com­pare­pdf­cmd vs. diffpdc

com­pare­pdf­cmd is much faster and outputs better PDF reports than diffpdfc. 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 passively maintained.
• - 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 does.

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); (diffpdfc 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:
  0. No errors; no differences detected;
  1. No errors; differences detected;
  2. 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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