Compare text
Paste two texts and see at once what was added and what was removed. Removed text is red, added text is green. Handy for laying two versions of a document, a piece of code or a configuration file side by side. Both texts stay in your browser and nothing is uploaded.
How it works
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Paste two texts
Put the original text on the left and the new text on the right. No texts at hand? Click Fill in example.
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Choose how to compare
By line, by word or by character. You can ignore capitals and spaces.
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Read the differences
Removed text is red and added text is green. Copy differences takes the result with you.
By line, word or character
- Line shows the lines that changed. When a line was replaced, the changed words are marked as well.
- Word shows one running text with the changed words in it, suited to prose.
- Character marks every differing character. That way you find small typos and differences in punctuation.
What to ignore?
With Ignore case the difference between Apple and apple doesn't count. With Ignore spaces and whitespace extra spaces, tabs and line breaks don't count, handy when two sources are only formatted differently.
How it works
The tool finds the longest run of lines (or words or characters) that appears in both texts and treats the rest as removed or added. That is the same approach as the diff programmers use. The result is therefore the smallest possible number of changes, although there are sometimes several equally good solutions.
Typical uses
- Two versions of a contract or article: which sentences changed?
- Code or configuration: what differs between two files?
- Lists: what was added to or removed from a list, after sorting both with sort text alphabetically?
- Checking a conversion: compare the original with the result of find and replace.
Use Copy differences to take the changes with you, and Swap the texts to read the changes the other way round.
Frequently asked questions
Which mode should I choose?
*Line* for code, lists and configuration files, *Word* for prose such as contracts and articles, and *Character* to find small typos and differences in punctuation.
Are my texts sent anywhere?
No. The comparison runs in your browser and nothing is stored or uploaded, so you can compare contracts, code and personal notes safely.
How do I compare two texts that differ only in formatting?
Tick *Ignore spaces and whitespace*, and optionally *Ignore case*. Extra spaces, tabs and line breaks then do not count as differences. [Normalize whitespace](/en/text/normalize-whitespace) also helps first.
Is there a size limit?
The comparison is fast for typical edits because the shared start and end are trimmed first. Very large texts that differ everywhere can exceed the work limit, and the tool says so.