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Text Diff Checker Online
Free text diff tool. Paste two texts and compare line-by-line additions and deletions.
Comparing text that should match
A line diff answers what changed only when the lines are aligned. Reordered lines, a reformatted file or a different line ending style all produce a diff in which nearly everything looks changed even though the meaning is identical.
Invisible characters are the first thing to rule out. CRLF against LF turns every line into a change, and a trailing space cannot be seen in most editors. Comparing after normalising line endings and trimming trailing whitespace removes an entire class of false positives before you start reading.
For structured data, compare after formatting. Two JSON payloads that differ only in key order or indentation are equal as data and different as text, so pretty-printing both first makes the real difference visible instead of burying it in noise.
FAQ
- What algorithm is used?
- A simple line-based LCS diff — great for short texts and configs.
- Is it for code review?
- Fine for quick checks; use Git for complex merges.
- Does text leave the browser?
- No.
- Why does every line show as changed?
- Usually line endings or a byte order mark. If one side came from Windows and the other from a Unix checkout, every line differs by an invisible carriage return. Normalising both to the same line ending before comparing is faster than reviewing thousands of identical-looking changes.
- Can I compare two JSON files here?
- You can, but format both first. As raw text, two payloads holding the same data can differ on nearly every line because of key order or indentation, and the one line that actually matters will be lost in the noise.
- What is the difference between a line diff and a word diff?
- A line diff reports whole lines as added or removed, which is what you want for code review. A word diff highlights changed words inside a modified line, which is more useful for prose, where a single line can contain one small edit.