GTA Online Money Making Guide: Best Ways to Make Money Fast

Start with a solo-friendly heist

The Cayo Perico Heist, run from the Kosatka submarine, is the best-known solo money maker: you can scope, prepare and finish it alone, and the payout is large for the time it takes. Payouts and cooldowns have been adjusted over the years, but it's still one of the best returns on a first big purchase.

Contracts and businesses that pay while you play

Pick businesses that make money with little effort, then stack them:

• The Agency: security contracts and the Dr. Dre story contract pay well and are fun solo.
• The Nightclub: earns passive income and sells goods from your other businesses.
• The Acid Lab: a cheap way into a solid passive business, run from a truck.
• Auto Shop and Salvage Yard: steady contracts and robberies with good payouts.
• Bunker: research and weapon manufacturing that sells for a good price when full.

Weekly bonuses

Rockstar changes bonuses every week — often double or triple money on certain activities. Checking the weekly update and playing the boosted activities is one of the easiest ways to earn more without new purchases.

What not to buy first

Supercars, apartments and expensive aircraft are great once you have income, but they don't earn money. Buy money makers first, upgrade them (staff and equipment upgrades raise production a lot), and treat cars as rewards later.

Shark Cards and buying money

Shark Cards are Rockstar's official way to buy GTA$. Third-party money and modded accounts exist too, but they break Rockstar's terms and can lead to bans or money being removed, so legitimate grinding is the safer path for an account you care about.

Frequently asked questions