After a while Factorio can become slightly annoying. There are some minor quality of life features missing from the game that should’ve been implemented by default. This list will go over 20 of those mods that everyone should have (or at least try out)!
All these mods are also avilable inside the game's "Mods" menu!

 

20. Calculator UI

Mod Spotlight by Xterminator

Tired of alt tabbing out of the game and accidentally turning off the “Alt Mode” in the game?

Fear not fable mortal, I introduce thee, the mod called calculator UI.

With this mod you no longer need to waste your time on tabbing out of the game, because it adds a (plot twist) calculator :o

• Adds a calculator to the game
• That’s all

Download: Calculator UI

 

19. Task List

Mod Spotlight by Xterminator

Organising factorio sessions with your friends can be really hard, but what’s harder than that is keeping track of everything and making sure everyone knows what to do.

With the help of “Task List”, you can’t just write up tasks, you can assign it to people and track the status of the tasks.

• Easily usable UI
• Makes multiplayer (and also single player) a lot more organised
• Makes it harder to get sidetracked in the game

Download: Task List

 

18. Tree Collision

Mod Spotlight by Xterminator

Navigating through the forests in factorio can be an annoying task, to solve the issue you can use “Tree Collision”

This mod changes the hitbox of trees in the game making it easier to roam the planet.

• Both you and the biters can easily walk past the trees.
• Does not affect the hitbox when it comes to cutting them down
• You will not be able to clean the forest as effectively with shotguns as before but grenades and drones will still work

Download: Tree Collision

 

17. WaterFill

Mod Spotlight by Xterminator

It can be really annoying to either be limited to build your prower production (and anything else that needs water) near a lake or to transport the water and spam pipes everywhere.

With the mod WaterFill, you can create your own water sources both for functional and for aesthetic reasons.

• Works just like landfill but reversed
• Easy access to water everywhere
• Can be used for defence purposes, since biters can’t cross the water

Download: Waterfill

 

16. Far Reach

Mod Spotlight by Trupen

It happens a lot of times that your building range is limited, and it can be really annoying in early game, when you don’t have access to your drones.

Though it sometimes feels like a cheat mod, it can still be a nice addition to the game if you don’t abuse it too much.

• You can set and change your reach distance easily
• Gives the ability to build anything anywhere on the map
• It’s basically just like using drones but a lot faster

Download: Far Reach

 

15. Squeak Through

Mod Spotlight by Trupen

In factorio it is way too easy to accidentally lock yourself and get stuck between buildings that you now have to take down. And it can be even worse when you manage to do this in the middle of everything because now you would have to take your time to tear down and replace every building one by one.

Squeak Through, as the name suggests, gives you the ability to move between tight buildings and pipes

• Better movement ability
• No more getting stuck in places because your drones locked you in
• No more wasting your time to get yourself free

Download: Squeak Through

 

14. VehicleSnap

Mod Spotlight by Xterminator

No one knows why the game has to have all possible 360° that a vehicle has to go.

VehicleSnap changes that to only 16 possible directions.

• Works with both car and tank
• You can turn it on and off easily
• Less destruction in your base

Download: VehicleSnap

 

13. Afraid of The Dark

Mod Spotlight by Trupen

I am personally the type who is way too lazy to be bothered with making lamps and putting them everywhere. I would rather just build in complete darkness than to mess around with lamps.

With this mod, you can get new equipment into your armour and better/bigger lamps.

• Better and bigger lamps
• New night vision glasses
• You can adjust how sunny you want the game to be
• You can also turn off the sun and make the game always dark to satisfy your edgy needs

Download: Afraid Of The Dark

 

12. Editor Extensions

Mod Spotlight by Trupen

If you are the type who wants to make every production line perfectly balanced and like to test out everything before actually building it, Editor Extensions is a great solution.

This mod adds a new creative tab to your crafting menu where you have access to unlimited resources and highly upgraded buildings.

• Great mod to test and plan out larger projects
• Gives you new and strong items to the game

Download: Editor Extensions

 

11. Helmod

Mod Spotlight by Trupen

Opening a browser to look up the perfect ratios to automate crafting every item in the game can be tiring.

Helmod adds the perfect ratios into the game and you can easily look up how much you would need from what item to be able to craft whatever you want and how much you want from it.

• You will no longer need to look up crafting recipes online
• Easily understandable UI
• It can save you a lot of time and a lot of calculations

Download: Helmod

 

10. Factory Planner

Mod Spotlight by Xterminator

This mod has a very similar goal as Helmod but with a few twists.

It gives you the ability to create “Subfactories” to separate every production line

• It has an even easier UI than Helmod
• It gives you more information
• Separate your production lines to make everything more clear

Download: Factory Planner

 

9. The Blueprint Designer Lab

Mod Spotlight by Trupen

Designing blueprints can be a bit hard sometimes if you are not that familiar with the game yet.

With the Blueprint Designer Lab, you can easily create and edit your blueprints in the game, without even leaving your save file or without making you feel like you're cheating.

• Makes blueprint making super easy
• You can access a new “dimension” where you can live test and modify your blueprints
• Nothing in that dimension has effect on your world

Download: The Blueprint Designer Lab

 

8. Quality of Life Research

Mod Spotlight by Xterminator

There are many things in the game that would be nice to upgrade, like movement speed, mining speed and reach distance.

Quality of Life Research adds research options to modify your character.

• They are researches, so it feels like you are actually putting effort into getting them, instead of just pressing a button for them
• Faster walking, further reach, bigger inventory and much more
• The game will be much more comfortable in all ways

Download: Quality of Life research

 

7. Even Distribution

Mod Spotlight by Trupen

Distributing items in factorio can be really hard if you want to do it fast.

With this mod, you can easily split all your items between different structures.

• Very easy to use mod
• Evenly distributes every item between buildings
• Easily adjustable settings
• You can also replace items in structures with better versions of them (for example: wood to coal)

Download: Even Distribution

 

6. Electric Trains

Mod Spotlight by Xterminator

It can be tiring to run a coal/rocket fuel line to all your trains or have all your trains go into the same refuelling station.

This mod gives you strong electric trains and new wagons.

• 3 new tiers of electric trains with separate researches
• New and bigger tiers of wagons
• Easy to use, you just need to connect the rails to the power with a new structure

Download: Electric Train

 

5. LTN

Mod Spotlight by Nilaus

Trains can be complicated and frightening for new players, but not frightening enough :)

Logistic Train Network sounds scary at first but once you understand it, it makes the game a whole lot easier

This mod adds new items and new features to make your train networks smarter and more automated.

• Adds new items to the game
• Your train networks will be a lot more efficient once you understand the mod
• After you build up your new railway system, you won’t have to worry about anything with your trains and you can focus on expanding the factory

Download: LTN - Logistic Train Network

 

4. FasterStart

Mod Spotlight by Trupen

Going through the very early phases of the game over and over again becomes very repetitive and monotonous after a few restarts.

FasterStart adds new early game items that you can use to speed up this process.

• Progress through the very early parts of the game a lot faster than you would normally do
• You start with a portable roboport, an exoskeleton, night vision goggles and a portable fusion reactor
• It makes the early game a bit broken but it is a nice addition and doesn’t go over the line too much

Download: FasterStart

 

3. Factorissimo 2

Mod Spotlight by Trupen

If you are worried about your factory destroying the landscape or you just simply don’t want to take up as much space or you just want to organise your factory better, then this mod was made for you.

Factorissimo adds warehouses that you can place and build your production lines inside these new structures.

• They are smaller on the outside
• Warehouses come in 3 different sizes
• You can stack the buildings in each other
• You can move the whole warehouse with it’s content by just picking it up
• Basically a pocket dimension

Download: Factorissimo2

 

2. Alien Biomes

Mod Spotlight by Xterminator

You can get used to the terrain in factorio really quickly and everyone knows that most of the biomes are useless in the game.

Alien Biomes adds 29 new biomes that you can explore.

• More colourful terrains
• The game feels a bit more realistic
• Only changes the biomes, doesn’t make the enemies stronger

Download: Alien Biomes

 

1. Disco Science

Mod Spotlight by Trupen

No explanation need

Download: Disco Science

 

You may also be interested in:

• [Top 15] Factorio Best Settings To Improve Gameplay Experience
• [Guide] 25 Best Factorio Tips and Strategies
• [Top 10] Factorio Best Blueprints