Return to Answer

• External triggering of pushing/pulling items.
• Item Deployment for Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery
• Post Deployment Publish
• Configuration for syncing item hierarchies
• Automatic Syncing (TDS Classic AutoSync, Unicorn Transparent Sync)
• Item Content Merging (TDS Classic Item Merge Tool, Unicorn's Rainbow Format)
• Item Sync Performance Improvements (TDS Classic Lightning Mode, Unicorn Dilithium)

In addition to the above features, while both tools have the ability to also sync Sitecore roles, Unicorn has the added ability to sync users as well, which TDS Classic doesn't.

• External triggering of pushing/pulling items.
• Item Deployment for Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery
• Post Deployment Publish
• Configuration for syncing item hierarchies
• Automatic Pulling Changes to Disk (TDS Classic AutoSync, Unicorn Data Provider)
• Item Content Merging (TDS Classic Item Merge Tool, Unicorn's Rainbow Format)
• Item Sync Performance Improvements (TDS Classic Lightning Mode, Unicorn Dilithium)
• Serialize/Sync Roles

In addition to the above features, Unicorn has these features:-

• Sync users (Both can Sync Roles, but only Unicorn can sync users).
• Push Serialized File Changes Automatically to Sitecore - Unicorn Transparent Sync (this is arguably dangerous though)

• Code Artifact Deployment
• Delta Deployments (partial project deployment)
• UI for Serialized File/Sitecore Item difference comparison
• UI for 'latest updated items'
• Multi level deployment granularity UI (Item, target, field)
• Update Package Creation for build artifact deployment
• Code Generation (including cross-solution code gen)
• Environment Validation
• Post Deployment Steps
• NuGet packaging of Item projects
• Project validations (preventing bad properties/content in a deployment)
• Content File Sync (auto copying front end files to your site)
• Project Audit Reports
• Copying of extra files outside of the code project
• Config Transforms
• Sitecore Rocks integration

Licensing costs for TDS Classic varies (from first time purchase, returning purchase, bulk purchase, MVP purchase), so for better info, it's best to email [email protected] for that.

• Compatibility with all source control providers (including TFS)
• Code Artifact Deployment
• Delta Deployments (partial project deployment)
• UI for Serialized File/Sitecore Item difference comparison
• UI for 'latest updated items'
• Multi level deployment granularity UI (Item, target, field)
• Update Package Creation for build artifact deployment
• Code Generation (including cross-solution code gen)
• Environment Validation
• Post Deployment Steps
• NuGet packaging of Item projects
• Project validations (preventing bad properties/content in a deployment)
• Content File Sync (auto copying front end files to your site)
• Project Audit Reports
• Copying of extra files outside of the code project
• Config Transforms
• Sitecore Rocks integration

Hedgehog offer a free 30-day trial of TDS Classic on the website. Also, licensing costs for TDS Classic vary (from first time purchase, license renewals, bulk purchases, MVP purchases etc.), so for better info, it's best to email [email protected] for that.

Unicorn is a serialization tool, that states it it's README that it:-

TDS Classic is commercial product that began as a serialization tool, but became a much larger productivity tool, with many other opt-in features for efficient Sitecore development. New features are continually being added to every release, but here is a (non-exhaustive) list of those built-in features (as up to date with TDS Classic version 5.7). (Reach out to Hedgehog directly or check the website/docs for a proper, up-to-date feature list and tool comparison, as I always forget some!)

Unicorn is a serialization tool, that states in it's README that it:-

TDS Classic is commercial product that began as a serialization tool, but became a much larger productivity tool, with many other opt-in features for efficient Sitecore development. New features are continually being added to every release, but here is a (non-exhaustive) list of those built-in features (as up to date with TDS Classic version 5.7). (It's probably best to reach out to Hedgehog directly or check the website/docs for a proper, up-to-date feature list and tool comparison, as I always forget some!)