Rufus

6.7easy start · #11 of 39
in Bootable USB Software

Free to practise onyes
Free trialnot on record
Well documentedyes
Runs where you worknot on record

Runs on Windows.

Visit site Alternatives

Rufus is ranked #11 of 39 in bootable USB software on The Geeks Club. It runs on Windows. There is a free plan.

Rufus plans and pricing

All plans

Free Software Free 100% free software · GPL v3 github.com · 30 Sept 2026

Compared on bootable USB software

Free plan: Yes
Windows app: Yes
macOS app: No
Linux app: No
Multiboot support: No
Persistent storage: Yes
Image downloads: both
Partition schemes: both

Best Rufus alternatives

See all 12

balenaEtcher 0 of 4 in the starter kit Lesson 17.4 YUMI 0 of 4 in the starter kit Lesson 27.1 Buddi 0 of 4 in the starter kit Lesson 37.0 UNetbootin 0 of 4 in the starter kit Lesson 46.9 Easy2Boot 0 of 4 in the starter kit Lesson 56.8 Universal USB Installer 0 of 4 in the starter kit Lesson 66.8

The record

Purpose: Rufus formats drives and creates bootable USB flash drives.
Boot media: It creates bootable drives from Windows, Linux, and other bootable ISO images, as well as disk images.
Drive formats: It can format USB drives, flash cards, and virtual drives to FAT, FAT32, NTFS, UDF, exFAT, ReFS, ext2, or ext3.
Windows installation: It can create Windows 11 installation drives with options for PCs without TPM or Secure Boot, and can set OOBE options such as a local account and privacy settings.
Other features: It supports Windows To Go drives, persistent Linux partitions, bad-block checks, image checksums, and downloading official Microsoft Windows ISOs.
Portable: The project describes Rufus as portable, small, and requiring no installation.
Languages: The interface natively supports 38 languages.
License: Rufus is free software released under GPL v3, and the project says users may compile it from its published source.
Security: The project describes measures including digitally signed executables, verified GitHub commits, hardware-based two-factor authentication, and static analysis.
Support: The project directs users to its GitHub issue tracker to report problems or suggest features.
Windows support limit: The FAQ says Windows XP, Vista, and 7 are no longer supported; versions 2.18 and 3.22 are the last listed for XP and Windows 7, respectively.
Other platforms: The FAQ says there are no plans to port Rufus to Linux or macOS, and says an Android app using the Rufus name is unofficial.
Price from: Free

Where it ranks on The Geeks Club

Best Bootable USB Software in 2026#11 of 39

Is Rufus yours?

Claim it for free: prove the domain, then correct facts, plans and screenshots. An editor reviews every change.

Claim it free Promote Rufus

Sources

github.com/pbatard/rufus· checked 30 Sept 2026
github.com/pbatard/rufus/wiki/Security· checked 30 Sept 2026
github.com/pbatard/rufus/wiki/FAQ/b4a29654786a5c89· checked 30 Sept 2026
github.com/pbatard/rufus/wiki/FAQ/d47e2b3036117f1d· checked 30 Sept 2026