Text Compare
Use this online tool to easily compare differences in your text data.
Text Compare
Use this online tool to easily compare differences in your text data.
About Text Compare
Line-by-line text diff
Text Compare keeps the input as plain text and highlights line-level additions, removals, and modifications. It is useful when you need to review notes, code snippets, generated output, or configuration fragments without a format-specific parser.
Controls for noisy diffs
The comparison view includes options such as ignoring whitespace and collapsing unchanged sections. These controls help you focus on meaningful edits when formatting or large unchanged blocks would otherwise dominate the result.
Quick local review
All comparison work happens in the browser, so you can paste temporary snippets or draft text for a quick check. For structured data such as JSON, YAML, or TOML, use the dedicated compare tools when you need parser-aware structural diffs.
FAQ
Common questions and answers about this topic.
What does this tool do?
Compares two text blocks side by side and highlights line-level additions, removals, and modifications. Use it to review code snippets, proofread drafts, or check what changed between two versions of a note or config.
What diff algorithm is used?
A standard line-based diff. Each line is matched against the other side and then shown as an addition, a removal, or a modification. Because the comparison works line by line, re-wrapping a paragraph into different line breaks shows up as changes even when the wording is identical.
Can I compare large files?
Yes, within limits. Both blocks are diffed in your browser with no upload step. Once the two inputs together pass about 1 MB the page warns that the comparison may get slow, and past about 5 MB it stops diffing automatically so the tab does not freeze. Turning on Collapse Unchanged keeps long comparisons readable.
How do I ignore whitespace-only differences?
Turn on Ignore Whitespace - on desktop it sits in the toolbar above the comparison, and on mobile it lives under Advanced diff settings. It trims the leading and trailing whitespace of every line before diffing, so lines that were only re-indented stop showing up as changes. Spacing changes inside a line are still reported.
Can I hide the parts that did not change?
Yes. Collapse Unchanged, next to Ignore Whitespace, folds away runs of identical lines while keeping a few lines of context around each change, so you can move from one edit to the next without scrolling through matching text. The two controls pair well in a long document.
Is my data sent to any server?
No, text comparison is performed entirely in your browser. Both text blocks are diffed locally with JavaScript and never leave your device.