DISCLOSURE: AS AN AMAZON ASSOCIATE I EARN FROM QUALIFYING PURCHASES. THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, MEANING, AT NO ADDITIONAL COST TO YOU, I EARN FROM QUALIFYING PURCHASES. AFFILIATE LINKS ARE MARKED WITH #ad. “I” IN THIS CASE MEANS THE OWNER OF GAMERSNOTALLOWED.COM. PLEASE READ THE FULL DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFO.
Grand Theft Auto 5 is undeniably one of the most popular games ever made.
While many people bought the game for its stellar single-player campaign, others have always been more interested in the GTA 5 Online (aka GTA Online) side of things.
GTA 5 Online is an online multiplayer game that gives you so much to do. You can purchase amazing cars & bikes, weapons, outfits, and other things so long as you have enough cash.
– And trust me when I say, you’ll NEED the cash! Because everything in GTA 5 Online is like ten times more expensive than the single-player campaign!
New players might feel as if they’re missing out due to not having the same cool stuff that veteran players do. You can buy so many amazing things, but you’ll need to earn cash first.
Knowing how to make money in GTA 5 Online will ensure that you’ll be able to have the best cars and weapons to make your experience the best that it can be.
Below, I’ll share some methods that will help you to make cash in GTA 5 Online fast.
1. Do Heists
Doing heists in GTA 5 Online will be one of the best methods for making big cash.
The heists are going to be worth a lot of money, and they’re also a lot of fun to pull off. Some of the heists will be a bit difficult depending on how good you are at the game.
They also require coordination with other online players.
Luckily, you can put together a crew of your friends and work together to make money. You can read more about crossplay in GTA 5 Online here.
The person who is hosting the heist is going to decide how the money gets split up before you agree to take on the job.
If you want to make the most money possible, then you’ll want to either be the host or join a friend’s heist when they’re willing to hook you up with a good cut.
You’ll likely wind up having a lot of fun doing these heists with your friends, and you’ll have lots of cash once you’re finished.
One thing to keep in mind about hosting heists is that you have to front a bit of cash to get the job going. This means that you might need to earn some money doing other things before you’ll be able to host heists.
Join a friend’s heist
You could join a friend’s heist so that you can earn enough money for a good apartment and some nice cars. If you have friends who regularly play this game, then you’ll likely have plenty of opportunities to be invited to heists.
A high-end apartment is required to be able to host heists. This is going to set you back $200,000, and you’ll also need to reach level twelve.
Luckily, this isn’t going to be a huge milestone to reach. You’ll get the money that you need fast, and getting to level twelve is decidedly easy, too.
The variety of different heists in the game is truly impressive. You’ll be taking on jobs from characters that you met in the story of the single-player GTA 5.
This content was first published on GamersNotAllowed.com
The complexity of the heists can be thrilling, and you’ll probably think that they’re among the best parts of GTA 5 online.
Find a reliable crew and you’ll be able to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars from each heist that you complete.
2. Do Scavenger Hunts and Treasure Hunts
Scavenger hunts and treasure hunts can be very lucrative for new players. When you’re starting out in GTA 5 Online, you’re going to get texts from a character named Maude.
These hunts usually involve being tasked with capturing a target to get paid cash. If you manage to capture the target alive, then you earn more cash.
Doing both the scavenger hunts and treasure hunts that are available to you will give you a good bit of starting cash. It’s easy enough to earn around $500,000 without going to too much effort.
This will give you the money that you need for a high-end apartment and a pretty good car. After that, it’ll be easier to get into other game modes.
You might wish to do the scavenger hunts and treasure hunts first in this title. Heists are more lucrative, but you need cash to be able to start hosting your own heists.
This is a reliable way to get the cash that you need to get going. Plus, it’s pretty fun to try to capture the targets and turn them in alive.
3. Do The Movie Props and Signal Jammers Collectible Missions
Looking for easy ways to get cash early on will be helpful. You won’t have a lot of money when you’re starting out in GTA 5 Online.
That’s why it’s good to do simple things that will allow you to earn a few hundred thousand dollars without too much effort. This will be enough money to buy some good weapons as well as a car.
There are collectible missions that you can do that will allow you to earn $150,000 dollars each.
In one, you’ll be going around collecting movie props for someone. The other sees you grabbing signal jammers. It’s easy to find the things that you’re looking for.
You can pretty much consider this to be free money. Just go grab the collectibles and turn them in to get the cash that you need.
The money that you earn from these missions will go a long way toward setting you up to be a successful miscreant in the GTA 5 Online world.
Use your cash wisely so that you can complete some of the other missions in the game to earn more cash.
4. Do Time Trials
Time trials is another good idea on how to earn money in GTA 5 Online – that is if you’re a really good driver!
It’s also going to help if you have a tricked-out car that can drive really fast, which I guess is sort of a catch 22, because you’ll need money to get that car!
Each Thursday, there will be RC time trials that you can take a shot at. Beating the par time is a simple way to earn yourself $100,000 to use in the game.
Anyone who has a good car should give this a shot. You don’t lose anything if you fail to beat the par time. It’s simply a good method for earning a bit of cash each week.
If you like the racing and getaway driving elements of the game, then this mode will appeal to you. Check out my guide to the fastest cars and motorcycles in GTA 5 here.
Note that some of the trials are going to be more difficult than others. Each week you’re going to be given a different trial to try out. You might fail some of them, but it’s worth coming back on Thursday to see how you’ll do.
The money can be used to buy things that you need, but you could also put it all into your car to make completing time trials even easier moving forward.
5. Spin the Casino Wheel
It’s a good idea to go to the casino once per day. There’s a wheel at the casino that you can spin once per day that will give you a shot at winning some good cash. You can win cars, chips, lots of money, and even other things.
This can only be done once per day, but it’s free, and this means that you might as well take your shot each day.
Think of it as something that should motivate you to log in each day to see if you get lucky. If you don’t win anything at all, then it’s not a big deal.
Spinning the wheel is free, and you’ll be able to try again tomorrow. At some point, you’re likely going to win something, and you’ll be glad that you took the time to spin the wheel.
6. Complete Daily Objectives
A lot of online games do this, but you should know that GTA 5 Online has daily objectives that you can complete. Each day, there are going to be new missions that you can complete.
The daily objective missions are always easy to do, and if you do all three of the daily objectives it’ll be easy to earn $25,000. That’s a good amount of cash for something that doesn’t take that long to accomplish.
Taking the time to do the daily objectives for an entire week will reward you with extra cash. You’ll receive $100,000 for doing all of the daily objectives in one week.
If you do all of the daily objectives in a month, then you’ll receive $500,000. Consistently playing the game and doing the dailies is a great way to earn cash that you can use on useful things.
7. Do Cargo Runs
Another option that you should consider is doing cargo runs. Cargo runs are great when you’re waiting to meet up with friends and do heists.
You can do cargo runs so long as you have an executive office and a warehouse to utilize.
Many players got these things for free by purchasing the criminal enterprise starter pack DLC.
You’re going to be stealing various things such as guns, cars, and even drugs. Take these stolen goods back to your warehouse so that they can be sold on the black market.
If you get good at doing cargo runs, then you can easily earn $200,000 or slightly more per hour. This will help you to save up for that supercar that you’ve been ogling.
The problem with this method is that it isn’t necessarily as simple as it sounds. You’ll be forced to do cargo runs in public lobbies. That means that you have to deal with other players constantly trying to kill you and cause mayhem.
Regardless, it’s something that can be a lot of fun, and if you have enough skill you’re going to do well.
8. Make Passive Income in GTA 5 Online
Passive income is a great way to make money in GTA 5 Online, because it runs in the background earning you money – while you’re free to do other money making missions – or creating mayhem – at the same time. It’s a win-win!
So here’s how to make passive income in GTA Online:
Once you’ve deposited a fair bit of cash in your bank account, you’ll be able to set up gun running and cocaine businesses.
You can earn an easy $80,000 per hour simply by purchasing a motorcycle club. You can use your newly acquired workers to run guns or drugs for you.
You acquire guns and drugs over time and you then need to transport the goods to the buyer. It’s simple to do, and it’s just a reliable way to make cash. Every so often, you’ll want to check back with your business to do the sale.
Things keep running while you do other things, but you’ll need to be the one to make the sales.
9. Do VIP Work
VIP work is another option for players who are looking to earn tons of cash. You’ll need to start an organization as a VIP or CEO before you’ll be able to do this.
Once you have, you’ll be able to select VIP work from the menu and choose from a number of different free roam missions. You should use these missions as a way to pass the time while you’re waiting for other things.
There are missions such as headhunter, sightseer, and hostile takeover that will be very fun. They allow you to earn good cash while doing pretty normal types of missions.
Doing these while you’re waiting for friends will be a good idea. You can bump up the amount of money that you’re earning per hour if you choose to take on VIP work.
10. Take Advantage of Double and Triple Money Game Modes
Occasionally, there will be special events or weeks in GTA 5 Online. You might notice that the game will advertise that certain game moves are giving double or triple the money than usual.
It’s also common for these game modes to give you more RP than usual so that you can level up.
If you focus on the game modes that give you the most money, then you’ll be able to put yourself in a good position to succeed.
Even if the game mode that is earning more money isn’t your favorite, it might be worth it for the extra cash. You can try your best to just keep playing to earn as much as you can.
Once you earn a few million dollars, it won’t be as necessary to worry about double and triple money modes. Even so, it’s still worth your time to pay attention to which modes will give you the best payouts.
11. Buy Shark Cards
So what if you don’t want to have to take the time to use the methods above? What if you just want to get the cars and weapons that you desire right this instant?
You can make it happen if you’re willing to pay real cash (read: micro-transactions). GTA 5 makes it possible to purchase “shark cards” that will give you a certain amount of money in GTA 5 Online.
You pay real-world dollars to get a million dollars in GTA 5 Online money. There are different dollar amounts that you can choose from.
The basic idea is to give yourself a boost in the game so that you can enjoy having some of the more expensive items without having to grind.
Some might say that using shark cards will cheapen the experience, but that’s ultimately for you to decide.
If you’re a player that has money and is short on time, then you might enjoy the idea of being able to pay some cash to give yourself a boost. It’ll make it so that all of the best weapons, cars, and apartments are within reach.
The downside is that this is going to cost you real cash that you have to work hard to earn. For most players, this isn’t going to be ideal.
Sometimes shark cards are given away for free when you purchase the game, though.
It’s pretty common for promotions to be run where digital copies of GTA 5 are sold alongside shark cards.
So you might be able to start out with some decent cash right away depending on what came with your copy of the game. Just consider shark cards a last resort.
12. Just Play the Game Normally
Just playing the game normally is going to allow you to earn quite a lot of money.
Almost everything that you do in GTA 5 Online is going to help you to earn cash. If you just take the time to play with friends, then you’re going to earn enough money to buy cool things before you know it.
Sometimes it’s better to not worry about maximizing your profits when you should just be enjoying the game.
There are so many things that you can do in GTA 5 Online that will allow you to earn money. Do missions with friends, play races, rob stores, and do whatever else you think sounds fun.
GTA 5 Online is meant to be a fun experience where you can go crazy. Just enjoy doing whatever sounds fun at the time without worrying too much about cash.
The cash is going to come naturally as you continue to play the game. Yes, you will earn a lot more cash by focusing on things such as heists. But it’s fine to just play the game however you want to play it. You’ll be able to get rich if you just keep pushing forward.
What Can You Spend All This Money on?
Earning the money is all well and good, but you might be curious why you’d need to spend so much time making cash. What’s the goal that will keep you wanting to spend time making money?
Well, there are all sorts of things that you can buy in this online game. You earn a lot of money by completing missions and various tasks, but you’ll need to spend that cash to be able to buy some of the best stuff in the game.
Some of the most expensive things to buy in GTA 5 Online are supercars. These cars are special sports cars that can go incredibly fast. Some cars will cost millions of dollars, and it’ll take a fair bit of effort to earn enough money to buy them.
Even if paying a few million dollars for a car sounds crazy, you should know that it’s possible to earn enough by doing a few heists and several other missions.
Just buying cars won’t be enough either. You’ll also be spending money on upgrading your cars so that they can be the best that they can be.
Some might choose to add armor to cars so that they will be more durable. Others might be more focused on making them as fast as they can possibly be.
Different types of cars and motorcycles will play different roles in the game. Some will be very good for racing, but others will be practical to use for getaways in the heists.
Having good cars and bikes that you can utilize will give you an edge in the game. It makes sense to spend some of your earnings on upgrading your vehicles.
You’ll also need to get money to purchase some of the best apartments that this game has to offer. There are stunning luxury apartments in the game that will be fun for you to hang out in.
You’ll also be able to have a great garage where you can store all of your cars and motorcycles. It’ll allow you to feel as though your character is living a life of luxury due to all of the hard work that you’re putting in.
Special guns will sometimes cost a lot of money as well. There might be certain weapons that will require you to pony up some serious cash to be able to buy them.
They might be worth it since they can turn the tide and make completing missions easier. You’ll love the variety of weapons that are available to you in this game.
In Closing
After learning about how to make money in GTA Online, you should have a better idea of the things that you should be doing. Honestly, you can earn lots of money in this game by just playing normally.
Have fun and do what you want to do with your friends. If you’re hoping to buy the fanciest apartment and the nicest cars as fast as you can, then it’s a good idea to focus on heists.
You’ll be able to get enough cash to start hosting heists by earning money doing missions.
Eventually, you’ll be making millions of dollars so that you can buy all of the coolest stuff in the game. Partner up with some friends and get out there. There’s money to be made and plenty of fun to be had.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jan has played video games since the early 1980s. He loves getting immersed in video games as a way to take his mind off stuff when the outside world gets too scary. A lifelong gamer, the big interest led to a job as a lecturer on game sound at the University of Copenhagen and several written articles on video games for magazines.