balenaEtcher vs YUMI
balenaEtcher
etcher.balena.io
YUMI
yumiusb.comSide by side
| Figure | balenaEtcher | YUMI |
|---|---|---|
| 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) | 7.4 (#28) |
| Founded | 2011 | 2011 |
| Open source | Etcher is free and open source, and the maker welcomes community contributions. | YUMI exFAT is described as free and open source, and released versions include source code. |
| Purpose | Etcher flashes OS images to SD cards and USB drives. | YUMI creates multiboot USB drives containing multiple operating systems, installers, rescue disks, antivirus tools, and diagnostics. |
| Support | The documentation directs users with problems to raise an issue on GitHub, where the balena.io team can help. | The maker provides a contact form for questions, suggestions, and constructive comments. |
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.
YUMI
YUMI creates multiboot USB drives that can contain multiple operating systems, installers, rescue disks, antivirus tools, and diagnostics. It supports UEFI and legacy BIOS systems. Supported Linux distributions can preserve files, settings, and installed packages across reboots, and ISO files can be added or removed without reformatting the entire drive. YUMI Py is a Python rewrite that runs natively on Windows and Linux. It can test installed images with portable QEMU, test complete USB drives with VirtualBox, and stream an installed ISO to another device on a local network through a browser. That LAN Share feature has no login or access code and is intended only for trusted networks. YUMI Py requires Windows 10 or 11 or a modern 64-bit Linux distribution, an exFAT-capable USB drive, and administrator or root privileges. Preparing a drive can erase existing data, so the maker instructs users to back up files first. YUMI exFAT is described as free and open source, with source code included in released versions; it supports persistent storage up to 40GB for supported distributions. YUMI is free and supports Windows and Linux.