Question 1

What is the difference between a JSON diff and a text diff?

Accepted Answer

A text diff compares documents line by line, so formatting changes like re-ordered keys, different indentation, or minification show up as differences even when the data is identical. A JSON (structural) diff parses both documents and compares the actual values, reporting only real additions, removals, and changes — each with its exact path such as user.addresses[2].city.

Question 2

Does key order matter when comparing JSON?

Accepted Answer

No. The JSON specification defines objects as unordered collections of key-value pairs, so {"a":1,"b":2} and {"b":2,"a":1} are the same document. This tool always ignores object key order. Array order, by contrast, is significant in JSON — but you can tick "Ignore array order" to compare arrays as multisets when order is irrelevant to you.

Question 3

What does the "Ignore array order" option do?

Accepted Answer

With the option off, arrays are compared position by position: [1,2] vs [2,1] shows two changed values. With it on, each array is treated as a multiset (a bag of values where duplicates count), so [1,2] and [2,1] are equal, while [1,2] vs [1,2,2] reports one extra 2 added. This is useful for API responses where result order is not guaranteed.

Question 4

How do I read the paths in the results?

Accepted Answer

Paths use dot notation for object keys and square brackets for array indexes, similar to JavaScript property access: user.addresses[2].city means the "city" key of the third element of the "addresses" array inside "user". Keys that are not valid identifiers are shown in bracket-quote form, and (root) refers to the top-level value itself.

Question 5

What is a type change and why is it flagged separately?

Accepted Answer

A type change means the value at a path kept its position but switched JSON type — for example the number 10 becoming the string "10", or null becoming an object. These are highlighted with a type badge because they frequently break API consumers and deserializers while looking almost identical in a text comparison.

Question 6

Is it safe to paste confidential JSON data into this tool?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Both documents are parsed and compared entirely in your browser with JavaScript — nothing is uploaded, transmitted, logged, or stored on any server. You can load the page, go offline, and the comparison still works.

Question 7

How large can the JSON documents be?

Accepted Answer

The comparison is in-memory and handles documents of several megabytes comfortably in a modern browser. To keep the page responsive, the results list shows the first 1,000 differences; if your documents diverge more than that, a notice appears and you can drill into a subsection by comparing just that part.

JSON Diff Checker

Original (left)

Modified (right)

When a structural diff beats a text diff

❓JSON Diff FAQ

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