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The contract comparison tool shows what changed between two versions of a contract. Paste the original and the revised text to see every added and removed word marked inline, a count of changed paragraphs and words, and the changes to numbers, dates, amounts and defined terms. It is free, with no account and no usage limit, and what you paste stays in your browser tab.
The contract comparison tool is a mechanical text comparison written in JavaScript that runs in your browser. It uses no AI and no randomness: the same two texts always give the same result. This kind of check is also called document comparison, or a blackline. It works in two passes.
The output has four parts. The counts give paragraphs changed (edited, added and removed), words added and words removed; punctuation marks are not counted as words. Worth a closer look lists every change that touches a number, date, amount or defined term. Changed paragraphs lists each changed paragraph with a link to it, numbered as in the revised version (removed paragraphs use their number in the original). The marked-up text shows the revised version with added text in green and underlined and removed text in red and struck through; screen readers announce each change as added or removed.
Worth a closer look follows these rules. It is pattern matching only and says nothing about whether a change matters.
Options: Ignore case treats capital and small letters as the same. Ignore spacing and punctuation-only changes compares words only, so a changed comma, period or double space is not reported; punctuation inside a word or number, such as the comma in $1,000 or the point in 4.2, still counts. With both options off, a paragraph whose words are identical but whose spacing changed is listed as Spacing changed.
Example (fictional): the Try an example button loads two drafts of a Master Services Agreement between Northwind Analytics, Inc. ("Provider") and Brightline Health LLC ("Customer"), nine paragraphs each. In the revised draft the effective date moves from March 1 to April 1, 2026; the monthly fee rises from $12,000 to $14,500; payment terms go from thirty (30) to forty-five (45) days; the term goes from twelve (12) to twenty-four (24) months; Customer's right to terminate for convenience on sixty (60) days' notice is deleted; a new Data Security section is added; the confidentiality standard is expanded; and governing law changes from Colorado to Delaware.
With both options off, the tool reports: 7 paragraphs changed (5 edited, 1 added, 1 removed). 55 words added, 25 words removed. Worth a closer look lists nine items:
| Paragraph | Type | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Revised ¶2 | Date | "March" → "April" |
| Revised ¶4 | Amount | "$12,000" → "$14,500" |
| Revised ¶4 | Number | "thirty" → "forty-five"; "30" → "45" |
| Revised ¶5 | Number | "twelve" → "twenty-four"; "12" → "24" |
| Original ¶7 | Number | removed paragraph mentions "sixty", "60" |
| Revised ¶7 | Number | added paragraph mentions "5", "seventy-two", "72" |
| Revised ¶7 | Defined term | added paragraph defines "Security Requirements" |
| Revised ¶8 | Number | "5" → "6" |
| Revised ¶9 | Number | "6" → "7" |
The change from Colorado to Delaware and the longer confidentiality standard are not in that list, because they contain no number, date, amount or defined term. They still appear in Changed paragraphs and in the marked-up text, where "Colorado" is struck through and "Delaware" is underlined. The section renumbering (5 to 6, 6 to 7) shows up as Number changes because the Data Security section was inserted before them.
The contract comparison tool tells you what changed; it never proposes edits. When you need to respond with your own changes, Gavel Exec, Gavel's paid AI assistant for Microsoft Word, redlines a full agreement for the side you represent and inserts each suggested edit as a Word tracked change. Each user starts with 25 free queries and no credit card; see Gavel Exec pricing for plans.
Built and maintained by Gavel. Comparison rules v1.0. Last updated November 14, 2026.
No. The contract comparison tool compares the two texts inside your browser tab: it sends what you paste nowhere, stores nothing, and everything is gone when you close the tab. The tool itself makes no network requests; the gavel.io page around it may load website analytics, as the rest of the site does. Follow your firm's confidentiality policy for client documents.
Yes, it is free, with no account, no sign-up and no usage limit. It works in any current browser with JavaScript on and handles up to 60,000 words per side.
Not as files. Copy the text out of each Word or PDF document and paste it into the two boxes. Formatting, tables, comments and tracked-change markup are not compared, so use clean copies with tracked changes accepted or rejected.
No. It only shows the differences between two versions you already have. To suggest your own edits as Word tracked changes, Gavel's paid product Gavel Exec redlines agreements in Microsoft Word.
The contract comparison tool pairs an original and a revised paragraph only when at least 40% of their words match. A paragraph that was rewritten more than that, or moved to another place, shows as removed in one place and added in another.
It is a list of the changes that touch a number, date, amount or defined term, found by pattern matching. The contract comparison tool does not judge whether those changes matter; it puts them first because they are easy to miss and often important.
