrice not published
- PRO TechPrice not published
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.
SARDU MultiBoot Creator
SARDU MultiBoot Creator builds bootable media for computer maintenance from a catalog of more than 300 ISO images, organized into Antivirus, Utility, Linux, and Windows categories. It can create a multiboot rescue disk on a USB flash drive or DVD, and its downloader can fetch selected images and build a USB drive in one step. The resulting media can support Windows installation, cloning, backup and restore, data recovery, password recovery or change, RAM testing, and hard disk checks. SARDU is portable: unzip the download and run it without installation. Version 6.1.0 is offered for Windows and 4.4.0 for GNU Linux. Free licenses are for personal, non-commercial use; PRO licenses permit commercial use. PRO includes BIOS Legacy and UEFI boot support, while free licenses do not include the stated PRO UEFI feature. Secure Boot must be disabled for the described Windows installation workflow. SARDU offers free plans and paid options from €11.90. Support is available through an FAQ and by email in Italian or English.