How to Compare Two Texts for Differences Free

To compare two texts, paste the original into the left box of the free text compare tool, paste the new version into the right box, and click Compare. Removed text is highlighted in pink and crossed out, added text in green, with a count of each. You can compare by lines, words or characters, and both texts stay on your device, so it's safe for contracts, essays and code.

Reading two versions side by side and hunting for changes by eye is slow and unreliable. A missing "not", a changed date or a swapped figure is exactly the kind of edit people miss. A diff (short for "difference") tool finds every change for you.

When it's useful

• Contracts and agreements. See exactly what the other side changed in a revised draft, down to a single word or number.
• Essays and reports. Check what an editor, teacher or co-author changed, or compare your draft with an earlier one.
• Copy for a website or app. Confirm that only the intended sentences changed before publishing.
• Code and config files. Spot the one line that differs between a working and a broken version.
• Lists. Find which names, emails or product codes were added to or removed from a list.
• Translations and templates. Check that a reused email or letter only differs where it should.

How to compare two texts

1. Open the free text compare tool.
2. Paste the older version into Original text and the newer version into Changed text.
3. Choose what to compare by: Lines, Words or Characters. Lines is selected to start with.
4. Tick Ignore capitals or Ignore extra spaces if those differences don't matter to you.
5. Click Compare.

The result starts with a summary such as "− 3 words removed + 5 words added". Below it you'll see the texts with every change marked. If the two texts match, it simply says "No differences found."

Pasted them the wrong way round? Click Swap to switch the boxes, then Compare again. Clear empties both boxes.

Lines, words or characters?

The choice changes how the differences are grouped, and it makes a big difference to how easy the result is to read.

Compare by	Best for	What you'll see
Lines	Code, lists, poems, long documents with short lines	Whole lines marked as removed or added
Words	Edited paragraphs, contracts, essays	Just the changed words inside each sentence
Characters	Tiny edits: a typo, a comma, a digit in a number	Single letters and symbols highlighted

A good habit: start with Words for ordinary prose. If a paragraph was heavily rewritten, the word view can get busy, and switching to Lines shows the bigger picture. If two lines look identical but are marked as different, switch to Characters to find the hidden difference, such as a full stop or an extra space.

Side by side or inline

After comparing, you can switch the view:

• Side by side shows the original on the left and the changed text on the right, row by row. Rows with changes are tinted so you can scan down quickly. This is the clearest view for documents and code.
• Inline shows one combined text, with removed parts crossed out in pink and added parts in green, in reading order. This works well for a paragraph or two, like tracked changes in a word processor.

The ignore options

• Ignore capitals treats "Invoice" and "invoice" as the same. Useful when someone changed headings to title case and you only care about wording.
• Ignore extra spaces treats runs of spaces, tabs and line-end spaces as one space. Text copied from PDFs, emails and websites often has inconsistent spacing, and this stops it from cluttering the result.

With either option on, matching sections are shown as they appear in the changed text.

Tips for cleaner comparisons

• Fix broken lines first. Text copied from a PDF often has a line break at the end of every printed line. If one version came from a PDF and the other from a Word document, every line will look different. Run both through the free line break remover with "Keep paragraphs" first. The guide on removing line breaks from copied text explains how.
• Compare like with like. If one list is sorted and the other isn't, almost every line moves. Put both in the same order with the free alphabetizer before comparing; see how to sort a list alphabetically.
• Split very large texts. If the texts are very long or completely different, the tool says they're too long or too different to compare quickly. Compare by lines, or compare a section at a time.
• Check the counts. If you expected one small edit and the summary shows hundreds of changes, look for a formatting difference such as different line breaks or spacing, and turn on Ignore extra spaces.

Is it private?

Yes. The comparison runs in your browser and neither text is uploaded. That matters for drafts of contracts, unreleased product copy, exam answers and source code. You don't need an account either. Once you've found the changes, the free word counter is handy if the final version has to meet a word limit.

Compare your texts now

Paste both versions into the free text compare tool and click Compare to see every change highlighted.