KordFree diff tool
Compare two Rockwell PLC exports
Diff two Rockwell .L5X exports in your browser, free, no account: see what changed between two Studio 5000 project revisions - tags, routines, logic - without a compare seat. Built by Kord; opens with a sample filter-skid pair loaded.
Free, no account. Opens with a two-revision filter-skid program loaded.
Two exports of the same Studio 5000 project, and a question with consequences attached: what changed in the logic between them? .L5X is Rockwell's XML export, and the realistic options for comparing two of them have been Rockwell's own compare tooling - licensed, Windows, installed - or reading raw XML in a text editor and reconstructing the rungs in your head.
Drop both exports here and read the changes in the browser as a controls engineer would - tags, routines, and logic, not element soup. Free, no account. As far as we can tell it is the only in-browser diff for .L5X anywhere, which is a strange thing to be able to say about a format this load-bearing.
What the comparison shows
What you get on screen once both files are in, and why each piece is there:
- The project, not the XML. The comparison reads the .L5X structure - what a change touched, in the terms the program is written in.
- Commissioning's version of the truth. When the skid vendor says the only change is a setpoint, the diff either agrees or it does not.
- No compare seat. Nothing to license or install - which matters most at exactly the moment you are on site on someone else's laptop.
How to compare two Rockwell PLC project exports
Three steps, none of which is signing up:
- Open the diff tool - it loads with a two-revision filter-skid program already compared, so you see the result shape before committing your own files.
- Drop your two Rockwell PLC project exports into the Before and After slots - up to 25 MB each.
- Read the comparison. If someone else needs to see it, Share turns it into a link.
FAQ
The questions people ask before dropping real files on a free tool, answered plainly:
Is it free?
Yes. No account, no trial clock, no watermark. The tool exists because we build Kord, version control for engineering document sets, and a diff you can run in ten seconds explains the product faster than any brochure.
Does my program get stored?
Files are kept only as long as it takes to draw the comparison. Most formats render in your browser; Word and PowerPoint are converted to a preview by our servers in memory, and a file too big to ride a request travels through a short-lived upload that is deleted automatically. There is no account, so there is no history to attach anything to. The longer answer is at work.withkord.com/security.
How do I get an .L5X out of Studio 5000?
File > Save As and choose the .L5X type, or export the project. The .ACD itself is a binary Rockwell format; the .L5X export is the interchange form and the one a diff can read.
The PLC program is one file in a bigger package. Can the package be tracked?
Kord versions the whole document set - the program export next to the P&ID, the I/O list, and the cause-and-effect matrix - with this diff between revisions of each and a review session before anything ships to site.
When two files aren't the real problem
A one-off diff answers a one-off question. If your team compares Rockwell PLC project exports every revision cycle - and the revision that matters sits next to drawings, specs, and calc sheets that have to agree with it - that is the job Kord exists for: version control on the whole document set, this same visual comparison between any two revisions, and review sessions with sign-off before anything is issued. The longer argument is in Git for documents.
Compare other formats
The same tool reads eleven formats - the full list is on the compare index. Nearby: Compare two JSON files · Compare two Excel files · Compare two PDF files.