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WinMerge is an excellent and very powerful file merging tool, but as the name would imply, it's Windows only. What's a good equivalent on the Mac?

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Do you want to diff/merge the contents of files or the contents of directories? – HairOfTheDog Mar 19 at 20:55

10 Answers

up vote 17 down vote

You can use FileMerge, Apple's diff solution. It's free and it comes with every Mac OS X install.
The only downside is that you have to install the Developer Tools. You can find them on your DVD install that came when you bought your Mac (Snow Leopard or earlier). You can also get the developer tools from the App Store if your version of the OS supports that.

Then, you can find it at /Developer/Applications/Utilities/FileMerge.app

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You need to have the Developer tools to have that, so if you don’t have them (and don’t want to have them), try DiffMerge as suggested in the other answer. – Martín Marconcini Nov 3 '10 at 4:33
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After using FileMerge and DiffMerge, i found FileMerge a better tool, especially for folder comparisons. But both are no way close to WinMerge. – Murukesh Jul 3 '12 at 7:06
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On my setup, it was located at /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Applications/FileMerge.app – Bicou Sep 4 '12 at 17:43
Agreed. FileMerge is nothing close to WinMerge. – Jonny Apr 30 at 1:15
up vote 7 down vote

Agree with the recommendation for FileMerge.app. You also have the free, cross-platform DiffMerge program, but I like FileMerge better.

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up vote 4 down vote

Araxis Merge (http://www.araxis.com/merge_mac/index.html) is the gold standard in this area and has a similar cost (what is the weight of bits?). There are Windows and Mac versions, and it is truly excellent if you find yourself spending a lot of time doing multiway diffs and merges (more common in these days of distributed version control systems).

The pricing starts (as of Sept 2011) at $129.

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up vote 3 down vote

Stumbled upon this thread today and thought I'd contribute this new cross-platform OSS diff tool that supports file and directory comparision. It is a good alternative to WinMerge for Mac. http://meldmerge.org/

Meld is a visual diff and merge tool targeted at developers. Meld helps you compare files, directories, and version controlled projects. It provides two- and three-way comparison of both files and directories, and has support for many popular version control systems.

Meld helps you review code changes and understand patches. It might even help you to figure out what is going on in that merge you keep avoiding.

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Thanks for posting an answer, digger69! Can you please add a little more information about Meld? How does it solve the OP's question? Thank you! – daviesgeek May 2 '12 at 20:42
I can't get it to run, and it needs pygtk and uses uncommon xz compression format. – lulalala Jul 11 '12 at 7:28
You can install it with HomeBrew ( github.com/mxcl/homebrew ) brew install meld – sventech Apr 19 at 22:25
up vote 2 down vote

Maybe you will find the app SourceTree interesting: http://www.sourcetreeapp.com/ SourceTree is a free Mac client for Git and Mercurial version control systems. Therefor it isn't a general purpose diff or merge tool but it is worth mentioning it.

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"SourceTree is a free Mac client for Git and Mercurial version control systems". Sounds nice, but does it include a diff/merge for any file? – parsley72 Nov 12 '12 at 0:19
It does include a diff/merge tool. – sventech Apr 19 at 22:26
up vote 2 down vote

A modern, powerful, but paid (currently Mar-2013 $69.99) file merging application for OS X is Kaleidoscope. It handles folders, files, and even images. Ad copy from the page:

Compare text in Blocks, Fluid and Unified layouts in both Two-Way and Three-Way modes. Quickly navigate and search through the most readable diff you've ever seen.

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up vote 0 down vote

My favorite free solution for merging the contents of files is KDiff3. KDiff3 can do two-way and three-way merges, has a decent GUI and has some pretty powerful features to assist with the merge.

My favorite non-free, but inexpensive ($30-ish) solution for merging the contents of files is Beyond Compare 3. Yes, Beyond Compare 3 is only available as a native Windows or Linux app, but I run it in WiNE via the easy to use Wineskin Winery app.

When it comes to merging the content of directories both KDiff3 and Beyond Compare 3 can do it, but IMO KDiff3 is not very usable in this regard. Fortunately Beyond Compare 3 excels at directory merges, even on OS X.

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up vote 0 down vote

I use VisualDiffer https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/visualdiffer/id412386481?mt=12

It's not as good as WinMerge, but pretty close and very cheap (only $3.99 at the moment!). It is promising.

Here's a screenshot.

enter image description here

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up vote 0 down vote

Seems like there were plans to make WinMerge 3 available for Mac too:


I haven't made my choice for Mac. But on Windows I use WinMerge, on Linux Meld (which is also available for Mac), currently using twdiff, I already tried FileMerge.app, and going to try DiffMerge.

A note about Meld:

Meld does work on OS X and Windows, but there are no all-in-one packages for those systems available at the moment. On OS X, Meld is available from MacPorts or Fink.

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No updates in repository since 2011. WinMerge 3 is dead? bitbucket.org/grimmdp/winmerge – Jonny Apr 30 at 1:20
up vote -1 down vote

Changes - http://connectedflow.com/changes/

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Welcome to Ask Different, Jordan! Thanks for posting an answer! Can you please add more information about Changes? How does it answer the OP's question? Answers need to be more than links and need to answer the OP's question specifically. – daviesgeek Apr 27 '12 at 18:32

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