Cloud Saves & Game Save Backup
Ludusavi, GameSave Manager, Steam Cloud, Epic / Xbox / GOG cloud saves.
The "where the hell does this game put its saves?" problem. For broader PC backup strategies / NAS / cloud see general backup ops categories. For Steam Deck / SteamOS save portability see Linux / SteamOS / Deck. For mod profiles (which often need their own backup pass) see Mods & managers. For ROM / emulator save states see Multi-system emulators and Achievements / RetroAchievements.
The 2024–26 reality: Ludusavi has won. The store-bundled cloud saves still cover Steam / Epic / GOG / Xbox cleanly enough but they don't help with non-store games, mod saves, or migrating a 200-game library to a new PC. Ludusavi's shipping a community-maintained registry of save locations for thousands of games and rsyncs them to wherever you want.
Universal save backup
- ★ ★ Ludusavi — MIT OSS; Win/Mac/Linux. The rsync for game saves. Maps thousands of titles to their save locations using the PCGamingWiki community manifest, then backs up to a folder of your choice (sync to Dropbox / Syncthing / NAS / cold storage). GUI + CLI. Restore with one click. Cloud-store integrations via filesystem path. The default in 2026.
- GameSave Manager — free closed Win; legacy. Predates Ludusavi; smaller catalog, not as actively maintained. Pick Ludusavi instead unless GSM specifically supports a title Ludusavi doesn't.
- Save Game Backup Tool — niche; community tools mostly displaced by Ludusavi.
Built-in store cloud saves
- ★ Steam Cloud — free; Valve. Per-game; size limits per title (typically generous, sometimes too tight for modded games). Manages conflicts on launch.
- Epic Cloud Saves — free; per-supported-game; varying coverage.
- GOG Galaxy Cloud Saves — free; per-supported-game; coverage thinner than Steam.
- Xbox Cloud Sync (Play Anywhere) — free with Xbox Live; cross-PC/console sync for first-party / Game Pass titles.
- PSN Cloud Saves — free with PS Plus; PlayStation only.
Mod save / profile backup
- See Mods & managers: MO2 profiles, Wabbajack-installed modlists each have their own save folders. Ludusavi recognizes most engines (Bethesda's
Documents\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition\Saves, etc.) but modded save paths sometimes diverge — verify after first restore.
Sync layer (where Ludusavi backs up to)
- Syncthing — MPL OSS; the default peer-to-peer save sync between PCs / phones / NASes.
- Dropbox / OneDrive / iCloud Drive / Google Drive — paid; works.
- Nextcloud — AGPLv3 OSS; self-hosted.
- rsync over SSH / Tailscale — for the comfortable-with-CLI.
- Cold storage (Backblaze B2, S3-compatible) — for periodic archival snapshots.
Pick this if…
- Default backup, all stores, all games: Ludusavi → Syncthing or your cloud of choice.
- Steam-only, default cloud: trust Steam Cloud, but run Ludusavi too if you've sunk hundreds of hours.
- Modded Bethesda playthrough: Ludusavi + verify the mod-affected save paths + back up the whole MO2 profile, not just save files.
- Migrating to a new PC: Ludusavi backup → restore on the new machine.