The Sims has become a staple series in the last two decades for fans of the life sim, transcending the boundaries between first-time, casual, and hardcore gamers. So, by now if you’re unfamiliar with the series, you’re in the minority.

We’re currently on the fourth iteration of The Sims, and just like all the previous games, The Sims 4 comes with a variety of expansion packs. Climbing a mountain, raising cattle, and summoning an urban legend are just some of the extras that come with these large DLC packs. But which is the best?

Updated Decemeber 7, 2023, By Helen Ashcroft: The Sims 4 is still expanding, and each new expansion comes with unique features and additions. We’ve updated this list to include the latest expansion, For Rent.

15 City Living

The Sims 4 City Living offers you a chance to experience city life in one of San Myshuno’s apartment blocks. These new house types come with all the joys of community living including rent, noisy neighbours, and DIY requirements. Available in different sizes and levels of repair, there’s something to suit every budget.

Outside the apartments, the city is host to different events, as well as a range of karaoke bars. Music and meals are the heart of this city as street food and buskers line the streets. It’s a different pace of life, but it’s not for everyone.

14 Get To Work

Get To Work introduces four new career paths: doctor, detective, scientist, or retail business owner. The first three are active careers where you follow your Sim to work and complete specific tasks to progress at work. You can also build your own retail business from the ground up and watch as the Simoleons flood in.

The new world of Magnolia Promenade may not be very big or exciting, but the pack also comes with another secret world, that of Sixam. Through the scientist career you can make contact with aliens and enable abductions as well as create portals to visit them on their home planet. You can even play as an alien Sim.

13 Island Living

If you’ve ever wanted to live in a tropical island paradise, rather than just vacationing there, then Island Living is for you. It allows your sim to live on the tropical island of Sulani and experience the culture and beauty it has to offer. From Kava parties to BBQs the whole neighborhood shows up to, this pack is a slice of island life decorated with beautiful Polynesian furniture.

There is a focus on community with frequent festivals, new parties, and neighbors who like to help out by bringing around food and calling in to check on your Sim. You’ll also find new part-time and odd jobs as well as new ways to enjoy island life including sandcastle building, sunbathing, swimming, boating, and diving. You can even meet or become a mermaid in this well-rounded pack. Just make sure you take care of the island, it needs love and attention to thrive.

12 Get Together

The Get Together expansion brings the new world of Windenburg to The Sims 4, where you and your Sim’s friends can create and join clubs no matter however niche they may be!

With this expansion, your Sim can create their own club, join another, and contribute to a group of like-minded Sims. Whatever the club, you have the power to define what attire they should wear and where the club meetings take place. If you want a more social life for your Sim, then this is the expansion pack for you.

The world of Windenburg is the largest in the game so far and includes a range of European influences that spread into create-a-sim and build and buy. There are also many uses for the club system that help you gather Sims together and direct their behavior.

11 Horse Ranch

Horse Ranch allows your Sim to fully embrace ranch life. They can bred, buy or rescue a horse then set to work as a rancher. While you can also keep mini goats and sheep the horses are the real focus of the pack. You’ll need to bond with and care for them so you can train them up to compete, should you desire.

Horses are a fairly limited niche, and the items in this pack are firmly ranch inspired, meaning a limited audience compared to many. However, the standout is the beautiful new world which is incredibly expansive and contains a large amount of things to discover.

10 Get Famous

If you say haven’t practiced your Oscar or Grammy acceptance speech in front of the mirror with a shampoo bottle or hairbrush, we’re not sure if we believe you. Regardless, those of us who own our fantasies of being rich and famous can now live out all the fame and drama vicariously through our Sims with the Get Famous Expansion Pack.

Become a famous actor, a best-selling writer, or a social media influencer. Take your Sims on a journey to the rocky road of fame through hard work and trendy outfits. The fame system has perks and drawbacks that your Sims will discover as they set out on their journey in the glamorous world of Del Sol Valley, where you can work your way up the ladder of fame and even score a legendary diamond on Starlight Boulevard.

9 Cats & Dogs

No Sim’s life is complete without their trusty companion. Dogs are a Sim’s best friend, after all! The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs Expansion Pack does exactly what it says on the tin, bringing the cute and cuddly pets into your world.

You can create all kinds of cats and dogs for your Sims. Add them to your household and watch as your Sims bond with their new best friends. With distinct behaviors and even outfits, no two pets will be the same, providing for a fun and varied experience.

With pets come animal ailments, so you’re going to need a vet! Your Sim can now become the local veterinarian and run a clinic for the neighborhood’s furry friends. While you cannot directly control pets this time around, their behavior is more realistic than ever before, and they make a great addition to any home.

8 Discover University

Attending university has long been a rite of passage in The Sims franchise and The Sims 4 version doesn’t disappoint. While classes at the two campuses are rabbit hole-based, players can instead expect gameplay that focuses on the university experience as a whole and even provides tangible boosts to Sim’s future careers.

Live in dorms, on-campus, or even at home as you attend university at any age from young adult upwards. You can take out a loan or get a grant to pay those fees and truly enjoy your university life. Juice pong, keg stands, robotics or debate clubs, sporting events, and more are all part of the university experience. You can even join a secret society, making this a truly in-depth experience of both higher education and student life. Just don’t forget to repay those student loans or the repo man will come knocking!

7 High School Years

Before their journey to university your Sims can now experience high school, complete with interactive classes, cheerleading practice, cliques, spats, drama, and urban myths. You’ll gain a full school experience, including the chance to attend prom.

This pack is very much teen-oriented, but it does flesh out the life stage well, offering mood swings, relationship challenges and new ways to hang out and enjoy teen life. With a pier including rides, and a new bubble tea and thift store, your Sims can enjoy their social lives in style.

6 Eco Lifestyle

The Eco Lifestyle expansion is one of the most unique the game has to offer. Not only does it introduce a new and changing world but it also affects almost all other residential worlds in your game.

Players can adjust the eco-footprint of their world through their actions and behaviors, making it brighter and greener or smoggier and more industrial. Generating green energy, dumpster diving, crafting furniture or candles, and recycling are just some of the ways sims can now change their world and homes.

There are also brand-new community lots that can be transformed into gardens, maker spaces, or marketplaces. Alongside this are neighborhood action plans that influence NPCs’ behavior in each area of a world. Add in new careers, clothes, and furniture, and you have a pack crammed full of unexpectedly flexible additions.

5 For Rent

For Rent is an expansion which adds a number of changes which will affect the wider game. The new ability to build residential rental spaces from a single room in a regular home, to a custom building with up to six seperate units, is a game changer. It can be applied to lots in any regular world and will really add a lot to gameplay due to the amount of flexibility it offers.

The world itself is small but unique and a joy to play in. Especially when paired with new interactions and community events that come with the pack. These are paired with a wide range of Southeast-Asian furniture and clothing that is enough to kit out an entire home and a family of Sims. Everything matches well and the pack adds an entire experience that doesn’t feel like it’s missing anything.

4 Cottage Living

Cottage Living lets your Sim experience a new way of life in a quaint village. You can raise cattle, llamas and chickens, as well as plant a range of new large crops. If you do a good job you can even enter your produce in the village fair.

This expansion is a slice of country life with nosy neighbours, village gossip, a weekly fait, and some matchmaking requests from a familiar face. Embrace your self-sufficient, mud-loving side in this rustic pack that combines a sense of community with the smell of manure.

3 Snowy Escape

Snowy Escape is an unexpectedly in-depth pack, and we aren’t just talking about the snow here. Mt. Komorebi is a Japanese-influenced world where for the first time Sims can take a vacation in the snow or simply enjoy living in the stunning new neighborhoods. This dual-purpose area boasts new activities to keep all your Sims entertained.

Mt. Komorebi itself is a winter-sports neighborhood with sledding, skiing, and snowboarding available to all. There’s also a brand new Onsen lot type as well as hiking trails, climbing walls, and a festival. Hiking trails and climbing walls can also be found in other neighborhoods, as can meditative walks. Each neighborhood also has its own festival.

Clothing is Japanese-inspired and winter sports-themed, while build-and-buy items reflect East-Asian themes. There are also a number of cultural additions to explore in one of the most extensive additions to the game we’ve seen so far.

2 Seasons

With The Sims 4: Seasons Expansion Pack, you introduce impactful weather and drastically different seasons to your Sim’s life. From white snowy winters to the warm colors of autumn, experience it all with your Sims. As well as the seasons, seasonal activities, and holidays are introduced in this pack. Your Sim can have that white Christmas they’ve always dreamed of!

The Seasons Expansion Pack also introduces plenty of other content to go along with the weather, including seasonal outfits and activities, such as ice skating and fall harvest. One particularly fun part of the Seasons expansion is that you can garden! Gardening in The Sims has been completely overhauled with this pack and the new career brings an entirely new level of care and responsibility to your Sim’s life.

1 Growing Together

Growing Together is a pack similar to Seasons in that most of its features are spread throughout the gameplay mechanics. In this case it adds new elements of realism to each life stage for Sims. Infants are fussier, as well as more chaotic, and need to be taught basic skills, while children can lose teeth and embrace sleepovers.

Memories, new interactions, and events such as family members coming to stay for a few days all combine to add depth to each aspect of Sim’s lives. Combine this with a new world and some beautiful and versatile items in both clothing and furniture and this pack is the strongest we’ve seen.