Originally a product for Microsoft Windows, the Beyond Compare team has contributed a fine diff tool to the Mac platform. Like Araxis Merge and DeltaWalker, it goes beyond (pun intended) comparing simple text and also allows diffing Word and PDF contents. My favorite file comparison tool was Beyond Compare but since I recently switched to OS X, i'm no longer able to use it and I'm looking for an alternative, preferably a free one. Update: I made the mistake not to specify that I am also looking for a tool that does directory comparison, not only files. A file comparison utility helps you visually compare and merge the differences between two (or more) different versions of the same file, or detect the variations between two different sets of data. These types of utilities are often called 'Diff' programs.
My favorite file comparison tool was Beyond Compare but since I recently switched to OS X, i'm no longer able to use it and I'm looking for an alternative, preferably a free one.
Update: I made the mistake not to specify that I am also looking for a tool that does directory comparison, not only files. Because this could make the already answers invalid I made another question for this What directory comparison tools can I use on OS X?
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16 Answers
Beyond Compare 4 now runs also on OSX. Visit http://www.scootersoftware.com/beta.php?zz=beta4_whatsnew
This is an aggregation of the answers posted on SO's deleted clone, Graphical diff for Mac OS X. It includes links to each product, and the current price since last edit in USD.
Note that any links to SO will only be visible to users who can view deleted content, which requires either moderator privileges or 10k reputation on that site.
- Sourcegear's DiffMerge, shareware
- Joachim Eibl's KDiff3, free
- Black Pixel's Kaleidoscope, $69.99
- Bare Bones Software's TextWrangler, free
- Araxis's Merge, $129 + $29/year
- Deltopia's DeltaWalker, $39.95/$75.95
- Kai Willadsen's Meld, free
- Weipin Xia's DiffFork, $26
- Biscade's RoaringDiff, free
- tkdiff, free
There were some other suggestions, which were not diff tools in their own right, which I will list below:
- It (Beyond Compare) runs well in Wine, but I miss the shell integration. - Danyal Aytekin, May 11 '12, 13:01
- Eclipse also has a fairly decent comparison mechanism. - JeeBee, Oct 9 '08, 12:45
- P4Merge that comes with Perforce is pretty good and comes for free with perforce client. Both terminal and GUI version. - amok, Jul 7 '10, 23:19
- I had to use Vim because most of diffs mentioned here do not understand UTF-8. - user184880, Oct 6 '09, 9:56
That about wraps up that thread's merge into this one, as covered here.
FileMerge is bundled with XCode, but I prefer Kaleidoscope which is not free.
Jason SalazI use Kaleidoscope. Or just plain, old diff from the CLI
It is not great, but the FileMerge bundled with the OS can be launched from the command line as opendiff a.txt b.txt.
You can use diff if you're using the command-line.
Changes.app has a great reputation and lots of features. Kaleidoscope is great too, and has a beautifully designed UI.
It's also worth mentioning if you're doing programming that Xcode 4 has visual diff tools built in now too.
There's also DeltaWalker.
It's $40, and there's a trial available.
Nathan GreensteinHere are which I've found:
FileMerge (opendiff)
It's bundled with Xcode with Command Line Tools installed
DiffMergeIt's bundled with Xcode with Command Line Tools installed
It's free and open source. Install by:
brew install vim.Can be installed using Homebrew via command:
brew install meld, but probably it won't work.Can be installed using Homebrew via command:
brew install kdiff3Can be installed using Homebrew via command:
brew install tkdiffAvailable at App Store
Commercial with free trial.
Commercial with free trial.
Commercial with free trial.
Check also Comparison of file comparison tools at Wikipediafor the full list.
Download File Compare Tool
File Merge Tool
kenorbkenorbThere are a great many comparison tools available. Many do directories and files. Some even perform as merge tools (2 and 3 way). Of these some have already been mentioned in other answers and your choice will depend on what features you require, and how much you are prepared to pay for the tool. There is a good Wikipedia page with a comparison of many of the better known ones.
I use Folder Sync It costs $8.99 on the Mac App Store. It works really nicely.
P4Merge is a free, very nice diff and merge tool. It can:
- Diff files
- Do 3 way merges
- Do Folder diffs
- Visually diff 2 image files!
Some screenshots:
Visual diff of an image:
Mac File Compare
This tool https://filecomparisontool.com
Free File Compare And Merge
- Web based, so it is compatible
- Mobile friendly
- Save comparison up to 6 months
- Share comparison via URL
- It is free!
vim also has built-in support for side-by-side diff -
Here is a page describing vim diff mode in detail -
GitX-dev is a fork (variant) of GitX, a long-defunct GUI for the git version-control system. It has been maintained and enhanced with productivity and friendliness oriented changes, with effort focused on making a first-class, maintainable tool for today's active developers.