Best Diff TOOL

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12625/best-diff-tool

 

I'm recollecting here a list of the tools mentioned in the answers below, in order of preferences (more or less), separating pay- from free- ware and indicating supported operating system. Hope this helps.

PAYWARE

• Ultra Edit (win + linux) - http://www.ultraedit.com/products/ultracompare/pro_vs_lite.html
• Beyond Compare (win + linux) - http://www.scootersoftware.com/
• Araxis Merge (win + OS X) - http://www.araxis.com/merge/index.html
• ExamDiff Pro (win) - http://www.prestosoft.com/edp_examdiffpro.asp
• ECMerge (win, OS X, linux) - http://www.elliecomputing.com/Home/default.asp
• MergePlant (win) - http://www.mikado-ltd.com/
• Changes (OS X) http://www.changesapp.com
• Deltopia DeltaWalker (win, osx, linux) http://www.deltopia.com/
• Compare++ (win) http://www.coodesoft.com/index.html
• Smart Differencer (win) http://www.semanticdesigns.com/Products/SmartDifferencer
• Kaleidoscope (OS X) - http://www.kaleidoscopeapp.com/

FREEWARE

• Pretty Diff (web) - http://prettydiff.com/
• FileMerge (OS X) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Developer_Tools#FileMerge
• Tortoise SVN (win) - http://tortoisesvn.net/
• WinMerge (win) - http://winmerge.org/
• ExamDiff (win) - http://www.prestosoft.com/ps.asp?page=edp_examdiff
• Diff Merge from SourceGear (win, linux, OS X) - http://www.sourcegear.com/diffmerge/index.html
• Perforce Merge (win + linux + OS X) - http://www.perforce.com/perforce/products/merge.html
• meld (linux) - sudo apt-get install meld http://meld.sourceforge.net/
• Vimdiff - vim distribution
• KDiff3 - http://kdiff3.sf.net/
• ediff - EMacs distribution
• Tiny Hexer
• Kompare (KDE, linux) - http://www.caffeinated.me.uk/kompare/
• tkdiff (win, linux, OS X) - http://tkdiff.sourceforge.net
• Code Compare (win) - http://www.devart.com/codecompare/
• OOP-DIFF (win) - http://www.schneidersoft.com/Products/OOP-DIFF/OOP-DIFF.aspx