Contents
Overview
Money making in OSRS isn’t one method, it’s a ladder — what’s actually profitable for you depends entirely on your current stats, gear, and how much risk you want to take on. This guide is organized by account stage, not just a flat list of “best” methods, because the best method for a fresh account and the best method for a maxed one have nothing in common. What works changes as you climb, and forcing yourself into a method your account isn’t ready for usually costs more in deaths and wasted supplies than it earns.
GP/hour numbers move with the live Grand Exchange economy — an item’s price today isn’t its price in three months. Treat every figure below as a reasonable current range, not a fixed guarantee, and check the OSRS Wiki’s Money Making Guide for live-updated numbers when you want precision.
Fresh Account
- 1
- Crystal keys
combine loop and tooth halves bought off the Grand Exchange, no skill or combat requirement at all. Roughly 3.7M GP/hour with zero stats invested, which makes it a genuinely strong option even before you’ve built a character up.
- 2
- Bowstring crafting and Moss Giant big bones
low-requirement, steady early income while you build toward better gear.
- 3
- F2P options if you’re not a member yet
tanning cowhides (~50K/hour), cutting Yew logs at Edgeville (~70K/hour), and superheating gold ore (~80K/hour) are all realistic without a membership. F2P money making tops out somewhere around 100K/hour, which is enough to fund your first bond faster than it sounds.
Once you’ve got basic gear and some combat stats, green dragon killing is the natural next step — 300-500K/hour with combat 70+ and genuinely no boss mechanics to learn. It’s a good bridge while you work toward the real mid-game unlock that changes everything: Barrows Gloves, which opens the door to Zulrah.
Mid-Game
- 1
- Zulrah
the mid-game gold standard once you’ve got the gear and mechanics down. Roughly 2-3M GP/hour.
- 2
- Vorkath
similar tier, roughly 3-4M GP/hour, with a more forgiving mechanic set than Zulrah for players still building consistency.
- 3
- Blast Furnace gold bars
(40 Smithing) — near-AFK, 800K-1.2M/hour. A strong skilling alternative if you’d rather not commit to boss mechanics yet.
- 4
- Wines of Zamorak
(95 Runecraft, 68 Magic) — up to 1M/hour, genuinely one of the more relaxed methods in this tier once you’ve got the requirements.
- 5
- Motherlode Mine
200-400K/hour, lower ceiling but you’re building Mining alongside the income, which matters if you still need the level for something else.
Don’t judge a method purely by GP/hour. A 1M/hour method you can half-AFK while doing something else isn’t worse than a 3M/hour method that demands total focus — it depends entirely on what you actually want out of the session.
End-Game
Once gear and stats stop being the bottleneck, the ceiling opens up considerably. This is where account investment really starts paying itself back — the same content that would’ve killed you repeatedly at a lower gear level becomes genuinely efficient once you’ve got the kit for it.
- Tombs of Amascut (ToA) — scales with invocation level, roughly 4-12M/hour at competent settings. Solo runs are viable, which makes it more accessible than most raid content.
- Chambers of Xeric (CoX) — similarly scalable, roughly 2-9M/hour depending on team size and efficiency.
- Theatre of Blood, Hard Mode — the real ceiling for coordinated teams, 15-25M/hour per member, but it demands excellent teamwork and mechanical execution. High risk, high reward, genuinely unforgiving of mistakes.
- Fortis Colosseum, Wave 11-12 — 6-10M/hour, one of the newer high-end additions to the rotation.
Flipping
Grand Exchange flipping is the one method on this list that needs zero combat stats and zero skill requirements — just capital and patience. Buy low, sell high, respect the 4-hour buy limits on individual items, and expect anywhere from 50K/hour on a small budget up to 1M+/hour once you’re working with real capital. It’s genuinely the most accessible high-ceiling method in the game if bossing isn’t your thing.
Tips & Tricks
Match the method to your actual play session, not just the GP/hour chart. A relaxed skilling method during a long AFK stretch is often the better call than forcing a high-focus boss grind you don’t have the energy for that day.
Build toward Barrows Gloves early if bossing is your goal. It’s the single biggest gate between early-game methods and the entire mid-game boss rotation.
Don’t sleep on flipping as a supplement, not just a standalone method. Even players actively bossing often keep a background flip or two running for extra passive income between trips.
Check the Wiki before committing serious time to a specific number. Live prices shift, and a method that looked great in an old guide might not hold up the same way today.
Related Guides
- OSRS Ironman Guide — money making looks completely different with no Grand Exchange to sell into
- OSRS Woodcutting Guide (1-99) — one of several skilling methods that pays for itself while you train
Sources: OSRS Wiki — Money Making Guide, OSRS Wiki — Ironman Money Making Guide.