"There has to be an easier way to make money," said every No Man's Sky player at some point. For anyone who has ever played the open-ended space adventure game, they know how difficult it can be to put in serious grind-time for even a couple of million Units. Fortunately, the game offers tons of assistance and direction with farming, mining, selling, and trading various items. Unfortunately, the temptation to buy that Exotic Ship as soon as it lands causes a lot of players to spend that hard-earned currency quickly.
On top of the enticing amount of drivable ships to add to the fleet, Freighters and Frigates start to become costly as the higher quality ones become more frequently seen around the galaxy. The endless cycle of buying continues, as players search for the quickest ways to earn Units. Like most repetitive processes this sometimes leads to game burnout, and players land their spacecraft permanently without really getting a taste of what No Man's Sky has to offer.
How to Make Money Fast in No Man's Sky (Without Mining)
No Man's Sky has a lot to take in, but thanks to a linear economy system only a small amount of that information is necessary in order to get a full experience of the game. Before any player can take full advantage of the economic system, however, they'll need to acquire a ship that can fit an Emeril, Cadmium, and Indium Drive, six S-Class Hyperdrive Upgrades, and an Economy Scanner. This may sound like a lot but in reality, the game walks players through acquiring all of these items. These items will allow players to travel to any color-of-star system, figure out that system's economy, and travel great distances at low hyperdrive fuel costs.
After a player's ship has all of these items, it's time to open the Galaxy Map and equip the Economy Filter. The first system to look for is a red star system with three stars next to the icon that resembles a plug. Three-star economies in No Man's Sky offer the highest rewards, as materials tend to be either abundant or scarce. Land at the space station. Approach the vendor and buy as many Spark Canisters, Industrial-Grade Batteries, Ohmic Gel, Experminental Power Fluid, and Fusion Cores as possible. Head back out of the space station and open the Galaxy Map, and search for a three-star orange star system (it'll have a pickaxe to indicate that it's a mining system).
Once the ship has made it to the orange-star system's space station, approach that vendor and sell everything purchased from the red-star system. Where the red-star system had too many of the items and had to sell low, the orange-star system has virtually none and is willing to buy high. Sell it all, and there should be plenty of profit (even if everything couldn't be purchased previously). Before buying the next items, go to the Exo Suit vendor on the other side of the space station. Use some of the earnings to buy an extra storage slot in the Exo Suit, as it'll allow more items to be stored for the next purchase.
Return to the material vendor and buy every Dirt, Unrefined Pyrite Grease, Bromide Salt, Polychromatic Zirconium, and Re-Latticed Arc Crystal available for purchase. Leave the space station, and open the Galaxy Map again. This time, look for a three-star yellow-star system economy (economy symbol is a couple of gears). Fly there, and sell the items purchased in the orange-star system. Like before, leave the material vendor in search of the Exo Suit upgrade at the Exo Suit vendor. Return to the material vendor, and purchase every Enormous Metal Cog, Non-Stick Piston, Six-Pronged Mesh Decoupler, Holographic Crankshaft, and High Capacity Vector Compressor. Leave the space station, and open the Galaxy Map again.
Next, look for a three-star blue-star system (indicated by what appears to be a microchip symbol). Fly there, and sell everything purchased in the yellow-star system. Buy another Exo-Suit upgrade. Return to the vendor, and purchase every Decommissioned Circuit Board, Welding Soap, Ion Capacitor, Autonomous Positioning Unit, and Quantum Accelerator. Leave the space station, and search once more for a new three-star red-star system. Repeat the process from here.
Additionally, as it has been described, this method allows players to simultaneously upgrade their Exo-Suits while exploring the galaxy. At any point, players can break off the buying and selling to just explore the system, then hop on over to the next star system. This method also exposes players to the most amount of ships possible. When everything is bought and sold from one vendor to another, without taking time to explore, the reward is about 100 million Units per hour. Be wary of pirates, however. They tend to like players who have a lot of valuable materials.
No Man's Sky is available on the PlayStation 4 and 5, the Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, Android, and Microsoft Windows.