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balenaEtcher vs UNetbootin: catalog facts
balenaEtcher	UNetbootin
Free Free and open source under the Apache 2.0 licence. Balena sells separate commercial device…	Free Free and open source under the GPL.
Windows, macOS, Linux	Windows, macOS, Linux
Hides system drives, so the classic wrong-disk accident is much harder Verifies the write by reading the media back	Runs on Windows, macOS and Linux with the same interface Optional persistence file keeps changes between boots
An Electron app doing a job a 200 KB tool could do No persistent storage or multi-boot; one image per stick	Fails or produces unbootable media with several modern hybrid ISOs Development is slow and the interface is very dated
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: Apache-2.0	License: GPL-2.0
No account needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.