Comparing two XML query plans

Question

Hopefully a simple one, if I have two (fairly complex, 30-40 node) .sqlplan files (from the same SQL text) what is a good way to compare them side by side? Or just have it tell me what it did differently? Management Studio is being particularly ridiculous about laying them out with vast amounts of whitespace, and it won't let me reformat them to print on a single page even...

Thanks!

Answer 1

Give SQL Sentry Plan Explorer a try. I am not sure it does exactly what you are asking about, but it is a great tool and free!

SQL Sentry Plan Explorer

Answer 2

Using a comparison tool like csdiff maybe?