Valgrind vs Purify [closed]

Question

Which one is better on Linux? Valgrind or Purify What is your opinion of using them?

Answer 1

I have used both and valgrind is the clear winner for me. Not only is it free and open source, but it is much easier to use because it requires no recompile or relink. I've also found that purify is much more likely to change the behavior of your program, even causing it to produce incorrect results when the program is correct.

The valgrind team conducted a survey where valgrind was compared to other tools, including Purify, and posted the results on their site. According to this it looks like the big plus for purify is the GUI. Valgrind does not come with a GUI but there are GUI front ends available. I prefer the text output myself.

Answer 2

Well, Valgrind is free and open source, which is a huge advantage.

I have used Valgrind before and it worked quite well. Unless there is a feature that Purify has that Valgrind doesn't and you absolutely need that feature, you should probably just go with Valgrind.

Answer 3

Valgrind is Open Source and hence included in many Linux distributions. It can be combined with other Open Source tools such as the KCacheGrind visualisation frontend. Many projects have used it with success to find memory leaks and more.

Purify is commercial software that I never had access to so a comparison is difficult on these grounds alone.

Answer 4

Purify has greater cross platform support, a more polished interface, and paid support. Valgrind has not been ported to Windows and a command line interface but there are several front ends.

Answer 5

I believe Purify is used for windows machines whereas Valgrind is not.