BinEd vs dhex

BinEd is a free, open-source binary and hex viewer and editor written in Java. It shows data as hexadecimal codes and text, with binary, octal, and decimal modes. Editing supports Unicode and other character sets, insert or overwrite modes, text or hexadecimal search with highlighted matches, and undo and redo. The maker says the editor supports files up to exabytes; on Android, that capacity is qualified as partial file mode. BinEd runs on desktop platforms supporting Java 8 or later, and is also available as an Android APK and browser demo. The project uses Apache License 2.0, though additional addons may have different licenses. Listed integrations include NetBeans, IntelliJ, Eclipse, JDeveloper, BlueJ, jEdit, Autopsy, and Ghidra. The feature list marks byte-for-byte comparison as complete and search/replace as partial in the editor application. The maker also lists possible Java heap-space freezes after many large modifications, possible delta-mode corruption if another application changes files simultaneously, and memory leaks.

dhex is a free hex editor for inspecting binary files and comparing two of them in diff mode. It uses a terminal interface built on ncurses and is listed for Linux and macOS; the maker also says it is known to run on HP-UX, FreeBSD, NetBSD, MacOS X, IRIX, and Solaris. Search logs can help track changes between file iterations, and the editor supports themes that users can download or submit to the maker. Command-line search can find single words and quoted strings. The .dhexrc configuration file can set header colors, while a base-address option can help when loading partial memory dumps. A correlator introduced in version 0.64 can help match an object file to an executable for comparison. The maker provides downloads including version 0.69, listed as the latest update for the 0.6x branch and dated 19 January 2019. The maker warns that version 0.64 crashes at startup on some systems. dhex is free, with no free trial.