Download DirectCompare

Start with the free tier. Upgrade only when you need more.

DirectCompare gives you a strong free compare workflow out of the box, plus a 30-day full-featured trial if you want to evaluate paid features before upgrading to N-way comparison, Git and GitHub sources, plugin viewers, remote source comparison, and similarity search. Go to Help → Start 30-Day Trial to begin — no sign-up required.

Portable — no install required Free 2-way compare + 3-way merge Windows + Linux Version 1.05 — View release notes Standard+ for N-way, Git, GitHub

Choose your download

Download the build for your platform, then use the free tier immediately. Licenses unlock additional capabilities inside the same application.

Windows

Windows — Portable, No Install

Unzip and run. No installer, no admin rights, no registry changes. Works from a USB drive, network share, or any folder you choose.

Suggested package: DirectCompare-v1.07-Windows.zip
Platform: Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
Setup: Unzip → run DirectCompare.exe → done.
Download for Windows (Portable) CLI & Quick Start
Linux

Linux download

For Linux users who want the same compare workflow on supported distributions and environments.

Suggested package: DirectCompare-v1.07-Linux.tar.gz
Platform: Linux x86_64
Typical use: Download, extract, install dependencies if required, then run locally.
Requires: GTK 3, libarchive, libgit2, libcurl. See README.txt inside the archive for details.
Download for Linux Install notes

Install via Windows Package Manager (winget)

Windows 10/11 • No browser, no unzip — one command does it all

winget install DirectCompare.DirectCompare

winget is built into Windows 11 and available on Windows 10 via the App Installer package in the Microsoft Store. After the command completes, run dircomparepro from any terminal.

Installation overview

Keep the download step simple: install once, start free, then upgrade inside the app if and when your workflow expands.

Windows quick start

  1. Download the Windows ZIP package.
  2. Extract it to a folder you control.
  3. Run DirectCompare.exe.
  4. Use the free tier immediately.

Linux quick start

  1. Download the Linux tarball.
  2. Extract it locally.
  3. Install any required system libraries if your build needs them.
  4. Run the application from the extracted folder.

License workflow

  1. Start with the free feature set.
  2. When you need Standard or Premium features, purchase or apply a license.
  3. Activate it through Help → Register.
  4. Unlocked features become available in the same app.

What each tier unlocks

The clearest way to think about the product is: free for strong everyday compare, Standard ($39/yr) for multi-source workflows, Premium ($79/yr) for remote and similarity workflows, and Lifetime ($199) for one-time Premium-level access.

Free tier Free forever

  • 2-way directory comparison
  • 3-way merge (base/mine/yours) - free!
  • Text + hex diff viewer
  • Archive, CSV, Excel, image compare
  • Patch support and exports
  • Sessions, bookmarks, sync preview, versioning

Standard+ $39/yr

  • N-way comparison (4+ sources) and N-way merge
  • Git branch and commit compare
  • GitHub repository compare
  • Plugin viewers
  • Dark/light theme and power-user workflows

Premium+ $79/yr

  • Web URL comparison
  • FTP/SFTP comparison
  • Amazon S3 bucket comparison
  • Similarity search
  • Duplicate detection workflows
  • Advanced remote and content-matching use cases

Lifetime $199 one-time

  • All Premium features
  • Single purchase — no annual renewal
  • Ideal for long-term heavy use

Use as a Git mergetool

DCP is a single portable exe — drop it anywhere and point Git at it. 3-way merge (base/mine/yours) is free in the Basic tier.

Add to .gitconfig

[mergetool "dcp"]
    cmd = "C:/path/to/DirectCompare.exe" -m "$BASE" "$LOCAL" "$REMOTE" "$MERGED"
    trustExitCode = true

[merge]
    tool = dcp
Use forward slashes in the path, even on Windows. Replace with wherever you extracted DCP.

Then just run git mergetool

git merge feature/branch
# conflict — DCP opens automatically
git mergetool
DCP opens once per conflicted file. Resolve, save, close. Git marks it resolved. See the full Git guide for more.

Integrity checks and release housekeeping

If you publish checksums, keep them accurate and visible. If you haven’t generated them yet, don’t pretend you have.

Windows checksum command

Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 DirectCompare-v1.07-Windows.zip
A matching checksum file is also published in the release assets as DirectCompare-v1.07-Windows.sha256.

Linux checksum command

sha256sum DirectCompare-v1.07-Linux.tar.gz
A matching checksum file is also published in the release assets as DirectCompare-v1.07-Linux.sha256.