Beyond Compare 5

Beyond Compare has been the answer to "what is different between these two things" since long before anyone worried about subscriptions. Two folder trees, two files, a local directory against an SFTP server, a directory against a zip: it lines them up, colours what moved, and lets you copy in either direction with a keystroke. The text diff understands comment and whitespace rules per language, so reformatting does not drown the real change.

For a programmer the interesting part is Pro. Three-way merge makes it a serviceable external merge tool for git, folder merge handles the messy case of two diverged trees, and the scripting engine turns a comparison you do every week into a command you run. None of that is in Standard, which is why the $35 figure needs an asterisk: if you want it for merges, the real price is $70.

Scooter has sold it the same way for two decades. You buy a version, own it on every computer you use, get minor updates free, and pay about half price if you want the next major release. No renewals, no seats to reconcile.

It is not a pretty Mac app, and if all you need is a nice-looking side-by-side diff of two text files, there are cheaper and better-looking options — including free ones.