dhex vs Hex Editor Neo

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.

Hex Editor Neo is Windows software for editing binary files, including files of any size and physical disks such as HDDs, SSDs, optical discs and USB disks. Editing tools cover typing, cutting, copying, pasting, filling, deleting, inserting, importing and exporting data. Search can match binary, hexadecimal, decimal, octal, float, double, character, ASCII and Unicode patterns, including wildcards; replacement supports arbitrary-length patterns and regular expressions. The editor provides unlimited undo and redo, with operation history that can be saved or loaded. It creates 32-bit and 64-bit binary patches, as well as self-installing executable patches with file-hash checking. Portable installation avoids registry changes, shell extensions and shortcuts. More than 130 text encodings are supported, including UTF-8 and UTF-16. Settings can be stored in the registry, local files or shared locations such as OneDrive and Dropbox. The Free Hex Editor Neo plan costs nothing and includes basic editing features. Free Edition users receive limited or no support; email and phone technical support is provided to registered users of Standard, Professional and Ultimate editions.