How to compare documents in Google Docs
Last updated October 8, 2026.
Google Docs compares two documents and produces a third one with the differences as suggestions. It's free with any Google account, and it runs in the browser.
Step by step
- Open the previous version of the document in Google Docs.
- From the Tools menu, choose Compare documents.
- Click My Drive, choose the new version and click Open.
- Under Attribute differences to, type the name that will show as the author of the changes. If you like, check the option to include comments from the selected document.
- Click Compare and, when it's done, Open.
What you get
A new document, with both file names in its title and each difference marked as a suggested edit, attributed to the name you typed. The two source documents don't change.
What if the file is from Word?
Compare documents works with Google documents. A .docx has to be converted first: upload it to Drive, open it in Google Docs and choose File, Save as Google Docs. Do that with both versions. The conversion may change some formatting details, but the text stays.
Where it gets awkward
- The files go to Drive. To compare, both versions have to be in your Google account. For a contract or an unpublished manuscript, that's not always what you want.
- PDFs. A PDF also has to become a Google document first, and the conversion shifts line and paragraph breaks.
- Long documents. The result is a single document with every suggestion, with no split by chapter.
Google Docs or Verso?
| Google Docs' Compare documents | Verso | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the files are | In your Google Drive | On your computer; never uploaded to a server |
| Formats | Google documents; Word and PDF are converted first | .docx, .odt, PDF, .txt and .md, in any combination |
| Result | A third document, with the differences as suggestions | Both versions side by side, chapter by chapter |
| Price | Free, with a Google account | 7 days free, then US$12 once |
If both versions are already in Google Docs, Compare documents does the job. If they're Word or PDF files on your computer, if the text is long, or if the file shouldn't leave your machine, use Verso. See how in compare Word documents, or, for Word itself, how to compare two documents in Word.