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The review of file comparison programs

Find detailed reviews of compare and merge tools at DiffUtils

We downloaded and compared the latest versions of popular file comparison programs: Beyond Compare, Diff Doc, Compare It!, Merge, Compare Suite. We reviewed product's pricing, common and unique features. Probably, your choice can depend on your budget and personal preferences, but you are welcome to read this review and to find out what is the best tool for your very needs.

More reviews: Compare Excel Files, Compare PDF Files

New compare products

We have reviewed the new compare products - zsCompare and Altova Diffdog 2005. These tools are feature rich, but priced too much in comparison to Compare Suite. New version of FolderMatch was released, we have reviewed it too.

The review of file comparison programs:

Products that were reviewed We downloaded and compared the latest versions of popular file comparison programs.
Products pricing Product pricing was compared. If the product has two versions - professional and standard, we compared pricing for both and put comments on what different versions do suggest. We have not included information about volume discounts.
Price/features We've put product's price and primary functions that it allows and doesn't allow to do. We also listed unique features for every product.
Conclusions We think that Merge, Araxis is the best choice for software engineers and web masters and Compare Suite, AKS-Labs is the best for professionals who deals with office documents.

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Products that were reviewed

We downloaded and compared the latest versions of popular file comparison programs.

Product Name	Version	Company	Home page	Screen shot
Beyond Compare	2.1.2	Scooter Software	http://www.scootersoftware.com/	View
Diff Doc	2.45	Softinterface, Inc.	http://www.softinterface.com/MD/MD.htm	View
Compare It!	3.5	Grig Software	http://www.grigsoft.com/	View
Merge	6.5	Araxis	http://www.araxis.com/	View
Compare Suite	1.0	AKS-Labs	http://www.comparesuite.com	View

Products pricing

Product pricing was compared. If the product has two versions - professional and standard, we compared pricing for both and put comments on what different versions do suggest. We have not included information about volume discounts. You can visit ordering page of product to learn more.

Product	Price, US$	Description	Ordering URL
Beyond Compare	30		Visit ordering page
Diff Doc	149 - 400	Professional version: $400, Standard version: $149. In comparison with professional version, standard version doesn't have ability to compare Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, PDF files. Also standard version doesn't support Word Perfect documents, and HTM, RTF file types. More about difference between Standard and Professional version. Read more...	Visit ordering page
Compare It!	24		Visit ordering page
Merge	129 - 219	Standard edition: $129, Professional Edition: $219. The only difference between Standard and Professional Edition is that the Professional Edition contains features related to three-way comparison and merging. More about major features in the Standard and Professional editions of Merge v6.5. Read more...	Visit ordering page
Compare Suite	60		Visit ordering page

Price/features

We've put in this table product's price and primary functions that it allows and doesn't allow to do. We also listed unique features for every product.

Product	Price, US$	Allows to do	Doesn't allow to do	Unique features
Beyond Compare	30	Compare and merge text files, compare folders, zip archives, compare ftp sites	Compare PDF, Microsoft Excel, HTML (as a text)	Compare ftp sites
Compare It!	24	Compare and merge text files, compare folders, zip archives, syntax highlighting (for C++, Dephi, HTML)	Compare PDF, Microsoft Excel, HTML (as a text)
Diff Doc	400	Compare Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, PDF files, Word Perfect documents, HTM, RTF file types	Compare Zip archives	Word Perfect documents
Merge	129	Compare source code, web pages and other text files	Compare office formats (Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, PDF and other)	Three-way file comparison
Compare Suite	60	Compare office formats - Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, PDF, HTML (as a text)	Highlight syntax for source codes (C++, Dephi, Visual Basic files)	By keywords comparison can compare documents that don't have a common ancestor. Read more..

Conclusions

For software engineers and web masters	For legal, health care, education professionals:
If your job requires comparing source codes (C++, PAS) files or web-pages (HTM), then we would like to recommend Merge, Araxis. That is award winning product that is used worldwide by software engineers and web authors.	If job involve office documents in various formats - Microsoft Word files, Microsoft Excel, PDF, Web-Pages then our Compare Suite will serve you well.
Recommended choice
Merge, Araxis	Compare Suite, AKS-Labs
Why we think that this software is the best
Merge's opponents are Beyond Compare and Compare It!, they are much cheaper, but suggest less functions. Merge has unique features that software engineers will find very useful: Reports can be represented in HTML, HTML slideshow, XML and UNIX diff format Linking lines. Related blocks of text are graphically linked enabling you to see at a glance how files are related. Automatic merging Three-way file comparison Unicode and MBCS support And many others, for features list, please, visit Merge main features page	Compare Suite's opponent is Diff Doc, 400$ program. Standard version is for $149 but it cannot compare Microsoft Word, MS Excel and PDF. Professional version is too expensive, and the only unique feature is ability to compare Word Perfect documents. In comparison with Diff Doc, Compare Suite has an ability to compare .zip archives and binary files. Also it can compare documents that don't have a common ancestor - non related documents by keywords. We think that as Diff Doc is positioned to be a tool for professionals who deals with office documents (Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, PDF files), then it should have a nice looking interface. Diff Doc interface (click to view screenshot) is what programmers and web-masters might like, but it's confusing for office workers. Compare it with Compare Suite's window (click to view screenshot).
We have reviewed just the most popular file compare tools, you can learn more at some web-sites, that create a reviews of file compare and merge tools, for instance, diffutils.com.

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