rEFInd vs Ventoy
rEFInd
rodsbooks.com
Ventoy
ventoy.netSide by side
| Figure | rEFInd | Ventoy |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Boot Manager Software | 8.3 (#8) | 7.3 (#20) |
| Purpose | rEFInd is a boot manager forked from rEFIt that scans for boot loaders and helps users choose an operating system or utility at startup. | Ventoy creates bootable USB drives that can boot ISO, WIM, IMG, VHD(x), and EFI files directly. |
| Secure Boot | Secure Boot operation is supported through Shim, PreLoader or enrolled keys and signatures. | Ventoy supports UEFI Secure Boot, but its documented default policy allows EFI files to boot without checks; users can configure a policy through the Global Control Plugin. |
| Support | The maker invites users with problems or comments to email [email protected]. | The site directs users to its forums or the maintainer’s email for general issues and problem reports. |
Plans
In their own words
rEFInd
rEFInd is a free boot manager, forked from rEFIt, that scans for boot loaders and lets users select an operating system or utility at startup. It is intended for EFI-based computers, not older BIOS-based machines, and works with EFI 1.1 and UEFI 2.x. It can find EFI loaders, BIOS/CSM/legacy loaders, and boot options saved in firmware NVRAM. For Linux, rEFInd can detect kernels with EFI stub support, locate initrd files, and read kernel options from a refind_linux.conf file. It supports text and graphical operation, with configurable resolution, backgrounds, icons, and fonts. It can communicate with Shim to authenticate boot loaders using valid UEFI Secure Boot keys, Shim keys, or Machine Owner Keys. Included filesystem drivers cover ext2/3, ext4, Btrfs, ReiserFS, HFS+, and ISO-9660; the NTFS driver is not compiled by default. Downloads include ZIP, RPM, Debian, CD-R image, and USB flash drive image packages. Installation scripts and manual procedures cover Linux, macOS, and Windows. The maker describes it as beta-quality, with uneven testing across architectures.
Ventoy
Ventoy creates bootable drives that start ISO, WIM, IMG, VHD(x), and EFI files directly. After installation, users copy image files to the drive and choose one from a boot menu without extracting them. The project lists support for Windows, WinPE, Linux, ChromeOS, Unix, VMware, and Xen, plus x86 Legacy BIOS and IA32, x86_64, ARM64, and MIPS64EL UEFI. MBR and GPT partition styles are supported, with FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, UDF, XFS, Btrfs, and Ext2/3/4 listed for the main partition. Features include Linux persistence, automated Windows and Linux installation, password protection, themes, and a plugin framework with GUI configuration. Ventoy can be installed on USB drives, local disks, SSDs, NVMe drives, and SD cards. It is open source under GPLv3+ for its own code and free at free.