Is GParted or Rclone better?

Neither clearly leads. GParted starts at Free and Rclone at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, GParted or Rclone?

GParted starts at Free and Rclone at Free.

Does GParted or Rclone run on more platforms?

GParted runs on Linux, Live USB. Rclone runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, Docker.

Can I use GParted for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is GParted best used for?

GParted is most often used for resizing a system partition, booted from the live image, preparing disk layout before installing an operating system, recovering space or repairing partition tables on a failing disk. Of those, resizing a system partition, booted from the live image and preparing disk layout before installing an operating system are not what Rclone is typically brought in for.

What can GParted do that Rclone cannot?

GParted covers Graphical partitioning, Wide filesystem support, Live boot image, Queued operations. Rclone covers Unified backend model, Crypt overlay, FUSE mount, Bisync.

Utilities · head to head

GParted vs Rclone

GParted

Utilities

Graphical partition editor for disks

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Rclone

Utilities

Command line sync and mount tool for around 70 cloud storage providers

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: GParted partition operations risk data loss, and a backup before use is not optional advice; Rclone sync deletes files at the destination to make it match the source, so one transposed argument between source and destination can wipe a backup and there is no undo.
They diverge on capability: GParted covers Graphical partitioning, Rclone covers Unified backend model.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which GParted and Rclone actually diverge.

Attributes where GParted and Rclone differ
Attribute	GParted	Rclone
Platforms	Linux, Live USB	Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, Docker

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (Open source, no licence fee), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Utilities).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in GParted

Graphical partitioning
Wide filesystem support
Live boot image
Queued operations

Only in Rclone

Unified backend model
Crypt overlay
FUSE mount
Bisync
Server-side transfers
rclone serve

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

GParted

Resizing a system partition, booted from the live imagenot Rclone
Preparing disk layout before installing an operating systemnot Rclone
Recovering space or repairing partition tables on a failing disknot Rclone

Rclone

Migrating tens of terabytes between two object storage providers without staging on local disknot GParted
Encrypted offsite backup to a cheap provider that you do not want reading your filenamesnot GParted
Mounting an object bucket for a media server that expects a filesystem pathnot GParted
Nightly one-way sync from an on-premises NAS to cloud storage as a second copynot GParted

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

GParted

Partition operations risk data loss, and a backup before use is not optional advice
Cannot safely modify mounted partitions, so system drives require booting the live image
Large move and resize operations can take hours and must not be interrupted
The interface is functional rather than reassuring, which matters for an operation this consequential

Rclone

Sync deletes files at the destination to make it match the source, so one transposed argument between source and destination can wipe a backup and there is no undo.
Google Drive throttles the shared default OAuth client, so large jobs stall until you register a private API client ID, a step that is documented but easy to miss until a migration is already days behind.
Millions of small files hit per-provider request ceilings rather than bandwidth limits, which makes transfer time nearly impossible to estimate from data volume alone.
The FUSE mount is not a real filesystem; applications that expect POSIX locking, partial writes or fast directory listings will behave badly or corrupt state on network interruption.
Support is a community forum and a single principal maintainer, so an organisation that needs contractual response times on a data movement tool has no vendor to buy that from.

Pricing, plan by plan

GParted

Free

GPartedFree
- Full functionality
- No usage limits
- Community support

Rclone

Free

RcloneFree
- MIT licence with no paid edition
- All backends and features included
- Single static binary, no runtime dependencies

Which should you pick?

Choose GParted if

You need graphical partitioning.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Linux, Live USB.
You also want wide filesystem support.

GParted review

Choose Rclone if

You need unified backend model.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, Docker.
You also want crypt overlay.

Rclone review

Questions people ask

Is GParted or Rclone better?: Neither clearly leads. GParted starts at Free and Rclone at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, GParted or Rclone?: GParted starts at Free and Rclone at Free.
Does GParted or Rclone run on more platforms?: GParted runs on Linux, Live USB. Rclone runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, Docker.
Can I use GParted for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is GParted best used for?: GParted is most often used for resizing a system partition, booted from the live image, preparing disk layout before installing an operating system, recovering space or repairing partition tables on a failing disk. Of those, resizing a system partition, booted from the live image and preparing disk layout before installing an operating system are not what Rclone is typically brought in for.
What can GParted do that Rclone cannot?: GParted covers Graphical partitioning, Wide filesystem support, Live boot image, Queued operations. Rclone covers Unified backend model, Crypt overlay, FUSE mount, Bisync.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

GParted: Is GParted free?

Yes, open source under the GPL.

Rclone: Does rclone cost anything at scale?

The software does not. Your storage provider bills egress and API requests, and a failed transfer that retries pays those charges twice.

GParted: Can GParted resize my system drive?

Not while it is mounted. Boot the GParted live USB image, which runs independently of the installed system.

Rclone: Can I use it as a backup tool?

It copies and syncs but does not do versioned incremental backup by default. Use it under a backup tool, or use its own crypt and backup-dir options deliberately.

GParted: Is it safe?

The operations are consequential and interruption during a move or resize can lose data. Back up before using it, every time.

Rclone: Why is my Google Drive transfer so slow when my link is fast?

You are almost certainly rate limited on the shared OAuth client. Create your own client ID in Google Cloud Console and configure the remote to use it.

GParted vs Rclone

GParted

Rclone

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in GParted

Only in Rclone

What people use each for

GParted

Rclone

Where each one falls short

GParted

Rclone

Pricing, plan by plan

GParted

Rclone

Which should you pick?

Choose GParted if

Choose Rclone if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on GParted

More on Rclone

Keep looking

Other head to heads