XML Compare
Compare two XML documents line by line and see exactly what changed.
Compared line by line, live as you type, entirely in your browser. This is a plain text diff — it doesn't normalize attribute order or whitespace, so pretty-print both sides first if you want a purely structural comparison.
Need the opposite? XML Prettify
What is XML Compare?
Paste two versions of an XML document and see a line-by-line diff: added lines, removed lines, and everything unchanged, useful for reviewing a config change or spotting what a tool modified. Common for reviewing an app config, a SOAP/API payload, or a build manifest before and after an automated change, where the actual difference between two large XML files is easy to miss by eye. The diff computes entirely in your browser, and nothing you paste is sent to a server.
How to Use XML Compare
- 1
Paste Both Versions: Enter the original XML on one side and the updated version on the other.
- 2
Read the Diff Instantly: Added, removed, and changed lines are highlighted automatically.
How It Works
This is a line-by-line text diff, the same approach as Text Compare. It doesn't parse the XML into a document tree or understand tag nesting. Each line of one document is compared against the corresponding line of the other, and lines are flagged as unchanged, added, or removed.
Example
-2 removed
+2 added
The `<name>` line shows as changed, `<role>` as removed, and `<active>` as added.
What Kind of Differences It Surfaces
Any line-level edit: a changed element's text content, an added or removed element, or a reordered block. Since it's plain text, differences in attribute order or whitespace formatting will also show up as changes even if the documents are structurally equivalent. Pretty-print both first if that's not what you want flagged.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about XML Compare.