User Guide

1. What is FilingDiff?

FilingDiff tells you what changed in any SEC filing compared to the previous one — in minutes instead of the 2–4 hours it takes to read and compare filings manually, with every claim quoted verbatim and cited back to the source filing on SEC.gov.

We analyze 10-K (annual), 10-Q (quarterly), and 8-K (event) filings, plus IPO / prospectus forms (S-1, S-1/A, and 424B pricing prospectuses) filed with the SEC EDGAR system. For periodic filings our AI reads the current filing and the prior comparable filing, then produces a structured summary of what actually changed. Prospectus filings get an event-style briefing plus a deterministic offering snapshot when terms are disclosed.

Every report is generated fresh from the official SEC filing — not from earnings call transcripts, news articles, or third-party summaries.

2. Getting Started

Creating an Account

1. Click Sign up free in the top navigation bar.
2. Enter your email address and choose a password (minimum 8 characters).
3. Click Create account. You're immediately signed in.

Free accounts can generate reports (after email verification) and read 3 full reports per calendar month beyond the open library. No credit card is required. The counter resets on the 1st of each month. Re-reading a report you've already opened doesn't count against the quota. Open 8-Ks, S-1s, and those mega-cap 10-Ks and 10-Qs never consume a credit. Verified free accounts also get a separate monthly allowance of 8-K generations that does not eat those credits.

Anyone (no signup) can read every 8-K, initial S-1s, and 10-Ks and 10-Qs for the mega-caps listed on the homepage in full, including section diffs. On other filings they see the headline, red flags, and top 3 bullets. Visitors cannot generate a new report — that requires a free account and a verified email. Sample reports and today's free report stay fully open as well.

Signing In

Click Sign in in the top navigation and enter the email and password you used to register. You can stay signed in on up to 3 devices simultaneously (laptop, phone, tablet). If you sign in on a 4th device, the oldest session is automatically signed out.

3. Searching for Tickers

Use the search bar at the top of any page (or the large search on the home page) to find a company. You can search by:

• Ticker symbol — e.g. AAPL, MSFT, TWLO
• Company name — e.g. "Apple", "Microsoft", "Twilio"

As you type, an autocomplete dropdown shows matching companies. Click a result to go directly to that ticker's page. If you don't see your company in the dropdown, press Go (or Enter) — we'll search the full SEC EDGAR database.

On-Demand Fetching

FilingDiff covers any publicly traded US company. If we haven't seen a ticker before, we fetch its filings directly from SEC EDGAR the first time you search for it. This takes a few seconds. Once fetched, each accession is cached permanently — a published EDGAR document for a given accession number does not change; amendments appear as new accessions (e.g. 10-Q/A, S-1/A).

4. Reading a Report

The Ticker Page

Each company has a ticker page (e.g. /ticker/AAPL/) that lists all filings we've processed. For each filing you'll see:

• Filing type (10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, S-1, 424B, etc.) and date filed
• The AI-generated headline (always visible, even for visitors)
• A View report button if the report is ready
• A Generate report button if the AI summary hasn't been created yet

Generating a Report

Click Generate report on any filing without a summary. You'll be taken straight to the report page where a "Generating your report" placeholder appears with rotating status messages (fetching filing, parsing sections, comparing, etc.). Generation typically takes 30–120 seconds.

Safe to switch tabs or come back later. The page polls in the background and refreshes itself automatically when the report is ready. You don't need to keep the tab focused.

The Report Page

Every report contains:

• Headline — a news-style one-sentence summary (90 characters max).
• Key Financials — on many 10-K / 10-Q reports (Pro), a table of revenue, income, and balance-sheet items from SEC XBRL (see Section 5).
• Key Changes — up to 5 bullets highlighting the most important differences, each with a materiality score and section citation.
• Summary — a 2–3 paragraph narrative explaining the changes in context.
• Offering Snapshot (prospectus / 424B filings) — deterministic pricing, share counts, and dilution terms when disclosed. Pro only, even on a free initial S-1. The filing cluster (S-1 → amendments → 424B) is also Pro.
• Source link — a direct link to the original filing on SEC.gov.
• Section-by-Section Diff — included on open reports (8-Ks, initial S-1s, selected mega-cap 10-Ks/10-Qs), samples, and today's free report. On other filings, Pro only (see Section 8).

5. Key Financials

On 10-K and 10-Q reports (when XBRL facts are available), Pro readers — and anyone viewing a sample or today's free report — see a Key Financials table near the top of the page. The badge SEC XBRL means the values come from the company's machine-readable SEC filing — not from the AI narrative. Use it as a quick cross-check on the headline numbers.

• Prior / Current — the baseline filing vs this filing (same quarter prior year for 10-Qs; prior 10-K for 10-Ks). Column dates are the period of report.
• Income vs balance sheet — revenue, net income, EPS, and operating income are for the reporting period (the quarter on a 10-Q, not year-to-date; the fiscal year on a 10-K). Cash, debt, and total assets are period-end balances.
• Δ column — percent change when both sides have the same sign. Green / red arrows reflect whether the move is favorable for that metric (e.g. higher revenue is good; higher long-term debt is usually bad).
• n/m (not meaningful) — shown instead of a percent when the line flips sign (for example a net loss turning into a profit, or the reverse). Computing “up 126%” from a negative base is mathematically possible but misleading; the arrow still shows the direction of the change.

This table is separate from the AI-written Key Changes and narrative. If the prose and the XBRL row disagree, treat the XBRL table (and the linked EDGAR filing) as the source of truth for those line items, and tell us if something looks wrong.

6. Materiality Scores

Each bullet in a report is tagged with a materiality score that rates its potential impact on investors:

Bullets are sorted by materiality (high first) so the most important changes are always at the top.

7. Red Flag Alerts

When the AI detects certain high-risk trigger phrases in a filing, a red flag banner appears at the top of the report. Triggers include:

• "Going concern" language (new or worsened)
• Material weakness in internal controls
• Restatement of prior financials
• Related-party transactions
• Goodwill or asset impairment
• SEC investigation or securities litigation
• Covenant violation or debt default
• Delisting notices
• Auditor change or resignation
• CEO or CFO departure (8-K filings)
• Bank / regulatory enforcement language (e.g. consent order, cease and desist) when material and newly disclosed or terminated

Each red flag shows the trigger phrase, its status (new, removed, worsened, improved), and a plain-English explanation. Filings with red flags are also marked on the ticker page with a Red flag badge.

8. Section-by-Section Diffs (Pro)

Open reports (every 8-K, initial S-1s, selected mega-cap 10-Ks and 10-Qs), sample reports, and today's free report include the full section cards for everyone. On other filings, Pro members get the detailed breakdown of changes within each major section.

• Risk Factors — new risks, removed risks, changed language
• MD&A (Management's Discussion and Analysis) — revenue commentary, margin changes, outlook shifts
• Legal Proceedings — new lawsuits, settlements, dismissals
• Controls & Procedures — material weaknesses, remediation updates
• Notes to Financial Statements — accounting policy changes, new disclosures
• Business / Offering sections on prospectus filings (first-filing “added” cards rather than YoY pairs)

Each change shows:

• Change type badge (added, removed, substantive edit, number change, tone shift)
• Investor relevance rating (high / medium / low)
• Verbatim quotes from both the previous and current filing, color-coded: red highlight for removed text, green highlight for added text
• A plain-English explanation of what changed and why it matters

9. Free vs. Pro

* Also unlocked on sample reports and today's free report. The mega-cap 10-K/10-Q list is edited in SiteConfig and can change.

Upgrading to Pro

1. Go to the Pricing page or click any Upgrade to Pro button in the app.
2. You'll be redirected to a secure Stripe checkout page.
3. Enter your payment details. Your 7-day free trial starts immediately.
4. You won't be charged until the trial ends. Cancel anytime from your Account page.

10. Managing Your Account

Your Account page has three tabs:

Profile

• Update your first name, last name, and email address.
• Toggle Weekly filing digest (a summary of the week's most notable changes).
• Toggle Watchlist filing alerts to get emailed within 30 minutes of a new filing for your watched tickers.

Password

Change your password while signed in — enter your current password for verification, then your new one.

Forgot your password? Click the "Forgot?" link next to the password field on the sign-in page. Enter your email, and we'll send you a reset link. The link expires in 3 days and can only be used once. If you don't receive the email within a few minutes, check your spam folder before requesting another.

Plan & Billing

• See your current plan (Free or Pro), trial status, and next billing date.
• Free users see a progress bar showing reports used this month.
• Pro users can click Manage billing to open the Stripe Customer Portal where you can update payment methods, download invoices, or cancel your subscription.

11. Discovering Filings

Notable

The Notable page (nav label “Notable”; URL path /discover/) surfaces interesting filing changes across the market — a curated/interesting feed rather than a pure chronological dump.

All recent reports

The All recent reports page shows the last 50 published reports across all tracked companies, newest filing first. This is a public page — no login required to browse headlines. It updates automatically as new filings are processed. The homepage's "Latest reports" grid is the same data in a more visual layout.

Recent

The Recent page is a broader filing browser — filter by date range (1, 2, 3, 5, or 7 days back) and form type (10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, Offerings for prospectus / shelf takedowns, or all). Useful for spotting what's been filed across SEC EDGAR even if a FilingDiff report hasn't been generated yet. Clicking through to a filing without a report asks you to generate one — visitors are sent to sign up; a verified free account can generate.

Samples

The Samples page lists curated full reports (including section diffs) you can open with no signup — useful for judging quality before creating an account.

Use these pages to discover interesting filings you might not have searched for, or to get a pulse on what's happening across the market.

12. Important Disclaimers

13. Frequently Asked Questions