In Old School RuneScape (OSRS), making money is crucial to progress and fuel your gameplay. From the moment you start your adventure, you’ll quickly realize that OSRS gold (gold pieces) are necessary for just about everything – from training skills to buying gear and supplies. However, not all money-making methods are created equal. Some require a hefty skill level or specific quests, while others are more accessible to early-game players.

In this guide, we’ll look at five early game money-making methods that are achievable within a week or two of starting OSRS. But before we dive into the methods, it’s essential to get your mindset right.

The Right Mindset for Making Money Early On

While GP per hour is an important metric, it shouldn’t be the only focus of your early days in OSRS. Prioritize skills and account progression before obsessing over money-making. The reason is simple: as you level up and unlock better content, your GP per hour potential skyrockets. Top money-making methods in OSRS can even reach up to 20 million GP per hour for high-level players.

Furthermore, you’re likely not going to generate enough GP per hour in the early game to sustain your membership through bonds, so don’t waste time grinding for bonds early on. It’s more practical to use real money to fund your membership so you can focus on enjoying the game, not working to “pay” for it.

Now that we’ve set the right expectations, let’s dive into the methods.

1. Buying Shop Items and Reselling at the Grand Exchange

One of the easiest and most straightforward ways to make money early on is by buying items from shops and reselling them at the Grand Exchange. This method requires no specific skills, only a bit of starting capital and patience. While many shops can be profitable, I’ll cover two particularly accessible options.

The Sawmill Shop

Accessible to all players, the Sawmill in Taverley is a fantastic shop for early-game money-making. At this shop, you can purchase nails – steel nails, iron nails, and bronze nails – and then sell them on the Grand Exchange for a profit. Steel and iron nails, in particular, provide the best return.

How to do it:

  1. Buy nails from the shop (make sure you have enough GP to buy in bulk).
  2. Hop between worlds to restock.
  3. Sell the nails on the Grand Exchange.

Tip: Use the Menu Entry Swapper plugin to make the process more efficient. By enabling the “shop by shift click” option, you can quickly buy in bulk with a single shift-click.

In a quick test, I made 62k GP in just 4 minutes and 45 seconds, which translates to roughly 540k GP per hour. While you might not be able to maintain that pace for a full hour due to world-hopping limitations, it’s still a great method to boost your early-game bank.

2. Buying Monkey Nuts

If you’ve completed the Monkey Madness I quest, you can access a shop that sells Monkey Nuts on Ape Atoll. While not super useful, these nuts hold value due to players collecting them for in-game achievements and hoarding purposes.

How to do it:

  1. Use the Menu Entry Swapper plugin to quickly buy Monkey Nuts from the shop.
  2. Deposit the nuts into your bank and repeat the process.
  3. Sell them on the Grand Exchange.

While this method requires completion of Monkey Madness I and some other minimal requirements, it is a highly profitable method. The wiki estimates around 972k GP per hour, though this can be affected by the Grand Exchange tax and inventory limitations. Expect closer to 700k-800k GP per hour, which is still impressive for an early-game player.

3. Blast Furnace (for Smithing and Profit)

If you’re interested in training Smithing while making money, the Blast Furnace is a fantastic place to start. While the required quest – The Giant Dwarf – is needed to access the furnace, the method can be incredibly profitable once you start making steel bars or even higher-tier bars.

How to do it:

  1. Head to the Blast Furnace in Keldagrim.
  2. Deposit ores into the furnace (you can use a coal bag to save space and improve efficiency).
  3. Wait for the furnace to process your ores into bars, then pick up your bars and bank them.

Tip: To maximize your profit, make sure to wear Graceful gear to reduce stamina usage, use Ice Gloves for added efficiency, and deposit some GP into the furnace coffer to keep it running.

As you progress, you can refine your process for higher-tier ores, such as Mithril or Adamant, to further increase your GP per hour. Early on, expect around 600k GP per hour with iron bars, which increases as you train Smithing and move up to higher-quality ores.

4. Revenants in the Wilderness

The Wilderness can be a dangerous place for low-level players, but it offers lucrative money-making opportunities, especially if you’re prepared to risk a bit. Killing Revenants is a great way to earn big, and you don’t need a lot of setup or requirements to get started.

How to do it:

  1. Equip a Bracelet of Ethereum to protect against damage and keep your skull status for the best loot chances.
  2. Use a Magic Shortbow and bring food, prayer potions, and a looting bag to maximize efficiency.
  3. Teleport to the Revenant Caves using a Ring of Wealth or Revenant Cave teleport (if you’ve completed the related quest).
  4. Start killing Revenants, picking up their loot and banking it when your inventory is full.

With a range of Revenants to kill, your GP per hour will depend on your combat stats and which Revenant you’re targeting. Stronger Revenants yield higher profits. On average, players can earn around 2.2 million GP per hour after accounting for supplies if they kill 110 Revenants per hour with higher-level stats.

For early players, the returns might not be as high, but the method is still a great way to earn some serious GP once you start building your combat stats.

5. Farming Herbs

Farming herbs is a fantastic long-term money-making method that can also help you level up your Farming skill. While it doesn’t provide a massive hourly cheap RuneScape gold return at first, it’s a reliable source of income over time, especially once you unlock higher-level herbs like Ranarr.

How to do it:

  1. Start by farming Ranarr at level 32 Farming.
  2. As you progress, unlock Toadflax at level 38, which is a great profit-making herb.
  3. Use Ultra Compost to increase your yield and make your crops less likely to fail.
  4. Complete the Fairy Tale questline to unlock Magic Secateurs, which boosts your herb yield by 10%.
  5. Use Herb Patches across Gielinor to grow herbs passively while you do other activities.

Herb farming is fantastic because it doesn’t require constant attention and can be a source of steady income. The higher your Farming level, the better the returns. As you progress, you can focus on the more profitable herbs like Snapdragon or Ranarr, and you can also benefit from using the Fossil Island Birdhouses to gain passive Hunter experience and seeds.

Conclusion

These five early-game money-making methods in OSRS should give you a solid foundation as you begin your journey. While GP per hour is important, remember that your focus should still be on progressing your skills. These money-making methods allow you to earn GP while improving your OSRS Accounts, giving you the freedom to enjoy the game without worrying about how to fund your membership or buy basic supplies.

Whether you’re hopping between worlds for nails, killing Revenants, or farming herbs, each of these methods provides something useful for your account growth. So, get started, have fun, and build the foundation for a successful OSRS adventure!