delta vs Diffract

delta is a free, open-source pager for Git and related command-line output, including diffs, grep, ripgrep JSON, and blame. It can show diffs side by side with line numbers and automatic wrapping, and highlight edits within lines using a Levenshtein edit inference algorithm. Its syntax themes are the ones available with bat. Delta can be configured as Git’s pager and interactive diff filter, and its documentation covers zdiff3 for merge conflicts. It can highlight output from ripgrep, git grep, and grep; blame and diff hyperlinks can target GitHub, GitLab, SourceHut, and Codeberg. The manual also describes integrations with Magit, VS Code, tmux, and GNU Screen. Executables are offered for Linux glibc, Linux musl, macOS, and Windows, alongside package-manager installation instructions. Paging depends on less, for which the project recommends a reasonably recent version. The project includes the MIT License. The listed git-delta plan costs nothing.

Diffract is a desktop tool for comparing code, folders, documents and binary files on Linux, macOS and Windows. Text and code comparisons include syntax highlighting for more than 30 languages, word-level changes, moved-block detection and collapsible unchanged regions. Folder comparisons traverse directory trees, show added, removed and modified files, and allow inspection of file contents. The command-line interface supports standard, Myers and patience diff algorithms for scripts, Git hooks and CI pipelines. Pro adds three-way Git merge conflict resolution, document comparisons for PDF, Word and Excel, semantic code comparison, and Git history and commit browsing. The Free tier includes unlimited file and directory comparisons, desktop and CLI tools, three algorithms, and hex or binary comparison. The maker says comparisons run locally and files stay on the computer. Free is $0 forever and permits commercial use, but not redistribution. Pro costs $34, paid once per seat; its license key specifies a seat count and version ceiling, and includes all v1.x updates. A full refund can be requested within 30 days of purchase.