Top 25 best Project Zomboid mods you should know about

Project Zomboid is easily one of my favorite games of all time, but for as fantastic as it is out the box, it's just one of those games that soar when modded to high heaven. Here I'll be listing off the 25 best Project Zomboid mods you should know about.

Best Project Zomboid Mods

Now, this list won't be ranked (except for the last five, which I'd consider to be the cream of the crop) because it's next to impossible to rate mods that can be so wildly different. There'll also be no copouts here; there's not gonna be 15 entries listing off the KI5 vehicle collection, and where needed I'll be pointing out mod series as well as just individual items. The same goes for framework mods (like with #1), in which the framework itself will be ranked, and then any add-ons are up to you.

#25 - Common Sense

Common Sense is a rather simple mod, but one that I can't live without. It does exactly what you'd expect, adding various interactions that just... make sense. Being able to pry open doors if you have a crowbar in your inventory, open canned food with knives, craft sheets, and so much more. If you think you could do it, chances are this mod adds it.

#24 - Functional Appliances

I love root beer. I really do, and I also really love cinema popcorn. So what if you could have those things in Project Zomboid? Well, with the Functional Appliances mod, you can. Adding in a host of interactive appliances around the world like soda machines, hot dog rollers, industrial deep fryers, and many more. Nearly all of these can be moved around, too, meaning you too can live your dream of filling a modest suburban home with industrial kitchen equipment.

#23 - Just Throw Them Out The Window

Just Throw Them Out The Window is a mod that adds one very simple interaction, but it's one I simply cannot abide the absence of. This mod allows you to dump the bodies of your undead assailants... out the window. An absolute must for base cleaning, especially if you take residence in an apartment building.

#22 - Scrap Series

The 'Scrap' series of mods are great for those longer playthroughs, offering you a way to stay lethal long after the bullets have run out, provided you put the effort into levelling up your metalworking skill. There's three mods here (and a framework), offering scrap melee weapons, scrap guns, and scrap armor, all with balanced crafting recipes and new magazines to learn from.

#21 - Undead Survivor

The Undead Survivor mod adds five new outfits you can collect, with the catch being that they're extremely rare, and that you can only find them on some rather unfortunate undead folks. These outfits all offer great core stats, but also offer fair drawbacks, so they don't edge into the overpowered territory.

#20 - Ratpack

It's a regular backpack, but it's also a massive rat. I LOVE rats. No additional notes.

#19 - Soul Filcher Series

The Soul Filcher Series does a lot of stuff—everything from new stuff to farm, recipes to make, and even a fun multicolored pen. Ultimately, it's a whole bunch of quality of life features and additions, and they're ones I can't live without.

#18 - Working Treadmill

Of all the skills to level up in Project Zomboid, none are more difficult than fitness, strength, and sprinting. Requiring near constant attention, whilst also being very difficult to level early on due to your body falling apart after a couple of squats, they can often feel like they're not worth the effort. But with Working Treadmill, you can level all three at once, and train them more before your muscles start to burn too bad.

#17 - Yaki's Hair Salon

Yaki's Hair Salon just adds a bunch of new hairstyles for you to dress yourself up with, and as someone who cares far more for aesthetics than function, they aren't something I can turn down.

#16 - Lifestyle: Hobbies

Lifestyle: Hobbies seems at first glance like it's going to do one thing, but then does a whole lot more than you could possibly expect. This mod allows you to learn instruments, dance, and even... meditate? But then, as if all of that wasn't enough, it has a silly amount of other interactions, like being able to shower, bathe, sit down on furniture (something bizarrely missing from the base game), and even do things like teach your friends skills if you're playing on multiplayer.

#15 - Clean Dirt

I'm a clean freak in real life, which means I want to be a clean freak in Zomboid too. Clean Dirt lets you clean even more stuff than ever before (specifically those weird gross patches of dirt that just sort of build up over time). Must have.

#14 - Tactical Weapons

For something a little more physical, Tactical Weapons is a great expansion to the base game weapons. It might not be quite lore friendly, with the weapons feeling a little too modern, but it does add a long sword, and you can kill zombies with it, and that's pretty cool. It also adds some new craftable weapons, including a Halberd, which is a terribly fun weapon to use.

#13 - Bedford Falls

The next few entries are all map expansions, and each of them are mainstays of my load order. I've done the rounds on the base game map more times than I can count at this point, and that means I need some new stuff to give me reasons to get back out there. Bedford Falls adds a new large urban area nearby Muldraugh, which gives you a nice chance to fit in some Urbex before you go running off to Louisville.

#12 - Chestown

Chestown is also an urban focused map expansion, and far smaller than either Bedford Falls, but what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in quality. Chestown has far more attention to detail than Bedford Falls, and by far my favorite play through of Project Zomboid started here. My friends and I took refuge in one of the high rises in Chestown, and converted the entire top floor into our home. We survived for a good long while, too, until someone (not me) started a fire, and we burned to death in minutes. Fire escapes are important, folks.

#11 - Raven Creek

Yet another big city expansion, but one that exceeds the others by quite a large margin in some areas. Raven Creek is absolutely enormous, but also includes far more variety in the kinds of things you can find. Trailer parks, suburban areas, industrial parks, as well as a silly amount of high rises and high streets. Raven Creek is simply one of the best map expansions there is.

#10 - Expanded Helicopter Events

Expanded Helicopter Events does quite a lot, but to put it simply, it takes the base game helicopter event system and adds a whole bunch of new events to it. As opposed to just a news and police helicopter in the early game (which by default only ever happens once), this mod adds military flyovers which will warn you of upcoming martial law enforcement, FEMA aid drops, jets that will break and move hordes over miles and miles, and in the late game, even raiders. A simple mod that doesn't do anything you wouldn't expect of a zombie apocalypse, and one I find myself bored without.

#9 - KI5 Series

KI5 vehicles are simply the standard in modded vehicles. There are far too many to remotely attempt to list here, but everything from military big rigs to an '88 Volkswagen Jetta, all with great models, animations, balancing and even some customization through the mechanics skill. Plus, there's some easter egg vehicles in there, and let me tell you that there is great joy to be had in stumbling across a Mystery Machine in near perfect condition after a harsh winter.

#8 - Cheat Menu: Rebirth

Cheat Menu: Rebirth is great for those times in which you just need a little extra help, or want to set up a very exact starting scenario for yourself. The amount of options in this mod is near frightening to imagine, but whether you're on your own or running a small group of friends, this mod is an absolute must.

#7 - ZuperCart

ZuperCart is so simple, so obvious, that the fact it's a mod at all shocked me to my core. It adds shopping carts and trolleys, which you can use to lug around a bunch of stuff without having to break your spine. An absolute must, and very well-made.

#6 - Sapph's Cooking

500 new cooking recipes, 500 new items, 40 new drinks and even 10 new weapons. Sapph's Cooking is incredible, and gives chef characters (like me!) a nearly unlimited amount of new stuff to experiment with. Gone are the days of endless stir-fry, here are the days of cheese preparation, Black Forest cake making, and tacos.

#5 - Building Menu

Building Menu completely revamps the base Zomboid building system, not by changing recipes or anything like that, but by completely reworking the absolutely terrible UI into something clean and understandable. It also adds a silly amount of stuff, and if it exists as a tile in Zomboid, chances are you can build it with this. It also offers support for a number of tile packs, so if you're using a lot of map mods, you'll have even more stuff to play around with.

#4 - Draw on the Map

Look, Draw on the Map is meant to allow you to draw freehand on the map to like, I don't know, mark safe houses or something. But, it actually opens up a new endgame to Project Zomboid, in allowing you to draw on blank paper and hand it off to your friends. The possibilities for such an interaction are unlimited, and it's such stupid fun I can't possibly play without it.

#3 - Brita's Series

Brita's series is actually only comprised of two mods, but they're enormous. Brita's Weapon Pack, and Brita's Armor Pack add an insane amount of new guns and military gear for you to kit yourself out in. Custom animations, highly unique systems like grenade launchers, and even silly things like emplacement machine guns are all on the table here. There's plenty of dodgy scaling though, so be sure to shop around for some patches; I highly suggest browsing the settings to disable any post 1993 guns for Brita's Weapon Pack to maintain immersion.

#2 - Dynamic Traits

Dynamic Traits is yet another very simple mod that you feel would be in the base game by standard, but it's not. This mod adds the ability for you to earn and lose traits depending on your actions during a playthrough. Say for example you start with the 'Smoker' trait, but decide to try and kick the habit. Fight through the drawbacks long enough, and eventually you will.

You can also earn very powerful traits like 'Desensitized' over time, which completely prevents panic when faced with Zombies. It even reworks the base traits, nerfing some overpowered ones and buffing some less powerful ones.

All in all, an absolutely outstanding mod to have in any playthrough, and one that encourages good behaviours.

#1 - True Music

There's no two ways about it, if I were only allowed to have one mod forever, it would be this. True Music, a framework for mods that add cassettes and vinyls of whatever you could possibly imagine. Want to load a rifle, hop into your afformentioned '88 Volkswagen Jetta and stick on some Hold the Line by Toto? Or would you rather hold a boombox in your left hand and a Colt in your right as you walk down the main road of Muldraugh? Now you can. As mentioned, this mod is a framework, meaning you'll have to find the mods that add the music you want yourself, but chances are if you want it, someone has it on the Workshop.

If you've found this list helpful and you're looking for some more Project Zomboid goodness from us here at Pro Game Guides, check out our guides on How to level up Mechanics, or Where to find Gas Stations!