---
title: Beyond Compare Reviews
meta_title: 'Beyond Compare Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2'
meta_description: Filter 152 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry
  to find out how Beyond Compare works for a business like yours.
aggregate_rating:
  rating_value: 4.6
  review_count: 152
  scale: '5'
date_modified: '2026-07-12'
parent_category:
  name: Database Software
  url: https://www.g2.com/categories/database-software
---

# Beyond Compare Reviews
**Vendor:** Scooter Software  
**Category:** [Database Comparison Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/database-comparison)  
**Average Rating:** 4.6/5.0  
**Total Reviews:** 152
## About Beyond Compare
Beyond Compare allows you to quickly and easily compare your files and folders. By using simple, powerful commands you can focus on the differences you&#39;re interested in and ignore those you&#39;re not. You can then merge the changes, synchronize your files, and generate reports for your records.




## Beyond Compare Reviews
  ### 1. Best tool I have ever used for comparison of all kinds of situations

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 29, 2018

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

The differentiations on the comparisons.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Would like a more granular way of dealing with orphans

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

Check this tool out against the competition!

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Being able to standardize config files and installs over many servers and quickly get at the root of any issues.

  ### 2. Good tool to compare files and folders

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** 亚东 . | Software Engineer, Semiconductors, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** December 09, 2015

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

This is a good solid program with solid performance; through the use of plug-ins one can compare a lot of different file types.
Fast, well designed with great icons, easy to set up and use, ftps supported, image compare feature, content difference highlighting with document map.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

The major flaw for me is that the program does not allow word-wrapping. While a lot of users may be coders, I use it for text comparisons of bills and legislative enactments, and inability to word-wrap seems like a strange limitation. I would also like it if the reports would generate cleaner HTML code.
Reaching explorer right click menu on the files list needs too many clicks. Could be better.
Settings hard to figure out.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

Great compare tool. 

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Code comparing and binary files comparing, it helps me debug software. It helps me compare the source code between modified and unmodified. This compare tool also can help compare binary images. it can compare the correct binary and failing binary, then I can locate the failing position in binary and turn back to de-assemble the binary and find the root cause of the source code. The tool really help engineer works really. I will recommend this tool to my college.

  ### 3. A great software to compare codes

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Meenakshi B. | Application Development Analyst, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** October 27, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Beyond Compare is a data comparison software. Apart from normally comparing different files, the program is capable of doing side-by-side comparison of links, directories, File Transfer Protocol and SFTP directories, as well as archives. It is available for almost all platforms like Windows, Mac OS, and Linux operating systems. A strength of Beyond Compare is that it can be configured as to control mergetools as well like Git. It's very easy to compare and change the files in a user friendly way. It is fast and also very light software. It is definitely an advanced file and folder comparison tool that can be used to compare files and folders, files stored in different folders, on different drives, online, before merging the changes you want to keep. It is easier to synchronize the files and use them in an easy way. The help feature was quite complete and easy to read, explained most of the functions of the program in an easy and understanding way. It is overwhelming and a great software, but we should we able to use it properly through help feature.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

There are not many things to dislike the software, but there should be free version of Beyond Compare with some essential and basic tools to analyze. It should be having some basic requirements.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

It's a really good software if you want to compare your code with easy ways and quickly.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

As a developer I work on the files as they need to be transferred to a server as well as while solving issues or bugs, I like to compare my previous deployment to see what went bad and correct it easily.

  ### 4. How to Compare what is Beyond Compare

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 16, 2018

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Beyond compare is an amazing tool with which you can compare text, and works best while comparing code, especially when you're bad at comparing code using git diffs. The best things to mention are it's  capabilities to provide options to move  code that ould need replacement, edit code like  an editor, and also compare folders as well.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

There are still a lot of fixes that this software needs. When you have some ode in one side, and you copy paste code on the other side, the entire code gets broken down according to the other side, and code alignment becomes unreadable. You then have to delete select  all on the other side, remove and re-paste.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

We have been using beyond compare to compare texts, codes, and minor documentation as involving git to do the job would be a lot time resource consuming, especially in Agile.

  ### 5. Extremely intuitive file/folder comparison tool

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** James T. | Senior Consultant, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** December 28, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

The best thing about Beyond Compare is its speed when comparing many files and/or huge files.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Let's get one thing straight, I love the product.  However, there is one extremely minor GUI annoyance...Because my current laptop's maximum screen resolution is 1400x900, I have to scroll up/down within the file-filter dropdown box in order to make a change.  It's a bit annoying, but it's a small price to pay for such a solid, fast, and feature-rich product.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

I've used its competitors, but to me Beyond Compare is the best file/folder comparison tool available.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I use Beyond Compare to quickly scan files and folders for discrepancies.

  ### 6. great tools for comparing files

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Marketing and Advertising | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** July 28, 2018

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

this compare tool helps a lot when comparing files and folders. It can do binary compare as well as text compare.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

i dont have anything to say about disliking the product

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

when pushing files from one environment to the next, it helps identifying files that need to be pushed.

  ### 7. Best tool for compare

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Mahesh S. | Professional Programer Analyst, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 25, 2018

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Wide range of files comparison. Source code comparison by binary comparison, text compare etc at folder or directory level. Very very fast comparison. Easily plugable with third party tools like svn.  

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

It works best all the time. There are areas like multiple files at a time needs more improvements. 

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

Best tool.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Code comparison

  ### 8. Best software for comparing files and coxe

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** John N. | Data Analyst, Insurance, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** December 28, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

The software is very easy to use for looking at differences in versions of code

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Sometimes it’s easy to forget which file is which when comparing...

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

Make sure you have a use case scenario for the software and a business need! No sense in purchasing software you may not need or use

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

When there is an error in the code I am able to troubleshoot with comparing to old versions that worked and then can see what was added or removed that may have an impact

  ### 9. Great Tool

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Automotive | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** July 27, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Beyond Compare is an easy to use and fast file compare tool.  It is most useful for comparing code files, but can also handle Office files, HTML files, XML, etc.  You can download a free trial.  It can export a difference report which you can send to colleagues to review.  It integrates with Windows, so you can select folders or files to compare in Windows Explorer directly, by right clicking and selecting "Compare".  

Another powerful use, if you use it to compare files and folders in "fast" mode (not deep checking), you can use it to back up your files to an external drive, and see which ones are missing or old.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

There is not much to dislike. I wish there was a free version for light-weight use.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

If you need a general file compare tool, and you are not comfortable using open source / freeware, this is the tool for you.  Beyond Compare has some very nice capabilities (comparing Excel files) and is not very expensive.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I use Beyond Compare daily to compare different versions of C code, and sometimes to compare different versions of Excel files.

  ### 10. Diff compare tool available for windows and Mac

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** December 12, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Very easy to spot differences between files. Also there is a feature to compare folders. Reliable and available on windows and Mac. Worth every penny

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Comparing folders can take a long time. The program has a hard time handling differences between invisible characters.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

This is a free tool that is definitely worth a shot. Color coding makes it very easy to spot differences.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Easy to troubleshoot issues, and figure out why a previous revision worked.

  ### 11. Great for comparing code!

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Telecommunications | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** December 29, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

It allows me to quickly compare and merge different versions of files and folders, and accurately distinguishes between code and comments.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

It would be nice if it were better at comparing only sections within files, if the file layout are different but some sections are the same.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I use it everyday to merge changes to code or to find where a problem might be occurring.

  ### 12. Great Program to compare files of all types especially useful for ftp.

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Barbara R. | President/Co-Founder, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** April 15, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

I have been using Beyond Compare for about 5 years now. I am able to compare two versions of files and have a backup of a file if what I am doing doesn't work.  It is great to compare what you have on your local drive to what is on the server. It highlights which file is newer and highlights the code that is different between the two versions.  It is cross platform compatible. You can also filter so you only see files that are different.  There are so many filters that  you can apply to your files.  It also gives you the ability to filter out files that do not need to be compared.  Oh and I almost forgot Source Control

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Actually I can't think of anything that I do not like. 

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

They've got a generous trial program (based on number of days used rather than calendar days!), so just give it a go. Check out the docs on how to integrate it into your source control.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

As a developer I am often working on files that needs to be ftp'd to a server.  However, I my only want to push one or two lines of code. This makes it so easy. 

  ### 13. Great tool for comparing files

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Terry M. | Interface Engine Programmer and Database Administrator, Hospital & Health Care, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 04, 2018

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Can paste or reference a file.  Is smart about showing differences; blank lines don't confuse it.  Understands Microsoft Word documents.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Inexpensive but still costs some money.   However, only credit cards/paypal are accepted, not purchase orders.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

Use the free trial before purchasing.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Determining how two files differ

  ### 14. Easy to use and great time-saver!

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Alan H. | Data Analyst, Luxury Goods & Jewelry, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 03, 2018

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Very intelligent comparison of data and flexibility in methods of comparison

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

User interface could be a little friendlier

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Much easier to compare to different sets of code or data and quickly find differences. Saves a lot of time.

  ### 15. Quick compare

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Víctor B. | Presales Manager / Service Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** September 12, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

The ease to make quick comparisons and to merge into a new file. It saves the previous sessions so you don't need to load the same files all the time. You can also compare complete folders.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Nothing, the purpose of using this product is completely covered

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

Use Beyond Compare any time you need to check the differences between two files.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Comparing files between two different environments. It point to the exact difference.
Checking the quality of the transformation in batch files for B2B transactions.

  ### 16. Flexible File comparison tool that goes beyond the text comparison

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Wireless | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 19, 2018

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

It has a great  a scripting and plugin system.Flexible.Beyond Compare can be scripted, so system administrators will be able to automate it.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Expensive  when compared to opensource alternatives 

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

use the scripting and plugin system . It is great for automating tasks

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

File comparison and hooks into perforce version control . We use Beyond compare with Perforce .

  ### 17. Beyond Compare - SImple Interface to compare text files

**Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Defense & Space | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** October 14, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

It will compare any set of text files, including directories and groups of files.
It has a nice interface to locate differences throughout the file.
It also tabulates the number of differences, and allows you to edit either of the files being compared.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

It only works with text files.  If you want something to compare other file types, another tool will be needed

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

It's a small, efficient, simple tool to use to compare single or groups of files
Great for tacking code changes

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

This tool is used mostly in code development, in order to track changes to software throughout the development cycle

  ### 18. Best file compare tool!

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 16, 2018

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Among a range of many features and 'it just works' the most I like is the Ability to customize and add plugins.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Tries to overachieve-One example is there is a folder with hundreds or thousands of files then BC tries to load everything in the compare pane and effectively bogs down.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

DEveloper productivity, Trouble shooting

  ### 19. One of my must-have tools.

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Darin D. | Application Delivery Manager, Consumer Goods, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** April 26, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

I've used several compare utilities (UltraCompare, WinDiff, Visual Studio) and across the board, BeyondCompare's features and easy to use interface win out every time. BeyondCompare is highly configurable, and the number of out-of-the-box file types supported is mind boggling. The ability to set up custom comparison rule sets makes this the most flexible compare tool I've used.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

There are so many options, particularly when setting up custom comparison rules, sometimes it's difficult to find the option you're looking for.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I use BeyondCompare on a daily basis for source code comparison and generation of reports for code reviews. Comparing configuration files, log files, data extracts and other development files is simple.

  ### 20. Super tool for comparison

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 02, 2018

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Whole folder:Directory comparison  using various method like binary comparison is best. Works likr a charm for svn as third party tool.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Text comparison is still not accurate and effective. We have to manually check the comparison.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

Sure shot.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Enhance team performance as Merging code is easier.

  ### 21. Absolutely essential 

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Bruce C. | Senior Staff Engineer, Machinery, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** September 07, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

The comparison features are incredible productivity enhancers.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Searching for folders using Windows dialogs is clunky on a network.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

It is inexpensive, and far better than any other tool I have tried.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Comparing and merging code bases developed by multiple engineers over time. This tool enhances that by 40x compared to any other tool I have used for the purpose.

  ### 22. Simple and easy application that is great for QA teams to identify differences in final CD builds

**Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** David Y. | SQA Manager/Business Analyst, Information Technology and Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** February 27, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

I like how easy it is. We use it as a final step to verify final CD images. While our build process is "automated" it's also stupid ;) This lets us compare one CD to another, and quickly identify any outliers that were unexpected. So, doing a release to apply new docs and a script for a client hot fix... why did the app build folder change? Possible mistake averted ;)

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

It'll flag any difference, so you have to look at everything. Did someone add some white space to a file to make it more readable? It'll need to be double-checked. 

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

I don't have many recommendations, if you need to compare folder structures or text docs this is a good tool which will help you. It's simple, it's cheap, and it works.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

The tool gives us greater certainty that if we have to release software quickly that everything made it to the CD. All the different depts check their stuff of course, and we manually check along the way, but this gives us a very simple overview/double-check that we're not missing a documentation file, or an upgrade script for a prior version, or that while there was no change to the code that it didn't pick up a ghost build that Dev kicked out to test something and forgot to remove before the automation tool assembled the package.

  ### 23. Compare two files simultaneously with ease.

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Kashif I. | Solution Engineer, Telecommunications, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 30, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Easy to install and use with Standard UI. It is used to compare large files where data/source need to be audited with the latest changes.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

When selecting multiple lines at once, if you accidentally release the Ctrl key, all selections will be lost, and you will need to start over from the beginning. This needs improvement.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

Based on my work experience, it is currently good for comparing two files. In my opinion, you can go for it.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Compare source data files with many lines to detect changes and rectify them.

  ### 24. Enterprise-caliber, very usable compare tool at a bargain-bin price

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Staffing and Recruiting | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** June 01, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

It's the easiest compare tool in any price range to use and to be productive with immediately.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Some features are a little unstable, like the FTP client access, in terms of adhering to the latest protocols.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

For secure remote file transfer, SSH is more reliable and easier to configure.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Beyond Compare enables me to empower technical and non-technical staff members to make changes without impacting others.

  ### 25. No Comparison to Beyond Compare

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Zafar K. | Specialist, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** February 15, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

The best thing about Beyond Compare is that it can compare a variety of information, including text, text files, log files and event folders.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

There is nothing much I could point out which I dislike.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

I would strongly recommend this tool to those who work on different systems and frequently need to compare files and information.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I have used it to compare log files and text files to find the discrepancies among different environments, users and computers.

  ### 26. I love BeyondCompare and use it daily

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Aviation & Aerospace | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** April 18, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

I use beyondcompar daily for many things, most often for subversion history comparisons and 3-way merges, as well as for large file/folder comparisons between different versions of products. 

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

The regular expression filters for ignoring pattern-matched differences are somewhat difficult to use, but I'm currently pretty weak on regex anyway.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

Try the demo. I've found it well worth the minimal cost to buy.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

It makes it very easy to see exactly what has changed between versions of text/code files, or more importantly to me, when manually auditing what is different between current and upcoming product releases, so that nothing unintended gets in, and to verify that all changes have been documented. 

  ### 27. Easy-to-use, complete comparison tool

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** October 31, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

The ease of use is by far my favorite feature.  I can do a comparison on two files by pasting their content into Beyond Compare, or I can select the file location from within Beyond Compare.  Immediately I get a visual representation of what matches and what doesn't with a color bar on the side.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

There's not much here to dislike.  If I had to be picky, I sometimes get frustrated with having to scroll horizontally to find differing text on files that are very wide.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Oftentimes I use Beyond Compare to check differences in code or in the content of the sites I help maintain.  This tool allows me to see the changes in a quick glance without combing through the files manually.

  ### 28. Easy comparisons

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** September 08, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

I liked how quickly you can compare files. By selecting two files and right clicking on them, you can select "compare", without having to launch the app and select files manually, which is very nice.

For the most part, it compared files very accurately with minimal issues. 

Can compare foreign text, which is vital to my work.

The ability to print reports and analysis is great too. 

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

There are certain PDF's that do not work well and excel sheets that didn't compare correctly. 

In the case of the PDF, usually it was some of the encoding (?) that resulted in error/symbols instead of actual text, but could be copy pasted into a new document and compared that way. 

The excel sheets just didn't line up with the compare for some reason, but only on occasion. 

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Comparing documents over time, particularly from foreign countries.

Being able to quickly find differences between government forms and reports has been amazing.

  ### 29. As name says it does lot of things Beyond regular comparison

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Venkatesh W. | Contributing Writer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 02, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

1. It's cross platform
2. Loads huge text files with ease and compares smoothly
3. Provides different type of comparisons like un-aligned diff, patience diff and comparisons based on date, size, binary comparisons etc
4. Mouse right click option is too helpful. You need not open application every time you want to compare. Just select directories/files and right click and select compare, boom there it goes.
5. Very good GUI

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

It's not completely free, expires after trial duration

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

Must have cross platform comparison/diff tool which is bundled with outstanding features.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Right from comparing stage level outputs for video decoding, color conversions etc it is helpful all the way in comparing two piece of codes for the better understanding of similarities and differences between them 

  ### 30. I love beyond compare

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Games | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** April 24, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

This is one of the best comparing tools i have used

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

overall this tool has been superior to others

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

comparing primarily code changes stored in plain text

  ### 31. Beyond Compare is just that - incomparable!

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Tanya D. | Manager Corporate Operations, Financial Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** May 27, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

The side-by-side view, with the differences highlighted, makes checking for changes between two documents such an easy and straightforward process I am *always* confident when I sign off on a document that it is well and truly good to go!  This peace of mind is unequaled for me when it comes software.  I also really appreciated that the 30 day trial was related to usage, not calendar days!  I didn't need to use it that often, so having the longer trial period was a real bonus.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

If I had to be really really picky I guess I could wish for a different font or colour scheme, perhaps I might think there are more intuitive icons - but that's about it - honestly, this is seriously great software!

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

I have selected N/A for 'Quality of Support' because I have yet to even need any support!  

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I am the first point of contact for reviewing RFP's and contracts with our clients and I first sought out comparative software when a very long contract had a very sneaky clause added to the final draft that I missed.  Having looked at it so long I 'couldn't see the forest for the trees' and we've been paying for it (literally!) ever since.  Even my first use of Beyond Compare was like the sun breaking through clouds and now I say, "Send me that 50 page legalese document, muha, I am not afraid to tackle it!"  

  ### 32. BEYOND COMPARE THE GREAT COMPARISON TOOL!!!!

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Funso A. | Software Engineer, Banking, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** December 29, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

What I like best about Beyond Compare is the fact that I can compare lines of codes from two different files and then move those lines about as I want.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

What I dislike about Beyond Compare is nothing especially.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

Beyond Compare is just too cool. Give it a trial.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I use it to compare files ranging from java files to script files when customizing.

  ### 33. Perfect Diff Tool

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Defense & Space | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 30, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Very good at displaying exactly the information you need. It's awesome at visual folder compares. 

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Honestly I have no negative feedback for the application. 

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Comparing multiple versions of the same source code to see what the major differences are. This application enables quick and efficient manual merging. 

  ### 34. Very easy to compare files.

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Management Consulting | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** June 05, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

I find Beyond compare very easy when it comes to comparing files. It even helps in comparing the full folder structure. While comparing it is very easy to identify the difference as well as change them if required. A very user friendly tool. 

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

No such dislike But with time some more features can be added to compete the market .

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

I find Beyond compare very easy when it comes to comparing files. It even helps in comparing the full folder structure. While comparing it is very easy to identify the difference as well as change them if required. A very user friendly tool. 

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I need Beyond compare every now and then during my work. It makes life easy when the need to compare files or folders arise. Not only that it is very helpful if we want to compare and merge the changes .

  ### 35. Best code compare

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 31, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

easy to use
ability to align code 
color
three way merge
folder compare
binary compare

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

it sometimes gets confused comparing code and does not line them up correctly, however you can hit F7 and align them manually
you have to manually configure Git or SVN to integrate beyond compare

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

Its the best file comparison engine that I have ever used. Everyone at work uses different editors but for file comparison we all use beyond compare.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Beyond compare is useful for fixing merge conflicts visually and I find it very intuitive 

  ### 36. Addicted to it

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Mishal S. | Senior Software Engineer, Internet, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** February 11, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

As a software developer, comparing files is a daily activity. It will suffice to say that I have settled for beyond compare (3.0) to do that for me for the past 8-9 years. 
It is easy to use. 
It is lightweight. 
It integrates out of the box with GIT, SVN, TFS and perforce (SCM softwares i've worked on). I think some SCM's also have it as a pre-built option in diff-tool setting.
It compares folders as good as files.
It has great highlighting of the line level differences. Easily catches the eye
It also shows invisible characters in the diff as hexadecimal values.

Worth the money for me.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

When the two files have big chunks different, or say one of them has BIG chunks deleted in few places, the diff tools goes a bit crazy and matches lines awkwardly. It literally finds a match for a line in deleted functionA, with some other functionB in the other file.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I use it for seeing diff between files when
- Checking in code
- Reviewing other's code commits
- Reviewing files in scenarios where one works but the other doesn't 

  ### 37. Easy to use comparison tool with the ability to integrate into Visual Studio

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Andrew H. | Implementation and Hosting Team Lead, Financial Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 28, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

The simplistic but powerful user interface, coupled with the ease of which it compares text-based files such as source code, make this a tool I repeatedly turn to for comparison of various file types.
Its ability to compare folders and their file contents also makes it really useful in debugging software problems where potentially out of date components may reside on one or more systems.

For power users who prefer a more feature-rich comparison tool in Visual Studio, it's also possible to integrate Beyond Compare with 2005 onwards.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

The newer user interface in version 4 is a little too "consumer" compared to previous versions, but this is often a jump-point, or can be ignored entirely if the Windows Explorer context-menu option is used.

Occasionally, as with most comparison tools, it can show an initially larger than expected difference in files, but this is often rectified by manually aligning specific lines on the left and right.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

Use the trial period to see if you like it, and use that time to decide whether it's any better for you than free offerings such as WinMerge, which often have a less user-friendly GUI.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

The previously time-consuming and manual task of comparing textual-content files such as source code, XML and configuration files, which often have one or two lines, or even parts of lines, differing, which is exceptionally hard to capture manually with the naked eye.

  ### 38. Stellar diff tool

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Electronics | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 19, 2017

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

It's easy enough to integrate into Windows tools. 

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Could use more Linux support. I'm finding it not easy to integrate on that type of system. And my license doesn't work for both platforms. 

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

Make sure to fold it into your version management tool and text editors. 

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Diffing code. 

  ### 39. Powerful, well-integrated, extensible compare

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Joel B. | Lead Software Engineer, Internet, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 25, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

It's cross-platform, and it does a great job of comparing in a useful, no-nonsense UI, and does a great job of merging and comparing.  It's also hugely flexible - comes with a large set of presets for various languages and formats, and you can add your own (or tweak the presets) as needed - I used it (at home) for some obscure assembly language, and was able to get some good highlighting with a little tweaking.  It's great by default, and seemingly infinitely customizable when you need it.  Also, integration with Git and other programs that use diff tools is well-documented.  Support is also excellent, and licensing terms are generous.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Sometimes its alignment algorithms produce less-than-desirable results, but I haven't found much better amongst other diff tools that I've tried.  The manual alignment also doesn't seem to quite act like I want it to.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

They've got a generous trial program (based on number of days used rather than calendar days!), so just give it a go.  Check out the docs on how to integrate it into your source control.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

As a developer, saves me tons of time (and thus money) when merging code, comparing branches, and checking on pull requests.

  ### 40. Best tool of its kind

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** November 03, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Very easy to use and very lightweight. The image and folder comparison tools are incredibly helpful.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

The user interface is a little outdated and it can be a little buggy when you're performing searches (Ctrl+F).

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Quickly compare and merge different versions of code files.

  ### 41. Cutting edge file comparison

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Leif K. | Principal Systems Engineer, Defense & Space, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 06, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Beyond Compare is top notch for doing any sort of file comparison. If you are doing software development, this is a must have tool. It can show you line by line the differences between lines of code in different versions of source code, and also compare two folder and sub-folder structures to show you where any differences are. Once you find the differences, it allows you to easily merge any given line into the other file with one click. What really sets Beyond Compare apart from other diff programs is the really nice GUI and ease of use. It can also do things like show you differences between two picture files and tags on mp3 files. The Pro version lets you do integration with subversion as well.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Nothing, this product is reasonably priced and has valuable functionality that is easy to use.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

You really need to try Beyond Compare and see how useful it is if you work in software development or just have a need to manage multiple version of the same files.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

This program has allowed me to instantly see what has changed in any given local copy of software source code versus another version. It makes merging of changes and code reviews very easy.

  ### 42. Best Compare Utility I've even used - a real productivity saver

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Pharmaceuticals | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** May 04, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Easy to compare both single files as well as a folder of files.
Easy to setup.
Accomodates large files easily.
Presents the results in an easy graphical way to spot differences.
A "must have" for any developer or administratos.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

I wish at times i had a larger monitor to display the old versus new comparisons as that would make the investigative work easier.
Ther eis not an easy way to Print out the differences.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

once you use it, you will not look back and will make it part of your toolbox.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Compre versions of master data.

  ### 43. Compare Tools

**Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Civil Engineering | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** October 21, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Very Good display and easy to use and setup.  Does a lot of other things as well like doing syncing of folders.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

There was not anything I disliked, there were features I did not use. 

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

Great tools and easy to use.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Syncing files across drives. Simple file difference checker.

  ### 44. Fantastic Compare Program - Necessary for All Developers

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 09, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Beyond Compare is a very intelligent file comparison tool.  I've been using Beyond Compare products for years, both at home and at work.  As a developer, you will often come across a need to compare two files.  There are free tools on the internet that can do this, but Beyond Compare takes it a step further, integrating with the OS, making it super easy to compare two files.  It goes beyond that, allowing the user to even compare entire folders at the same time.  This is fantastic for comparing a local directory with a backup folder that you might have stored somewhere else, like a USB flash drive.

I also love the fact that it is a cross platform application.  I have used this product on OSX, Windows, and Linux.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

This is not free software.  I usually tend to use open-source and freeware software because it has a lot of community support, but this is an exception.  They do, however, have a free trial that you can use to see if you would like it.  If you are a user and developing for your company, you might be able to get it expensed through your company as well.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

Since it isn't free, I would definitely recommend installing the free trial before purchasing.  However, I think you will realize that this piece of software is very handy and can really save you hours of headaches when trying to compare files and folders.  The purchase price is relatively inexpensive when you consider the benefits.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

It has saved me countless hours when trying to compare two versions of a file.  This isn't usually something I'm doing on a daily basis, but if I ever have an issue with backup or source control, this tool is there to save the day.

  ### 45. Beyond Compare a handy tool for comparing version of code

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in E-Learning | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 29, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

I love how simple Beyond Compare is to use and how easily it displays results. 

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

For my purposes, Beyond Compare does everything I need it to do. However, I believe it is not robust enough for more complicated code analysis. 

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

For other people in my position, with the need to compare two or more simple files, like XML strings, I'd recommend Beyond Compare without any reservation. 

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I use Beyond Compare to compare version of text string XML files to ensure that all necessary strings are in both places when necessary. It keeps me from having to do a manual line-by-line reconciliation. 

  ### 46. Great for high level checking of files

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Human Resources | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** September 05, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Easy to see diffences for quick analysis.  Able to update data easily 

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Search is a bit cumbersome.  Could be quicker

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Quicker then a vloikup in excel to find differences 

  ### 47. Awesome product

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 13, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Really awesome product to compare files or directories. Provides side by side view of the matching and different content. for file comparison, there are different option to compare like hash, which is really handy. i would totally recommend this product.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Can not compare certain files like CRL. tool can not look in the content

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

tool is really handy to check the content to 2 replicated folders

  ### 48. Simple and effective

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Music | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** May 28, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Works as advertised; an invaluable tool for file architecture comparisons.

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

Software does not seem to be maintained as regularly as others.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Comparing software installs on various systems.

  ### 49. This is my go to software every morning in lieu of Windows Explorer

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Environmental Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 05, 2016

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

Easy to see what has changed on a remote file system. 

**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

It occasionally freezes or if I've mapped a key it will occasionally not let me type it in the filter box.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

Give it a try!

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

We use this to aid in working remotely. It really cuts down on the constant file transfer.

  ### 50. I love Beyond Compare! Been using for years.

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Steve D. | SaaS Infrastructure Engineer, Information Technology and Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** May 22, 2015

**What do you like best about Beyond Compare?**

This thing is just easy to use. It all makes sense, and It has FAR exceeded it's value in cost. It has saved my rear with recovering a source control repo, deploying code, and more.

One thing I really appreciate about BC is you can script it out and assign that script to a scheduled task. You can compare across an FTP connection as well, which is huge when you are utilizing it for help with deploys or urgent compares across systems.



**What do you dislike about Beyond Compare?**

This is petty, but they need to provide more demos, docs around getting the user into the scripting side of things. This tool is easy to script out and automate and most don't know about those features.

**Recommendations to others considering Beyond Compare:**

Check this out, great for compare across FTP and for scripting out / automation with deployments.

**What problems is Beyond Compare solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Aid with deployments and ongoing code compares.


## Beyond Compare Discussions
  - [Why can&#39;t you provide this tool as an open source.](https://www.g2.com/discussions/why-can-t-you-provide-this-tool-as-an-open-source) - 2 comments

- [View Beyond Compare pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/beyond-compare/reviews?page=3&section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-22+01%3A53%3A48+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=2d4f21b2-17ef-4958-b1c3-8921186be3a0&secure%5Btoken%5D=6825fbb88ff1a16027663181c65091aad0415132dcf543a697b01ad2393514e4&format=llm_user)
## Beyond Compare Integrations
  - [Git](https://www.g2.com/products/git/reviews)
  - [Visual Studio](https://www.g2.com/products/visual-studio/reviews)

## Beyond Compare Features
**Functionality**
- Schema Comparison
- Data Comparison
- Database Export

**Management**
- Database Synchronization
- Reporting
- Selective Synchronization

## Top Beyond Compare Alternatives
  - [Araxis Merge](https://www.g2.com/products/araxis-merge/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (28 reviews)
  - [Studio 3T](https://www.g2.com/products/studio-3t/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (192 reviews)
  - [SQL Compare](https://www.g2.com/products/sql-compare/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (28 reviews)

