Compare two PDFs — free, in your browser
Need to know what changed between two versions of a contract, report or draft? Compare them here and get a clear page-by-page report. No upload, no account.
What we found testing it
We compared a 6-page draft with its revised version. The tool flagged page 3 as changed (the revision added 40 words to a clause) and reported page 6 as 'only in B' (a newly added appendix). Pages 1, 2, 4, 5 came back identical. The whole thing ran in the browser — we never uploaded either file.
How to use it
- Open the Compare tool above and choose your two PDFs (the original and the revised version).
- Click Compare PDFs. The tool reads both files in your browser.
- A report downloads as a .txt file: it lists total pages, word counts, and a page-by-page summary (identical / changed / only in A / only in B).
- Open the report to see exactly where the two files differ.
What compare does and doesn't see
| Compare checks | Compare does not check |
|---|---|
| Text content on each page | Visual layout, fonts, images or formatting |
| Pages added or removed between versions | Pixel-level or design changes that keep the text the same |
| Page-by-page change summary | Inline word-level diffs (it reports a page changed, not the exact sentence) |
For a final visual check on a changed page, open both files side by side. Compare is built for the everyday 'what changed between v1 and v2' question, not for forensic document analysis.
FAQ
Is PDFzen compare free and private?
Yes. Both files are read in your browser; nothing is uploaded and there is no account.
What do I get — a new PDF or a report?
A plain-text report (.txt). It lists which pages are identical, changed, added or removed, with word counts.
Does it show me the exact words that changed?
It reports that a page changed and how many words differ. It doesn't highlight the specific sentence — open the two pages to see the detail.
Will it catch a page that was re-designed but says the same thing?
Not by itself — if the text is unchanged but the layout changed, Compare sees them as identical. Use it for content changes, not design changes.
Can I compare scanned (image-only) PDFs?
Only if the scanned PDF has a text layer (e.g. after OCR). Image-only scans have no text to compare — run OCR first, or compare visually.
Is there a size limit?
Very large files are limited by your browser's memory, like all in-browser tools here.