Compare Folders For Mac

Compare Folders is a straightforward and versatile macOS application that is capable of comparing 2 folders by content, filtering the results and displaying the difference in a 2-pane window. The app can even find differences based on the checksum of files, but this requires an in-app purchase.

Working with Compare Folders is a walk in the park thanks to the intuitive layout of the user interface. The top area displays the options and available filters, the middle area contains the 2 panes for viewing the folder contents ant the lower area shows the differences in file or folder (if any) properties.

To get started, just open the left and right folders and then let the app automatically display the results. File and folders are listed alphabetically, the differences are highlighted in red and the identical files are colored in green. Clicking on a row displays the properties of the file(s) and lets you check the differences.

Compare Folders finds differences based on the created and modified date, data size, permissions and resource size. These are most common criteria that a file comparison tool is based on. If you need a more advanced comparison method (i.e. checksum verification), an in-app purchase is required.

Another advantage of using Compare Folders is that you can use a variety of filters to exclude some of the search results. Thus, you can choose to exclude identical items, items with only permission differences, items with only creation date differences, folders with only modification date differences.

While using Compare Folders it is also possible to exclude files, folders, symLinks and hidden items and, more importantly, the results are instantly changed as you toggle the filters.

The Compare Folders application does what exactly it says on its box and it does it well enough to make it the perfect tool to have on your Mac for this type of task.