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Comparison of bootloaders

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Different bootloaders
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The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of availablebootloaders.

General information

[edit]
NameDeveloper / PublisherCurrent versionInitial release dateLatest release dateLicenseCostWebsite / documentation
Acronis OS SelectorAcronis International GmbH???Proprietary$49.95 (personal use)
$79.99 (commercial, per seat)
$299.99 (server)		Official website
BareboxSascha Hauer
the barebox community		???GPL-2.0-onlyNo costOfficial website
BootManager????MITNo cost?
BootX (Apple)Apple Inc.???Proprietarybundled with macOS?
BootX (Linux)Benjamin Herrenschmidt???ProprietaryNo cost?
Clover (fork of rEFIt)https://github.com/CloverHackyColor/CloverBootloader/graphs/contributors Multi Contributors]5157October 3, 201329 June 2024GPLv2/BSD-2-ClauseNo costOfficial website

Source repository

Das U-BootDENX Software Engineering2026.01 Edit this on Wikidata5 January 2026 Edit this on WikidataGPL-2.0-or-laterNo costOfficial website
GRUB LegacyGNU Project8 May 2005GPL-2.0-or-laterNo cost
GNU GRUBGNU Project2.14[1] Edit this on Wikidata199514 January 2026GPL-3.0-or-laterNo costOfficial website
Grub2WinDrummerdp2.4.2.42010April 2, 2025GPLv3No costOfficial website
GRUB4DOS31 March 2009GPL-2.0-only[a]Official website
iBootApple Inc.iBoot-11881.62.2~1June 29, 2007December 9, 2024Proprietary
LILOBSD-3-Clause
Liminemintsuki10.5.0[3] Edit this on WikidataApril 6, 202011 December 2025BSD-2-ClauseNo costOfficial website
loadlinGPL-2.0-or-later
NTLDRMicrosoftJuly 27, 1993 (Windows NT 3.1)Proprietarybundled with Windows
RedBootGPL-2.0-or-later (eCos license)
rEFInd (fork of rEFIt)Roderick W. Smith0.14.4.2March 14, 20126 April 2024GPL-3.0-or-later/BSD-3-ClauseNo costOfficial website
rEFItChristoph Pfisterer0.14March 2, 20067 March 2010GPL-2.0-or-later/BSD-3-ClauseNo costOfficial website
SYSLINUX6 October 2014GPL-2.0-or-later
systemd-boot / GummibootLGPL-2.1-or-later
TianoCore EDK IIBSD-2-Clause
Windows Boot ManagerMicrosoftJanuary 30, 2007 (Windows Vista)Proprietarybundled with Windows
wolfBootwolfSSLDecember 14, 2015August 2, 2025LGPL-3.0-or-laterOfficial website
XOSL20 August 2002GPL-2.0-only
  1. ^While most parts of GRUB4DOS are under GPL-2.0-or-later, the whole software is limited to GPL-2.0-only due to incorporating some code fromLinux.[2]

Technical information

[edit]

Note: The columnMBR (Master Boot Record) refers to whether or not the boot loader can be stored in the first sector of a mass storage device. The columnVBR (Volume Boot Record) refers to the ability of the boot loader to be stored in the first sector of any partition on a mass storage device.

Storage medium support

[edit]
NameCan reside inCan boot from
ESP (UEFI)MBRVBRFloppyHard diskSecond hard diskLogical partitionsCD-ROMFloppyUSBZipLAN
Acronis OS Selector???YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?
BareboxYesYesNo?YesYesYesYesYesYesNoYes
BootKey?NoNoYesNoNoNoYesYesYesNoNo
BootManager?YesNoNoYes??????No
BootX (Apple)YesNoNoNoYesNoNoYesNoYesYesYes
BootX (Linux)NoNoNoYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesYes
Das U-BootYesYes??YesYesYesYesYesYesNoYes
GRUB LegacyNoYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
GNU GRUBYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
GRUB4DOS?NoYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
iBootYes???Yes??No????
LILOYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes?
LimineYesYesNoNoYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYes
loadlin?NoNoYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
NTLDR?NoYesYesYes?NoNoYesYes??
RedBoot?NoYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
rEFIndYesNoNoNoYesYes?Yes?Yes?Yes
rEFIt (not maintained)YesNoNoNoYesYes?No?Yes?No
SPFdisk?YesYesYesYesYes??Yes???
SYSLINUXNoYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
systemd-boot / GummibootYesNoNoNoYesYesYes??Yes??


Windows Boot ManagerYesNoYesNoYesYes?YesYesYesYes?
wolfBootNoYesNoNoYesYesYesNoNoYesNoNo
XOSL?NoNoYesYesYesYesYes?No?No
NameCan reside inCan boot from
ESP (UEFI)MBRVBRFloppyHard diskSecond Hard diskLogical partitionsCD-ROMFloppyUSBZipLAN

Operating system support

[edit]
NameCan boot
MS-DOSWindows 9x/MeWindows NT series before VistaWindows Vista/7/8/10LinuxReactOSMenuetOS*BSDmacOS
Acronis OS SelectorYesYesYesYesYes??YesYes
Barebox????Yes????
BootKeyYesYesYesYesYes????
BootManagerYesYesCallsNTLDRCallsWindows Boot ManagerCallsGRUB orLILO????
BootX (Apple)????????Yes
BootX (Linux)????Yes????
Das U-Boot????Yes??Yes (FreeBSD)?
GRUB Legacy andGRUB4DOSYesYesCalls NTLDRCalls Windows Boot ManagerYesCallsFreeLoaderYesCalls bootloader for some kernelsYes
GNU GRUBYesYesCalls NTLDRCalls Windows Boot ManagerYesCallsFreeLoaderYesYesYes
iBoot????????Yes
LILO?YesCalls NTLDRYesYes??Calls biosboot (FreeBSD, PC-BSD, ...)?
loadlinwithMEMDISKNoNoNoYesNoNo??
LimineCalls bootloaderCalls bootloaderCalls bootloaderCalls bootloaderYesCalls bootloaderCalls bootloaderCalls bootloaderCalls bootloader
NTLDRYesYesYesNoCalls GRUB4DOS???Calls Darwin bootloader[4]
RedBootYesYesCalls NTLDRCalls Windows Boot ManagerYesCallsFreeLoaderYesYesYes
rEFInd (fork of rEFIt)??YesYesYes??YesYes
rEFIt (not maintained)??YesYesYes??YesYes
SPFdiskYesYes???????
SYSLINUXYesYesCalls NTLDRCalls Windows Boot ManagerYes?Yesvia mboot.c32 module[1]?
systemd-boot / GummibootNoNoWindows Server 2013 64bits with UEFI onlyCalls Windows Boot Manager[5]Yes??UEFI onlyYes[5]
Windows Boot Manager?YesCalls NTLDRYesCalls GRUB or LILO????
wolfBootYesYesYesYesYesYes?Yes?
XOSLYesYesYesYesYes????
NameCan boot
MS-DOSWindows 9x/MeWindows NT series before VistaWindows Vista/7/8/10LinuxReactOSMenuetOS*BSDmacOS

File-system support

[edit]

Non-journaled

[edit]
NameFATMinixext2HFSAFFSF2FSYAFFS
FAT12FAT16FAT32exFATYAFFS1YAFFS2
Acronis OS Selector???????????
BareboxYesYesYes?NoYesNoNoNo??
BootX (Apple)???????????
BootX (Linux)???????????
Das U-BootYesYesYes??Yes?????
FreeLoader (ReactOS)YesYesYes??Yes?????
GNU GRUB 2YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes??
GRUB LegacyYesYesYesNoYesYesNoNoNo??
Grub2Win???????????
GRUB4DOSYesYesYesNoYesYesNoNoNo??
iBoot???????????
LILO???????????
Limine[6][7]YesYesYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
loader (FreeBSD)YesYesYes??Yes?????
loadlinYesYesYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
NTLDR?YesYes??NoNoNoNo??
RedBoot???????????
rEFIndYes[a]??Yes[b]?????
rEFIt???????????
SyslinuxYesYesYesNoNoYesNoNoNo??
systemd-boot / Gummiboot???????????
Windows Boot Manager??YesYes??No????
XOSL???????????
yaboot?????YesYes????
  1. ^https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/REFInd#Installing_the_rEFInd_Boot_Manager
  2. ^rEFInd Features

Journaled

[edit]
NameNTFSext3ext4ReiserFSReiser4JFSXFSUFSUDFHFS+BeFSAFSSFSUBIFSJFFS2
Acronis OS Selector???????????????
Barebox?YesYes??????????YesYes
BootManager???????????????
BootX (Apple)???????????????
BootX (Linux)???????????????
Das U-Boot?YesYesYes???Yes?????YesYes
FreeLoader (ReactOS)Yes??????????????
GNU GRUB 2YesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes??
GRUB LegacyNoYespatch[a]Yes[b]NoYes[b]Yes[b]Yes[b]NoNoNoNoNoNoNo
Grub2Win???????????????
GRUB4DOSYesYesYesYes[b]NoYes[b]Yes[b]Yes[b]???????
iBoot???????????????
LILO???????????????
LimineNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
loader (FreeBSD)???????????????
loadlinYes[c]NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
NTLDRYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
RedBoot??????????????Yes
rEFIndPartial[d]Yes[d]Yes[d]??????Yes[d]?????
rEFIt???????????????
SyslinuxYesYesPartial[e]NoNoNoYesYesYesNoNoNoNoNoNo
systemd-boot / Gummiboot???????????????
Windows Boot ManagerYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNo?NoNoNoNoNoNo
XOSL???????????????
yaboot?YesYes????????????
  1. ^Debian patch
  2. ^abcdefghGNU GRUB 0.97 manual
  3. ^Requires a TSR, such asNTFSDOS
  4. ^abcdrEFInd Features
  5. ^https://wiki.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php?title=Filesystem#ext


Copy-on-write

[edit]
NamebtrfsAPFSZFSNILFSReFS
Acronis OS Selector????No[8]
BareboxNoNoNoNoNo[8]
BootManager????No[8]
BootX (Apple)????No[8]
BootX (Linux)????No[8]
Das U-Boot??Yes?No[8]
FreeLoader (ReactOS)Yes???No[8]
GNU GRUB 2YesNoYesYesNo[8]
GRUB LegacyNoNoNoNoNo[8]
Grub2Win????No[8]
GRUB4DOSNoNoNoNoNo[8]
iBoot????No[8]
LILO????No[8]
Limine[9][10]NoNoNoNoNo[8]
loader (FreeBSD)??Yes?No[8]
loadlinNoNoNoNoNo[8]
NTLDRNoNoNoNoNo[8]
RedBoot????No[8]
rEFIndYes[a]???No[8]
rEFIt????No[8]
SyslinuxYesNoNoNoNo[8]
systemd-boot / Gummiboot????No[8]
Windows Boot Manager?No??No[8]
XOSL????No[8]
yaboot????No[8]
  1. ^rEFInd Features

Read-only

[edit]
NamecpiotarISO 9660romfsSquashFScramfs
Acronis OS Selector??????
Barebox????Yes[a]Yes
BootManager??????
BootX (Apple)??????
BootX (Linux)??????
Das U-Boot????Yes[b]Yes
FreeLoader (ReactOS)??????
GNU GRUB 2YesYesYesYesYes?
GRUB Legacy??Yes[c]???
Grub2Win??????
GRUB4DOS??Yes[c]???
iBoot??????
LILO??????
LimineNoNoYesNoNoNo
loader (FreeBSD)??????
loadlinNoNoYes[d]???
NTLDR??????
RedBoot??????
rEFInd??Yes[e]???
rEFIt??????
Syslinux??Yes???
systemd-boot / Gummiboot??????
Windows Boot ManagerNoNoYesNoNoNo
XOSL??????
yaboot??????
  1. ^https://git.lumina-sensum.com/LuminaSensum/barebox/blob/master/Documentation/filesystems/squashfs.rst
  2. ^https://github.com/u-boot/u-boot/commit/c51006130370b48b7eb5a93ada745385aa27f6bf
  3. ^abhttp://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/grub.git/tree/stage2/fsys_iso9660.c?h=grub-legacy
  4. ^Requires DOS support / TSR, such asMSCDEX
  5. ^rEFInd Features

Other features

[edit]
NameAdvanced commandScriptableSupported architectureSupported executableSupported protocolSupported decompressionOthers
GRUB LegacyYesNox86 (PC)Multiboot 1, Linux zImage, Linux bzImage and othersTFTPgzip
GRUB 2YesYesx86 (PC, EFI, UEFI, coreboot, OLPC), IA-64, ARM (U-Boot, UEFI), PowerPC (OpenFirmware), MIPS, SPARC (OpenFirmware)Multiboot and others[11]TFTP, HTTP[12]gzip, xz[13]
LILONoNox86 (PC)Linux zImage, Linux bzImage?bzip2, gzip
loader (FreeBSD)YesYesx86 (PC, EFI, UEFI, coreboot, OLPC), ARM (U-Boot, UEFI), MIPS, PowerPC (OpenFirmware), SPARC v9 (OpenFirmware)FreeBSD ELF kernel image,Multiboot (incomplete, forXen image only)[14]TFTP, NFSgzip, bzip2
kexec (Linux)Depending on user spaceDepending on user spacex86, ARM, ARM64, PowerPC, PowerPC 64, IA-64, IBM Z, RISC-V[15]Linux bzImage,Multiboot, other ELF imageDepending on configuration and user spaceN/aThekexec system call can start another kernel, replacing the current running Linux, thus turning a Linux-based operating system into a fancy bootloader.
loadlinNoNox86 (PC)Linux zImage, Linux bzImage?gzip
SYSLINUXvia cmd.c32 modulevia lua.c32 modulex86 (PC)Linux zImage, Linux bzImage,[16] Multiboot,[17]MBR image[18]TFTPgzip, bzip2, lzo, zip, lzma, ?
YabootNoNoPowerPC (Open Firmware)Linux ELF imageTFTPNo
RedBootYesyes (boot only)ARM, ColdFire, H8300, x86, Freescale/Motorola 68000, MIPS, PowerPC, SH, SPARC, SPARCLiteELFTFTP, serial (X-modem)gzip
Das U-BootYesYesPowerPC, ARM, AVR32,Blackfin, ColdFire, IXP, Leon2, m68k, MicroBlaze, MIPS, NIOS, NIOS2, PXA, x86, RISC-V, StrongARM, SH2, SH3, SH4, ...EFI, ELF, U-Boot image format, Linux zImage, rawTFTP, NFS, serial (S-Record, Y-Modem, Kermit binary protocol)bzip2, gzip, lzma
BareboxYesYesARM,Blackfin, NIOS2, MIPS, x86, PowerPCELF, U-Boot image formatTFTP, NFS, serial (S-Record, Y-Modem, Kermit binary protocol)bzip2, gzip, lz4, xz, lzo
NTLDRNoNox86 (PC)Windows NT kernel image (PE),MBR image??default bootloader on Windows NT
Windows Boot ManagerNoNox86 (PC), ARM (only on Windows Mobile remake)Portable Executable??Successor of NTLDR; used on Vista and up.
wolfBoot??ARM Cortex-M, ARM Cortex-R, ARM Cortex-A, Intel x86, RISC-V RV32, PowerPC, Renesas RH, TriCoreRaw binary, ELF, UEFITPM 2.0, PKCS#11. SPI, I²C, UARTCustom delta-update based on Bentley-Mcilroy compression algorithm
FreeLoader (ReactOS)NoNox86 (PC), ARM, PowerPC???clone of NTLDR
LimineYesNox86 (PC, UEFI), ARM, RISC-V, LoongArch[19][20]Multiboot 1 and 2, Limine boot protocol, Linux zImage and bzImage[21]TFTPgzip

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^Daniel Kiper."GRUB 2.14 released". Retrieved15 January 2026.
  2. ^"stage2/dosstart.S".GitHub. 2014-10-12. Retrieved2021-06-24.Since we have copied the Linux kernel code and the Linux kernel follows GPL2, so only GPL2 is adoptable and it rules here.
  3. ^"Release 10.5.0". 11 December 2025. Retrieved12 December 2025.
  4. ^"Chain0 - OSx86".
  5. ^abRod Smith, "Managing EFI Boot Loaders for Linux: Using gummiboot", 5 November 2012.
  6. ^Larabel, Michael (2025-02-17)."Limine 9.0 Bootloader Drops EXT4 File-System Support".Phoronix. Retrieved2025-02-17.
  7. ^Schürrmann, Tim (2025-02-17)."Bootloader Limine 9.0.0 entfernt Unterstützung für Ext-Dateisysteme".Linux-Magazin. Retrieved2025-03-07.
  8. ^abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy"Resilient File System (ReFS) overview".learn.microsoft.com.
  9. ^Larabel, Michael (2025-02-17)."Limine 9.0 Bootloader Drops EXT4 File-System Support".Phoronix. Retrieved2025-02-17.
  10. ^Schürrmann, Tim (2025-02-17)."Bootloader Limine 9.0.0 entfernt Unterstützung für Ext-Dateisysteme".Linux-Magazin. Retrieved2025-03-07.
  11. ^"GNU GRUB Manual 2.06: Supported kernels".GNU. Free Software Foundation, Inc. Retrieved2021-06-24.
  12. ^"GNU GRUB Manual 2.06: Device syntax".GNU. Free Software Foundation, Inc. Retrieved2021-06-24.If you enabled the network support, the special drives (protocol[,server]) are also available. Supported protocols are 'http' and 'tftp'.
  13. ^"GNU GRUB Manual 2.02: Features".
  14. ^WHR."An experiment to make a Multiboot-compliant kFreeBSD i386 image".SourceForge. Rivoreo. Retrieved2021-06-24.Since 10.3-RELEASE, the BTX loader included in distribution supports Multiboot, but only for Xen (the Xen image is a Multiboot-compliant kernel). ... Because this multiboot support in BTX loader is designed for Xen only, it requires the first Multiboot module be original kFreeBSD image. Trying to load a Multiboot kernel without loading any Multiboot modules would resulted in BTX loader complaining 'No FreeBSD kernel provided, aborting'.
  15. ^"Documentation for Kdump - The kexec-based Crash Dumping Solution"(text/plain).The Linux Kernel Archives. Retrieved2021-06-24.
  16. ^"Can SYSLINUX Handle Large Kernels?".Syslinux Wiki. Retrieved2021-06-24.
  17. ^"Mboot.c32 - Syslinux Wiki".www.syslinux.org. Retrieved2018-10-12.
  18. ^"Comboot/chain.c32".Syslinux Wiki. Retrieved2021-06-24.
  19. ^Larabel, Michael (2024-08-03)."Limine 8.0 Bootloader Released With LoongArch Support".Phoronix. Retrieved2025-02-09.
  20. ^Schürrmann, Tim (2024-08-06)."Alternativer Bootloader Limine 8.0.1 unterstützt LoongArch64-Systeme".Linux-Magazin. Retrieved2025-03-07.
  21. ^Holwerda, Thom (2024-08-04)."Limine: a modern, advanced, portable, multiprotocol bootloader and boot manager".OSNews. Retrieved2025-03-07.
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