Text Diff Checker

Compare two texts and see every difference by line, word or character — side by side or inline. Ignore case, spaces or blank lines.

Paste two versions of a text and instantly see what changed: removed text in red, added text in green. Compare line by line for code and lists, or word by word and character by character for documents, contracts and translations. Changed lines also show exactly which words differ.

The comparison runs in your browser, so confidential documents, code and data never leave your computer.

How to use Text Diff Checker

  1. Paste the original text on the left and the changed text on the right (or open two files).
  2. Choose how to compare: by lines, words or characters.
  3. Pick Side by side or Inline, and tick Ignore case, Ignore whitespace or Ignore blank lines if those differences don't matter.
  4. Use Next change / Previous to jump between differences, and Download .diff to save a patch.

Features

  • Compare by line, word or character.
  • Side-by-side view with line numbers, or a compact inline view.
  • Word-level highlights inside changed lines.
  • Ignore case, whitespace or blank lines.
  • Counts of changes, removed and added lines or words.
  • Jump to the next or previous change.
  • Download a unified .diff patch (works with git apply and patch).
  • Handles large texts without freezing; nothing is uploaded.

Line, word or character comparison?

Each mode suits a different kind of text.

ModeBest forShows
LinesCode, configuration files, lists, CSVWhich lines were added, removed or changed (with word highlights)
WordsArticles, contracts, essays, emailsEach added or removed word in the flow of the text
CharactersShort strings, IDs, typos, passwordsEvery single changed character

Reading the result

Red shows text that is in the original but not in the changed version; green shows text that was added. In the side-by-side view, a changed line appears on both sides with the exact words that differ highlighted more strongly, and striped areas mark lines that exist on one side only. The summary counts separate changes and how many lines or words were removed and added.

What is a .diff file?

A diff (or patch) file describes the changes between two texts in the standard “unified” format used by Git and the Unix diff tool: lines starting with − were removed and lines starting with + were added, with three lines of unchanged context around each change. You can share it for review or apply it with git apply or patch.

Tips for comparing documents

To compare Word or PDF documents, copy their text into the two boxes (for PDF files you can also use Compare PDF). If line breaks differ because text was re-wrapped, compare by words instead of lines. Tick “Ignore whitespace” when indentation or extra spaces should not count as changes, and “Ignore case” when capitalisation doesn't matter.

Frequently asked questions

Can I compare code or configuration files?

Yes. Compare by lines for code, JSON, YAML, CSV and config files. Tick “Ignore whitespace” to hide indentation-only changes, and use Download .diff to get a patch in the same format as git diff.

Does it work for languages other than English?

Yes. The comparison works on any text — accented letters, Hindi, Chinese, emoji and right-to-left scripts — because it compares the actual characters.

Is this diff checker free and private?

Yes. It is free, and the comparison runs in your browser — your texts are never uploaded or stored.

Can I compare two files?

Yes. Click “Open file” above each box to load a text file (.txt, .csv, code files and so on), or drop the file onto the box.

Why does it show the whole line as changed when only one word differs?

In line mode a line with any change is marked as changed, but the words that actually differ are highlighted more strongly inside it. Switch to Words to see only the changed words.

How do I ignore spaces and indentation?

Tick “Ignore whitespace”. Changes that only add or remove spaces, tabs or indentation are then not shown as differences.

Is there a size limit?

There is no fixed limit; texts of several megabytes work. Very different large texts can take a while, so the comparison stops after a few seconds and suggests comparing by lines or in smaller pieces.

Can I compare PDF files?

Paste the text from each PDF here, or use the Compare PDF tool, which reads both PDFs and shows the text changes page by page.

Related tools