Hex Fiend vs REHex

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.

REHex is a free hex editor for reverse engineering and other work with binary data, available for Linux, macOS and Windows. It supports files larger than 1 TB, decodes integer and floating-point values, and displays machine-code disassembly inline. Users can compare whole files or selected regions side by side, map virtual addresses, and highlight or annotate byte ranges. Editing and analysis tools include bit editing, checksumming and bitmap visualization, along with common encodings such as ASCII, Unicode and ISO-8859-X. REHex imports and exports Intel HEX files. Binary Templates can annotate data automatically, while Lua scripting and plugins extend its functionality. Downloads include Windows installers and ZIP archives, a macOS DMG, and 32-bit and 64-bit Linux AppImages; packages are also documented for Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, FreeBSD and openSUSE. The project identifies its license as GPL-2.0. The download page lists version 0.64.0, released on 2026-04-03, as the latest release. Bug reports and feature suggestions can be submitted as GitHub issues.