There are various amazing Minecraft mods available for free to everyone that can improve certain features or add completely new content to the game. However, not all of them are compatible with the Fabric mod loader. This guide lists the best Fabric mods for the latest Minecraft 1.21 update, so you can enjoy some amazing gameplay and quality-of-life additions without installing Forge. So, we can skip the chitchat and jump straight in!
Note that we didn’t include Sodium or Iris on this list, as we have already covered them in separate guides. Learn how to install Sodium and install Iris in Minecraft via the in-depth explainers linked here.
1. Just Enough Items (JEI)
If you have ever done any research on Minecraft mods or watched any modded Minecraft series on YouTube, you know about JEI, Just Enough Items mod. It’s an incredible QOL mod that provides a list of all items and their various crafting, smelting, and brewing recipes whenever you open the inventory.
Not only that, but you can also see the items’ uses. This mod is essential in any modded playthrough and is usually included in popular Minecraft modpacks.
2. Fabulously Optimized
Fabulously Optimized is one of the most popular optimization mods available for Fabric. It contains many separate mods that together focus on improving the game’s performance, adding FPS, and generally making Minecraft run much more smoothly. You can achieve some pretty astonishing results with this Fabric mod, so you won’t ever need to worry about modifying settings manually.
3. Essential Mod
You could say that the Essential Mod is quite essential for anyone who wants to play with friends. This mod allows you to create and host a Minecraft multiplayer world for free without a server and invite friends to join it.
Yes, no Minecraft Java server is needed. You can then communicate with them via the in-game chat, as well as share and edit screenshots very easily. There are even free and paid emotes and cosmetics available, so you can really elevate your multiplayer experience.
4. First-Person Model
If you ever wanted to see your character’s body while in the first person view, then the First-Person Model mod is perfect for you. It replaces the character’s head with a camera, so you can freely move around and see your arms and legs, as well as the items you’re holding much better.
This Fabric mod makes the game more realistic and immersive and also provides a dose of challenge to the way you play.
5. Not Enough Animations
Not Enough Animations mod focuses on adding or improving a bunch of animations to the player while viewed from the third person perspective. So, animations like drinking, using the Minecraft shield, bow or crossbow, rowing a boat and climbing a ladder are all enhanced and feel much more realistic and visually pleasing.
6. Shulker Box Tooltip
Have you ever been annoyed because of the fact you have to take your shulker box out of the ender chest and place it down to view its content? Well, that’s no longer necessary thanks to the Shulker Box Tooltip mod.
It allows you to hover the cursor over the shulker box and see all of its contents neatly in an inventory-like grid. This may not seem like much, but this mod saves a lot of time and sanity if you work with shulker boxes frequently.
7. BetterF3
Another quality of life mod on this list of best Fabric mods for Minecraft 1.21 is BetterF3. It replaces the original Java F3 debug screen with a more customizable HUD, which is far easier to traverse and locate specific data on. You can modify the text colors, as well as its position, spacing and more. You can also choose what you want to be displayed, so the info you don’t need won’t distract you.
8. Camera Utils
Camera Utils is an incredible Fabric mod that lets you manipulate in-game camera in several different ways. You can zoom in and out, detach the camera from the player to film a cinematic scene and also completely change the way third person camera behaves.
This way, you can make it look like you’re not even playing Minecraft. Check out the link below to download and play around with this cool camera mod.
9. Nvidium
If you’ve got an Nvidia GPU and want crazy FPS in your Minecraft worlds, then you must check out Nvidium. This mod can make it so Minecraft runs at over 1000 FPS. But, the other unbelievable part of Nvidium is that it allows you to crank up your render distance to crazy 256 chunks, so you can see biomes and terrain very far away.
This makes it very fun to explore your world and also a lot more impressive. Not to mention all the beautiful screenshots you can take and enjoy.
10. WorldEdit
WorldEdit is an incredibly useful builder mod used to make structures and terrain very quickly. It provides selections, schematics, copy and paste feature, brushes, and scripting all while in-game.
If you want to take on a huge building project but are worried about the time it will take, WorldEdit will help you make your dream come true. It’s easy to use but will take some time to get used to.
11. Biomes O’ Plenty
Are you an explorer type of Minecraft player? Do you spend majority of time looking for epic terrain generation, silly structure features or simply enjoy looking at Minecraft biomes and what they have to offer?
Well, Biomes O’ Plenty will be your new favorite mod. It adds over 50 unique biomes with special themes and vibes to the Overworld, Nether, and even the End. Not only that, but it introduces new plants, flowers, trees and building blocks to fit into the new environments as well.
12. Xaero’s Minimap
The perfect Fabric mod to tie in with the previous biome mod is Xaero’s Minimap. It adds a vanilla Minecraft-inspired minimap, which displays blocks, terrain, structures, mobs, items and even the player.
You can also see your current coordinates and cardinal directions clearly, as well as modify the map’s shape and position in several ways to make it easier to read and play the game. This is a must have in case you love exploring and also don’t want to be spooked by unwanted visitors.
13. BetterNether
Minecraft 1.16 Nether update was one of the most important and adored major updates of all time. However, that doesn’t mean Nether can’t get any better, which is proven by the BetterNether mod.
It implements new jaw-dropping biomes, plant blocks, unique mobs, foods, tools, materials, recipes and even massive Nether structures. So, if you want more content from this hell-like dimension then BetterNether is the mod you should try.
14. Mouse Tweaks
Vanilla Minecraft’s crafting and inventory management systems are both greatly improved by the Mouse Tweaks mod. With this QOL mod, you can more easily transfer items around since it modifies the right mouse button mechanic to make it more intuitive. It also adds new left mouse button features that make moving items faster and easier.
15. Chipped
The Chipped mod is a must have for all builders that love decorating. It adds multiple new crafting stations that allow you to turn blocks from different materials into their unique brand new variants.
All of those tables stick to a specific theme, whether it’s wooden blocks, wool blocks, glass blocks or stone blocks. In total, there are more than 10,000 different alternations of block textures. So, download this mod and get straight to building.
16. Mace But 3D
This Fabric mod focuses on the Minecraft 1.21 mace and its controversial 2D item model. Well, it completely replaces it with a 3D model that looks a lot more presentable. It feels much heavier and more powerful and is also more satisfying to use. Though, this is only the case while you’re holding the mace. Otherwise, its 2D texture is used.
17. More Maces
If you’re fine with the 2D mace model, then only one mod can make it better and it’s More Maces of course. This mod currently adds four new maces – anvil mace, blaze mace, end mace, and wither mace – to the game.
These mace have different effects based on the core type they’re made of. For example – blaze mace sets enemies on fire while the wither mace applies wither effect to the targeted mobs.
18. Do a Barrel Roll
Do a Barrel Roll is an amazing mod that affects how the movements and camera behave while you are flying with the elytra. It will allow you to perform all sorts of flips and loops and the camera will follow you accordingly.
With this mod you’ll literally feel like you’re flying a jet and it’s absolutely incredible. However, one downside is that it may cause motion sickness, so use it at your own risk.
19. Creepy Creepers
Creepy Creepers Fabric mod revolves around Minecraft’s most iconic mob – creeper. It adds several new creeper mob variants that have different appearances, sounds and effects. Those are ghostly creeper that can fly, tuff creeper with tuff texture, snowy creeper that spawns snow layers when it explodes, corrupted creeper that can teleport you when it blows up and special Halloween creeper that spawns only on October 31st.
20. Cycle Paintings
The last Fabric mod for Minecraft 1.21 we wish to recommend may not seem like it’s special, but it’s actually extremely useful to have. Considering the fact Tricky Trials update introduced so many new paintings to the game, rerolling them to find the specific one is quite annoying.
The Cycle Paintings mod allows you to simply right-click the painting with another painting in your main hand and cycle it, which makes this process a lot faster. You can also crouch and reverse the cycle order.
With that said, those are the best mods compatible with the Fabric mod loader that all work in the Minecraft 1.21 update. Which mod caught your attention? Tell us in the comment section below!
