Pick Immersive Engineering if you want hanging wires and large multiblock machines, or if you play Minecraft 1.12.2 on Forge. Pick Create if you want animated contraptions and a NeoForge release for 1.21.1 from April 2026. Both are Java Edition only, and neither team ships a Fabric file.
Facts here come from each mod's Modrinth page and GitHub licence files, read on 9 October 2026. We did not play either mod, so nothing below judges how it feels or performs.
Immersive Engineering and Create at a glance
| Fact | Immersive Engineering | Create |
|---|---|---|
| NeoForge versions | 1.20.1 to 1.21.1, newest file 12.4.2-194 (5 July 2025) | 1.20.1 to 1.21.1, newest file 6.0.10+mc1.21.1 (21 April 2026) |
| Forge versions | 1.12.2 to 1.20.1, newest file 10.2.0-183 (18 February 2025) | 1.18.2 to 1.20.1, newest file mc1.20.1-6.0.8 (2 November 2025) |
| Fabric | Not planned by the creators | No file from the Create team, the page links a port by others |
| Side | Required on client and server | Required on server, optional on client |
| Required dependencies, newest files | None | None |
| Licence | Custom text, Blu's License of Common Sense | Assets under All Rights Reserved, Modrinth label LicenseRef-Create-Mod-License |
| Modrinth categories | Equipment, technology | Decoration, technology, utility |
| Built-in documentation | Engineer's Manual, crafted with a book and a lever | Ponder, visual in-game documentation |
| Modrinth downloads | 3,635,980 | 27,248,641 |
What each mod is built around
Immersive Engineering
Immersive Engineering
@BluSunrize · Java Mod
Checked Source and install notes
Its page calls it realism-inspired technology with a retro-futuristic look. Power travels through cables spanned between connectors, not through lanes of adjacent blocks. Many machines are multiblocks: the crusher is 5x3x3 and the excavator, with its rotating bucketwheel, is 3x7x8 and described as resource intensive. Generation comes from waterwheels, windmills, biodiesel and more.
It uses the Forge Energy API but, per its page, can be played fully standalone.
Create
Create
@simibubi · Java Mod
Checked Source and install notes
Create describes itself as Building, Decoration and Aesthetic Automation. Its page says the play does not happen inside a bunch of interfaces. You assemble contraptions of animated components in whatever arrangement you choose. It recommends installing JEI, because the vanilla recipe book cannot guide you through its recipes alone.
Loaders and Minecraft versions
On NeoForge the two cover the same span, 1.20.1 to 1.21.1, but Create's newest file is from April 2026 and Immersive Engineering's is from July 2025. On Forge, Immersive Engineering reaches back to 1.12.2 while Create starts at 1.18.2. Neither tops 1.21.1 in our data, so check the latest Minecraft version before planning an instance on a newer release.
Create's older 1.18.2 Forge files require Flywheel (Legacy). Its page says Flywheel no longer needs a separate install as of 0.5.1. For loader differences see Fabric vs Forge vs NeoForge.
When the choice is already made for you
- Your modpack or world sits on Minecraft 1.12.2: only Immersive Engineering has a file there, on Forge.
- You run Fabric or Quilt: neither mod ships for it. Create's page points to a port by others, and Immersive Engineering's team says it will not port.
- Your players cannot all install mods: Immersive Engineering needs the client, while Create is optional on the client but required on the server.
- You are on NeoForge 1.21.1 and want the more recent release: Create's newest file is dated 21 April 2026.
For loader setup, see how to install Forge and NeoForge, then how to install mods on Java Edition.
Trade-offs of each side
Immersive Engineering asks for space and resources. Its own page calls the excavator massive and resource intensive, and its multiblocks need room. Its Forge and NeoForge files stop at 1.20.1 and 1.21.1, it is required on the client, and it will not come to Fabric.
Create leaves layout to you, which its page presents as a design choice, but it expects you to build working contraptions yourself. Its assets are All Rights Reserved. Its Fabric route depends on a port by other developers, not the Create team.
Read the Create licence file before redistributing anything.
Are they used together
The pages we read do not say they are designed to work together, and they list no integration between them. What the data does show: both have Forge and NeoForge files for 1.20.1, and both have NeoForge files for 1.21.1, with no required dependencies on the newest file. Sharing one instance therefore needs the same loader and the same Minecraft version, nothing more from the pages. How they behave side by side is untested by us, so check each project's issue tracker first.
For other options, see the most downloaded tech mods on Modrinth and the most downloaded NeoForge mods.
Which one to pick
Choose Immersive Engineering for wired power, transformers and large multiblock machines, or for an older pack on 1.12.2 through 1.20.1 Forge. Choose Create for animated contraptions, a recent NeoForge 1.21.1 file and a client-optional setup. Loader and Minecraft version settle most cases before taste does.