diff --git a/lib/server/versionFallback.js b/lib/server/versionFallback.js
index 7abf1a3317..c938726e8a 100644
--- a/lib/server/versionFallback.js
+++ b/lib/server/versionFallback.js
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ const CWD = process.cwd();
 const glob = require("glob");
 const fs = require("fs");
 const path = require("path");
-const diff = require("diff");
 const assert = require("assert");
 
 const siteConfig = require(CWD + "/siteConfig.js");
@@ -66,7 +65,10 @@ function extractMetadata(content) {
   for (let i = 0; i < lines.length - 1; ++i) {
     const keyvalue = lines[i].split(":");
     const key = keyvalue[0].trim();
-    let value = keyvalue.slice(1).join(":").trim();
+    let value = keyvalue
+      .slice(1)
+      .join(":")
+      .trim();
     try {
       value = JSON.parse(value);
     } catch (e) {}
@@ -95,18 +97,20 @@ files.forEach(file => {
   const metadata = res.metadata;
 
   if (!metadata.original_id) {
-    console.error(`No 'original_id' field found in ${file}. Perhaps you forgot to add it when importing prior versions of your docs?`);
+    console.error(
+      `No 'original_id' field found in ${file}. Perhaps you forgot to add it when importing prior versions of your docs?`
+    );
     throw new Error(
       `No 'original_id' field found in ${file}. Perhaps you forgot to add it when importing prior versions of your docs?`
     );
   }
   if (!metadata.id) {
     console.error(`No 'id' field found in ${file}.`);
-    throw new Error(
-      `No 'id' field found in ${file}.`
+    throw new Error(`No 'id' field found in ${file}.`);
+  } else if (metadata.id.indexOf("version-") === -1) {
+    console.error(
+      `The 'id' field in ${file} is missing the expected 'version-XX-' prefix. Perhaps you forgot to add it when importing prior versions of your docs?`
     );
-  } else if (metadata.id.indexOf('version-') === -1) {
-    console.error(`The 'id' field in ${file} is missing the expected 'version-XX-' prefix. Perhaps you forgot to add it when importing prior versions of your docs?`);
     throw new Error(
       `The 'id' field in ${file} is missing the expected 'version-XX-' prefix. Perhaps you forgot to add it when importing prior versions of your docs?`
     );
@@ -174,16 +178,10 @@ function diffLatestDoc(file, id) {
     return true;
   }
 
-  const diffs = diff.diffChars(
-    extractMetadata(fs.readFileSync(latestFile, "utf8")).rawContent,
-    extractMetadata(fs.readFileSync(file, "utf8")).rawContent
+  return (
+    extractMetadata(fs.readFileSync(latestFile, "utf8")).rawContent.trim() !==
+    extractMetadata(fs.readFileSync(file, "utf8")).rawContent.trim()
   );
-  diffs.forEach(part => {
-    if (part.added || part.removed) {
-      return true;
-    }
-  });
-  return false;
 }
 
 // return metadata for a versioned file given the file, its version (requested),
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index bbab1b50db..2deb443c53 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
     "classnames": "^2.2.5",
     "commander": "^2.11.0",
     "crowdin-cli": "^0.3.0",
-    "diff": "^3.3.0",
     "escape-string-regexp": "^1.0.5",
     "express": "^4.15.3",
     "feed": "^1.1.0",
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 293100e690..29a75fc17e 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -808,10 +808,6 @@ detect-indent@^4.0.0:
   dependencies:
     repeating "^2.0.0"
 
-diff@^3.3.0:
-  version "3.4.0"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/diff/-/diff-3.4.0.tgz#b1d85507daf3964828de54b37d0d73ba67dda56c"
-
 ecc-jsbn@~0.1.1:
   version "0.1.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/ecc-jsbn/-/ecc-jsbn-0.1.1.tgz#0fc73a9ed5f0d53c38193398523ef7e543777505"