List Comparison Tool
Paste two plain lists and instantly see what's only in list A, only in list B, and what's common to both — no spreadsheet required.
Only in A
Only in B
In Both
How to use List Comparison Tool
- Use these example values as a starting point: One item per line.
- Set the inputs and options shown here: List A, List B, Case-insensitive comparison.
- Run the tool with Compare.
- Review the result or preview on the page and confirm it matches your input before using or sharing it.
Comparing two lists without a spreadsheet VLOOKUP
Figuring out what's different between two plain lists — two rosters, two sets of filenames, before-and-after snapshots of anything — is a classic set-comparison problem that doesn't need a full spreadsheet to solve. Pasting both lists and comparing directly gives you only-in-A, only-in-B, and in-both instantly.
Why case-insensitive comparison is the default
"Jane Smith" and "jane smith" usually represent the same entry despite differing capitalization — comparing case-insensitively by default catches that, with the option to turn it off when exact casing genuinely matters for your comparison.
Does list order matter?
No — comparison is based on set membership, not position, so the same items in a different order between the two lists still compare correctly.
What happens with duplicate entries within one list?
Duplicates within the same list are treated as a single entry for comparison purposes, since set comparison doesn't track how many times an item appears.
Comparing CSV data instead of plain lists?
For structured spreadsheet comparison, see Multi-File Compare or Compare Files Against a Baseline instead.