Escape From Tarkov: How To Make Money Fast

If you thought that being a mercenary stuck in a desolate part of Russia would excuse you from the perils of capitalism, I have bad news for you.

In Escape From Tarkov, much like anywhere else, you need money to survive. The problem is that there aren’t many 9-to-5 jobs with good dental coverage around, so you’ll have to get creative if you want to make it long enough to escape.

This guide splits the best ways to make money into three categories, because what works for George McGigachad, who uses roubles to wipe after a deuce, is not a viable strategy for a little Timmy fresh out of Ground Zero.

I’m also focusing on solutions that are universal across editions, despite the undeniable advantage other players have over the humble Standard Edition PMCs.

Early Game Strategies

As far as survival games go, Escape From Tarkov is rather generous with what you start with. You have several complete kits, food, water, bullets, and a decent amount of money. That will all get washed away after the first day or two, and until you work up your trader rep, you’ll have to get used to scraping the bottom of the barrel to sustain your raids.

PMCs Quest, Scavs Work

A basic early game kit will have something like an unmodded assault rifle, four extra mags, basic meds (tourniquet, bandage, splint), headphones, a helmet, a PACA vest, a rig, and a backpack.

That will run you at least 200,000 roubles when buying from traders. Meanwhile, the scav kit is free, while having access to the same loot.

Until you start filling up that stash and always have enough decent gear available, focus your PMC outings exclusively on quests, leaving the scavs to do the dirty work.

Prioritize Smaller Items

One of the keys to making money in Escape From Tarkov is to think in terms of money per square of inventory.

For example, things like good helmets or guns might fetch 40,000 roubles with traders, but if you break that into price per square, that’ll typically be below 10,000, on par with a single screwdriver.

With very few exceptions, a bag full of 1×1 or 2×1 items will always net you more money than one loaded with bulkier loot.

Hit Streets at Night

No area in Tarkov has more opportunities to make a quick buck than Streets of Tarkov. This map is a veritable maze with safes, weapons, filing cabinets, and plenty of locked rooms that hide excellent loot.

Unlike other maps, the loot is evenly distributed, so you don’t have to fight everyone else in the map for a chance to make any money (looking at you, Shoreline).

Nighttime might seem daunting, but most of the map is well-lit, while also leaving enough darkness to sneak about in if you find a fight you don’t want to pick. If you carry around 10,000 roubles with you, it’s also possible to use the BTR to travel closer to your extract once you’ve filled your bag.

You can use third-party maps like RE3MR’s or the interactive one at Tarkov.dev to help orient yourself while you get used to navigating around.

Mid-Game Strategies

After you get past the so-called hobo phase of Tarkov, you should have access to at least some level 2 traders, but most importantly, you’ve unlocked the Flea Market. This is where you’ll be making your millions in Escape From Tarkov.

Making bank off the Flea Market requires some deliberate strategy, and you’re always painfully aware that the things you sell are going to eventually be turned into money to buy bullets to kill you on your next raid. The circle of life, if you will.

Track Hideout and Quest Items

While traders will offer you a flat rate for all items besides the elusive Physical Bitcoin, the Flea Market is all about speculation. The most reliable sources of Flea Market income are items used for crafts and hideout upgrades, those required for quests, and keys.

Things like chocolate and sugar, for example, can sometimes fetch upwards of 100,000 because late-game players use them to make moonshine. Other fairly innocent ingredients that can be used to make Iskra rations or the Tushenka cans for quests can also fetch a pretty penny, especially early on.

As for quest items, as a rule of thumb, always check the price of weapon attachments that are required for Mechanic’s Gunsmith quest line. Sometimes, innocent things like the red Hexagon handguard for Kalashnikov rifles can fetch upwards of a million.

Keys required for specific quests are also always in high demand, especially those from Reserve, the Dorms area on the Customs map, and Shoreline’s resort.

If you don’t like checking manually, you can use third-party sites like Tarkov.dev or Tarkov Market to see what’s popping. You never know what can net you easy money.

Raid Marked Rooms

Easily the most valuable type of key in Escape From Tarkov, the market room keys will always set you back a few million, but if you play it right, this is a worthy investment.

The Dorms room 314 key is always priced beyond reason, but you can easily recoup your investment with less popular options like the two marked keys from Streets of Tarkov (Mysterious Room Marked Key and Abandoned Factory Marked Key).

The contents of each room vary in each raid, but provided you can find keys that cost less than a million roubles per use, you’ll recoup your initial investment in no time. All it takes is one loose bitcoin or colored Labs keycard lying about.

Always Take Your Most Expensive Gear

While this isn’t exactly about making more money, it’s a great way to stop losing money by burning through “cheap” kits.

As you prepare your PMC for a raid, load your rifle with the best ammunition you have, wear your best armor, and take your biggest backpack. Whatever savings you think you’re scoring by taking weaker gear are easily offset by losing a full backpack because your cheap armor couldn’t stop an FMJ round.

This becomes especially important as you start gaining access to fancy gear like night vision goggles or infrared scopes, which can make you the apex predator of nocturnal raids. Insure everything you’re attached to, then go to town.

Late Game Strategies

Like the parasites that run TerraGroup, the real fat cats of Tarkov make money merely by existing, and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do that too.

Your main source of income here is your hideout, and you’ll want to have it operating all day long.

Maximize Passive Income

There are two major passive moneymakers you should prioritize building in Escape From Tarkov.

The first is the Bitcoin Farm. This is a fairly expensive investment, especially when you factor in the graphics cards needed, but it pays off handsomely. After you set everything up, the Bitcoin Farm takes between 83 and 27 hours to give you one physical Bitcoin.

While prices in Tarkov fluctuate, they tend to hover between 800 thousand and 1 million roubles, and the only operational expense you have is fuel (approximately 210 thousand per day for the whole hideout).

That same fuel also powers the Water Collector and the Booze Generator modules. When fully upgraded, the former passively produces purified water canisters, which sell for hundreds of thousands of roubles. You can then combine that with sugar to make moonshine, which regularly goes for over 450,000 roubles per bottle.

All of this money comes without lifting a finger.

Hideout Gambling

Scavs and struggling PMCs have to count every bullet and rouble to try and survive, but after a certain level, you can afford to take some risks.

The two main gambling points in Escape From Tarkov are the Scav Case and Cultist Circle modules. They require no energy whatsoever and have fairly decent returns, especially if you’re smart about what to sell on the Flea Market.

The Scav Case has five tiers, allowing you to sink in anything from 2,500 roubles to Intel folders and Moonshine bottles that cost hundreds of thousands. The sweet spot here is the 95,000 rouble option, which returns anything from 2 to 5 items, and is nearly guaranteed to be profitable if you sell them.

The Cultist Circle is a little more temperamental, allowing you to trade in up to five items of your choosing per pull. You can find certain ‘recipes’ online, but the most lucrative way to use the Circle is as a recycling bin. Throw in items that are cheap and you have no use for, and get something that you might be able to sell.