ModWorkshop vs Thunderstore

ModWorkshop is a free community platform for sharing and downloading game modifications, with listings for 65 games. Its catalog includes PAYDAY 2, PAYDAY: The Heist, Noita, and Crime Boss. Visitors can browse game pages, news, forums, Discord links, and community comments, while dependency tracking helps relate required components. Downloading does not require an account, and the site says it does not artificially throttle download speeds. The API is available to anyone and currently supports GET requests only. Open-source, community-maintained mod managers, update tools, and downloaders may integrate through it; official integration into games or developers’ first-party tools is forbidden. Uploaded submissions must be open source, with repository links or source code required for compiled or obfuscated code. ModWorkshop began as The Team Mystery in 2012 and adopted its current name in 2016. It runs on the web and offers an API.

Thunderstore is a mod database and API for developers to publish mods and for mod managers to download them. Its catalog lists over 110,000 mods across 300+ games. Thunderstore Mod Manager installs, updates, and manages mods for supported games; it supports profiles, profile export, direct downloads and installs, configuration editing, and updates for outdated mods. The official site directs users to download the manager for Windows, and the app is powered by the Overwolf Client, which is installed with it. Developers can use linked API and package-format documentation, a manifest validator, and a Markdown preview tool. The free plan is listed at free. Thunderstore directs users and developers to Discord for manager support, game requests, and rejected-upload review requests. Its privacy notice says nonessential cookies are applied only with consent and technical and usage data is generally retained for up to 30 days, with stated exceptions. It also says associated GitHub or Discord account details are not made public unless a user requests publication.