JSON FIELD NOTES · 01

Same data?
Follow the paths.

A structural JSON comparison tells you which values changed. Indentation and object key order do not create differences.

Compare a plan update

Download before.json and after.json. Open them in the two editors, then choose Compare JSON.

Before

{
  "plan": "starter",
  "limits": {"seats": 2},
  "tags": ["red", "blue"],
  "deprecated": true
}

After

{
  "plan": "pro",
  "limits": {"seats": 5},
  "tags": ["blue", "red"],
  "enabled": true
}

Expected: 6 changes in positional mode; 4 changes with “Ignore array order” selected.

Path	Change	Before → After
`$["plan"]`	Changed	starter → pro
`$["limits"]["seats"]`	Changed	2 → 5
`$["tags"][0]`	Changed	red → blue
`$["tags"][1]`	Changed	blue → red
`$["deprecated"]`	Removed	true → absent
`$["enabled"]`	Added	absent → true

Open the JSON comparison tool ↗

Choose what array order means

Keep positional mode for ordered steps, rankings, and time series. Use “Ignore array order” when arrays represent collections and position has no meaning. This setting applies to nested arrays too.

With order ignored, a different collection is reported as one whole-array change. Duplicate items still count: [1,1,2] differs from [1,2]. The tool does not infer moved items or match array objects by an ID field.

JSON values keep their types

1 and "1" differ. So do a missing property and a property containing null. Formatting and object property order are ignored. Paths use bracket notation so dots inside property names stay unambiguous.

Before using a report

Both documents must be valid JSON. Comments and trailing commas are rejected.
File uploads are limited to 5 MB each. Pasted input and very deep structures can still exhaust browser memory.
The screen shows up to 100 changes. The downloaded report contains up to 2,000; the truncated flag tells you when that limit was reached.
JSON numbers use JavaScript number precision. Quote identifiers larger than the safe integer range when exact digits matter.
Changing input or comparison mode clears the old report; compare again before exporting.

File contents are processed in this tab, without an upload endpoint. Optional analytics is consent based and does not receive your JSON. Read the privacy notice.

Reference

RFC 8259 — JSON data format. The examples describe this tool’s behavior; verify the requirements of your own system before using an output.

Same data?Follow the paths.