Beyond Compare vs icdiff

Beyond Compare compares folders, text files, images, and tables so users can inspect differences and merge changes. Folder comparisons can include recursive subfolders and filters based on modified time, size, filename case, or file content. Text tools provide syntax highlighting, inline editing, and options to ignore whitespace or comments; Pro adds two-way and three-way text merge. Other supported data includes CSV, tab-delimited files, HTML tables, Excel worksheets, binary files, images, and audio tag data. Folder Sync can reconcile data with disks, FTP servers, and zip files, and command-line scripts can run scheduled syncs. Pro also includes secure FTP connections, remote Subversion repositories, and cloud storage options such as WebDAV, Amazon S3, Dropbox, and OneDrive. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. The license is a one-time purchase, with Standard Edition at $35, paid once per user and Pro Edition at $70, paid once per user. Free evaluation is available, but continued use requires a license.

icdiff is a free, open-source command-line program for comparing two files in a side-by-side terminal view. It emphasizes small changes within existing lines that may be difficult to spot with standard diff, rather than replacing diff for every situation. Users can highlight changes with foreground or background colors and customize the color map. Display options include line numbers, labels, whole-file output, whitespace highlighting, line truncation, and recursive directory comparison. The tool works with Git, Subversion, and Mercurial and supports two-way comparisons, not three-way merges. Installation methods listed by the maker include pip, apt, Homebrew, AUR, and Nix. It runs on Linux and macOS as a command-line tool that can be placed on the PATH. Input and output default to UTF-8, with command-line encoding options. Screen-width autodetection is Unix-only, and exclude-lines cannot be combined with line numbers.