--- title: Compare Two PDFs Online Free – See Every Text Change (PDF Diff, Redline) | HelpRange url: https://www.helprange.com/tools/compare-pdf --- Free tool # Compare two PDFs Upload the old and the new version of a contract, offer or report and see every added, deleted and changed word – page by page, with a redline you can download as a PDF. ## How it works ### Drop the old version A PDF or a Word file (DOC, DOCX, ODT, RTF) – up to 10 MB and 200 pages. ### Drop the new version The comparison starts by itself as soon as both files are in. ### Go through the changes Added words are green, deleted words red and struck through, page by page – inline or side by side, with a button to jump to the next change. ### Download the report A PDF with the summary, the redline of every page with changes and a table of all changes. ![Two versions of a contract compared: a changed payment term and an added word marked in green and red](/static/images/ui/tools/compare-pdf.jpg)Two versions of a contract compared: a changed payment term and an added word marked in green and red ### Negotiating a contract? Keep one link and see who read which version Share each new version through the same HelpRange link: readers always get the latest one, and you see who opened it and which pages they read. When the text is final, send it for e-signature – with an audit trail and a sealed PDF. [Try HelpRange free](https://www.helprange.com/?from=tool-cta#signUpSection) [Compare plans – from $39 per team](https://www.helprange.com/pricing?from=tool-cta) [See HelpRange e-signature](https://www.helprange.com/feature-e-signature) Paid tools such as Adobe Acrobat Pro or Draftable do the same job for a monthly fee. For the everyday question – what did the other side change in the contract before sending it back? – a text redline is what you need: it shows every changed number, date and clause, even when the lines and pages moved. ## When to compare two versions Whenever a document comes back from the other side: a contract or NDA with “a few small edits”, an offer after a round of negotiation, a policy or terms and conditions before you accept them, a report that was “only reformatted”. Reading both versions side by side by eye misses the changes that matter – a number, a date, “not” added to a sentence. The redline shows every one of them. The comparison works on the words, not on the lines: if a paragraph moved to the next page or the lines wrap differently, that is not reported as a change. A word split by a hyphen at the end of a line is joined back, and typographic quotes and dashes count as the plain ones. ## What it does not see - **Formatting** – bold, fonts, colours and layout are not compared, only the text. - **Images and scans** – a scanned PDF is a picture of the page and has no text; the tool says so. Run OCR first, or ask for the original file. - **Moved paragraphs** are shown as deleted in one place and added in the other. Before you sign the final version, check it was not changed after the last round: compare it with the version you agreed, and use the [PDF signature check](https://www.helprange.com/tools/verify-pdf-signature) on the signed copy. FAQ ## Compare two PDFs – questions Is it free? Yes – no sign-up. Two files up to 10 MB and 200 pages each. Do you keep my files? No. Both files are compared in memory and nothing is stored – the report is sent to your browser and not kept. Does it compare formatting and images? No – it compares the text, word by word. Changes in fonts, colours, images or layout are not shown. Scanned PDFs (pictures of pages) have no text to compare. Can I compare Word documents? Yes – upload DOC, DOCX, ODT or RTF files; they are converted to PDF first. You can also compare a Word draft with the signed PDF. Why is a whole paragraph marked as changed? When most words of a passage differ, it is shown as deleted and added in one piece – usually a rewritten clause. Short edits are marked word by word. Can I compare a PDF with a Word document? Yes – drop the PDF as one version and the DOCX as the other. The Word file is converted to PDF first, so page numbers follow the converted layout. Related free tools [Verify a PDF signature](https://www.helprange.com/tools/verify-pdf-signature)[Convert Word, PowerPoint or Excel to PDF](https://www.helprange.com/tools/word-to-pdf)[Redact a PDF – permanently](https://www.helprange.com/tools/redact-pdf)[Sign a PDF online](https://www.helprange.com/tools/sign-pdf) [All free tools](https://www.helprange.com/tools)