Playnite Save Manager vs SaveState

Playnite Save Manager is a Windows plugin for backing up, restoring, and organizing PC game saves within Playnite. It detects save locations automatically, including paths under a user profile, game directory, or emulator directory, and supports relative paths. Backups can include optional notes; when restoring, users can choose an earlier backup and keep selected files or folders from being overwritten. An optional setting creates a backup when a game stops, and the per-game backup limit can be set to 0 for unlimited copies. The plugin also imports and exports save-path configurations, ZIP backup packages, and global configurations with backups. Cloud synchronization runs through Rclone and is described as experimental. Users choose a provider through a setup wizard, but the project does not enumerate providers. Cloud sync can have upload or deletion issues; syncing configuration before a game starts may increase startup time, and restoring before uploads finish can cause cloud pulls or conflicts. Optional version tracking records CRC32 checksums. The plugin is free: free.

SaveState is a graphical app for backing up and restoring video game saves, including games without cloud saves. It creates compressed ZIP backups, offers one-click backup and restore, and can rotate older backups automatically. Users can drop a game launcher shortcut onto the app to detect a game and search for its save folder. The desktop app supports Steam, Epic, GOG, Battle.net, Ubisoft, EA App, Playnite, and Heroic, as well as save discovery for emulators including RetroArch, Dolphin, ares, DuckStation, PPSSPP, and PCSX2. SaveState is free and GPLv3-licensed. Local backups need no account or configured provider; optional synchronization supports Google Drive, WebDAV, FTP/FTPS, SMB or network folders, and Git. Desktop releases are offered for Windows and Linux. Release notes describe Dolphin directory discovery for macOS locations. A separate Android app is in pre-release alpha and supports emulator detection, save scanning, ZIP backup and restore, and profile management. Some emulator saves in protected Android/data paths require a rooted device and superuser access through Root mode. The project describes preflight validation, staged extraction, atomic installation, and attempted rollback if replacement fails.