5 best vanilla-friendly Minecraft modpacks in 2025

Minecraft Java Edition has a plethora of mods that players can try out. Some mods completely change the look and feel of the game, while others add new core gameplay features. Some of these mods are combined to create modpacks as well. However, some modpacks only consist of simple performance or cosmetic mods that retain the vanilla feel of the game.

Here is a list of some of the best Minecraft modpacks that are vanilla-friendly.

Note: Some parts of this article are subjective and solely reflect the writer's opinion.

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List of 5 great vanilla-friendly Minecraft modpacks (2025)

1) Fabulously Optimized

Fabulously Optimized is the most popular vanilla modpack (Image via Modrinth)

Fabulously Optimized is arguably the most popular vanilla-friendly modpack that players can download. It is an extremely simple modpack that only focuses on increasing the performance and graphical enhancements of the game.

This modpack includes mods like entity culling, dynamic FPS, lithium, phosphor, sodium, animatic, continuity, polytone, and much more. Despite being packed with so many mods, Minecraft's core gameplay features and environment will not feel different.

2) Immersed With Shaders

Immersed with Shaders modpack adds various shaderpacks along with performance mods (Image via Modrinth)

The goal of the Minecraft modpack Immersed With Shaders is to improve the visual and aural experience of the game while maximizing performance. This modpack's main goal is to enhance the player's experience by offering a comprehensive and useful solution, which contains pre-installed shaders that have been carefully tuned for usability and performance.

Furthermore, it adds a wide variety of shaders, including Complementary Reimagined, Sildur’s Enhanced Default, Sildur’s Vibrant Shaders, and Voyager Shader, etc.

3) Vanilla Perfected

Vanilla Perfected improves game performance, brings new UI, mob animations, and a few new structures (Image via modrinth)

Vanilla Perfected is a massive modpack that adds lots of new features to Minecraft, but still manages to keep the game fairly close to the original. This modpack is a relatively new modpack, but it has gained a lot of popularity.

There are a few major new features, like new structures, customizable elytra, etc. Players can explore the world with beautiful shaders on, study every mob with the new mob statistic UI, and even toggle on light mod to see which areas need to be lit. Like so, the modpack packs various resource packs and mods that enhance the visuals and performance of the game.

4) Simply Optimized

Simply Optimized also aims to provide better in-game performance (Image via Modrinth)

The Simply Optimized modpack offers a selection of the best optimization mods out there and automatically sets them up for best performance and visuals in Minecraft.

This modpack is designed to be simple and easy to manage. It implies that the pack comes with very little, if any, quality-of-life or visual improvements by default. Hence, players have the option to install any non-optimization mods by themselves along with this mod.

The modder even claims that it frequently beats other optimization methods in benchmarks because of the many hours of study they have put into developing it.

5) Sodium Plus

Sodium Plus is a modpack that adds various performance mods surrounding Sodium (Image via Modrinth)

Since OptiFine has a plethora of features packed into one mod, many people in the community have tried to replicate the mod through modpacks. Sodium Plus is one of those Minecraft modpacks.

It includes a few bug fixes, quality-of-life adjustments, and minor graphic adjustments. The modder mentioned that some of the mods present in the modpack, like Chest Tracker, may not sit well with some players since it is not vanilla-friendly.

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About the author

Akshat has been a Minecraft writer at Sportskeeda for almost three years. He has loved gaming since childhood, and the fact that Need For Speed Most Wanted is still installed on his PC is proof that the flame burns strong even today. This love for the racing franchise spilled over to F1 fandom, leading him to cover the sport as well for the company.

Akshat's articles have accrued over 19 million views so far at Sportskeeda. He prefers both solo and multiplayer titles and is a huge admirer of popular gamers Shroud and Philza. Akshat places huge emphasis on accurate, relevant, and ethical content, and does thorough research using social media, videos, and a multitude of websites before writing an article.

Akshat's other hobbies include cars, mechanical keyboards, psychology, and philosophy. He would recommend indie and Slice of Life games to a gaming skeptic because of their ease of play, compelling storyline, and message.

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Edited by Akshat Kabra