Compare YAML Files Online
Paste two YAML files. See what was added, removed, or changed — line by line with word-level highlights.
🔒 100% private — runs entirely in your browseror try sample data
Paste two YAML files. See what was added, removed, or changed — line by line with word-level highlights.
🔒 100% private — runs entirely in your browseror try sample data
Compare YAML Files shows you exactly what changed between two YAML documents with a clear, side-by-side visual diff. Every added line, removed line, and modification is color-coded and highlighted at the word level, making it easy to review configuration changes, manifest updates, and pipeline modifications at a glance.
YAML is the configuration language of modern infrastructure. Kubernetes manifests, Docker Compose files, GitHub Actions workflows, Ansible playbooks, and application configs all use YAML. Because YAML relies on indentation to define structure, even small whitespace changes can alter meaning. A visual diff tool that shows both content and indentation changes side by side is essential for safe configuration management.
Paste your YAML from any source — files, clipboard, kubectl get -o yaml, CI pipeline exports, or Helm template output. Use "Ignore whitespace" to filter out indentation-only changes, or "Ignore case" for case-insensitive comparisons. Everything runs in your browser — your configuration data, including any secrets or credentials, is never transmitted anywhere.
# .github/workflows/ci.yml (before)
name: CI
on: [push]
jobs: test: runs-on: ubuntu-20.04 steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v3 - uses: actions/setup-node@v3 with: node-version: 16 - run: npm test # .github/workflows/ci.yml (after)
name: CI
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs: test: runs-on: ubuntu-22.04 steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 - uses: actions/setup-node@v4 with: node-version: 20 cache: npm - run: npm ci - run: npm test - run: npm run lintCI config diffs show runner version upgrades, action version bumps, and new pipeline steps. Reviewing these changes prevents broken builds.
# docker-compose.staging.yml
services: web: image: myapp:latest ports: - "3000:3000" environment: - NODE_ENV=staging - LOG_LEVEL=debug # docker-compose.production.yml
services: web: image: myapp:v2.1.0 ports: - "80:3000" environment: - NODE_ENV=production - LOG_LEVEL=warn deploy: replicas: 3 resources: limits: memory: 512MCompose file diffs highlight environment-specific differences like pinned image tags, port mappings, and resource constraints that staging might be missing.
# config/staging.yml
database: host: db.staging.internal pool: 10 ssl: false
cache: ttl: 60 provider: memory # config/production.yml
database: host: db.production.internal pool: 50 ssl: true read_replicas: - db-r1.production.internal
cache: ttl: 3600 provider: redis redis_url: redis://cache.production.internalConfig file diffs catch missing production settings, lower pool sizes, and disabled security options that could cause outages or vulnerabilities.
Unlike JSON or XML, YAML uses indentation to define hierarchy. A key indented by 2 spaces is a child; the same key indented by 0 spaces is a sibling. Be cautious with the "Ignore whitespace" option — it can hide indentation changes that actually alter the document structure. Only use it when you are sure the structural meaning is unchanged.
YAML supports anchors (&anchor) and aliases (*anchor) for reusing values. This tool compares YAML as text, so it sees the anchor/alias syntax literally. Two files that are semantically equivalent but use anchors differently will show differences. Expand anchors before comparing if you need a semantic comparison.
YAML allows multiple ways to represent the same string: value, 'value', and "value" are often equivalent. Since this is a text-based diff, different quoting styles will appear as changes even when the parsed values are identical. Standardize quoting before comparing if this produces too much noise.
Paste your YAML content into the two input panels and click Compare. The tool shows a side-by-side diff with line-by-line comparison and word-level highlighting for modified lines. You can paste from files, clipboard, or command output.
Yes. Indentation changes are highlighted in the diff since they are structurally significant in YAML. If you want to skip pure whitespace differences, enable the "Ignore whitespace" option. Be aware that this can also hide meaningful structural changes.
Yes. Multi-document YAML with --- separators is fully supported. Each document boundary is preserved in the diff output, making it easy to see which document within the file was modified.
Yes. This tool runs entirely in your browser using client-side JavaScript. Your YAML files — including any secrets, credentials, or environment variables — are never sent to any server.
Any YAML file works. Common use cases include Kubernetes manifests, Docker Compose files, GitHub Actions workflows, GitLab CI configs, Ansible playbooks, Helm values files, Spring Boot configs, and general application settings.
Not directly. This tool does a text-based comparison, so YAML and JSON syntax will produce many false differences. Convert one format to the other first, then compare. Use the JSON Object Diff tool for JSON-to-JSON comparisons.