HFW Mod Manager vs Modrinth

HFW Mod Manager is a free graphical tool for managing and packing mods for supported Decima-engine games. The listed games are Horizon Forbidden West, Death Stranding 2, and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, which is marked as a work in progress. Users can add mod folders or ZIP files by drag and drop, choose variations, preview them with metadata, and pack enabled mods. Named presets save mod lists, and packing follows list order so later entries can override earlier ones. The manager can detect a known game directory and check game-version compatibility. Supported archive formats include .zip, .rar, .7z, .gaia, .forbidden, and .hfwz. Other features include hair patching, batch hair patching, and experimental face-shading fixes for custom face meshes. The Cauldron tab offers asset export, streaming-file building, and animation conversion; some functions require HFW Tools or DS2 Tools. The app is built natively for Windows. Windows users extract the ZIP into its own folder and launch HFW_MM.exe; it is not installed locally. Linux use requires adding it to Steam and running it with Proton 10.0-4 or newer.

Modrinth hosts user-created projects for Minecraft: Java Edition, including mods, plugins, data packs, shaders, resource packs, and modpacks. Search and filters help visitors find projects, including by game version. The open-source Modrinth App is a desktop launcher for installing, removing, and updating mods, and sharing modpacks. It is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, though it is currently in public beta and Linux versions may have issues on some systems and configurations. Modrinth’s open API supports launcher integrations including ATLauncher, MultiMC, and Prism Launcher. Creators can manage team roles and permissions, receive ad revenue, and review page-view, download, and revenue reports. Modrinth Hosting supports Minecraft Java versions back to 1.2.5 and loaders including Fabric, Quilt, Forge, NeoForge, Paper, and Purpur, subject to version support. A free offer provides a 3 GB server for five days for US servers, with no credit card required. The platform has a free plan; Modrinth+ costs $4.99 a month, and customized hosting plans start at $5 a month.