Apollo by Platform

Apollo vs the Alternatives

Capability Matrix

How to Choose

Stock PS4 and money is fine → Save Wizard. Jailbroken anything → Apollo, free. PS3 saves on a PC desk → BSD still works, but Apollo does more on the console. And if a “tool” promises Apollo results without a jailbreak for free, it’s the one row this table will never have: it doesn’t exist (the honest landscape).

Related Guides

Download Apollo · Apollo vs Save Wizard · Free editors landscape · Comparisons

If Your PS4 Is Jailbroken: Apollo

Apollo Save Tool is the free option, full stop. Open-source (GPL-3.0), maintained, current at v2.4.0, running on the console itself: re-signing, cheat patches (including Save Wizard-format codes), trophy tools, Online Database. Installation is a package install on a jailbroken console — guide here.

If Your PS4 Is Stock: There Is No Free Editor

On a stock PS4, saves exported to USB are encrypted to your account and console keys that only Sony’s ecosystem and licensed tooling can reseal. The legitimate tool for that world is Save Wizard — a paid product at $59.99. Sites claiming a “free Save Wizard” or a cracked editor for stock consoles are distributing something else (usually malware-bait installers). The honest choice on a stock console is: pay for Save Wizard, or don’t edit saves.

The Rest of the Landscape

Adjacent, Legitimate Free Things

• The Online Database inside Apollo — community saves, free, re-sign and play (guide).
• PS4 save decryption on PC exists in the homebrew ecosystem for already-decrypted saves — useful for analysis, not a stock-console editor.
• On PS3, Apollo’s free toolkit genuinely replaced the PC classics — see Apollo vs Bruteforce.

Bottom Line

“Free” and “PS4 save editor” only coexist in one place: Apollo, on a jailbroken console. Everything else is either Save Wizard’s honest $59.99, a PS3 tool mislabelled, or a download you shouldn’t run.

Related Guides

Download Apollo · Apollo vs Save Wizard · Comparison table · Buy a jailbreakable PS4

What Artemis Is

Artemis, by Dnawrkshp, is a PS3 runtime cheat system: it attaches to a running game and applies cheat codes (the NetCheat/Artemis code types) to memory while you play. Apollo’s About material credits it precisely: Apollo’s codebase descends from Dnawrkshp’s Artemis PS3 GUI, and the name pays tribute to it. (bucanero also maintains the ArtemisPS3 continuation today.)

What Apollo Is

Apollo is a save-file manager. It works on the data at rest, not on a running game:

• Re-sign saves (PFD re-signing), unlock copy-protected saves
• Apply cheat patches to save files (Save Wizard, BSD and Game Genie formats) — a one-time edit to the file, not live memory
• Manage trophies, licences, account activation
• Browse and download saves from the Online Database

Side by Side

Which Do You Want?

Want a save from another account to load, a downloaded 100% save adopted, or persistent edits baked into your save file? Apollo. Want codes acting on a live game session on PS3? That’s Artemis territory. Many long-time PS3 users keep both installed — they were never substitutes.

Related Guides

Download Apollo · Version history · PS3 hub · Apply cheat patches

What Each Tool Is

The Relationship Between Them

This isn’t a rivalry so much as a handoff. Apollo’s Patch Engine fully supports the Bruteforce Save Data patch format — the community’s BSD cheat definitions apply inside Apollo on the console. And on feature scope Apollo went further than the PC tool ever did: trophy re-signing and import/export, offline account activation and licence management, PS1/PS2 .PSV conversion, and an in-app Online Database.

When the PC Tool Still Makes Sense

• Your PS3 workflow already lives on the PC and your saves never touch the console between edits.
• You’re working through a large backlog of saves in a desktop file manager.
• Historical note: BSD is a community-maintained classic with no recent releases — treat downloads of it from random sites with the same checksum suspicion as any old binary.

Verdict

On-console convenience wins for most PS3 owners today: Apollo re-signs in place (guide), patches with BSD codes without the PC round-trip, and handles trophies and licences BSD never touched. BSD remains the respected ancestor whose patch library Apollo proudly speaks.

Related Guides

Download Apollo · PS3 hub · Re-sign PS3 saves · Apollo vs Artemis

The Core Difference

The Fact Most Comparisons Get Wrong

Apollo natively supports Save Wizard’s patch format. The cheat codes written for Save Wizard can be applied by Apollo’s Patch Engine on the console. So the choice isn’t really “which cheat library” — it’s “which workflow and which prerequisite”:

• Choose Save Wizard if your PS4 is not (and won’t be) jailbroken. It’s the legitimate route for stock consoles: export the save to USB, edit on PC, copy back. The $59.99 licence is the price of skipping the jailbreak.
• Choose Apollo if your PS4 is already jailbroken. Then Apollo is free, lives on the console (no PC round-trips), re-signs and patches in place, and the same app family covers your PS3, Vita, PSP and PS2 saves too.

What Neither Tool Does

• Neither edits native PS5 saves. (Apollo’s PS5 status: no PS5 version exists.)
• Neither makes online use of edited saves “safe.” There are no anti-ban guarantees — see safety boundaries.
• Neither is made by Sony; both are third-party tools used at your own discretion.

Verdict

Owners split cleanly by console state: stock PS4 → Save Wizard earns its $59.99; jailbroken PS4 → Apollo does the job for free, on the console, and brings four more platforms along. Plenty of long-time users own both histories: Save Wizard before the jailbreak, Apollo after.

Related Guides

Download Apollo · Apply cheat patches in Apollo · Full comparison table · Comparisons