Suggestions appear as you type. Use the up and down arrows to choose one and Enter to open it.

This page's audience our own tag's counts — open to see them
–Visits
–Page views
–Clicks to vendors
–Time on page
–Reading now
Clicks to vendors, by tool
  • –
Top countries
  • –
Devices
  • –

– · visits, page views and clicks counted by our own tag, which counts more than our checked analytics; every figure rounded down · how we count

Head-to-head · Hard Drive Partitioning Software

Parted Magic vs GNU Parted

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 2 checks side by side
Higher score Parted Magic #4 in Hard Drive Partitioning Software 8.6/10 Paid ✓ 1 of 3 features Visit Parted Magic
GNU Parted #6 in Hard Drive Partitioning Software 8.4/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 1 of 3 features Visit GNU Parted

Parted Magic leads on 0 checks, GNU Parted on 1, and 1 is even. Who comes out ahead on the 2 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreParted Magic · 8.6/10
  • Free planonly GNU Parted

Parted Magic scores higher on our rubric for hard drive partitioning software: 8.6 against 8.4 out of 10; our editors rank them #4 and #6.

GNU Parted offers free plan; Parted Magic doesn't.

Parted Magic is the better fit for technicians needing bootable disk maintenance and recovery. GNU Parted is the better fit for linux users comfortable with command-line partitioning.

  • Parted Magic fits best

    Technicians needing bootable disk maintenance and recovery

  • GNU Parted fits best

    Linux users comfortable with command-line partitioning

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature Parted Magic 8.6/10 Visit ↗ GNU Parted 8.4/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 8.6 8.4
Ranking #4 in Hard Drive Partitioning Software #6 in Hard Drive Partitioning Software
Best for Technicians needing bootable disk maintenance and recovery Linux users comfortable with command-line partitioning
Pricing model Paid Free
Starting price — Free plan
Free plan — ✓ (best)
Free trial — —
Deployment Desktop, Self-hosted Self-hosted
Platforms Linux Linux
Support Email, Docs Community, Docs
Built for Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Parted Magic 1/3 · GNU Parted 1/3
Resize and move Not checked yet Not checked yet
Disk cloning Not checked yet Not checked yet
Bootable media ✓ ✓
Specs
Supported OS Not checked yet Not checked yet
Partition tables Both Both
Max disk size Not checked yet Not checked yet
Our review
Pros
  • Handles MBR and GPT partition operations, including moving and resizing.
  • Combines cloning, imaging, recovery, and secure drive erasure.
  • Boots from USB, optical media, or PXE without host installation.
  • Creates, deletes, and resizes partitions across GPT and MS-DOS tables
  • Checks alignment and supports a broad range of filesystem types
  • Offers interactive, scriptable, and libparted interfaces
Cons
  • Paid product with no free plan.
  • Single Version includes no future updates.
  • No documented operation for merging partitions.
  • Command-line operation is less turnkey than a graphical workflow
  • Does not support moving or merging partitions
  • Offline root-partition workflows point users to GParted Live
Our verdict

Parted Magic is a bootable Linux-based disk utility for home users, system administrators, IT departments, refurbishers, and recovery or asset-disposal teams. It runs from USB, optical media, or PXE rather than requiring installation on…

Read the review →

GNU Parted is free, open-source partitioning software for Linux, aimed at people who are comfortable managing disks from a command line. Its parted frontend works interactively or in scripts, and the included libparted library supports…

Read the review →
  1. Parted MagicHard Drive Partitioning Software 8.6Paid
  2. GNU PartedHard Drive Partitioning Software 8.4Free plan

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Parted Magic — where it wins

    • Handles MBR and GPT partition operations, including moving and resizing.
    • Combines cloning, imaging, recovery, and secure drive erasure.
    • Boots from USB, optical media, or PXE without host installation.

    Where it doesn't

    • Paid product with no free plan.
    • Single Version includes no future updates.
    • No documented operation for merging partitions.
  • GNU Parted — where it wins

    • Creates, deletes, and resizes partitions across GPT and MS-DOS tables
    • Checks alignment and supports a broad range of filesystem types
    • Offers interactive, scriptable, and libparted interfaces

    Where it doesn't

    • Command-line operation is less turnkey than a graphical workflow
    • Does not support moving or merging partitions
    • Offline root-partition workflows point users to GParted Live

More comparisons

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update