Diff Central

Diff Central

Diff / Merge / Sync / Match / Find Duplicates / Sync

Difference calculation matters for a variety of topics. Lets look at some of the tools. Of interest are license, features, platforms and the algorithms.

Tool License Type OSX Win Linux Other
Accurev $$ SCM with Merge + + ?
Alienbrain $$ SCM with foreign Merge - Araxis -
Araxis Merge $$ Merge + ++ -
BBEdit $$ TextEditor with Merge + - -
BeeDiff GPL Merge - - +
Beyond Compare $ Merge - + +
bindiff free Diff - + - Mac OS9
Changes $ Merge + - -
CodeCompare free Merge - + -
Compare It! $ Merge - + -
CompareFolders $ Merge + - -
CompareFolders3 $ Merge + + +
Cornerstone $ Svn Viewer with Merge + - -
cs-exceldiff $$ Merge - + -
cs-htmldiff $$ Merge - + -
csdiff free Merge - + -
diff free Diff + + +
diffdoc $$ Merge - + -
diffdog $$ Merge - + -
diffj LGPL Diff for Java files + + +
Diffly free SVN viewer with Diff + - -
DiffMerge free for 1 Merge + + +
Diffuse GPL Merge ? + +
DirDiff free Diff - + -
DirSync Pro GPL3 Merge - + -
EasyDiff GPL2 Merge - - - OpenStep
FileMerge with OSX Merge + - -
ExamDiff free Diff - + -
ExamDiff Pro $ Diff - + -
fc with Win Diff - + -
guiffy $ Merge + + +
JFileSync GPL Sync ? + ?
jMeld LGPL Merge + + +
kdiff3 GPL Merge + + +
meld GPL? Merge + - +
P4Merge free Merge + + +
smartSynchronize $ Merge + + +
stroy MPL Merge + + +
SwiftCompare $ Merge - + -
TextMate $ TextEditor with Merge + - -
TextWrangler free TextEditor with Merge + - -
tkdiff GPL Merge + + +
TortoiseIDiff GPL Diff - + -
TortoiseMerge GPL Diff - + -
Ultra Compare $ Merge - + -
unison GPL Merge + + +
windiff with windows Merge - + -
winmerge GPL Merge - + -
ws-it DirDiff $ Merge - - - OS/2, eCS
xwindiff GPL Merge - - +
xxdiff GPL Merge - - +

Text Merge Tools

Tool As External Tool for stroy
alienbrain Araxis as NxNMerge
Araxis Merge +
diff linux default
FileMerge OSX default
P4Merge +
TortoiseMerge +
windiff win default

Image Merge Tools

Tool
TortoiseIDiff

Details

diff

The classical diff developed for Unix and the granddaddy of all the programs. It was/is a command line tool and
is used to diff text files.

guiffy

Guiffy is a commercial xplatform diff and merge tool.

Araxis Merge

Araxis Merge is a commercial diff and merge tool.

diffj

diffj is an application that compares Java files and projects. It operates similarly to diff(1), but compares only Java tokens and types, and skips whitespace and comments.

Changes

accurev

stroy

tkdiff

unison

Ultra Compare

CompareFolders

CompareFolders3

DirSync Pro

Beyond Compare

meld

DirDiff

CodeCompare

diffly

jmeld

kdiff3

WinDiff

BBEdit

DiffMerge

SmartSynchronize

TextMate

Diffuse

winmerge

diffdog

2009.3.5

diffdoc

2009.3.5

CSDiff

2009.3.5

CS-ExcelDiff

2009.3.5

CS-HtmlDiff

2009.3.5

JFileSync

2009.3.5

ws-it DirDiff

2009.3.5

BeeDiff

2009.3.5

ExamDiff

2009.3.5

ExamDiff Pro

2009.3.5

Compare It!

2009.3.6 version 4.1

xwindiff

2009.3.6 Version 1.1

bindiff

2009.3.6

xxdiff

2009.3.6 Version 3.2

Cornerstone

2009.3.12 Version 1.1.7

fc

2009.3.13 Version

SwiftCompare

2009.3.23

[easydiff ]

EasyDiff

2009.3.24: version 0.4.0

Experiments below

Accurev -> $$ macosx.giflinux.gifwin.gif SCM has Merge
Alienbrain -> $$ macosx.gifvista.giflinux.gifwin.gif SCM and Merge view_left_right.png
Arxis Merge -> $$ macosx.gifwin.gif MergeSync view_left_right.png
BBEdit -> $$ macosx.gif TextEditor view_left_right.png
BeeDiff -> GPL2 linux.gif Merge
Beyond Compare -> free linux.gifwin.gif Merge
bindiff -> free win.gifmacos.gif
Changes -> $ macosx.gif Merge
CodeCompare -> free win.gif Merge
Compare It! -> $ win.gif Merge
CompareFolders -> $ macosx.gif
CompareFolders3 -> $ macosx.giflinux.gifwin.gif Merge
Cornerstone -> $ macosx.gif
cs-exceldiff -> $$ win.gif Merge
cs-htmldiff -> $$ win.gif Merge
CSDiff -> free win.gif Merge
diff -> free macosx.giflinux.gifwin.gif Diff terminal.png
diffdoc -> $$ win.gif Merge
diffdog -> $$ win.gif Merge
diffj -> LGPL macosx.giflinux.gifwin.gifjava.gif Diff
Diffly -> free macosx.gif
DiffMerge -> free* macosx.giflinux.gifwin.gif
Diffuse -> GPL linux.gifwin.gif
DirDiff -> free win.gif
DirSync Pro -> GPL3 win.gif
EasyDiff -> GPL2 OpenStep view_left_right.png
ExamDiff -> free win.gif
ExamDiff Pro -> $ win.gif
fc -> with win win.gif
FileMerge -> free macosx.gif view_left_right.pngterminal.png
guiffy -> $ macosx.giflinux.gifwin.gif Merge view_left_right.png
JFileSync -> GPL2 win.gif
jMeld -> LGPL macosx.giflinux.gifwin.gifjava.gif
kdiff3 -> GPL2 macosx.giflinux.gifwin.gif MergeSync
meld [-> GPL2 macosx.giflinux.gif Merge
p4merge -> free macosx.giflinux.gifwin.gif Merge
SmartSynchronize -> $ macosx.giflinux.gifwin.gif Merge
stroy -> MPL1.1 macosx.giflinux.gifwin.gif view_left_right.png
SwiftCompare -> $ win.gif Merge view_left_right.png
TextMate -> $ macosx.gif TextEditor
TextWrangler -> $ macosx.gif
TkDiff -> GPL2 macosx.giflinux.gifwin.gif Merge
TortoiseIDiff -> GPL2 win.gif Diff
TortoiseMerge -> GPL2 win.gif Merge
Ultra Compare -> $ win.gif Merge
Unison -> GPL2 macosx.giflinux.gifwin.gif Sync
WinDiff -> free win.gif Merge
WinMerge -> GPL2 win.gif Merge
ws-it DirDiff -> $ win.gif Sync
XWinDiff -> GPL2 linux.gif Merge
xxdiff -> GPL2 linux.gif Merge

Legend

Term Explanation
$ under 100$
$$ more than 100$ upto 1000$
Diff Program shows differences between (text) files
FolderDiff Program shows differences between folders
Merge Program can merge (text) files
Sync Program can merge (text) files and merge folders
MergeSync Program can merge folders
Texteditor A Texteditor with the ability to merge text files
SCM and X An SCM tool with some diff program available independently of the SCM
SCM has X An SCM tool with some diff program included in the SCM
free free to use but with unclear licence
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