Compare Two Documents Online — Free Document Diff Checker
Paste text from any document — Word, PDF, contract, report, or article — and compare two versions side-by-side in seconds. TextCompare highlights every addition, deletion, and modification at the word level, giving you a precise change log without needing to install any software.
Comparing Document Versions: The Right Approach
Modern documents come in binary formats like .docx and .pdf that cannot be directly uploaded as text files. To compare them with TextCompare, simply open each document in its native application (Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Adobe Acrobat, or a browser PDF viewer), select all text with Ctrl+A, copy with Ctrl+C, and paste into the comparison panel. The text content — paragraphs, clauses, and sentences — compares accurately. Formatting attributes like bold text, fonts, tables, and images are not carried across, which is intentional: for most document comparison tasks, the substance of the text matters far more than its visual style.
For document comparison, word diff mode is usually the most useful: it highlights the exact words that were changed, added, or removed within each modified line, making it easy to catch redlined clauses in contracts, revised sentences in reports, and changed figures in proposals. For high-level structural changes — sections added or removed — use line diff mode to get a quick overview before zooming in. The Diff Checker page describes all diff modes in more detail.
All comparison runs entirely in your browser. Your document text is never transmitted to any server or stored after you close the tab. For confidential legal documents, financial reports, or medical records, this architecture ensures your content stays private. See our Privacy Policy for the complete policy, and How It Works for a technical explanation of the browser-only design.
Document Comparison Use Cases
Contract Redlining
Compare contract versions to identify which clauses were added, modified, or removed between drafts. Word diff mode highlights the precise language changes within each clause — critical for legal review.
Manuscript & Article Revisions
Track editorial changes between draft versions of articles, reports, and books. See which sentences were added or cut, and verify that all requested changes were implemented correctly.
Policy & Regulation Updates
When regulations or internal policies are updated, paste the old and new versions to produce a clear audit trail of exactly what changed. Export the diff as HTML for compliance documentation.
Research Paper Revisions
Compare submitted and revised versions of academic papers to ensure reviewer comments were addressed. Word diff highlights changed phrasing in methodology, results, and conclusion sections.
Frequently Asked Questions
TextCompare compares plain text, not binary file formats. To compare a Word document: open it in Word or Google Docs, press Ctrl+A to select all, Ctrl+C to copy, then paste into the panel. For PDFs: open in your browser or Acrobat, select all text, and paste. Formatting like bold, tables, and images will not carry over — only the text content is compared, which is what matters for most document review tasks.
Copy the text of the original contract into the left panel and the revised contract into the right panel. Select Word diff mode to highlight the exact words changed within each modified clause — this is the most useful mode for legal review. Use Ignore case if you want to ignore capitalization-only changes. Export as .html to save the highlighted diff as a permanent record.
Yes. TextCompare processes all text entirely in your browser — no content is ever sent to a server. Your document text lives only in your browser's memory and is cleared when you close the tab or click Clear. This makes it appropriate for legal documents, medical records, financial reports, and other sensitive content. Only your comparison preferences (not text) are saved in browser localStorage.