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Developer & text
AltFTool's Diff Checker compares two texts in the browser with per-line and per-word highlighting, free. The desktop tools people buy for this are one-time purchases, not subscriptions: Beyond Compare is US$35 per user for the Standard Edition (US$70 for Pro), and Araxis Merge is US$129 for Standard (US$269 for Professional). Neither has a free tier — only an evaluation period.
Prices checked
| Comparison point | AltFTool Diff Checker | Beyond Compare (opens in a new tab) | Araxis Merge (opens in a new tab) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost to start | Free | US$35 per user, one-timeChecked | US$129 one-timeChecked |
| Billing | No plan and no billing — there is no paid tier | perpetual licence, Beyond Compare 5 Standard Edition, 1–4 seats | Standard Edition perpetual licence covering both Windows and macOS, first year of support and upgrades included |
| Annual figure | — | None — one-time purchase. Vendor states: 'The license fee is a one time purchase. There are no annual renewal fees.' | None required — perpetual licence. After year one, support/upgrade entitlement is optionally renewable at US$29/year (Standard) or US$49/year (Professional) |
| Their free tier | The whole tool. Nothing is held back behind an upgrade. | None — free evaluation only, then a licence must be purchased. | None — a 30-day free trial, then a licence must be purchased. |
| Price checked | — |
Sources (each opens in a new tab): Beyond Compare — www.scootersoftware.com/shop, www.scootersoftware.com/v5help/standard_vs_pro.html · Araxis Merge — www.araxis.com/buy/index.en, www.araxis.com/merge/index.en. Software pricing drifts. If a figure here disagrees with the vendor's page, trust theirs.
Most of these products have a free plan, and whether you need to pay at all depends entirely on where its ceiling sits. Here is each one in the vendor's own terms.
Plenty of people should keep paying for these, and these are the reasons why.
Quote anything on this page with a credit. The date below is the date this page's data was read, not the date you are reading it — cite it alongside any figure you take from here, because these numbers move.
APA
AltFTool. (2026, July 28). Diff Checker: what you'd pay elsewhere. https://www.altftool.com/deals/diff-checkerMLA
"Diff Checker: what you'd pay elsewhere." AltFTool, 28 July 2026, www.altftool.com/deals/diff-checker.BibTeX
@misc{altftool-deals-diff-checker,
author = {{AltFTool}},
title = {{Diff Checker: what you'd pay elsewhere}},
year = {2026},
month = {jul},
howpublished = {\url{https://www.altftool.com/deals/diff-checker}},
note = {Prices checked 2026-07-28. Sources: Beyond Compare: \url{https://www.scootersoftware.com/shop}; Araxis Merge: \url{https://www.araxis.com/buy/index.en}.}
}Each price is transcribed from the vendor's own page on the date shown and is never converted between currencies, so quote that date alongside any figure you take from here. Software pricing drifts: if a number here disagrees with the vendor's page, trust theirs. The vendor links are plain links - no affiliate tracking, no referral IDs, no paid placement.