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Analog Kid

macrumors G3
Original poster
Mar 4, 2003
9,259
12,334
Anyone have a good diff app to recommend?

I've used Kaleidoscope 2 for years. 3 is priced at $150, and now 4 is going subscription. So it's pretty much out of the question. I can get a discount upgrade to 3 for $65 before 4 ships, but it means leaving the App Store which I do as little as possible. I can probably keep going with 2 for a while, but it's probably best to start getting familiar with another before I'm forced to.
 
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Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
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I think we might need to know what features you need. A plain diff tool is easy enough, but I suspect there's something else you need from it otherwise you wouldn't be spending so much in the first place.
 

Analog Kid

macrumors G3
Original poster
Mar 4, 2003
9,259
12,334
I think we might need to know what features you need. A plain diff tool is easy enough, but I suspect there's something else you need from it otherwise you wouldn't be spending so much in the first place.
I'm not a particularly heavy user but when I need to compare code files I really appreciate the clean visuals of Kaleidoscope. It feels fluid and flexible.

At the moment I need to compare two Python libraries, one that I have local on my Mac and one that I have on an iCloud drive to access from my iPad. Because it's been long enough I'm not sure if they've diverged. I can dump the two directories into the tool and get a clear, easy to navigate comparison first at the folder level, then file, then an easy to view and merge view of the text within the file.

What I see with a quick scan of the AppStore is utilitarian but just lacks the refinement that Kaleidoscope has. I love the app, but not $150 love it, and certainly not $14 a month/$96 a year love it.

So I guess I'm just looking for another developer that cares enough to make a decent app doing a straight forward thing with a great experience who doesn't think it should be priced comparably to Final Cut Pro...
 
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chown33

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Aug 9, 2009
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BBEdit still offers a free mode, and Find Differences seems to be available in that mode.

Here's what it looked like in 2018:

If you decide to purchase, BBEdit's price appears to be lower than Kaleidoscope's.
 
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Analog Kid

macrumors G3
Original poster
Mar 4, 2003
9,259
12,334
Honestly I just use the command line diff tool as well as the diff views in VS Code for larger scale git merges.
Yeah, it’s entirely possible that I’m stuck with less enjoyable tools because it’s not worth the cost to use the pretty ones…

BBEdit still offers a free mode, and Find Differences seems to be available in that mode.

Here's what it looked like in 2018:

If you decide to purchase, BBEdit's price appears to be lower than Kaleidoscope's.

Thanks for the link. I dont know why I didn’t go digging for direct access to FileMerge, but it never felt worth launching Xcode just to run a diff. Linking directly to that executable might be worth trying for a while.
 

ZZ9pluralZalpha

macrumors 6502
May 28, 2014
302
463
I’m in the same boat as you; my MAS license for Kaleidoscope 2 lasted years (although updates were so infrequent that it really had to) and the price tag is now astronomical in comparison.

Panic’s Nova text editor ($50/year and no MAS option) has a comparison view, although it’s primarily targeted at diffing Git revisions and the process of loading a different file seems almost intentionally obtuse. FileMerge is free, but Apple ought to be ashamed of that interface. I’m thinking of just shelling out the $100 for Kaleidoscope 3 now, counting on their promise that 2023 customers will get the first year of 4 for free, and hoping that there are better options around by fall of 2024.
 
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eludwig

macrumors newbie
Aug 13, 2024
1
1
Sorry about being so late to the thread, but if anyone is still looking, I have used Beyond Compare for a couple of decades and it's great, if a little homely (https://www.scootersoftware.com). Version 5 is recent and has Apple Silicon support. Pricing is done the old fashioned way. Pay once and only buy upgrades if you feel like it. No git support, but for one-off diffs it really is nice. Just a satisfied customer.

One nice thing is that BC supports diffing 2 pasted in things. Sometimes you don't want to bother with figuring out where files are and just want to see the diff between 2 pastes. BC does this very nicely.
 
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Loge

macrumors 68030
Jun 24, 2004
2,836
1,312
England
I would agree with Beyond Compare. It's particularly good with folder comparisons. As well as code very good when your program's output is hundreds of text files and you want to check those very quickly from one version to the next.
 
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