QSave vs SideSave
QSave
qsave.appSideSave
github.comSide by side
| Figure | QSave | SideSave |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Game Save Managers | 7.9 (#11) | 7.9 (#12) |
| Pricing | QSave describes itself as free and open source. | The project describes itself as free and open source, and its user guide says it has no subscriptions. |
| Purpose | QSave backs up video game save files to the user's Google Drive. | SideSave syncs save data for non-Steam games added to Steam as shortcuts between two specific machines, peer-to-peer. |
| Support | The home page directs users to Ko-fi contributions to help fund code-signing certificates. | The user guide directs users to the SideSave Discord for help and GitHub Issues for bug reports. |
Plans
In their own words
QSave
QSave backs up video game save files to the user’s own Google Drive. It is free and open source, with downloads for Windows and macOS, including separate Apple Silicon and Intel Mac versions. Its game detection database supports more than 19,000 games, and the home page lists Steam, GOG, Epic and Battle.net. QSave searches installed games, and users can search and filter by those stores. Unsupported games can be added by selecting their save folder. Backups can be restored from Google Drive with one click. Cross-platform path remapping is intended to help carry saves between computers, and users can restore cloud-only games or choose a custom restore location. QSave keeps up to five backups per game, skips uploads when save files have not changed, and warns about possible restore or sync conflicts. Individual cloud backup versions can be deleted. The app can run in the system tray and optionally launch at startup. Windows and macOS may show an installation warning because QSave’s code-signing certificates cost money each year; Ko-fi contributions help fund those certificates.
SideSave
SideSave is free, open-source software that synchronizes save data for non-Steam games added to Steam as shortcuts. It pairs two approved machines and transfers tracked saves over a local network or an internet relay, sending only changed content blocks. Versioned snapshots and branches preserve history, while lineage-based conflict detection asks whether to keep the local copy, remote copy, or both. Saves can be restored individually or as complete versions. Detection reads Steam’s shortcuts.vdf file and offers Proton save locations for tracking. The scan excludes real Steam Cloud games, emulator saves, repack-wrapper detection, and portable installs. Optional backups can mirror snapshots to Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, WebDAV, a webhook, or local/NAS storage. SideSave has no accounts or telemetry; relay traffic is encrypted but not end-to-end. The project publishes no releases, so users build the CLI, desktop app, relay, or Steam Deck components from source.