Do you prefer Alpha or Maxis Match CC? (Or a combo)?

For me I like Maxis Match hairs, Alpha makeup, and both types of clothing.

I don't like any "replacement" things (eyes, skin overlays, etc). To me it makes sims look too different from how they're supposed to look and I don't like that

I think they're both fine for different things, but I would never use a combination at the same time.

Just Maxis Match for me.

Generally stick to Maxis match, but like @ladysweettart, have some alpha makeup and clothing. Jeans, in particular for the clothing...really hate how most of the Maxis jeans don't even look a little like denim. Strongly lean toward Maxis match though, like for 99% of what cc I use.

I generally prefer the alpha hairs. I think some of them are done really well. I'm kind of particular about the style I use though.

Clean colorful cartoony aesthetic only for me.

Alpha doesn't match the game's style and looks out of place to me, although I have used alpha clothes before. A lot of alpha hair looks the same to me. The most alpha hair I've used are by Ebonix which is kind of a mix of both. Plus Maxis match is better for my computer and much of it looks bad on lower graphics settings and the hairs can be orange in laptop mode

Maxis match.

Wayyyy back in the day I use to use alpha then I just realized how awful the majority of it was along with most CC creators not attempting to reduce the poly count. 24k to 80k hairs like what???

Too taxing on my computer and just played vanilla for the most part. Alpha just looks odd for this game less you replace everything. Some of it does look really beautiful for creators (usually the same ones that are consistent) that put a lot of effort into their CC. Makeup and shoes seem to work well with both styles as it falls inbetween.

But nowadays majority of it has no texture and there is a lot of photo skinning. That or previewbpics are just heavily edited and they look nothing like they do in game :#

The biggest reason I only use MM hairs is because Alpha hair messes with the genetics, so if you are planning on having children in your game, the genetics for their hair color is going to be messed up if the parents have Alpha hair. I actually really loved Alpha hairs in the Sims 3, and used it almost exclusively, but in that game the hair color genetics remained the same whether it was an Alpha hair or MM. Plus I agree that Alpha style fit in better in Sims 3. The other issue is like LadyKyn said, a lot of Alpha CC doesn't look the same in-game as it does in preview photos, I honestly think most of it ends up having a really cheapish look to it in-game, like it ends up looking like a bad wig or something. But I love the subtlety of Alpha makeup (it's not all overly pigmented like most MM makeup is), and as Stormkeep said, some of the clothing textures look better in Alpha.

I don’t like to force an aesthetic that doesn’t fit with the worlds the sims inhabit. If I were to go for a more “realistic” look I’d want the buildings and landscapes to match - which they won’t.