What is mods.factorio.com and what can you do there?

Updated

mods.factorio.com is the official Factorio Mod Portal. It is the place to browse, search, and find mods for Factorio, including mods built for the Space Age expansion. You can use it to discover new content, overhauls, tweaks, utilities, scenarios, mod packs, localizations, and internal libraries. The portal organizes mods by category, tag, and Factorio version, and offers several browsing views: highlighted mods, recently updated, most downloaded, and trending.

Main ways to browse mods

The portal’s home view is “Browse recently updated mods,” but it also provides other entry points:

  • Highlighted mods — a curated selection.
  • Recently updated — mods with recent changes or releases.
  • Most downloaded — the most popular mods by download count.
  • Trending — mods currently gaining attention.
  • Search mods — a search box for finding mods by term.

These views help you decide whether you want something new, something popular, or something actively maintained.

Searching and filtering

The search box matches your query against four fields:

  • the mod title
  • the mod’s internal name
  • the mod summary
  • the username of the mod owner

To search for a specific phrase, surround it with double quotes ("). For example, searching "space platform" looks for that exact phrase rather than the individual words.

You can refine results using the sidebar on the left:

  • Categories — limit results to one or more categories.
  • Tags — limit results by tag.
  • Ban button — exclude a category or tag from results.
  • Reset filters — click the active tab at the top to clear your filters.

The portal notes that it uses a lot of caching, so new mods and updates can take several hours to appear in search results. If a mod you just published or updated does not show up immediately, that delay is expected.

Categories

Categories describe the broad purpose of a mod. The portal lists these:

Category What it covers Example count shown
Content Mods introducing new content into the game 2125
Overhaul Large total conversion mods 112
Tweaks Small changes to balance, gameplay, or graphics 1770
Utilities New tools or interface adjustments without fundamentally changing gameplay 933
Scenarios Scenarios, maps, and puzzles 36
Mod packs Collections of mods with tweaks to make them work together 72
Localizations Translations for other mods 65
Internal Lua libraries used by other mods and submods 232
No category Mods outside the portal’s categorization, and the default for new mods 251

The counts are shown on the page and give a rough sense of how much exists in each category.

Tags

Tags describe specific features or themes. The portal lists tags such as:

  • Planets — new places to build more factories (225)
  • Transportation — moving the player, whether by vehicles or teleporters (435)
  • Logistics — augmented or new ways of transporting materials, such as belts, inserters, and pipes (745)
  • Trains — expanding what trains can do (281)
  • Combat — new ways to deal with enemies, attack or defense (627)
  • Armor — armors or armor equipment (188)
  • Character — changes to the player’s in-game appearance (97)
  • Enemies — changes to enemies or entirely new enemies (262)
  • Environment — map generation and terrain modification (510)
  • Mining — new mining-related content

Tags are useful when you want a specific feature rather than a whole category. For example, if you want better belts and pipes, the Logistics tag is more precise than the Content category.

Expansion filter: Space Age

The portal includes an Expansion filter for Space Age, the Factorio expansion that continues the player’s journey after launching rockets into space. The page describes it as adding new worlds with unique challenges, novel resources for advanced technological gains, and interplanetary space platforms to manage. The Space Age filter shows 526 mods.

If you play with Space Age enabled, use this filter to find mods that account for the expansion. If you play the base game only, you may want to avoid mods that depend on Space Age content.

Factorio version filter

The sidebar includes a Factorio version filter. This matters because mods are built for specific game versions, and a mod made for an older version may not work after an update. Use the version filter to narrow results to mods compatible with the version you run.

A practical example

Suppose you want a mod that improves train logistics but you play Factorio with Space Age and a recent game version. You could:

  1. Enter a search term such as train in the search box.
  2. In the sidebar, select the Trains tag and the Logistics tag if you want both themes.
  3. Enable the Space Age expansion filter.
  4. Set the Factorio version filter to your game version.
  5. Review the results, then adjust by banning a tag or category you do not want.

The expected result is a shorter list of mods that match your theme, expansion, and version. If the list looks stale, remember the caching note: recent updates may take several hours to appear.

What the portal is not

The page describes browsing and searching mods. It does not state pricing, login requirements, or download terms beyond what is shown. Treat those details as things to confirm on the site itself rather than assuming the portal is free or requires no login.