Let’s be real for a second. Most players are essentially spinning their wheels in Gielinor. You spend six hours grinding a boss you hate because a wiki table told you it was 3 million GP an hour, but after supply costs and a few clumsy deaths, you’ve barely cleared a million. It’s frustrating. Old School RuneScape money making isn't just about finding the highest number on a spreadsheet; it’s about understanding the "effigy" of the current economy and knowing when to pivot.
The economy in 2026 is a weird beast. We’ve seen massive shifts due to new grandmaster quests and item sinks that have turned "junk" into gold. If you’re still trying to pick flax or even just mindlessly camping Vorkath without a concrete plan, you’re leaving millions on the table.
The Problem with Traditional Bossing
Everyone points you toward the "Money Dragon" or Zulrah. Sure, they're consistent. But the barrier to entry—meaning the gear requirements and the mental tax of perfect flicking—is high. If you don't have a Dragon Hunter Lance or a Bow of Faerdhinen, your GP per hour at these high-tier bosses drops off a cliff.
You also have to account for the "burnout factor." I’ve seen players grind 500 Zulrah kills, get zero unique drops, and quit the game for three months. That’s the worst money-making strategy possible. Efficiency isn't just math. It's sustainability.
Active vs. Passive: The Great GP Divide
Most people think about OSRS money making as an active chore. You go to a place, you click a thing, you get a drop. But the wealthiest players I know—the guys sitting on stacks of Platinum Tokens—hardly "grind" at all. They utilize the bird house runs and herb patches that everyone else is too lazy to do.
Think about Ranarr weeds. A single herb run takes five minutes. If you do five a day, that’s an easy 400k to 600k profit for almost zero effort. Over a month? That’s 15 to 18 million GP. That pays for your Bond and your burst runes without you ever having to set foot in a boss instance. It's basically free money. Why aren't you doing it? Usually, it's because players find it "boring." But you know what’s more boring? Being broke and unable to afford a Tumeken's Shadow.
Slayer is a Trap (Unless It’s Not)
People love to say "just do Slayer." It’s the standard advice.
It’s also half-wrong.
Low-level Slayer is a massive money sink. You’re spending money on Cannonballs, Prayer Potions, and food, and in return, you’re getting steel longswords and some fire runes. It’s depressing.
Slayer only becomes a viable Old School RuneScape money making method once you hit level 75 for Gargoyles, 80 for Nechryael, and 85 for Abyssal Demons. Even then, the real money is locked behind Boss Slayer. If you aren't doing the boss variants of your tasks, you're just training a skill, not making a fortune. You need to be doing Alchemical Hydra or Cerberus to see the needle move.
The "Low Requirement" Gold Mines Nobody Uses
Let’s talk about some methods that don't require a Max Cape or a billion-GP bank.
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Have you looked at the price of blood runes lately? With the True Blood Altar and the Raiment of the Eye set from Guardians of the Rift, runecrafting is actually... profitable? I know, it sounds like a joke. But reaching 77 Runecrafting and hitting the Blood Altar is one of the most consistent ways to build a bank from scratch. It’s semi-afk, which means you can watch a movie or play another game while the gold stacks up.
Then there's the Revenant Caves.
High risk? Absolutely.
High reward? Ridiculously so.
Even with a cheap setup like a Magic Shortbow and some Black D’hide, you can clear 1.5 million GP an hour. The trick is "the escape." You have to get good at clicking that teleport seed the second a white dot appears on your mini-map. If you can master the art of being a coward, the Revenant Caves are arguably the best mid-level money maker in the game.
Raiding: The Ceiling of Wealth
Eventually, you have to talk about Raids. Chambers of Xeric (CoX), Theatre of Blood (ToB), and Tombs of Amascut (ToA) are the peak of Old School RuneScape money making.
ToA is particularly interesting because of the invocation system. You can scale the difficulty to your skill level. A solo entry-level raid might not give you much, but once you start hitting 300+ invocation "Experts," the chance at an Osmumten's Fang or a Lightbearer becomes a statistical reality. And if you hit the jackpot—the Shadow—your OSRS life changes forever.
However, don't jump into raids with a Dragon Scimitar. You'll just frustrate yourself and your teammates. Build a "minimum viable gear" setup first. This usually involves:
- A Toxic Blowpipe
- An Osmumten's Fang (it's cheap for how good it is)
- A Trident of the Swamp
- Blessed D'hide or Ahrim’s robes
Once you have that, stop killing Vorkath. Start raiding. The "big drops" are where the true wealth lies.
Flipping: The Dark Art of the Grand Exchange
I can't write about money making without mentioning flipping. It’s the only way to make money while you sleep. The premise is simple: buy low, sell high. But the execution is where people fail.
Don't try to flip high-volume items like feathers or coal if you only have a few million GP. The margins are too thin. Look for "high-end" items that have a large gap between the instant-buy and instant-sell price. God Ghide, Barrows equipment, and even some niche skilling supplies are great for this.
Use tools like GE Tracker, but don't follow them blindly. The market reacts to updates. If Jagex announces a buff to a certain weapon, the price will skyrocket in minutes. If you aren't reading the dev blogs, you're the one being flipped on.
Actionable Steps to Rebuild Your Bank
Stop wandering around the Grand Exchange wondering what to do. Pick a path and stick to it for at least ten hours. Consistency is the only thing that actually works in this game.
The "I Have Nothing" Strategy:
If you're truly broke, go to the Wilderness and kill Lava Dragons or do the Agility Pyramid. It’s soul-crushing but it gets you your first million. Use that million to buy supplies for herb runs.
The Mid-Level Pivot:
Get your Quest Point Cape. It sounds like a lot of work, but the unlocks (like DS2 and SOTE) are essential for long-term wealth. Once you have the cape, camp the Gauntlet. The Corrupted Gauntlet requires zero gear—just skill. It is the purest way to make money because you can't buy your way to success there.
The High-End Hustle:
Stop doing anything that isn't Raids or high-tier Slayer bosses. At this stage, your time is worth at least 4 million GP per hour. If an activity pays less than that, don't do it unless you're chasing a pet or a diary requirement.
Invest in your house. A Max Pool and a Nexus portal seem expensive, but the time saved on teleports and healing adds up to hundreds of hours over the life of an account. That saved time is more GP in your pocket.
Money making in Old School RuneScape is a marathon, not a sprint. The "secret" isn't a hidden method; it's the discipline to keep your herb patches growing while you learn how to tick-eat at a boss. Good luck.