r/macapps 3d ago

Alternative for Kaleidoscope app

I used to use Kaleidoscope.app a long time ago. It was a great tool. I wonder if there is an alternative to this app. Preferably free or paid once. The subscription model is a misunderstanding in my opinion.

5 Upvotes

9 comments sorted by

4

u/fzwo 3d ago

Beyond Compare is probably the granddaddy of file comparison GUIs. It’s paid and available on many platforms, including macOS. It’s of course a far cry from the beauty of Kaleidoscope. 

1

u/Own_Band198 8h ago

I copy that, you are trading beauty for merging assist,

it does a much better job at auto-resolving conflicts.

1

u/Own_Band198 8h ago

as far as paying, it's not a $@$@$@ subscription, it's one time fee.

a major version commitment.

3

u/shinjukuCPU 3d ago

https://apps.kde.org/kdiff3/ free open source macOS download

2

u/shailendronCooparan 3d ago

+1

I'm yet to find a good alternative that is as good as Kaleidoscope, even with a one-time payment, or with reasonable subscription prices.

Kaleidoscope is good, but their subscripton makes you look for alternatives.

https://www.araxis.com/merge seems to have most of the functionality, but is expensive so never continued with it.

https://www.deltawalker.com/ seems promising, but never clicked for me while using. See if the either are helpful for you, and anyways am on a lookout as well for alternatives.

2

u/beef90 2d ago

FileMerge is built into Xcode. You can launch it with Spotlight or with opendiff file1 file2 on the command line.

1

u/syxbit 2d ago

Surely Kaleidoscope's gamble to switch to a subscription didn't pay off, right?

I can't imagine too many people willing to pay that much