comparepdfcmd vs. diffpdc
comparepdfcmd is much faster & outputs better PDF reports
comparepdfcmd is much faster and
outputs better PDF reports than the older diffpdfc tool.
So, if you don't need to run on 32-bit Windows and don't need the
pairs
option, then comparepdfcmd is the best
console–command line–PDF comparison software to use. And if
you require an easy-to-use Windows application, use our
DiffPDF application.
Summary
- +
comparepdfcmd words-mode comparisons are at least twice as fast
as diffpdfc, and can be three, four, or more times faster; other
comparison modes are also faster than diffpdfc.
- +
comparepdfcmd outputs better PDF reports than
diffpdfc.
- +
comparepdfcmd is actively maintained;
diffpdfc is no longer sold.
- -
comparepdfcmd runs only on 64-bit Windows;
diffpdfc has packages
for both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows.
- -
comparepdfcmd doesn't support the
pairs
option,
whereas diffpdfc did.
Main differences between comparepdfcmd and diffpdfc
- comparepdfcmd runs at least twice (2x) as fast as
diffpdfc (i.e.,
takes half the time to compare) for words mode comparisons. In some cases
the speedup is 3x, 4x, or more. Characters mode comparisons are also
much faster, and Appearance mode comparisons a little faster.
- comparepdfcmd's PDF reports include the original pages (not just
“photographs” of them), so they can be viewed clearly at any zoom
level and are therefore better than those produced by diffpdfc.
- For text mode comparisons the
standard
algorithm
(diffpdfc's
algorithm #5) and the multicolumn
algorithm
(diffpdfc's #7) are
almost identical to diffpdfc. The special
algorithm
(diffpdfc's
#6) is different and designed to be as fast as possible.
- Appearance mode comparisons use a subtly improved algorithm.
- comparepdfcmd uses much less memory than
diffpdfc, although this may
only make a difference for very large PDFs (>200MB).
- Report
.csv
output now quotes all text fields.
(diffpdfc 5.8.2 and later can produce matching output using the “new
CSV format” option.)
- Highlighting for text mode comparisons color codes the kinds of changes
(inserts, deletions, replacements); ( can do this using the
-Hc
option).
- The Windows Registry is not used at all.
- The license key is stored in a plain text file called
comparepdfcmd2.key
.
(By contrast, diffpdfc stores the key in the Registry.)
- Configuration options are stored in
.ini
files (rather than
.dpc files).
- Return values are different. For comparepdfcmd they are:
- No errors; no differences detected;
- No errors; differences detected;
- Error(s).
(These are accessible in .bat
files as
%errorlevel%
.)
- The
--pages2
option's default is the same as
--pages1
(in diffpdfc its default is all pages).
--pages1 | --pages2 |
Comparison |
unspecified | unspecified |
All pages compared |
unspecified | specified |
All PDF#1's pages compared with the specified pages in PDF#2
|
specified | unspecified |
The specified pages in PDF#1 compared with the same
pages in PDF#2 |
specified | specified |
The specified pages in PDF#1 compared with the specifed pages in
PDF#2 |
- comparepdfcmd only runs on 64-bit Windows.
- comparepdfcmd does not support
diffpdfc's
pairs
mode or the show_ins_del_pages
option
which only applies in pairs
mode.
- comparepdfcmd allows excluded margins to be specified on the command
line (unlike diffpdfc), as well as in
.ini
configuration
files.
- comparepdfcmd allows the change bar to be shown or not and for its
color to be customized; diffpdfc allows these, and also for the change
bar's indent, width, and height to be customized.
- comparepdfcmd's
compact
option set to false is
equivalent to diffpdfc's report.pretty
option set to
true.
- comparepdfcmd doesn't have the
save_memory
option because
it already uses far less memory than diffpdfc.
- comparepdfcmd, unlike diffpdfc, doesn't support the
cores
option to specify how many CPU cores to use—this is because
comparepdfcmd is far more efficient and better at distributing the work
itself.
- comparepdfcmd doesn't support the
report.pdfprefix
option
— but support for this could be added if customers ask for it.
- comparepdfcmd determines the size of the highlighting
rectangles itself, whereas diffpdfc allows you to tweak their height and
width — but support for this could be added if customers ask for
it.
- comparepdfcmd uses a fixed standard text for missing pages, whereas
diffpdfc allows this text to be customized —
but support for this could be added if customers ask for it.
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