You’ve been playing The Sims 4 base game and you’re thinking it’s time to freshen up your gameplay with an expansion, but let me guess, you’re overwhelmed with the number of Expansion Packs and all the options! Which one do you choose?
In this quick guide, I’ve ranked five Sims 4 expansion packs based on their usefulness of features and the amount of fun they provide. As of 2023 with 13 expansion packs available, these are often considered by the community overall to be the most worthy additions to the Sims 4 universe, especially if you’re just beginning to get into the game.
Seasons
The Seasons expansion pack was the 5th to release for the Sims 4, it adds weather and seasonal changes to all worlds (or maps). With this expansion pack, Sims can enjoy seasonal activities, such as building snowmen, jumping in puddles, and carving pumpkins. The pack also adds holiday traditions and events with its Calendar.
- The four seasons and their climate effects impact your Sims life and decisions.
- The Gardening Career where you can plant flowers and veggie gardens, specialize to be a Botanist or Floral Designer is a great way to make Simoleons!
- Seasonal activities allow your Sims to make snow angels, play in the kiddie pool or jump in piles of leaves during fall, and more.
- Go skating at a roller rink or ice skating rink.
- Decorate your Sims houses with holiday decor and celebrate holidays with activities.
- Seasons calendar lets you create your own holidays, events, and check the weather.
- 158 Build Pieces with a theme on holidays, outdoor, and gardening.
- 150 Create-A-Sim outfits, clothing, and (13) hair styles.
While it’s true that the Seasons expansion doesn’t introduce a new world map, the seasonal effects it brings can greatly enhance the immersion of your Sims’ stories. As you can see in the picture above, my Sim’s house is covered in a beautiful blanket of snow, courtesy of the winter season. These effects can add so much depth and realism to your Sims’ experiences.
The ability to create your own events is another awesome feature, along with the decor items being some of the most used items in many Sims 4 builds. Not to mention, cute Patchy the helpful scarecrow for your garden.

Get Together
This is the 2nd expansion pack the Sims 4 released and focuses on social interactions and community building. It adds the new world Windenburg, an idyllic European town and countryside with new clubs and group activities that Sims can join, such as dance parties, book clubs, and sports teams. The pack also introduces cafes and nightclubs, where Sims can hang out and socialize.
- Windenburg comes with 4 neighborhoods and 27 lots.
- If you’re a builder Sim, you’re going to love the 330 building pieces that Get Together comes with, and if you like Medieval or Tudor style buildings, you will definitely want these items.
- 113 Create-A-Sim outfits, clothing, and (22) hair styles.
- Two new skills Dancing and DJ Mixing along with new radio stations for DJ music.
- Dance floors, you can get your disco fever flowing with those!
- A variety of games were added like playing foosball, darts, and dance around bonfires.
- You can now assign a lot as a Cafe where clubs can meet and Sims socialize.
- Aspire to be the Leader of the Pack by becoming the leader of the best club.
- There are 15 premade clubs your Sim can join, and you can make your own clubs, with their own unique rules! Here’s a list of the premade clubs:
- Art & Crafts enjoy painting, woodworking, and creative activities.
- Avant Gardes discuss new and innovative ideas.
- Book Club reads and discuss books together.
- Cafe Culture visit cafes and socializing over coffee.
- Fitness Fanatics work out and stay in shape.
- Good Timers have fun and letting loose.
- Mischief Makers like to play pranks and cause mischief.
- Naturalists spend time outdoors and explore nature.
- Paragons focus on self-improvement and personal growth.
- Partihaus enjoy partying and socializing with others.
- Powerhouses are building their careers and achieving success.
- Renegades break the rules and challenging authority.
- Spin Masters enjoy DJing and dancing at clubs and parties.
- Upper Crusts like fine dining and socializing with high society.
- Youngins are teenagers who have fun together.
Get Together is really high on my personal list of favorite expansions for builders and the world is really versatile with so many lots to build homes or businesses on, and a beautiful landscape too. I can’t think of a Sims house or build I haven’t used an item from Get Together in.

City Living
The City Living expansion pack was the 3rd to release and adds San Myshuno a new city world, which offers players a more urban gameplay experience. It introduces new apartments, festivals, food vendors, and jobs. The pack also includes a new trait system that allows players to customize their Sims’ personalities and careers.
- San Myshuno comes with 21 apartments and 18 lots.
- 171 modern and versatile build mode items, furnishings, and artwork.
- 120 Create-A-Sim outfits, clothing, and (7) hairstyles.
- Three new careers Politician, Social Media, and Critic.
- City Native an Aspiration for living your best city life!
- Singing is a skill your Sims can master and make some Simoleons with.
- Two lot types were added, Art Centers allow Sims to enjoy art and music and Karaoke Bar allows for contests and Sims can gain skill with their Singing here.
- 5 Festivals that rotate every few weeks are Geekcon, Humor and Hijinks, Romance, Spice, and the Flea Market.
If you love the energy and excitement of city living, this expansion truly captures that vibe with its towering skyscrapers and bustling cityscape. It’s one of the few expansions that can give your Sims a taste of urban living, and there’s always so much going on. I also recommend Eco-Living, which is another expansion that has a similar urban feel.

Cats and Dogs
As the name suggests, the Cats and Dogs expansion pack allows players to adopt pets and add them to their households. The expansion comes with Brindleton Bay a new coastal world map with a cape-town theme. The expansion introduces new animal breeds, interactions, and traits. Players can train their pets, take them to the vet, and even run a veterinary clinic.
- You can now make your own Cats and Dogs with the Create-A-Pet Tool, and give them outfits!
- Cats and Dogs has 4 neighborhoods and 16 lots in its Brindleton Bay map.
- 219 Building Mode pieces to decorate your house or build a Vet Clinic, plus cat and dog accessories.
- 183 Create-A-Sim/Pet items including base pet designs for Cats and Dogs, and this includes around 25 hairstyles for your Sims and some outfits.
- Vet Clinics are businesses that can be owned by your Sims.
- Veterinarian and Pet Training are two new skills your Sims can master.
- Aspire to be a Friend of the Animals with the new Aspiration.
- Stray Pets can be adopted by your Sims.
While the Cats and Dogs expansion feels a little lighter in content than some of the other expansions listed here, it is highly loved for the ability to adopt and care for pets in any of your Sims 4 worlds.

Get Famous
The Get Famous expansion pack introduces the Del Sol Valley map where your Sims can become celebrities. Sims can pursue acting, singing, or social media careers and work their way up to stardom. The pack also introduces new locations, such as movie sets and award shows, where Sims can interact with other celebrities and fans.
- The Del Sol Valley world has 3 neighborhoods and 11 lots in a coastal “Hollywood” setting.
- Your Sims can master the Acting or master Media Productions (music/video streamer) skills.
- Actor/Actress is a new career where you can actively go to work with your Sim and complete acting gigs. Your Sim will first need to choose an Acting Agency to represent them.
- Literally become a celebrity star with the World-Famous Celebrity or become a Master Actor with these Aspirations.
- Build your Reputation with 7 different types to grow your Public Image.
- The Self-Absorbed trait can be kind of annoying as it comes with micro-managing a narcissistic personality, however the trait adds more immersion to role-play that particular personality.
- 117 Create-A-Sims outfits including 10 hairstyles. The CAS outfits come with some nice costume additions for the acting career or anywhere.
- 155 Building Mode pieces including building facades, luxury furniture pieces, and a lot of useful accessories.
Becoming a star, and getting famous, playing the Acting career are all fun challenges. The only downside I personally found with Get Famous was it’s world, the map just doesn’t offer what I hoped it would for a Beverly Hills and Los Angeles theme, it comes with very few mansions, basic places to visit, and some lackluster lots to build on. It’s the other content in Get Famous that places this expansion high on the list.
Closing Thoughts
With 13 Expansion Packs as of this article The Sims 4 offers quite a lot of options for your game-play, however the cost to invest into each of these all at once is not economical. My suggestion is to keep an eye out for EA or Steam sales, The Sims 4 has sales throughout the year and this would be the best time to add any of their DLC’s to your collection. Expansions usually go for around $39 USD and sometimes you can get them for as low as $19.
I hope this guide offers some assistance in finding your next best Sim expansion. Happy Simming!