Satisfactory Hard Drive tier list: Best Alternate Recipes ranked
Coffee Stain StudiosSatisfactory players can find Hard Drives to unlock Alternate Recipes, and this tier list will rank the best and the worst recipes you can claim.
Satisfactory 1.0 is an exciting resource grind, so long as you don’t have to deal with the game crashing on launch. The open-world factory builder has a lot to offer new and old players and Alternate Recipes are great for optimizing your factory output.
There are a whopping 97 Hard Drives to find across the world and nearly as many Alternate Recipes to learn, so here’s a ranked tier list of the best ones to get in Satisfactory.
Satisfactory best alternative recipes: Hard Drive tier list
| TIER | ALTERNATE RECIPE |
|---|---|
| S | Caterium Circuit Board, Copper Alloy Ingot, Crystal Computer, Dark Matter Trap, Heavy Encased Frame, Insulated Crystal Oscillator, Oil-Based Diamonds, Pure Aluminum Ingot, Silicon Circuit Board, Sloppy Alumina |
| A | Aluminum Beam, Aluminum Rod, Automated Speed Wiring, Caterium Computer, Diluted Fuel, Electrode Aluminum Scrap, Heat-Fused Frame, Heavy Flexible Frame, Plastic AI Limiter, Recycled Plastic, Rigor Motor, Rubber Concrete, Steel Rod, Steel Screw, Super-State Computer, Turbo Diamonds, Turbo Pressure Motor, Uranium Fuel Unit, Wet Concrete |
| B | Adhered Iron Plate, Caterium Wire, Coated Cable, Coke Steel Ingot, Copper Rotor, Electric Motor, Fine Concrete, Fused Wire, Heavy Oil Residue, Infused Uranium Cell, Insulated Cable, Plastic Smart Plating, Quickwire Cable, Radio Control System, Rigor Motor, Silicon High-Speed Connector, Solid Steel Ingot, Steeled Frame, Stitched Iron Plate, Tempered Caterium Ingot |
| C | Alclad Casing, Bolted Frame, Cast Screw, Classic Battery, Coated Iron Plate, Coated Iron Canister, Cooling Device, Electromagnetic Connection Rod, Fine Black Powder, Flexible Framework, Fused Quickwire, Heat Exchanger, Iron Wire, Leached Caterium Ingot, Leached Iron Ingot, Molded Beam, Nitro Rocket Fuel, OC Supercomputer, Pure Iron Ingot, Pure Quartz Crystal, Quickwire Stator, Steamed Copper Sheet, Steel Cast Plate, Steel Rotor, Turbo Blend Fuel, Turbo Heavy Fuel |
| D | Basic Iron Ingot, Cheap Silica, Coated Steel Ingot, Distilled Silica, Electrode Circuit Board, Encased Industrial Pipe, Fused Quartz Crystal, Molded Steel Pipe, Plutonium Fuel Unit, Pure Caterium Ingot, Quartz Purification, Recycled Rubber |
| F | Cloudy Diamonds, Dark-Ion Fuel, Dark Matter Crystallization, Fertile Uranium, Instant Plutonium Cell, Instant Scrap, Iron Pipe, Leached Copper Ingot, Petroleum Diamonds, Pink Diamonds, Pure Copper Ingot, Radio Connection Unit, Tempered Copper Ingot |
Our tiers explained
- S Tier: Best and most recommended recipes
- A Tier: Great recipes
- B Tier: Good recipes
- C Tier: Okay recipes
- D Tier: Bad recipes
- F Tier: Worst recommended recipes
Although Satisfactory has been out in Early Access for some time, its recent 1.0 release doesn’t mean that this is the finalized list. We’ll keep players updated if any of these recipes change or new ones arrive.
Otherwise, this ranking is based on the best optimized and streamlined production for these items. We’ll be using parameters based on this Reddit user’s findings updated for the 1.0 release. An Alternate Recipe will be judged by its use of power, items, buildings, and resources.
The more negative the number, the more efficient it is. And if the number is positive, that means it’s inadequate. If you’re looking for Alternate Recipes for certain items in Satisfactory, use this tier list to figure out which are the best when it comes to optimizing for resource and time efficiency.
S-Tier Alternate Recipes
Dexerto/Coffee Stain Studios| Alternate Recipe | Power | Items | Buildings | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caterium Circuit Board | -1.96% | -0.69% | -2.72% | -1.78% |
| Copper Alloy Ingot | 0.55% | 0.07% | -23.37% | 0.10% |
| Crystal Computer | -1.23% | -2.01% | -2.15% | -1.42% |
| Dark Matter Trap | -0.52% | -1.53% | 0.05% | -2.26% |
| Heavy Encased Frame | -1.83% | -6.53% | -7.65% | -2.77% |
| Insulated Crystal Oscillator | -1.34% | -1.62% | -3.05% | -1.38% |
| Oil-Based Diamonds | -2.54% | -4.89% | -0.82% | -10.88% |
| Pure Aluminum Ingot | -0.66% | -1.67% | -2.16% | -2.16% |
| Silicon Circuit Board | -1.92% | -0.71% | -3.19% | -0.66% |
| Sloppy Alumina | -0.90% | -2.46% | 1.20% | -4.81% |
Any Alternate Recipe under S-Tier is a must-have for your factories. These will make producing goods so much more efficient than the other recipes in lower tiers, so you’re lucky if you come across these.
For example, getting the Copper Alloy Ingot recipe gives you 10 Copper Ingots per 100 minutes instead of the usual one Copper Ingot per 30 minutes. Copper is one of the most useful resources in the game, so getting this recipe is crucial.
Also, if you want that Hover Pack as soon as possible, getting the Heavy Encased Frame Alternate Recipe is much more efficient than making Heavy Modular Frames with the base recipe. This item can also be used to make numerous useful builds such as the Manufacturer, and even a Freight Car to create a train system.
A-Tier Alternate Recipes
Dexerto/Coffee Stain Studios| Alternate Recipe | Power | Items | Buildings | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aluminum Beam | -0.64% | -1.11% | -2.30% | -0.66% |
| Aluminum Rod | -0.33% | -0.54% | -3.06% | -0.71% |
| Automated Speed Wiring | -0.06% | -0.57% | -1.01% | -0.06% |
| Caterium Computer | -1.01% | -1.16% | -1.25% | -0.85% |
| Diluted Fuel | -0.96% | 0.17% | -1.67% | 1.32% |
| Electrode Aluminum Scrap | 0.23% | -1.27% | 1.23% | -5.41% |
| Heat-Fused Frame | -0.35% | -2.77% | -2.57% | -1.00% |
| Heavy Flexible Frame | -1.02% | -3.62% | -3.84% | -2.19% |
| Plastic AI Limiter | -0.42% | -1.02% | -1.57% | -1.20% |
| Recycled Plastic | 0.11% | 0.42% | 0.10% | -0.03% |
| Rigor Motor | -0.02% | -1.17% | -1.12% | -0.68% |
| Rubber Concrete | -0.27% | -1.56% | -3.80% | -4.03% |
| Steel Rod | -0.30% | -0.71% | -3.05% | -0.83% |
| Steel Screw | -0.42% | -0.51% | -5.15% | -0.14% |
| Super-State Computer | -0.83% | -0.97% | -2.77% | -0.40% |
| Turbo Diamonds | -3.09% | -1.73% | 0.71% | -6.00% |
| Turbo Pressure Motor | -0.58% | -0.74% | -0.94% | -0.61% |
| Uranium Fuel Unit | -1.64% | -1.63% | -1.55% | -1.94% |
| Wet Concrete | 0.08% | -0.23% | -4.00% | -0.56% |
A-Tier Alternate Recipes still make great products, and you should certainly choose them when you find them. However, they’re just not as worthwhile as S-Tier, although you still want to aim for these when opening Hard Drives.
One great example is the Steel Screw Alternate Recipe, which can make a whopping 52 Screws within 260 minutes instead of the usual four Screws per 40 minutes. With that normal recipe, you’re only getting 24 Screws within 260 minutes.
If you’re struggling to get enough Concrete to make Platforms, using the Rubber Concrete Alternate Recipe is another great pick. Adding Rubber into the mix will get you nine Concrete within 90 minutes, whereas the normal recipe gives you one every 15 minutes.
B-Tier Alternate Recipes
Dexerto/Coffee Stain Studios| Alternate Recipe | Power | Items | Buildings | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adhered Iron Plate | -0.01% | -0.94% | -0.20% | -0.13% |
| Bolted Iron Plate | -0.11% | 0.25% | -0.44% | 0.00% |
| Caterium Wire | -0.06% | -0.28% | -1.03% | -0.33% |
| Coated Cable | 0.04% | -0.38% | -0.62% | -0.07% |
| Coke Steel Ingot | -0.08% | -0.07% | -0.15% | -2.94% |
| Copper Rotor | -0.01% | -0.27% | -0.51% | 0.17% |
| Electric Motor | -0.07% | 0.68% | -0.50% | -0.53% |
| Fine Concrete | -0.25% | -1.32% | -2.92% | -3.79% |
| Fused Wire | -0.03% | -0.34% | -1.07% | -0.42% |
| Heavy Oil Residue | 0.05% | 0.08% | -0.08% | -0.14% |
| Infused Uranium Cell | -0.03% | 0.51% | 1.31% | -0.25% |
| Insulated Cable | -0.04% | -0.43% | -0.74% | -0.06% |
| Plastic Smart Plating | 0.00% | -0.17% | -0.54% | -0.05% |
| Polymer Resin | 0.00% | -0.01% | -0.01% | 0.01% |
| Quickwire Cable | 0.04% | -0.50% | -0.25% | -0.08% |
| Radio Control System | -0.95% | 0.75% | -1.22% | 0.33% |
| Rigor Motor | -0.02% | -1.17% | -1.12% | -0.68% |
| Silicon High-Speed Connector | -0.06% | -0.59% | -0.71% | -0.15% |
| Solid Steel Ingot | -0.14% | -0.27% | 0.27% | -2.46% |
| Steeled Frame | -0.42% | -0.02% | -1.85% | 0.17% |
| Stitched Iron Plate | -0.03% | -0.51% | -0.24% | -0.04% |
| Tempered Caterium Ingot | -0.04% | -0.87% | 1.39% | -1.48% |
| Turbo Electric Motor | -0.33% | -0.19% | -0.32% | -0.39% |
The Alternate Recipes in B-Tier can grant you decent results, but you shouldn’t be relying on them if you’re looking for the most efficient outcome. Sure, these can create adequate products without using too much power and resources, but they’re not the most recommended.
Take the Adhered Iron Plate, as an example. This Alternate Recipe gives you a Reinforced Iron Plate every 3.75 minutes, which isn’t that far behind the normal recipe that gives one Reinforced Iron Plate every five minutes.
These Alternate Recipes will only streamline your outputs in minor ways, so it’s only sometimes worth choosing these Alternate Recipes if they’re up against worse ones.
C-Tier Alternate Recipes
Dexerto/Coffee Stain Studios| Alternate Recipe | Power | Items | Buildings | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alclad Casing | 0.10% | 0.15% | -0.53% | 0.58% |
| Bolted Frame | -0.39% | 1.39% | -1.60% | -0.12% |
| Cast Screw | -0.01% | -0.05% | -1.51% | 0.65% |
| Classic Battery | 0.03% | 0.19% | 0.54% | -0.45% |
| Coated Iron Canister | 0.01% | 0.06% | 0.06% | 0.06% |
| Coated Iron Plate | 0.01% | 0.06% | 0.06% | 0.06% |
| Cooling Device | 0.08% | 0.01% | 0.24% | -0.23% |
| Electromagnetic Connection Rod | 0.01% | -0.21% | -0.36% | -0.01% |
| Fine Black Powder | -0.04% | -0.03% | -0.12% | -0.03% |
| Flexible Framework | 0.04% | -0.14% | -0.15% | -0.06% |
| Fused Quickwire | 0.22% | 0.93% | -1.53% | 1.07% |
| Heat Exchanger | -0.19% | -0.41% | -0.57% | -0.40% |
| Iron Alloy Ingot | 0.01% | -0.06% | -0.28% | -0.14% |
| Iron Wire | 0.04% | -0.04% | 0.61% | -0.17% |
| Leached Caterium Ingot | 0.31% | 0.27% | -0.34% | 0.15% |
| Leached Iron Ingot | 0.04% | -0.03% | -0.29% | -0.12% |
| Molded Beam | 0.02% | 0.03% | -0.34% | 0.24% |
| Nitro Rocket Fuel | -1.39% | 0.03% | -2.35% | 2.23% |
| OC Supercomputer | -0.73% | 0.95% | -1.76% | 0.64% |
| Pure Iron Ingot | 0.06% | -0.02% | -0.23% | -0.05% |
| Pure Quartz Crystal | 0.36% | 0.27% | -1.21% | 0.61% |
| Quickwire Stator | -0.14% | -0.21% | -0.34% | 0.01% |
| Steamed Copper Sheet | 0.47% | -0.43% | -2.36% | 0.08% |
| Steel Canister | -0.01% | 0.17% | 0.11% | 0.12% |
| Steel Cast Plate | 0.00% | -0.33% | -0.97% | -0.40% |
| Steel Rotor | 0.04% | -0.51% | -0.14% | 0.13% |
| Turbo Blend Fuel | -0.53% | -0.02% | -1.13% | 0.60% |
| Turbo Heavy Fuel | -0.31% | -0.20% | -0.44% | -0.21% |
While these aren’t the worst options, C-Tier Alternate Recipes won’t offer you much of a difference. They may prove useful in dire situations, but they won’t get you the most bang for your buck compared to the higher tiers.
As an example, the Classic Battery is not much of a better Alternate Recipe from the base one. It requires a much more expensive building and more ingredients. Also, the base recipe outputs Water as well, whereas the Classic Battery one does not.
All of these in C-Tier may seem like they give you a better-optimized production, but in the long run, they’re not always worth it. Even when looking at something like the Iron Wire Alternate Recipe, it may produce more Wire than usual, but it sucks up power and eats up more Iron Ingots than you’d like.
D-Tier Alternate Recipes
Dexerto/Coffee Stain Studios| Alternate Recipe | Power | Items | Buildings | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Iron Ingot | 0.05% | 0.06% | -0.17% | 0.14% |
| Cheap Silica | 0.30% | 0.53% | -0.47% | 1.25% |
| Compacted Steel Ingot | 0.15% | 1.58% | 0.48% | -0.85% |
| Distilled Silica | 0.24% | 0.72% | -0.85% | 0.25% |
| Electrode Circuit Board | -0.20% | -0.24% | 0.23% | -1.05% |
| Encased Industrial Pipe | 0.43% | 0.60% | 1.83% | 0.24% |
| Fused Quartz Crystal | 0.15% | 0.28% | -1.29% | 0.66% |
| Molded Steel Pipe | 0.10% | 0.00% | -1.55% | 0.49% |
| Plutonium Fuel Unit | 0.19% | 0.95% | 0.74% | 0.91% |
| Pure Caterium Ingot | 0.68% | 0.32% | 0.47% | 0.68% |
| Quartz Purification | 0.73% | 1.13% | -2.74% | 1.04% |
| Recycled Rubber | 0.96% | 2.06% | 2.81% | 1.41% |
Any recipes in D-Tier are hard to ever recommend compared to other Alternate Recipes from Hard Drives. Only on rare occasions should you go for these recipes, but otherwise they’re not worth the research.
Take Recycled Rubber, for example. The base recipe only requires three Crude Oils, and it churns out Rubber and Heavy Oil Residue. Recycled Rubber on the other hand requires six Plastic and Fuel, which is resource-heavy, all to make 12 Rubber in 60 Minutes without any leftover Heavy Oil Residue.
All of these D-Tier Alternate Recipes will use up more power, items, and resources than you can afford, and they’re not typically worth it.
F-Tier Alternate Recipes
Dexerto/Coffee Stain Studios| Alternate Recipe | Power | Items | Buildings | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudy Diamonds | 4.19% | 5.40% | 1.43% | 11.85% |
| Dark-Ion Fuel | -0.23% | 4.33% | 2.59% | 3.75% |
| Dark Matter Crystallization | 4.62% | 3.00% | 3.19% | 3.38% |
| Fertile Uranium | 2.76% | 2.25% | 2.19% | 2.45% |
| Instant Plutonium Cell | 1.04% | 0.62% | 0.53% | 0.56% |
| Instant Scrap | 1.48% | -2.71% | 1.04% | -0.73% |
| Iron Pipe | 0.24% | 1.46% | 0.60% | 2.02% |
| Leached Copper Ingot | 5.20% | 2.18% | -18.87% | -4.65% |
| Petroleum Diamonds | 3.73% | 6.85% | 11.75% | -9.73% |
| Pink Diamonds | 0.27% | -0.88% | 2.31% | -4.14% |
| Pure Copper Ingot | 12.56% | -4.06% | -4.44% | -11.41% |
| Radio Connection Unit | 0.62% | 2.71% | 3.92% | 2.19% |
| Tempered Copper Ingot | 7.99% | 9.95% | -3.63% | -16.70% |
These are all of the F-Tier Alternate Recipes that rarely should be used in your factories. They cost the most resources and power, making them the worst choices and the Alternate Recipes we would never recommend you learn.
A clear example of how bad these Alternate Recipes are is Cloudy Diamonds. While the base Diamonds recipe used 20 Coal to make one Diamond every half an hour, Cloudy Diamonds require 12 Coal and 24 Limestone, all just for one Diamond every 20 minutes.
These recipes are the absolute worst ones you could employ in your factories, and there’s no reason whatsoever you should be using them. They waste so much more time and resources than you’d like, and there are many better options to choose from.
How to unlock Hard Drives and Alternate Recipes
Players can find Hard Drives at random Crash Sites across the open world. Using your Scanner, you can locate these Crash Sites. After researching a Hard Drive in the MAM, you’ll have a choice of one Alternate Recipe from two or three options.
Choose wisely, because one recipe may be better than the other. Luckily, there are nearly 100 Crash Sites to discover, so you’ll have plenty of time to find Alternate Recipes, which are blueprints for creating certain products.
That’s our full Hard Drive tier list for Satisfactory 1.0. For more on the game, check out our guides for how to make dedicated servers, console commands, all Hard Drive locations, how to download & use Blueprints, and SAM Ore locations.