25 Best Minecraft Mods to Download for 2024

Whether you’re running a Minecraft server on PC or setting up VPS as a server hosting for Minecraft, installing mods can add many perks from optimizing game performance to exploring new worlds. There are numerous mods available – most of them free, developed by the community for the community.

In this article, we will explore the top 25 Minecraft mods available for download. These mods will be categorized into five groups: utility and performance, mobs, solo play, building, and quests. Before we delve into the list, ensure that you have set up your Minecraft server (Java Edition) and are prepared to install mods. Let’s get started!

25 Best Minecraft Mods

Let’s go through these 25 popular Minecraft mods, each offering a unique enhancement to your gaming experience.

Here are our top picks for Minecraft mob mods to explore:

• Pixelmon
• Mowzie’s Mobs
• The Twilight Forest
• Ice and Fire: Dragons
• Lycanites Mobs

These are some of the best Minecraft mods for utility and performance:

• OptiFine
• Sodium
• Here’s What You’re Looking At
• Clumps
• JourneyMap

The following are the best Minecraft mods for solo play:

• RLCraft
• Farming Valley
• JurassiCraft
• The Lost Cities
• SkyFactory 4

Here are some handy building Minecraft mods:

• Just Enough Items
• Create
• Chisels and Bits
• WorldEdit
• BuildCraft

Our top picks for quest mods for Minecraft worlds:

• MC Eternal
• Roguelike Adventures and Dungeons
• Enigmatica 2: Expert
• Dungeons, Dragons, and Space Shuttles
• SevTech: Ages

Let’s take a closer look at each mod and how it can improve your playing experience.

1. Pixelmon

Minecraft version: 1.12.2

Unlike other mods in this section, Pixelmon’s mobs are Pokemon – creatures from the famous Japanese media franchise of the same name. This mod also incorporates Pokemon gameplay into the Minecraft world. In fact, it was designed to mimic the mechanics of the actual Pokemon games as closely as possible.

Using this Minecraft mod, players can catch, battle, trade, and breed their Pokemons. It also introduces various new items, such as Poke Balls, Pokemon Technical Machines, bauxite ore, and Apricorns.

In addition, players can create and achieve their own goals, from winning one-on-one Pokemon battles with other players to completing the Pokedex.

[DOWNLOAD]

2. Mowzie’s Mobs

Minecraft version: 1.7.10 – 1.16.5

The Mowzie’s Mobs mod adds various enemies into the Minecraft game. This is one of the best Minecraft mods for experiencing more challenging gameplay, as the mod increases the game’s difficulty level by including tougher hostile mobs.

These creatures behave according to unique AI codes and lurk in different biomes throughout the world. For example, players may encounter the man-eating plant Foliaath in the jungle, while the heavily armored Ferrous Wroughtnaut can only be found underground.

[DOWNLOAD]

3. The Twilight Forest

Minecraft version: 1.7.10 – 1.17.1

This mod focuses on adventure and exploration, putting an emphasis on traversing dungeons and forests. Players can also gather various items with unique functionalities, meet odd creatures, and engage in boss battles.

The Twilight Forest provides three types of creatures: passive and harmless creatures, hostile mobs, and bosses or larger enemies. Boss creatures tend to reside in their respective structures, and defeating them will unlock new areas of the Twilight Forest.

For example, the Naga can be found in the Naga Courtyard, while the Knight Phantom can be met in the dark forest biome.

[DOWNLOAD]

4. Ice and Fire: Dragons

Minecraft version: 1.10.2 – 1.16.5

This Minecraft mod adds dragons into the base game. The dragons in this mod are unique in that they are not purely hostile – taming them is possible.

Players can engage in various adventures as dragon hunters, including collecting dragon skeletons, scales, eggs, and treasures. You can craft tools and weapons with dragon bones, while dragon scales can be used to create armor. Those who have successfully tamed their dragons can even ride them.

There are three types of dragons: ice, fire, and lightning. In addition to dragons, this Minecraft mod provides other magical creatures, such as trolls, hydras, and pixies.

[DOWNLOAD]

5. Lycanites Mobs

Minecraft version: 1.7.10 – 1.16.5

Built for the Forge mod loader, this Minecraft mod adds over 100 new mobs to various dimensions and biomes. The creatures include harmless and farmable animals, hostile beings, and elementals spawning from nature.

A Minecraft player can tame a creature and bind them with the Soulstone, allowing them to summon and dismiss the being at will. Players can also summon a horde of creatures on the battlefield to aid their fight or at their basecamp to guard it while they are away using a Summoning Staff or Pedestal.

Other activities include creating powerful tools and weapons, exploring dungeon systems and adding new ones, and summoning boss creatures by building altars.

[DOWNLOAD]

6. OptiFine

Minecraft version: 1.7.2 – 1.18.1

One of the most popular Minecraft mods, OptiFine is an optimization mod for running the game faster and smoother. In addition to its numerous graphics and rendering options, users can run various shader packs as well.

In terms of improving gameplay, this essential mod features an FPS boost and VSync. The FPS boost helps increase the framerate, while VSync or vertical sync synchronizes the game frame rate with the monitor’s refresh rate and removes split frames.

It also offers features for modifying how different elements of the game look, letting you change the appearance of water, snow, grass, trees, rain, fog, and objects in the sky. In addition, OptiFine supports HD textures and fonts as well as custom colors, lighting, and block color palettes.

[DOWNLOAD]

7. Sodium

Minecraft version: 1.16.1 – 1.17.1

Much like OptiFine, Sodium is a Minecraft mod for improving the game’s performance and visuals. However, this one was built to be used specifically with the Fabric mod loader.

It provides better visual quality while minimizing strain on the machine. Examples of its features are its smooth lighting and biome blending for fluids and other special blocks.

This mod also has many features working together to run Minecraft more smoothly. For example, it uses a multi-threading system for block updates to reduce lag spikes and culls invisible chunk faces when rendering graphics to decrease memory bandwidth usage.

In addition, users can use this Minecraft mod to run various shaders at a high FPS and switch between them with ease.

[DOWNLOAD]

8. Here’s What You’re Looking At

Minecraft version: 1.10.2 – 1.16.5

One of the most helpful and lightweight Minecraft mods, Here’s What You’re Looking At or HYWLA helps users identify any block or item within the game.

Simply hover the cursor over an item, and the tool will tell you what it is. It can even tell you which mod the item comes from.

This simple mod is the successor of a popular utility mod called What Am I Looking At or WAILA, which is no longer updated.

[DOWNLOAD]

9. Clumps

Minecraft version: 1.10.2 – 1.18.1

In terms of optimization, this Minecraft mod focuses on one of the main reasons behind FPS drops: numerous experience orbs floating around in the area simultaneously.

Players need these orbs to gather enough experience for enchanting their tools and armor. However, your system will typically struggle when rendering all the floating objects.

Clumps fixes this problem by grouping all of the experience orbs floating around in a small area into one single orb, reducing lag and the amount of rendering the system has to do. This simple Minecraft mod also enables the player to collect orbs automatically upon touching them.

[DOWNLOAD]

10. JourneyMap

Minecraft version: 1.0.0 – 1.17.1

While a map item has existed in Minecraft for a while, many players are left underwhelmed with its clunky functionality. It only displays so much, and the geographical data it offers is blurry and often unhelpful.

This is where JourneyMap comes in – it lets users view the world they are in through a custom map. Players can display a mini-map in the corner of the screen, a fullscreen map, or even a map opened in a separate web browser window as they play.

The real-time map shows gamers the lay of the land, where they are going, and various in-game elements. Moreover, this Minecraft mod has numerous configurable options to choose what information is displayed. For example, players can see biomes, FPS, waypoints, icons, villagers, and other players.

[DOWNLOAD]

11. RLCraft

Minecraft version: 1.11.2 – 1.12.2

With the RL standing for Real Life or Realism, RLCraft is one of the most popular Minecraft modpacks. It contains over 100 different Minecraft mods tweaked and bundled together to form a more challenging game. With this mod, players can encounter elements such as dragons, dungeons, castles, and new crafting systems.

Most of the mechanics found in vanilla Minecraft have been modified to make the game more realistic and elevate the level of difficulty. For example, while a player can punch down a tree to obtain wood in regular Minecraft, this mod requires using a flint hatchet.

There is also the addition of the player’s body temperature and thirst level, extra health for players and mobs, and sound filters adding reverb to caves and muted sounds when the player is underwater or in lava.

[DOWNLOAD]

12. Farming Valley

Minecraft version: 1.10.2

Built for lovers of games like Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon, Farming Valley is a modpack that turns Minecraft into a game centered on building a farm and developing a small town.

Players can plant, harvest, and sell crops to obtain money. There are four seasons within the game, and each season has its own special set of plantable crops. Some examples include cabbage, corn, and eggplant.

In addition to crops, gamers can take care of animals like cows, chickens, and sheep and sell animal goods like milk, eggs, and wool.

You can sell crops and animal products to local NPCs, who have their own names and personalities. Players can nurture relationships by talking to them and giving gifts. Eventually, they can even get married.

[DOWNLOAD]

13. JurassiCraft

Minecraft version: 1.8.9 – 1.12.2

A great mod for dinosaur lovers, JurassiCraft adds prehistoric plants and dinosaurs into the Minecraft world. Players can generate baby dinosaurs by extracting DNA from fossils and processing it using various machines.

Examples of dinosaurs in the mod include the Tyrannosaurus, the Velociraptor, and the Triceratops. Find dinosaur DNA in various kinds of fossils such as fossil ores, petrified logs, or fossilized nests.

This Minecraft mod also adds a variety of tools and items for creating dinosaurs and dinosaur museums or parks. This includes machines such as DNA extractors, embryonic machines, or incubators. Players can get around the park using three vehicles: a helicopter, a Ford Explorer, and a Jeep Wrangler.

In addition, you can collect a prehistoric creature’s bones and assemble them on a Skeleton Assembly Table. Once finished, the skeletons can be displayed in the museum. Meanwhile, you can decorate your dinosaur park with items such as murals and attraction signposts.

[DOWNLOAD]

14. The Lost Cities

Minecraft version: 1.11.2 – 1.12.2

This Minecraft mod lets players spawn in an old and abandoned city instead of the regular Minecraft world. They can find partially destroyed bridges, tunnels, highways, dungeons, buildings, and even a subway system.

Users can add new blocks and buildings as well as control how cities are generated. Players who love engaging in combat will most likely enjoy the haunted buildings feature that spawns hostile mobs continuously until the player has killed a specific number of them.

In addition, gamers can combine The Lost Cities with the Lost Souls mod. This additional mod will make haunted buildings more challenging by increasing the number and power of appearing mobs.

[DOWNLOAD]

15. SkyFactory 4

Minecraft version: 1.12.2

Containing over 200 Minecraft mods and over 30 world types, SkyFactory 4 is the fourth version of the original 2014 SkyFactory skyblock modpack.

Skyblock is a popular survival game mode requiring people to create and expand their own Minecraft worlds with minimal materials. With this mod, the player typically starts in an empty world on top of a tree with a block of dirt underneath it.

A notable quality of this version of SkyFactory is its unique resource gathering system. Players can plant Sky Orchard Saplings that grow into trees that drop resources such as iron, gravel, and gold. This Minecraft mod also includes an optional prestige mode that lets players unlock new items, mobs, and mechanics via an open progression system.

[DOWNLOAD]

16. Just Enough Items

Minecraft version: 1.8 – 1.12.2

Minecraft has hundreds of items and recipes, thus keeping track of them may become challenging. Also known by the acronym JEI, Just Enough Items is a simple mod used to address this problem, letting users view items and recipes in Minecraft with ease.

Although the latest version of Minecraft has an in-game recipe book, it is rather tricky to use and only lets players view up to 25 items at once. On the other hand, JEI lets users view and search through hundreds of Minecraft items or sort them according to their source and function.

When you click on an item, the tool will display how to obtain it. In addition, this Minecraft Forge mod is compatible with most Minecraft mods.

[DOWNLOAD]

17. Create

Minecraft version: 1.14.4 – 1.18.1

Create is a mod helping players create different useful contraptions and automate processes with rotational power. It also adds new building blocks and mechanical components to vanilla Minecraft.

The Minecraft mod offers various generators for producing rotational force. Examples include a water wheel, the generator that produces power when water flows over it, and a furnace engine, which generates power when an item is smelted or cooked in a furnace or smoker.

The power produced by generators is then used to power machines. Some examples of craftable machines are the mechanical press and the blaze burner. The press is for packing, pressing, or compacting items, while the blaze burner is for heating basins when following mixing recipes.

[DOWNLOAD]

18. Chisels and Bits

Minecraft version: 1.8.9 – 1.16.5

One of the best Minecraft mods for creating structures with intricate design, Chisels and Bits lets players sculpt blocks using chisels of different tiers. Players can choose whether to break down a full-sized block or a single voxel. A normal-sized block can be broken down into 64 smaller pieces.

There are five chisel types: stone, iron, gold, diamond, and netherite. The stone chisel is the entry-level chisel with limited usage, letting users chisel up to 131 blocks. The most powerful one, the netherite chisel, can chisel up to 2031 blocks.

Players can use the chisel to sculpt custom stairs, pillars, statues, and even signs with detailed designs. This Forge mod also lets players copy and paste designs they make, so there is no need to manually create the same design repeatedly.

[DOWNLOAD]

19. WorldEdit

Minecraft version: 1.7.10 – 1.18.1

Providing all the tools to speed up building processes, WorldEdit is a handy construction mod for Minecraft. Players can use different mathematical equations, shared construction files, and 3D brushes to build various structures.

With Minecraft commands, users can construct, copy, and paste different area blueprints. They can also use the different tools to select and fill areas instantly and create various shapes using blocks, including cylinders, spheres, or cuboids.

This construction tool can add or delete thousands of blocks in seconds, making creating large structures easier. There are also tools for manipulating terrain. For example, players can generate snowy areas, forests, and pumpkin patches. Building mountains using brushes and handheld tools is also an option.

[DOWNLOAD]

20. BuildCraft

Minecraft version: 1.5.2 – 1.7.10

This building mod lets players explore their creativity and scale production processes. The main feature BuildCraft provides is pipes for transporting fluids, items, and mechanical energy between machines.

There are many different pipe types, each having its own distinct function. For example, a wooden pipe is one of the most basic pipe types that can extract items from mod items, furnaces, and chests. Another example is a gold pipe used to accelerate the transporting process by speeding any item passing through it.

In addition to the many different pipes, there are automatic mining devices and building tools to increase productivity. Furthermore, players can use different types of engines to generate power.

[DOWNLOAD]

21. MC Eternal

Minecraft version: 1.12.2

Containing around 300 mods, MC Eternal is a modpack promising something for everyone. It has over 700 quests and counting, some consisting of simple tasks and others having more challenging goals taking days to achieve.

This mod has RPG elements, letting players choose roles such as a farmer or a mage and start a town filled with various citizens. It also has a custom economy system where gamers can trade items and earn money.

With this Minecraft mod, players get to explore multiple dimensions with their own structures and bosses, automate crafting processes, and create various items such as jetpacks, solar panels, power suits, and rocketships. There are numerous collectibles and artifacts to gather, many monsters to fight, dozens of tameable creatures, and lots of new dungeons to explore.

[DOWNLOAD]

22. Roguelike Adventures and Dungeons

Minecraft version: 1.12.2

This modpack is centered on exploration, adventure, looting, and fighting. Roguelike Adventures and Dungeons sets itself apart from other modpacks by having the unique quality of containing no tech mods.

The fantasy-themed modpack contains over 100 different mods. As they complete quests, players can discover new dimensions, explore roguelike dungeons and structures to find loot, and improve their skills and equipment.

There are doors and portals teleporting players to different traps, puzzles, and mazes. Players can also cast spells, tame dragons, and fight various mobs. Upon finishing quests, they will earn coins that can be exchanged for valuable rewards.

[DOWNLOAD]

23. Enigmatica 2: Expert

Minecraft version: 1.12.2

This is the expert version of the Enigmatica 2 modpack. As the name suggests, its difficulty level is higher as Enigmatica 2: Expert contains tougher enemies, like an ender dragon, and more complex crafting recipes. This modpack contains over 600 quests.

Progressing through the questing system requires almost every mod in the modpack. Players can view quests in the Questing Book acquired after spawning into the Minecraft world. The modpack’s main goal is to finish its Bragging Rights questline by crafting every craftable creative item.

As many crafting recipes require a huge amount of materials, automation is an integral aspect of this modpack. In addition to enjoying the new world generation, players can follow custom recipes, fight unique mobs, and learn new magic, adventure, tech, and building mechanisms.

[DOWNLOAD]

24. Dungeons, Dragons, and Space Shuttles

Minecraft version: 1.12.2

Offering an impressive number of over 1000 quests, this modpack lets players dabble in various fields: agriculture, magic, technology, science, and adventure. Most of its quests give players rewards that can help them progress in the game.

In terms of food and agriculture, this expansive mod adds its own customized food and alcohol brewing systems. In addition to enjoying new ways to take care of animals, players can genetically manipulate trees, bees, and butterflies. There are also crops to plant and grow for obtaining materials.

Players can also craft many customized tools and start scientific projects like building airships, jetpacks, or power generators. Furthermore, they can experience unique magical abilities, such as star or blood magic.

As for adventure, the mod contains cave networks, underground structures, ruins, other planets, and over 20 different dimensions.

[DOWNLOAD]

25. SevTech: Ages

Minecraft version: 1.12.2

A modpack focused on providing a long-term quest progression experience, SevTech: Ages guides players through different periods using an advancement system. At the same time, however, the pack still lets users explore their creativity through an open sandbox setup.

Players will unlock six ages as they go: Stone, Bronze, Medieval, Industrial, Modern, Futuristic, and Creative. Stone is the first and most basic age, while Creative is the last. Players can access it after unlocking the Futuristic age and crafting an Ultimate Crafting Table.

Each age comes with its own mobs and items. For example, when players get to the Medieval Age, they will unlock four ores: Iron, Gold, Lapis Lazuli, and the Rock Crystal Ore. Examples of mobs players can unlock are the space mobs they will encounter in the Futuristic Age, consisting of hungry zombies, skeletons, witches, and Endermen.

[DOWNLOAD]

Conclusion

Players may install Minecraft mods to alter the different aspects of Minecraft, providing new gaming experiences and increasing the game’s replay value. There are many mods, and most are available for free. They serve different purposes, from improving graphics rendering to adding new biomes, worlds, and mobs.

We have discussed 25 of the very best mods, with five Minecraft mods for each of the five different categories. If you are overwhelmed by all the choices, our experts have narrowed down the selection to five essential mods, recommending the best Minecraft mod for each category:

• Best utility and performance mod: OptiFine – optimizes game speed and Minecraft’s graphics rendering.
• Best mob mod: Pixelmon – incorporates elements of the Pokemon world into Minecraft.
• Best mod for solo play: RLCraft – adds many elements and modifies the mechanics of vanilla Minecraft to make gameplay more realistic.
• Best building mod: WorldEdit – provides numerous features to speed up building structures and manipulating terrain.
• Best quest mod: SevTech: Ages – guides players through different periods via a long-term progression system.

We hope this article has helped you decide which mods to install to get the most out of your Minecraft game. Good luck.

Best Minecraft Mods FAQ