I tried 3 popular bootable USB tools, and 1 clear winner replaced Rufus

Published Oct 2, 2026, 10:30 AM EDT Rich Hein is a veteran technology journalist with more than two decades covering developer, consumer and enterprise topics. Rich's career has been dedicated to service journalism, connecting readers to content that informs and delights. Previously, Rich was vice president and editor-in-chief for Simpler Media Group, director of audience development for IDG and editor/writer for sites like CIO.com, ComputerWorld, CodeGuru and other tech-centric publications. He's received numerous accolades, including the IDG Summit and Azbee awards and has been covered by Medium for his work in audience development. When not at his desk, Rich lives in Daytona Beach with his wife and three dogs. He enjoys playing guitar, surfing and staying abreast of the latest in tech. Aside from being the family tech support guy, my job also has me testing a lot of software and operating systems. I end up installing a new OS every couple of weeks, whether I'm testing Linux, troubleshooting a PC, or working on one of my articles. That means I have to rely on a bootable USB tool pretty regularly. I've been using Rufus for a long time because it works and I already know my way around it. But lately my coworkers have been talking about other bootable USB tools like Ventoy and balenaEtcher as alternatives. This got me thinking, “Am I just using Rufus out of habit? Are there better options out there?” I decided to put them to the test by using all three tools with the same Linux Mint 22 Cinnamon ISO. I wasn't looking for the tool with the most features. I wanted to know which one made the most sense to rely on the next time I needed to create or update my rescue drive. balenaEtcher was easy, but Windows support ruled it out This would have been my pick if Windows were just as simple In my limited test, balenaEtcher was the easiest of the three tools to use. Getting the ISO installed was much simpler than doing so with Rufus. There were fewer options I had to work through. With Linux Mint, the process was basically just choosing the ISO, selecting the USB drive, and starting the flash. Rufus had several other items like partition scheme, target system, and file system that required me to do a little more research to make sure I was doing the process correctly. If I were using the tool only for Linux distros, it would have been my choice. The thing that stopped it from having a permanent place in my tech support toolbox was Windows installations. While balenaEtcher’s straightforward image writing works well for many Linux images, it isn't the best fit for Windows ISOs. That means I'd have to use another method or another tool when I wanted to create Windows installation media. For my rescue drive, I would prefer to have one tool, whether I’m working with Windows or Linux. Another factor is that balenaEtcher gives you fewer choices than Rufus, but that also means less flexibility in how the bootable drive is built. Rufus, though it had a slightly more complicated UI, gave me more control over how it was created. Rufus worked well, but creating the drive took longer Rufus has been my go-to tool for a long time, so it was the one I knew best going into this test. It handled Linux Mint installation without any problems, but writing the ISO to the USB took noticeably longer than Ventoy or balenaEtcher. This wasn't a dealbreaker or anything. It's just one of the things that I noticed while testing the tools out. As I mentioned before, Rufus gives me more control than balenaEtcher on how the drive is created. These settings matter because they can affect whether the drive works properly with older BIOS systems or newer UEFI systems. I do like having that flexibility, but I also find myself stopping to double-check the settings to make sure I'm choosing the right ones for the PC I'm working on. Overall, that's the best and worst thing I can say about Rufus compared with the other tools. I like that it handles Windows installation media and it also gives me more control. I'm not the biggest fan of extra decision-making. Which brings me to the next tool on my list. One USB drive can cover all of my regular machines Ventoy worked a little differently from the other tools right from the start. First, I had to install it directly to the USB drive. Once I created it, I could just drag the Linux Mint ISO onto it instead of flashing the image directly to the drive. The installation did add a couple of new screens to the actual installation process, but once I got past those, it only took about a minute for the Linux Mint live session to boot. What I think really separates Ventoy from the other tools is that I don't have to rebuild the USB drive every time I want to use a different ISO. I can simply copy another ISO onto the drive just like I would any other file. Ventoy can hold multiple ISOs at once. It gives me a boot menu so I can choose the one I need when I’m ready to boot from the drive. That's one of the extra steps I was talking about. This makes maintaining the drive much easier than having to flash it every time I need to put a different ISO on it. This feature is what really sold me on Ventoy. I can keep ISOs for all of the machines I regularly work on, whether they're running Windows 10, Windows 11, or one of the Linux distros I use. Instead of preparing a new USB for each machine or each problem, I can keep one rescue drive ready and then choose the ISO I need when I boot. For the kind of tech support and testing I do, that flexibility matters more than a couple of extra screens I had to click through. Ventoy earned a permanent spot on my rescue drive Rufus is still a tool I'll use, especially when I want more control over how a bootable drive is created. But Ventoy just fits the way I actually use a rescue drive better. Being able to keep Windows 10, Windows 11, and Linux ISOs on the same USB drive means I don't have to start over every time I need something different.