Meld
Free side-by-side comparison tool for files and folders, with colour-coded differences.
Our verdict
Meld compares things. Point it at two files and it shows them side by side with every difference marked, and you can copy changes from one side to the other. Point it at two folders and it tells you which files differ, which are missing and which match.
That second use is worth knowing about even if you never write code. After copying photos or documents to a new drive, comparing the two folders in Meld is a quick way to confirm nothing was dropped on the way.
It reads plain text. Word documents, spreadsheets and PDFs will open but the comparison will be meaningless, so use the reviewing tools in those programs instead.
What's good
- Shows two or three versions of a file side by side with the changes highlighted
- Compares whole folders, which is handy when checking a backup copied correctly
- Free, small and in the app store, with nothing to configure
What to know first
- Plain text files only, so it cannot compare Word documents or spreadsheets usefully
- The look is dated and the Windows version has been neglected
- Development is slow, with long gaps between releases
The details
- Cost
- Free
- Open source
- Yes (GPL-2.0-or-later)
- How you install it
- App store (Flatpak), Built-in app store
Windows apps it can replace
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