macrium[.]com/reflect-8-free-is-out-now
macrium[.]com/reflectfree?mo
*To me* the biggest change is that now you can backup USB sticks & USB drives listed as removable. There are other improvements, like better compatibility with Win11, but that's the big one for me. If you're already running the free version 7 you should get a notice to upgrade -- the downloaded patch keeps all of your existing settings.
Macrium Reflect vs. the others...
Copying the raw data from a hard disk/SSD is not rocket science, and neither is storing that data in a VHD [Virtual Hard Disk], or mounting that VHD, so you can copy files from it. AOMEI's app is likely just as good, and the same with Paragon, EaseUS etc. The part that varies is if the bootable USB stick all these app's let you create will work well with all of your devices. Macrium's is generally recognized as one of the best, if not the best in that respect, but if you're using something different and are happy with it, no reason to change.