dhex vs Hex Fiend

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 Fiend is a free, open-source hex editor for macOS that can insert, delete, rearrange, and overwrite binary data. It can search large files and compare them while accounting for insertions and deletions. The editor does not keep files in memory or require a full file to be loaded. Its smart saving avoids rewriting unchanged portions and does not require temporary disk space. The maker says it can handle files as large as users can create and reports testing files up to 118 GB. A data inspector interprets values as signed or unsigned integers and floating-point numbers in big- or little-endian formats. Scripted binary templates visualize file structure, and an embeddable framework provides hex and data views under a permissive BSD-style license. The official site lists version 2.18.1 and requires macOS 10.14.6 or later. The Mac App Store distribution collects no data and makes no network requests; the direct-download distribution checks for updates without collecting or storing user data. Hex Fiend is notarized for macOS 10.14 and later.