If you’ve ever stared at a high-tier multi-tool upgrade or a rare starship blueprint only to realize you’re short on the required currency, you’ve probably asked how do you get nanites in No Man's Sky without grinding for hours on end. Nanites are one of the three core currencies in the game, used for everything from unlocking new technology to purchasing rare crafting recipes and repairing corrupted gear. I’ve put over 400 hours into No Man’s Sky across multiple saves, so I’ve tested every possible nanite farming method to find which ones are actually worth your time, no matter what stage of the game you’re in.
Early-Game Nanite Farming Methods for New Players
If you’re just starting out and don’t have access to a high-end ship, base, or advanced upgrades, you don’t have to settle for slow, low-yield nanite gains. The first and easiest method is scanning every new creature and plant you find on every planet you visit. When you upload your discoveries to the Nexus from any space station or your base, you earn 500 to 2000 nanites per new species, depending on how rare it is. You don’t need any special gear for this, just your basic scanner, which you get within the first 10 minutes of starting a new save. If you land on a planet with lots of unique fauna, you can easily earn 10,000 nanites in under an hour just by scanning everything in sight and uploading your discoveries when you get back to a space station.
Another great early-game method is looting abandoned tech modules marked with yellow icons on your planetary scanner. You only need a small amount of Ferrite Dust to clear away rust from these modules, and each one drops between 50 and 200 nanites, plus occasional surplus upgrade modules you can sell for even more. If you pick up duplicate upgrades from salvaged tech crates, you can sell those to any space station tech merchant for 200 to 800 nanites each. Just don’t sell upgrades you might actually use later, obviously, but duplicates are essentially free nanites for very little work.
How Do You Get Nanites in No Man's Sky for Mid and Late Game Players?
Once you’re past the first few hours of gameplay and have a functional ship and basic base, you have far more options when you’re figuring out how do you get nanites in No Man's Sky without wasting time on low-yield tasks. One of the simplest methods is refining surplus Salvaged Data in a medium or large refiner. Each piece of Salvaged Data converts directly to 50 nanites, and if you’ve spent time exploring ancient ruins to unlock base blueprints, you probably have hundreds of unused pieces sitting in your inventory already. A full stack of 1000 Salvaged Data converts to 50,000 nanites in just a few minutes, no extra work required.
Running pirate battles in high-conflict systems is another extremely high-yield method for mid-game players. High-conflict systems are marked with a red skull icon on your galaxy map, and they have far more frequent pirate attacks than low-conflict zones. Every pirate ship you destroy drops contraband or cargo bulkheads that sell for 1000 to 5000 nanites each at any space station, and if you answer a freighter distress call and defeat the attacking fleet, you can earn a bonus of 5000 to 15000 nanites from the freighter captain, plus a chance to get a free freighter. The highest-yield mid and late game nanite sources are:
- Defeating S-class pirate fleets: 10,000 to 30,000 nanites per fleet clear
- Refining stacks of 1000 Salvaged Data: 50,000 nanites per full stack
- Selling S-class starship and multi-tool upgrades: 2,500 to 8,000 nanites per module
- Completing Nexus community missions: 1,500 to 10,000 nanites per mission
The Most Efficient AFK Nanite Farming Methods You Can Use
If you’re busy with work or other tasks and don’t have time to actively grind while you’re figuring out how do you get nanites in No Man's Sky for that expensive S-class freighter upgrade you’ve had your eye on, AFK farming methods are perfect for you. The highest-yield AFK method by far is building an automated Stasis Device farm. Stasis Devices are high-end crafted items that sell for 156 million Units each, but if you deconstruct them in a refiner, you get 93,600 nanites per device. You’ll need to plant a mix of Frostwort, Gamma Root, Solanium, and Star Bulb to make the components for Stasis Devices, and all of these crops can be grown hydroponically indoors so you don’t have to worry about planet weather conditions. A farm with 200 of each crop will produce enough materials for 4 to 5 Stasis Devices every 4 hours, which works out to almost 400,000 nanites per day if you check in regularly to collect and refine your harvest.
Another great AFK method is setting up a corrupted planet sentinel farm. Find a corrupted planet, build a small raised base platform with shield generators and sentinel turrets, then aggro a group of sentinels before hiding behind your shields. Your turrets will take out the sentinels automatically, and each sentinel drops parts that you can refine into nanites. You can leave this setup running for hours while you do other things, and you’ll come back to thousands of nanites worth of sentinel parts waiting for you. Just make sure your base has enough shield power to withstand sentinel attacks, or you might end up respawning empty handed if your base gets destroyed while you’re gone.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Farming Nanites
Even if you’re using the best farming methods, small mistakes can waste a lot of your time and cut into your nanite gains. The biggest mistake new players make is wasting nanites on low-tier upgrades early on. Only spend nanites on S or A class permanent upgrades that you won’t replace in a few hours, because C and B class upgrades are almost always a waste of valuable currency you could use for better gear later. It’s tempting to buy every cheap upgrade you see when you first start out, but holding off for higher quality options will save you hours of grinding down the line.
Another common mistake is ignoring discovery uploads. A lot of players never bother uploading their scanned fauna, flora, and planet discoveries, but that’s free nanites you can earn just by playing normally, no extra work required. You should also always check the nanite value of items before you sell them for Units. A lot of items like pirate contraband, salvaged tech, and rare upgrade modules are worth far more in nanites than they are in Units, so selling them for the wrong currency is essentially throwing away free nanites. Finally, don’t waste time on low-yield methods like digging up ancient bones once you have access to better options. Ancient bones only give a few hundred nanites per stack, which is a tiny fraction of what you can earn from pirate battles or an automated Stasis Device farm.
At the end of the day, there's no one right way to farm this valuable currency, and the best method for you will depend on how much time you have to play and what stage of the game you're in. Whether you're a new player just scanning creatures on your first planet or a late-game player running an automated stasis device farm, you never have to wonder how do you get nanites in No Man's Sky again as long as you stick to the methods that fit your playstyle. Don't be afraid to test a few different options to find what feels the least grindy for you, and you'll have a stockpile of nanites for all your upgrades in no time.
