77
votes

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 16

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23
votes

Beyond Compare 4 now runs also on OSX. Visit http://www.scootersoftware.com/beta.php?zz=beta4_whatsnew

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    As a long time user of Beyond Compare (over 10 years), I could say that the only thing that I was missing from my old Windows period was BC. Now @orangebreeze will get a lots of votes as there is nothing so good as BC and I tried most tools.
    – sorin
    Commented Jun 29, 2015 at 14:48
59
votes

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.

There were some other suggestions, which were not diff tools in their own right, which I will list below:

That about wraps up that thread's merge into this one, as covered here.

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    For anyone using MacPorts kdiff3, meld, tkdiff, listed above, as well as xxdiff are all available through port install.
    – 0 _
    Commented Jul 29, 2013 at 23:33
  • I tried meld via Macports and a huge number of dependencies were required. I have since shifted to using TextWrangler's diff. This does directory comparisons and you can merge changes line by line. It doesn't do three way compare though.
    – Jason S
    Commented Dec 1, 2013 at 6:25
  • 3
    FWIW meld is also available via brew. brew install meld.
    – commadelimited
    Commented Feb 11, 2014 at 19:28
  • P4Merge is free, very nice, can be used as both a diff and merge too, doesn't need to be downloaded with a perforce client anymore, and can even visually diff images! Download here
    – Brad Parks
    Commented Dec 9, 2014 at 14:51
  • Thank you so much.. TextWrangler is realy easy to use.
    – swiftBoy
    Commented Aug 26, 2015 at 9:31
26
votes

FileMerge is bundled with XCode, but I prefer Kaleidoscope which is not free.

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    To find FileMerge (assuming you have XCode) ...start up Xcode and choose 'Xcode' menu -> Open Developer Tool -> FileMerge. Or you can avoid starting up XCode by poking around in /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Applications/FileMerge.app
    – Harry Wood
    Commented Nov 29, 2013 at 13:28
  • 1
    When Harry Wood says "poking around" he means typing in the terminal: open /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Applications/FileMerge.app
    – Roberto
    Commented Apr 14, 2014 at 19:43
  • @Roberto or via Finder -> Go -> Go to folder... (Cmd+Shift+G)
    – nuc
    Commented Jun 12, 2014 at 22:57
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    @HarryWood @Roberto you can open filemerge from console without needing to poke around: opendiff file1 file2
    – WickyNilliams
    Commented Dec 17, 2014 at 15:09
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    Came here to find out how to open filemerge (i always forget!), and noticed i'd already left a comment explaining how in the past *high fives past self*
    – WickyNilliams
    Commented Jul 22, 2015 at 11:47
13
votes

I use Kaleidoscope. Or just plain, old diff from the CLI

11
votes

It is not great, but the FileMerge bundled with the OS can be launched from the command line as opendiff a.txt b.txt.

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7
votes

DiffMerge from Sourcegear is simple and free.

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  • It looks to be much better than the FileMerge from XCode, thanks.
    – sorin
    Commented Mar 16, 2011 at 17:25
5
votes

You can use diff if you're using the command-line.

5
votes

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.

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    +1 for Changes.app Is the only one with a GUI which you can ignore both leading and trailing whitespaces..
    – nuc
    Commented May 2, 2013 at 7:13
  • 1
    Changes was acquired by BitBQ in October of 2012. The latest link for changes is: bitbq.com/changes
    – Matthieu Cormier
    Commented Nov 30, 2013 at 12:23
3
votes

There's also DeltaWalker.

It's $40, and there's a trial available.

3
votes

Here are which I've found:

  • FileMerge (opendiff)

    It's bundled with Xcode with Command Line Tools installed

  • DiffMerge It's bundled with Xcode with Command Line Tools installed

  • vimdiff

    It's free and open source. Install by: brew install vim.

  • Meld

    Can be installed using Homebrew via command: brew install meld, but probably it won't work.

  • KDiff3

    Can be installed using Homebrew via command: brew install kdiff3

  • TkDiff

    Can be installed using Homebrew via command: brew install tkdiff

  • TextWrangler

  • VisualDiffer

    Available at App Store

  • Kaleidoscope

    Commercial with free trial.

  • Araxis Merge

    Commercial with free trial.

  • Changes

    Commercial with free trial.

Check also Comparison of file comparison tools at Wikipedia for the full list.

2
votes

There 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.

2
votes

I use Folder Sync It costs $8.99 on the Mac App Store. It works really nicely.

1
vote

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!

Download it here for Mac and Linux

Some screenshots:

enter image description here

Visual diff of an image: enter image description here

1
vote

This tool https://filecomparisontool.com

  1. Web based, so it is compatible
  2. Mobile friendly
  3. Save comparison up to 6 months
  4. Share comparison via URL
  5. It is free!
0
votes

vim also has built-in support for side-by-side diff -

vim -d file1 file2

Here is a page describing vim diff mode in detail -

http://www.carbonsilk.com/development/vim-diff/

0
votes

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.

https://rowanj.github.io/gitx/

enter image description here

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