Just Enough Items (JEI)

Just Enough Items (JEI) is the gold standard for viewing crafting recipes and item uses in modded Minecraft. Whether you're overwhelmed by hundreds of new items or just can't remember how to craft a sticky piston, JEI makes it easy.

You can search for any item, see how to craft it, or explore all its uses without leaving the game. It also supports custom modded recipes, making it a must-have for modpacks. Its ease of use and seamless UI integration are why nearly every modded player keeps JEI installed.

If you're looking for a newer alternative with similar features and wider mod loader compatibility, EMI is a popular choice among modded players.

Mouse Tweaks

Mouse Tweaks enhances the inventory experience by letting you move items faster using click-and-drag mechanics. No more clicking dozens of times to move stacks – just drag your mouse to quickly transfer items. It also adds a few click shortcuts and wheel tweaks for better inventory control.

Even better, it's a client-side-only mod, meaning you can install it on any profile and still use it in multiplayer without needing it on the server. It's subtle but powerful, and once you've used it, it's hard to go back. Mouse Tweaks is ideal for both vanilla and heavily modded gameplay.

AppleSkin

AppleSkin improves the hunger and saturation HUD in Minecraft. It shows how much food and health each item restores and gives you visual previews before you even eat. This is especially useful in modpacks where food variety is huge, and knowing what's most efficient saves time.

AppleSkin doesn't change mechanics; it just gives you more insight, making it a fan-favorite among minimal HUD enhancers.

Controlling

Controlling makes it easier to manage your keybinds. In heavily modded setups, it's common to have dozens of conflicting controls. This mod adds a search bar to the controls menu and highlights conflicts so you can fix them faster.

Controlling is one of those mods that feels like it should be part of Minecraft by default. For large modpacks or players who love fine-tuning controls, this mod is a huge timesaver.

JourneyMap

JourneyMap adds a full-featured minimap and world map to Minecraft. You can view explored areas, mark waypoints, and even open the full map in your browser in real-time. It supports cave mapping, biome color themes, and multi-world setups.

JourneyMap is particularly useful in exploration or RPG-style modpacks where tracking your progress is key. It's a favorite among players and remains one of the most actively maintained and reliable mapping mods available.

Clumps

Clumps fixes a weird but annoying issue in Minecraft: too much XP causes lag. Normally, XP orbs spawn individually and overwhelm your system. Clumps solves this by grouping them together into fewer entities.

It's especially useful on multiplayer servers, farms, or when using XP-heavy mods. A tiny tweak that can greatly boost performance.

Waystones

Waystones makes getting around your Minecraft world faster and easier by letting you place special teleport blocks. Once discovered, you can instantly travel between these Waystones, making long treks across biomes a thing of the past.

It fits naturally into both survival and multiplayer play, and works great in exploration-heavy modpacks. Whether you're setting up quick access to your mining base or creating a network of locations on a server, Waystones is a must-have for hassle-free travel.

Nature's Compass

Nature's Compass is a utility mod that helps you locate specific biomes by using a special craftable compass. Right-clicking with the compass opens a GUI where you can select any biome in the game (including modded ones), and the compass will point toward the closest instance.

It's especially helpful in modpacks with dozens or hundreds of new biomes, saving time spent wandering aimlessly in search of a particular environment or resource.

Quark

Quark is a modular mod that adds dozens of small, quality-of-life improvements to Minecraft, all designed to feel like they could be part of vanilla. Features range from better item sorting, new decorative blocks, and improved automation options to emotes and more.

You can toggle every feature in its config, making Quark highly customizable and compatible with many modpacks. It's a great all-rounder for players who want a richer Minecraft experience without drastically changing the core gameplay.

Storage Drawers

Storage Drawers introduces a more visual and accessible way to store large quantities of items. Instead of chests, it adds various types of drawers that show the stored item on the front, letting you see what's inside at a glance.

It's perfect for organizing bulk items like cobblestone, wood, or minerals, and is often used in modded automation setups. Thanks to its strong compatibility with other tech and inventory mods, it has become a go-to solution in modpacks focused on storage and efficiency.

Iron Chests

Iron Chests adds a variety of upgraded chests made from different minerals like iron, gold, diamond, and obsidian. Each new chest type holds significantly more items than the standard wooden chest, with Diamond Chests offering up to 108 slots. The mod also includes a Crystal Chest with a transparent front, letting you see its contents. It's a simple but incredibly useful mod for anyone who needs better storage without jumping into full storage systems like Applied Energistics 2. Because of its ease of use and compatibility with many modpacks, Iron Chests remains a longtime favorite for organization.

Enchantment Descriptions

Enchantment Descriptions is a lightweight quality-of-life mod that does one thing perfectly: it explains what enchantments do. When you hover over an enchanted item or an enchantment in an enchanting table or book, it shows a tooltip that describes the effect. This is especially useful when using modded enchantments that aren't obvious. Simple yet incredibly helpful, this mod makes enchanting more accessible and less of a guessing game.

Just Enough Resources (JER)

JER is an add-on for JEI that adds detailed information about mob drops, ore generation, and loot tables. You can see how likely a mob is to drop specific items or view the world generation stats of every ore block in your game. This is extremely useful for modpack players and server admins looking to balance gameplay or find out where to mine efficiently. Combined with JEI, JER turns your inventory screen into a powerful knowledge tool.

Biomes O' Plenty

Biomes O' Plenty is a major world-gen mod that adds over 65 new biomes across the Overworld, Nether, and The End. These biomes come with unique trees, plants, blocks, and ambient features, making exploration much more exciting and diverse. From fungal jungles and mystic groves to volcanic wastelands and flower fields, this mod transforms Minecraft's environment. It's also widely supported by other mods and modpacks, making it a must for players who love immersive, exploration-heavy gameplay.

Applied Energistics 2

Applied Energistics 2 is one of the most powerful tech mods in Minecraft. It adds a full digital storage system where your items are stored in drives and accessed via terminals. The mod includes item autocrafting, wireless access, smart sorting, and energy management systems. While it has a learning curve, the level of control it offers over your inventory is unmatched. AE2 is considered end-game for many modpacks and is a go-to for players building high-tech or automation-heavy bases.

Better Advancements

Better Advancements improves the default Minecraft advancements screen with a more flexible and readable interface. It adds improved background visuals, zoom functionality, customizable tab styles, and clearer descriptions for better UI and UX. This is especially useful in modpacks that include custom advancements, as the default interface often becomes cluttered or hard to follow. Though it doesn't change gameplay directly, it's a great quality-of-life improvement for players who enjoy completing objectives and want a more modern, organized view of their progress.

Tinkers' Construct

Tinkers' Construct is a massive tool-building mod that replaces traditional Minecraft gear progression. Instead of crafting tools with vanilla recipes, you build modular tools using a smeltery system and part-building stations. Tools and weapons are fully customizable and can be repaired or upgraded with special materials. The mod also introduces new crafting stations, modifiers, alloys, and mechanics like tool leveling. It's a mod that rewards experimentation and creativity, and it's widely used in adventure, tech, and progression-based modpacks.

The Twilight Forest

The Twilight Forest adds a new dimension filled with dense forests, castles, dungeons, and boss battles. You access the Twilight Forest by building a portal made of flowers and water, unlocking a progression-based adventure full of mythical creatures, loot, and custom biomes. Each boss encounter must be completed in order to progress through the dimension. This mod is perfect for players who love exploration, combat, and lore. It's often included in fantasy or RPG modpacks and remains one of the most iconic dimension mods in Minecraft alongside the Aether.

Comforts (Fabric/Forge/Quilt)

Comforts adds new sleeping options like sleeping bags and hammocks, which let you skip the night (or day) without resetting your spawning point at home bed. Sleeping bags are useful when exploring, as you don't need to carry or place a bed. Hammocks, meanwhile, let you fast-forward through the day. The mod is simple but adds great flexibility for survival players, travelers, or builders who want more control over the time of day without disrupting their home setup.

Cooking for Blockheads

Cooking for Blockheads adds a modular kitchen system that helps you cook food more efficiently. It includes a cooking table that automatically pulls from nearby fridges, ovens, and cabinets to show only the food you can currently make with your ingredients. No more searching through chests or guessing recipes. The mod also integrates with other food mods like Pam's HarvestCraft, making it essential for farming or kitchen-based builds. It's a great quality-of-life addition for survival players who enjoy roleplay or food-based automation.

Immersive Engineering

Immersive Engineering introduces realistic, industrial-themed machines and tools based on real-world physics and power systems. Instead of boxy machines, it features multiblock structures like crushers, excavators, and diesel generators with moving parts and immersive animations. It uses a unique power system (RF) and introduces wiring, poles, capacitors, and connectors that feel grounded in engineering. This mod is perfect for players who want an industrial tech progression path that emphasizes aesthetics and realism.

Chisel

Chisel adds a massive variety of decorative blocks and textures to Minecraft. With the chisel tool, you can transform blocks like stone, cobblestone, wood, and concrete into dozens of visually unique patterns. It's a dream mod for builders who want more texture options without changing the core materials. The mod doesn't affect gameplay mechanics but allows for highly detailed and personalized builds. It's commonly included in modpacks focused on creativity or base design.

Thermal Foundation

Thermal Foundation serves as the core library and resource backbone for the Thermal series of mods, including Thermal Expansion. It adds new ores (like copper, tin, silver, and lead), materials, and tools that are widely used in other tech mods. While it doesn't offer machines or automation by itself, it lays the groundwork for a cohesive tech ecosystem.

Botania

Botania is a magic-themed tech mod where you generate and use mana to automate, enhance, and explore. It introduces multiple mystical flowers, tools, and artifacts, all wrapped in a naturalistic theme. The mod avoids traditional GUIs, relying on in-world interactions, visuals, and clever item mechanics. With progression systems like the Lexica Botania guidebook and boss fights like the Gaia Guardian, Botania blends nature, combat, and automation into a unique experience. It's both visually beautiful and mechanically deep. For the Fabric/Quilt version of Botania, check this out.

Xaero's Minimap

Xaero's Minimap adds a clean and customizable minimap to the corner of your screen, helping you navigate terrain, spot mobs, and set waypoints. It supports cave mode, death points, and biome overlays. Unlike bulkier minimap mods, Xaero's keeps things simple and stylish. It's perfect for builders, explorers, and anyone who wants better situational awareness without altering the core gameplay.