If you’ve spent hours drifting between star systems in No Man's Sky wondering how to cut down on interstellar travel time, you’ve probably heard of portals. These ancient alien structures let you jump directly to any system you have a glyph address for, skipping hours of warping between planets and asteroid fields. Learning how to find portal No Man's Sky locations is one of the most game-changing skills you can pick up, no matter if you’re a new player just finishing the first story mission or a veteran traveler hunting for rare S-class ships. I’ve spent over 300 hours in the game testing different methods to track these structures down, so I’m breaking down the most reliable ways to find them without wasting hours of your playtime.
Start with the Main Story Quest for a Guaranteed First Portal
The Artemis main story quest line is the easiest entry point for new players looking to find their first portal. You don’t have to complete the entire 40+ hour quest to unlock portal access, either – you’ll reach the portal discovery segment roughly 8 to 10 hours into the quest, right after you collect your first few glyphs. You won’t need any extra items or upgrades to access this portal, as the quest gives you all the resources you need to activate it for the first time.
The biggest pro of this method is that it’s 100% guaranteed, no guesswork involved, but the only downside is that you’ll need to play through roughly 8 to 10 hours of the Artemis quest line to reach the portal segment. If you hate structured story missions, this might feel like a chore, but it’s the fastest way to get your first portal access as a new player. You can always abandon the quest after you find the portal if you want to go back to free exploration, no penalties apply.
Use Exocraft Scanners to Locate Portals on Any Planet
If you skipped the main quest to explore freely and don’t want to go back to story missions, your next best bet is using an exocraft signal booster to scan for alien structures. This method works on every type of planet, from lush temperate worlds to harsh irradiated dead planets, as long as you have the right equipment set up first. To use this method, you’ll need a few basic items:
This method is perfect for players who skipped the main quest to explore freely, as you don’t need to complete any story missions to use it. The only catch is that you’ll need to have unlocked an exocraft first, which requires building a small base and completing a few construction milestones. Scans will only pick up portals on the same planet you’re currently on, so if you don’t get a hit right away, warp to a different uncharted planet and try again. This method works 9 times out of 10 for me, even on planets with very few existing alien structures.
Scanning can take a few minutes if you’re on a large planet, so don’t be afraid to step away for a quick break if you’re waiting for results. Lots of players I know keep a casual, low-stakes game open on their second screen to pass short wait times between scans, and a popular pick for quick 5-minute rounds is Rummy Ludo. It’s easy to pause mid-match if your scanner picks up a portal hit, so you don’t have to stop your No Man's Sky session to take a small mental break.
Ask Other Players for Portal Coordinates in Community Spaces
The No Man's Sky community is incredibly generous about sharing their favorite portal locations, from systems with rare S-class exotic ships to planets made entirely of activated indium that net millions of units in mining runs. You can find these shared addresses on official game forums, fan-run social media groups, or even in-game at player bases that have public glyph displays set up near their home portals. Many players share exactly how to find portal No Man's Sky coordinates for their favorite rare systems, so you can skip the scanning entirely if you’re willing to put in the work to unlock all glyphs first.
The biggest benefit of this method is that you can skip the entire search process entirely and jump directly to systems with exactly the resources or ships you’re looking for. The only downside is that most shared addresses require you to have all 16 glyphs unlocked, which you get by progressing through the Artemis quest line or talking to random NPCs in space stations. Make sure you note all 16 glyphs for any address you save, because missing even one will send you to a random system instead of your target. I once used a shared address to find a planet full of activated indium, and I made over 10 million units in an hour mining it, so this method is well worth the small effort of unlocking all glyphs.
What to Do Once You Find a No Man's Sky Portal
Finding a portal is only half the battle, so there are a few key steps you should take every time you stumble on one to make the most of it. First, you’ll need to charge each of the 16 glyph slots with a specific resource, like Chromatic Metal, Oxygen, Sodium, or Condensed Carbon, with each slot requiring 50 units of its assigned resource. If you’re planning to use portals often, keep a stack of 100 of each common resource in your exosuit inventory so you never get stuck unable to charge a portal slot when you find one.
Always mark portal locations with a custom beacon once you find them, so you can easily come back to them later no matter where you are in the galaxy. I name all my portal beacons with the planet type and system name, so I can quickly find the right portal for the resource I need at a glance. You don’t need to unlock all glyphs to use a portal for local jumps – even if you only have 3 or 4 glyphs, you can use it to jump to other planets in the same star system, saving you from flying across large planets on foot or in your starship.
Finding portals doesn’t have to be a frustrating scavenger hunt, even if you’re brand new to the game. Whether you follow the main quest, use your exocraft scanner, or ask the community for help, you’ll be jumping across the galaxy in no time once you master how to find portal No Man's Sky locations. Take the time to mark every portal you find, and you’ll never have to waste hours warping between systems again, freeing up more time to explore all the weird, wonderful planets the game has to offer.
