XML Diff Checker

An XML diff checker compares two XML documents and reports what changed as a set of structural differences: which elements were added or removed, which attributes changed value, and where the text content differs. Instead of a line-by-line text diff that turns red the moment you reformat or reorder something, it parses both documents into node trees and compares them as data. You paste the original XML on the left, the new XML on the right, and get a list of differences, each pinned to the exact node path where it occurred, such as /catalog/book[1]/@category.

The reason a structural comparison matters is that XML carries the same meaning across many different byte layouts. Two documents can be identical in structure yet differ in indentation, attribute order, line endings, or whether an empty element is written as a self-closing tag. A plain text diff flags all of those as changes; a structural diff ignores them and reports only what would change how a parser reads the document. This tool pairs child elements of the same tag name by their order of appearance, so the second book element is compared to the second book element even if unrelated siblings shifted around it.

Everything runs in your browser with a tolerant parser that handles attributes in single or double quotes, self-closing tags, CDATA sections, comments, processing instructions, and standard entity references. The documents never leave your device, are never uploaded, and are never logged, which matters because the XML people compare is often a configuration file, an API payload, a sitemap, or an SVG. Malformed input is reported with a clear message rather than a silent wrong answer, and the tool keeps working with your network disconnected once the page has loaded.

The sample shows what this XML diff checker reports. Click Load Sample, then Compare, and the summary reads 1 added, 0 removed and 2 changed. The first book's category attribute is listed at /catalog/book[1]/@category, from fiction to mystery, its price text at /catalog/book[1]/price/text(), from 12.99 to 14.99, and the new isbn element at /catalog/book[2]/isbn. The unchanged title and author elements do not appear at all, and neither would a change in indentation. That node path is what you search for when you open the file to make the fix.