Find the best flight simulator add-ons for MSFS, X-Plane, DCS, Prepar3D and FSX, including top aircraft, scenery, traffic and utilities.
For general flight simulation, the best add-ons are FlyByWire’s A32NX or Fenix A320 for MSFS, ToLiss Airbus aircraft or the Zibo 737 for X-Plane, and the F/A-18C or Heatblur F-14 for DCS. Add Little Navmap, quality airport scenery and traffic only when they improve the flying you actually do.
No add-on is best in isolation. A complex airliner is poor value for a simmer who mainly flies VFR, while an elaborate airport is wasted if it never appears on your regular routes. We recommend fixing the most noticeable weakness in your simulator first.
Best flight simulator add-ons by simulator
These are the strongest starting points for the major simulators, provided each product explicitly supports the version and platform you use.
| Simulator | Recommended add-ons | Best for | Main caveat |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSFS 2020 and 2024 | FlyByWire A32NX, Fenix A320 family, PMDG 737, A2A Comanche 250, Little Navmap, FSLTL and GSX Pro | Airliners, realistic general aviation, planning, traffic and ground operations | Check whether the product supports MSFS 2020, MSFS 2024 or both. Add-ons requiring external applications are generally PC-only. |
| X-Plane 12 | ToLiss Airbus range, Zibo 737-800X, SimCoders Reality Expansion Packs and AviTab | Detailed airliners, improved general-aviation behaviour and cockpit utilities | Use packages specifically updated for X-Plane 12; older aircraft may load with broken lighting, weather effects or flight dynamics. |
| DCS World | F/A-18C, F-16C Viper, A-10C II and Heatblur F-14 | High-fidelity combat aircraft and detailed weapons employment | Choose by mission and avionics era. Full-fidelity modules demand substantial manual study. |
| Prepar3D | A2A Accu-Sim aircraft, Majestic Q400, FSLabs Airbus products and the matching Active Sky edition | Airliner procedures, training-style flying and established weather systems | Compatibility is tied closely to the exact Prepar3D major version; many older products stop at a particular release. |
| FSX | A2A aircraft, Majestic Q400, PMDG 737NGX and an FSX-compatible Active Sky edition | Keeping a mature FSX installation useful | FSX is 32-bit, so heavy aircraft and scenery combinations can exhaust its available memory. Confirm that activation and installer support still function. |
For Microsoft’s simulators, see our detailed shortlist of MSFS aircraft, scenery and utilities. Simmers choosing between premium aircraft across several platforms can use our payware aircraft comparison by simulator and flying style.
Add-on categories that make the biggest difference
Aircraft add-ons usually provide the largest realism gain, while scenery gives the most immediate visual improvement.
- Aircraft: Prioritise these for accurate systems, flight models and operating procedures. Choose study-level products only if you want to use checklists, avionics and failure logic in depth.
- Scenery: Buy or install airports you repeatedly visit, or regional scenery for VFR flying. Global scenery packages consume far more storage and can create overlapping objects; our scenery recommendations explain the useful options for each simulator.
- Flight-planning utilities: Little Navmap is a strong general-purpose choice for route planning, moving maps and airport information without changing the simulator itself.
- Traffic: An injector such as FSLTL can make MSFS airports feel active, but traffic adds CPU load. Avoid running a third-party injector alongside conflicting live or offline AI settings.
- Ground services: Products such as GSX Pro add pushback, boarding and service vehicles. Their value is highest for scheduled airliner flying rather than short VFR trips.
- Weather: A dedicated weather engine matters more in FSX and Prepar3D than in MSFS, where the built-in live weather covers most users’ needs. Never run two weather injectors together.
Are payware add-ons always better?
No; the FlyByWire A32NX and Zibo 737 show that freeware can be among the best aircraft available. Payware earns its price through system depth, documentation, support or specialist modelling—not through the price tag alone.
Before buying, check the supported simulator version, update history, platform restrictions and required dependencies. Our freeware aircraft, scenery and utility library is a practical way to establish what you actually use before paying for a more advanced replacement.
What flight simulator add-on should I install first?
Install one aircraft first if cockpit systems matter most, or one familiar airport if your priority is scenery and local flying.
- Match the exact simulator: MSFS 2020 and 2024, X-Plane 11 and 12, and different Prepar3D generations are not interchangeable merely because an add-on has the same product name.
- Check the platform: PC packages that use separate applications, installers or a Community folder cannot simply be transferred to Xbox or PlayStation.
- Read the dependencies: Liveries, aircraft modifications and scenery may require a separate base package or object library.
- Install one package: Test it before adding anything else. For MSFS, a double-nested path such as
Community\AddonName\AddonName\manifest.jsoncommonly prevents an add-on from appearing. - Add demanding extras last: Large airports, AI traffic and high-resolution scenery are more likely than a simple livery to affect loading time, frame rate or memory use.
The mistake we see most often is installing a large bundle and then having no idea which package caused a fault. Change one thing at a time and keep the original archive until the add-on has passed a basic flight.
Will MSFS 2020 add-ons work in MSFS 2024?
Not automatically; MSFS 2024 can use many MSFS 2020 add-ons, but compatibility depends on the aircraft systems, installer, external applications, copy protection and developer updates.
Use a build explicitly marked for MSFS 2024 where one exists. Keep the two simulators’ package locations separate unless the developer specifically supports a shared installation, and do not assume that ownership on one store or platform grants the same product elsewhere.
On Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, MSFS 2024 users are limited to content distributed through the simulator’s supported in-sim channels; they cannot install PC Community-folder mods. MSFS 2020 was never released on PlayStation.
What usually breaks after installing add-ons?
Most add-on faults come from an incorrect folder level, a missing dependency, overlapping scenery or a package built for another simulator version.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Practical fix |
|---|---|---|
| Add-on does not appear | Archive not extracted, wrong folder depth or incompatible version | Inspect the package structure and confirm that its main files sit at the level required by that simulator. |
| Pink textures or blank cockpit displays | Missing base aircraft, dependency or incompatible livery | Install the documented prerequisite and confirm that the livery matches the exact aircraft variant. |
| Duplicate terminals, runways or jetways | Two airport packages cover the same location | Disable one version and check scenery priority in X-Plane, Prepar3D or FSX. |
| Crash or startup hang | Conflicting or outdated package | Remove the newest add-on. If several were installed together, disable half at a time until the faulty package is isolated. |
| Severe stuttering near airports | Dense scenery, traffic and aircraft systems competing for resources | Test traffic, airport scenery and object density separately rather than lowering every graphics setting at once. |
For most installations, the sensible order is one high-quality aircraft, one frequently used airport or region, a planning utility, and only then traffic or ground-service software. VFR-focused simmers should reverse the first two priorities and spend their resources on terrain, landmarks and familiar local airfields.