• File Comparison – option for comparison as text documents and also files that have text structure: program source, xml and the latest versions of Microsoft Word and Open Office documents. 
• Folder Comparison – option for comparison packs of files in several directories, merge and synchronize them.
• Image Comparison – is very interesting feature.  There’s a possibility to compare two images with the common ancestor, using three-way comparison interface. EC Merge Pro supports a large number of image formats. Each image is displayed in two or three panels: Original, Diff with Right/Left several comparison algorithms are available (differencing per channel, numerical component difference, attenuating similarities).

EC Merge Pro has two modes available for the work:

• Graphical interface –this is a standard mode that provides all functionality of the program in graphical mode:  user can do all actions as in similar windowed applications.
• Command line interface – in this mode is possibly to make all actions that available in graphical mode in command line from comparison to merging and generating reports.

Report generation is important part of comparison programs. EC Merge Pro has extensive report functionality. The program is able to generate reports as for file and folders as well. Files and folders report can be generated in XML, HTML, Text and CSV format. EC Merge Pro supports third-party converters that allowing to convert PDF and Microsoft Office documents to plain text and extract files from ZIP/RAR archives. At the end of this month a new version of EC Merge Pro will be released. In EC Merge  2.2.102 will be added Microsoft Word DOC converter to compare  directly the text (DOC format 97/2007) as rather interesing and useful feature. Interface of the program is multilingual. 

EC Merge Pro is available in several languages: English, German, French, Spanish and Italian.                  

EC Merge is developed fro the most popular platforms and can be running on Windows, Unix and MacOS systems. 

Evaluate EC Merge (Windows)               

Order EC Merge Pro (Windows) 

   The program is not free. There are two variants to evaluate and check functionality:   

1. You can try demo with limited features for file and folder comparison;  
2. You can get a free serial number for unlimited feature evaluation for one month from help section of EC Merge. 

Full version can be purchased for $60 as single license.  

- Ability to create and edit filter sets  

- Name filter improvements: ability to disable filters and a new interface for editing filters  

- Date and size filters in directory comparison  

- “Filters” right-click menu in directory comparison  

– Exclude Name  

– Exclude Extension  

– Exclude Relative Directory  

– Not Older Than  

– Not Larger Than  

– Not Smaller Than  

- Option to perform full comparison of selected files in directory comparison without performing a full re-compare  

- Ability to copy text fragments including padding lines  

- “Compare To…” in Shell extension  

- Ability to use environment variables (e.g. %WINDIR%) in file names  

- Ability to delete matching files in both directory comparison panes  

- Option to ignore word separators embedded in quoted strings during file comparison  

- Ability to view report files right after saving  

- Separate “Use Plug-ins” options for file and directory comparison  

- New command line options useful for merging in some version control tools:  

– /sn1:file use this name when you save the first file  

– /sn2:file use this name when you save the second file  

- New command line option useful for comparison invoked from version control  

– /nh do not add files or directories to comparison history  

- Resizing with Shift key pressed to keep the center of the main window  

- Ability to toggle Full File Comparison from the toolbar  

- Improved difference navigation  

- Improved toolbar button defaults  

- Fix: incorrect directory comparison of files with mixed linebreak styles in Full File Comparison mode  

- Fix: text selection was colored in Print/Print Preview  

- Fix: plug-ins that converted files into directories (such as the Unzip plug-in) were not considered during directory comparison  

Pros:

- two- and three-way comparison
- extensive text navigation
- extensive text ignore options
- comparison of binary files
- auto merge functions
- user profiles support for text management options
- custom colors
- backup support
- folder tree synchronization
- “by contents” folder compare
- byte-by-byte folder compare
- FTP support
- print/preview support
- command line support
- WinExplorer integration

Cons:

- No support for by-char and by-keyword comparison
- MS Word files are converted to plain text, with no formatting preserved
- single-rule filter is insufficient for folder comparison
- no support for multiple comparison projects
- no custom reports

Overview

UltraCompare is a great software for comparing/merging text and binary files, as well as for synchronizing folders. Such features as graphical binary files comparison and three-way merging interface, put it aside from most comparison programs. We recommend UltraCompare for consistent comparison projects, involving various types of comparison tasks. Besides, the price for UltraCompare is significantly lower than for most popular comparison software.

Our rating for UltraCompare is 9/10.

Price: $29.95 USD (FREE TRIAL)

Diverse comparison methods 
Three-way comparison 
Text navigation 
Report functionality 
Merge functionality 
Integration with version control systems Yes
Folder comparison 
Folder hierarchy synchronization 
Custom file filters 
Byte-by-byte comparison