GTA Online: The best ways to make money

GTA Online from Rockstar Games has become a playground for those who are eager to start their own criminal empire—but you need cash to splash in Los Santos. Our guide has several tips on the best ways to make money in GTA Online. We’ve also included some info regarding general mechanics for those who are new to the game, as well as examples of business rackets that passively net you cash.

 

Consider property locations and upgrades

We’re all familiar with the saying “time is money,” and this holds true in GTA Online. Due to the nature of missions, it’s important to consider where your businesses are located. There are two factors to consider:

• Mission areas: Generally speaking, it’s best to have businesses in areas where most missions take place, such as downtown Los Santos or the docks.
• Proximity to other businesses: Having businesses that are close to each other also helps cut down on travel time.

You can also make costly upgrades to businesses in exchange for various benefits. For instance, facility and production upgrades improve supply throughput for manufacturing. Security upgrades, meanwhile, decrease the chance that your hubs will get raided.

 

Start out with low-paying jobs, then tackle Heists

A lot of activities help you earn more money in GTA Online. These can be as straightforward as NPC missions/quests, robbing a store, winning races, or doing your daily roulette spin at The Diamond Casino & Resort. We also suggest taking a look at our GTA Online beginner’s guide for some additional tips if you’re new to this sandbox world.

Down the line, we encourage you to try Heists. These activities have multiple stages that culminate in an action-packed finale. Among all the Heists in the game, we particularly recommend:

• Cluckin’ Bell Farm Raid: You can start this by meeting up with a policeman named Vincent, who has a “V” icon on your map.
• Cayo Perico Heist: This Heist is for those who’ve amassed enough cash to buy the Kosatka submarine (which costs a whopping $2.2 million).

Heists tend to be challenging, so group up with friends and other players until you’ve fully mastered the ins and outs. Later, you can choose to tackle these activities on your own.

 

Salvage Yard and Auto Shop: Stealing cars and the Union Depository contract

Making money in GTA Online is easy enough if you have a Salvage Yard or an Auto Shop (or possibly even both, if you can afford them).

The Salvage Yard activities include:

• Salvage Yard Robberies: These are akin to Heists, though your main target is a type of vehicle. Once delivered to your Salvage Yard, you can sell the vehicle for a lot of cash.
• Tow Truck Service and Salvage Yard Safe: This requires you to drive a tow truck and deliver a vehicle to a destination. The more tasks you complete, the more your Salvage Yard’s reputation increases—and the more money you passively earn from your personal safe.

You can expect the following from the Auto Shop:

• Car Customization: You’ll receive an order to repair and/or customize a car. You can then drive it to the owner to earn money.
• Exotic Exports: You need to steal a specific luxury vehicle and deliver it to the docks.
• Contracts: These are also similar to Heists since there are a couple of preparation missions and a finale. The one that we definitely suggest is the Union Depository contract since it’s fast and easy (or at least easier) to complete.

Acid Lab: The First Dose mission chain and selling your supplies

One of the best ways to make money in GTA Online is via the Acid Lab, which is unlocked upon completing the First Dose mission chain. Here’s a quick summary:

• The starting mission comes from Ron Jakowski, the “R” symbol at the Sandy Shores area on the map. This leads to a meeting with a character named Dax.
• Dax, who has the “D” icon on the map, provides you with five more missions that need to be completed in order. This even includes a surprising acid trip sequence.
• Once you’ve finished the entire First Dose mission chain, you can pay $750,000 to an NPC named Mutt to unlock the Acid Lab’s functionality.

Note that you can also purchase the required vehicle, the Brickade 6x6, from the Warstock Cache & Carry website. However, it costs $1,450,000—we don’t recommend this method at all since your money can be used for other activities.

Once the Acid Lab has been unlocked, you have to source supplies. We suggest completing 10 Fooligan jobs from Dax at this point, since doing so allows you to buy the Acid Lab’s equipment upgrade. With this, you can purchase a full gauge for your supplies, allowing you to manufacture and deliver the finished product with very little effort.

The Bunker: Become a weapons dealer

The Bunker also offers some interesting ways to earn money in GTA Online. Once you have one that’s set up, you have to procure supplies to max out the gauge. Then, on the terminal, you’re given three options for staff assignments:

• Research: Convert supplies to research a random modification or cosmetic.
• Manufacturing: Convert supplies to weapons that can be sold.
• Both Research and Manufacturing: Staff will attempt to do both tasks equally, though this also slows down the progress bar.

After amassing enough weapons in your stock, choose to sell to Los Santos for a higher profit. You’ll then drive your vehicle to the marked locations to leave your goods—but beware of rival gangs that will attack you along the way!

 

CEO: Warehouses for cargo and vehicles

Owning an Executive Office lets you set up CEO operations and buy three kinds of warehouses:

• Cargo Warehouse
• Special Cargo Warehouse
• Vehicle Warehouse

Generally speaking, the tasks tend to be similar: You need to source and collect your supplies by delivering them to your warehouses. Once you have enough, you can choose to sell to the right buyers by driving the vehicle to the target location.

Motorcycle Club President: More illegal businesses

Once you own a Clubhouse, you can set up illegal businesses for your Motorcycle Club, including manufacturing drugs, counterfeit cash, and forged documents.

The process is similar to other business operations. First you'll need to source and gain more supplies, though you can purchase these directly via the terminal. Then, once you have enough stock, choose to sell and deliver your goods.

You can switch between the CEO role for the aforementioned Executive Office and Bunker businesses, and the President role for the Motorcycle Club. However, take note that some Motorcycle Club jobs can’t be done on your own. You'll have to invite other players to join your gang to tackle the objective.

Nightclub: Passive income, popularity, and accrual of goods

Lastly, one of the best means of making money in GTA Online involves the Nightclub, thanks to the passive income you can earn while playing.

After buying a property and completing the setup missions, you need to keep the Nightclub’s popularity high enough. This is done through the following methods:

• Random instances where you have to throw out an annoying guest or drive a VIP to a location.
• The “Promotion” mission which takes place in the city.
• Rehiring DJs to entertain the crowd.

The Nightclub’s popularity determines how much you earn per in-game day, or roughly 48 minutes in real-time as long as you’re online. This can go up to a maximum of $50,000 and hardly takes any effort.

Moreover, you can hire up to five Nightclub technicians who can be assigned to businesses as long as they’re operational:

• CEO/Executive Office - Cargo Warehouse: Cargo and Shipments
• Bunker - Gunrunning/Weapons Dealer: Sporting Goods
• Motorcycle Clubhouse - Illegal businesses: South American Imports (drugs), Pharmaceutical Research (drugs), Organic Produce (drugs), Printing & Copying (forged documents), and Cash Creation (counterfeit cash).

Technicians acquire more goods over time, and their tasks won’t affect the stocks of existing businesses. Once you have an abundance of goods, you can choose to sell and deliver these products.

That does it for our GTA Online money-making guide. We hope this article helps you grow your criminal empire and amass millions of dollars.

Those who are interested in engaging in the shady underworld of Los Santos and undertaking challenging activities with fellow players should pick up Grand Theft Auto V: Premium Edition, which includes the base game, GTA Online, and the Criminal Enterprise Starter Pack. Likewise, we encourage you to take a look at our GTA Online beginner’s guide for more tips as you begin exploring Los Santos.