is there a tool to see the difference between two database tables in SQL Server?

Question

What is a good tool to see the differences between 2 tables (or even better, the datasets returned by 2 queries).

EDIT: I'm not interested in the schema changes. Just assume that the schemas are the same.

background as to why: I'm porting some legacy code which can fill a database with some pre-calced data. The easiest way to see if I got everything right, is to check the output of the old program, with the new one. I was thinking that if there is some kind of 'diff' tool for databases, this might be great.

Answer 1

Nah.. Davert just bit faster than Red-Gate, the real new monster is Optillect with its Data Compare SQL Just take a look at the performance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_SQL_Server_Compare_Tools#Performance

Answer 2

We would like to suggest you taking a look at our dbForge Data Compare for SQL Server. It is much faster (up to 3 times), comparing to competitors.

Answer 3

Try SQL Data Examiner. This tool allows compare/synchronize not only tables, but also data returned by sql-queries.

Answer 4

I'm sure a lot of people will point to the excellent tools of Red Gate, of which SQL Data Compare is the one that can compare data in tables. I'm using a simpler and cheaper alternative though: SQLDBDiff. It can compare the data in two SQL server tables.