Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Rufus VS Easy2Boot

Compare Rufus VS Easy2Boot and see what are their differences

Rufus logo Rufus

Rufus is a piece of software that allows you to transform a portable drive, like a flash drive or other USB drives, into a bootable drive that can be used for a variety of purposes. Read more about Rufus.

Easy2Boot logo Easy2Boot

Flexible and configurable USB drive multiboot solution which also supports UEFI booting including Secure Boot.
  • Rufus Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-12-20
  • Easy2Boot Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-28

Just add (or delete) .ISO, .VHD, .IMG, etc, and MBR or UEFI-boot. Secure UEFI boot also supported (does not use MOK Manager). Linux+persistence supported. Unattended install of Windows 7/8/10 + driver install + applications supported (SDI_CHOCO).

True Secure Boot using Partition image files which physically swap in a FAT32 partition image containing your Secure Boot payload - you then reboot to that new partition (so no blacklist/MOK Manager issues).

eBooks (PDF) available on E2B, grub4dos, Getting started with Ventoy, etc.

Easy2Boot

$ Details
free
Platforms
Windows Linux VirtualBox
Release Date
2018 March
Startup details
Country
United Kingdom
State
Oxfordshire
City
Oxford
Founder(s)
Steve Si
Employees
1 - 9

Rufus features and specs

  • Lightweight
    Rufus is a very lightweight application, usually requiring no significant system resources, making it swift and efficient.
  • Inexpensive
    Rufus is a free and open-source application, which makes it accessible for everyone without any financial burden.
  • User-friendly
    The interface is straightforward and easy to use, which makes the process of creating bootable USB drives simple even for less experienced users.
  • Versatile
    Rufus supports a wide range of ISO files and multiple file system options, making it suitable for different types of bootable media.
  • Portable
    It does not require installation and can be run directly from a USB drive, allowing for flexibility and mobility.
  • Speed
    Rufus is known for its speed, often outperforming other similar tools in terms of creating bootable media quickly.

Possible disadvantages of Rufus

  • Windows-only
    Rufus is only available for Windows, which means users on macOS or Linux need to use alternative tools.
  • Limited UI Customization
    While the interface is user-friendly, it offers limited customization options for advanced users looking for more control.
  • No Cloud Support
    Rufus does not support cloud storage or network drives directly, which could be a limitation for some workflows.
  • Lack of Integrated Help
    The application does not provide comprehensive integrated help or guided steps, which might require users to seek external tutorials or documentation.
  • Potential Risk of Data Loss
    As with any tool that formats drives, there is a risk of data loss if the wrong drive is selected by mistake.

Easy2Boot features and specs

  • Secure Boot
    Supports UEFI Secure Boot (no MOK Manager needed)
  • Easy to Set-up and use
    Add or delete ISOs, IMG, VHD, IMA
  • Automate Windows installs, inc. drivers and apps
    Install XP from ISO

Rufus videos

RUFUS Create USB Drive BOOTABLE the easy way

More videos:

  • Review - Okeechobee Music Festival 2020 Lineup Reaction & Review | Bassnectar, Tipper, Rufus du Sol
  • Review - Seven Spheres by Rufus Opus - Esoteric Book Review
  • Tutorial - How to create bootable vicidial disk using rufus

Easy2Boot videos

Add Payload files

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Setting up an Easy2Boot v2 Legacy+Secure-boot UEFI multiboot drive
  • Tutorial - Install Windows XP from a USB Flash Drive with Easy2Boot
  • Tutorial - Make a UEFI\MBR Multiboot USB drive for Hirens, Windows Install & linux ISOs, etc. using Easy2Boot

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Rufus and Easy2Boot)
Utilities
85 85%
15% 15
Bootable USB
84 84%
16% 16
Boot Disk Utilities
86 86%
14% 14
OS & Utilities
73 73%
27% 27

Questions and Answers

As answered by people managing Rufus and Easy2Boot.

What makes your product unique?

Easy2Boot's answer:

  1. Boots Linux ISOs by physically mapping ISO file to a partition. This is a more generic way of booting.
  2. Can Secure UEFI Boot 2024 computers by switching in a FAT32 image partition file of your Windows or Linux, etc. ISO. You then reboot from that partition. This means it supports Secure Boot without using shims, MOK Manager, certificates, etc.
  3. Contains three menu systems, grub4dos (legacy), agFM (based on grub2 grubfm - legacy and UEFI), Ventoy for Easy2Boot (branch of Ventoy).
  4. The USB drive can be converted to an official Ventoy drive (latest release of Ventoy can be used).
  5. Install XP with mass storage drivers automatically added from an XP ISO.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

Easy2Boot's answer:

It has a steep learning curve, so really for use by techies who need one USB drive which supports a range of payloads. Many types of payloads are supported - Win98, XP, floppy disk images, DOS images, partition images (useful for Secure Boot). Online chat help (free). Series of PDF eBooks available.

How would you describe your primary audience?

Easy2Boot's answer:

Keen amateurs to professional techs. Over 2 million downloads.

What's the story behind your product?

Easy2Boot's answer:

E2B started off as a grub4dos legacy-only boot menu system.

Support for XP ISO install with automatic mass storage driver was added (later also included in WinSetupFromUSB with permission)

Later a modified version of a1ive's grub2-based grubfm was added to support UEFI booting

Later Ventoy for Easy2Boot was added (branch of Ventoy for use on an E2B drive)

Later, support for converting the USB drive into an official Ventoy-only USB drive - this allows the latest version of Ventoy to be used, if required, instead of the slightly older 'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' compiled version.

Easy2Boot is regaining popularity as it supports true Secure Boot of multiple payloads from one USB drive.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

Easy2Boot's answer:

grub4dos, grub2, grubfm and Ventoy (all open source on github). Some VB6 apps to help in the preparation of the USB drive, etc, are written by the developer (not available on github). Once the USB drive is prepared, all software is open source or contains text readable source batch code.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

Easy2Boot's answer:

Repair shops, schools, Universities, amateur computer enthusiasts, companies.

User comments

Share your experience with using Rufus and Easy2Boot. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Rufus and Easy2Boot

Rufus Reviews

7 Best Rufus Alternatives To Create Bootable USB In 2022
One of the first steps of trying out an operating system is installing the image of the same on a USB drive. Rufus is one of the most widely used tools to create bootable USBs, but you might not like it due to its UI or slow on your computer. Hence, in this article, let’s look at some of the best Rufus alternatives to create bootable USBs.
Source: fossbytes.com
10 Best Rufus Alternatives in 2022 (USB Bootable Tools)
So, to make things a little bit easy, you can always use the best Rufus Alternatives. This article will share some of the best Rufus alternatives that can be used to create a bootable media drive. So, let’s explore the list of best Rufus Alternatives for Windows 10 computers.
Source: techviral.net
14 Rufus alternatives for Linux, Mac, and windows
As you now know, there are a lot of Rufus alternatives out there. Some may work as well as Rufus. Others may break or even fail to create a bootable USB drive. Some applications also provide features that Rufus does not have. Omit, your choice of application should depend on what you are trying to achieve. All the boot tools listed above are free with paid editions in some....
Rufus Alternatives – 8 Best USB Bootable Software For Linux
Rufus is a popular app to create a USB Bootable flash drive for Windows but unfortunately, it doesn’t exist for Linux. So, I had to go through tons of GitHub repositories and Reddit pages to find the ideal Rufus Alternative. And turn out, you can make a bootable USB drive with the command line, or even use a third-party tool which offers extra features such boot multiple...
Source: techwiser.com
8 Free USB Bootable Software For Windows
When it comes to creating bootable USB drives in Windows, Rufus is the best, free, open-source, and easy-to-use software. Rufus not only lets you create bootable USB for different kinds of operating systems but you can also use it to flash BIOS, firmware, and run low-level utilities. Add to that, Rufus is much faster than the other apps when it comes to creating bootable...
Source: techwiser.com

Easy2Boot Reviews

14 Rufus alternatives for Linux, Mac, and windows
As per their website, Easy2Boot or E2B has had over a million downloads. It supports three menu systems for an easy bootable process

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Rufus should be more popular than Easy2Boot. It has been mentiond 6 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Rufus mentions (6)

  • Truly Wiping an HDD for resell?
    For HDDs, you'll want to use a program called DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke) to wipe it. It's included in the Ultimate Boot CD, and you can make that a bootable USB instead by using Rufus. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Both usb drives are not working even tho they're formatted in Fat32
    Someone below commented to use rufus. That tool is meant for flashing OS install images, but just using the format section should work fine. I use GParted's livecd, although that might be a bit overkill for a quick format. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Windows 11 Installation Assistant vs ISO file
    I would just download the ISO by itself. You don't really need the "assistant". Just mount the ISO with Rufus. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Uninstalling Windows for Linux
    Maybe download the installers for Fedora & Tumbleweed and boot to the USB Drive you install the .iso file on to 'try' a distro first instead of destroying you current setup for the totally unknown world of linux. Use Rufus to create the bootable USB drive and HashTab to check the .iso files checksum. https://rufus.akeo.ie/. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Data sanitization - DBAN, Powershell or other?
    For HDDs, you'll want to use a program called DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke) to wipe it. It's included in the Ultimate Boot CD, and you can make that a bootable USB instead by using Rufus. Source: almost 4 years ago
View more

Easy2Boot mentions (4)

  • easy2boot freezes
    Recommended XP ISOs are listed on the 'Tested Payloads' page of easy2boot.xyz site. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Anyone of you dealt with corrupted NVME?
    Last time I built a multi tool using YUMI but it was for legacy BIOS, not UEFI (clearly been a few years). https://easy2boot.xyz/ seems to be what I'm seeing reccomended for creating UEFI multiboot USBs these days, but I don't have personal experience with it and I would save that project for another day. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Including AHCI Drivers on ISO?
    If you want to use your own iso and ntlite doesn't work for you, try easy2boot (https://easy2boot.xyz/). It basically patches the iso on-the-fly with its own AHCI drivers (for x86 only) and ramdisk driver (which stores the iso file in ram so installation process is very fast). The AHCI driver is not up to date (compared to those on win-raid) but at least it works on my z97 motherboard so it should work for you. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Another Windows 11 experience post. Tweaking for a more Deck-like experience!
    There's also Easy2Boot, which is pretty flexible and includes Ventoy. Source: over 2 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Rufus and Easy2Boot, you can also consider the following products

Balena Etcher - Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drives, safely and easily.

YUMI - YUMI (Your USB Multiboot Installer), is a tool that allows you to boot multiple ISO files from one USB drive.

UNetbootin - UNetbootin is a utility for creating live bootable USB drives. The name of the software is short for Universal Netboot Installer, and its most prevalent use has been to create bootable versions of Linux distributions on a USB drive.

Universal USB Installer - Universal USB Installer aka UUI is a Live Linux Bootable USB Creator that allows you to choose from a selection …

Ventoy - Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files.

FlashBoot - FLASH VENDOR, FLASH MODEL, VID, PID, CHIP VENDOR, CHIP MODEL, MEMORY CHIP, SIZE (GB), UTILS. product, Udisk2. 0, 1234, 5678, SSS (Solid State System), UDISK2. 0, 8. usb(2268 PRAM), Mass Storage Device, 13FE, 3E00, Phison, PS2251-68(PS2268)-F/W01.