If you’ve spent any time wandering No Man’s Sky’s 2026 updated galaxy of procedurally generated worlds, you’ve probably heard players rave about portals as the best fast travel hack in the game. I’ve logged over 300 hours in the latest Pathfinder update, and I still get giddy every time I stumble on one of these ancient alien structures, since they let me jump across hundreds of light years in seconds without wasting fuel on my freighter warp drive. This guide breaks down exactly how to find portals in no man's sky, no fancy mods or endgame gear required.
Why Portals Are Game-Changing for 2026 No Man’s Sky Playthroughs
If you’re still relying on your starship’s warp drive to get around in 2026’s latest No Man’s Sky update, you’re wasting dozens of hours of playtime. Portals are ancient alien structures that let you jump to any star system in the galaxy instantly, as long as you have the correct 16-glyph sequence for the target location. No fuel cost for jumps is the biggest perk, obviously, but there are plenty of other benefits you might not know about.
For example, glyph-locked rare systems that don’t appear on standard galaxy maps are only accessible via portals. These systems often have S-class freighter spawns, rare exotic planets, and unlimited resources like activated indium that sell for millions of units at trading posts. You can also use portals for fast travel to friends’ bases across platforms, even if they’re playing on a different console or storefront than you are.
The best part? The 2026 update removed the old requirement that you had to finish the main Artemis story line to use portals. Now you can access and use portals as soon as you get your first exocraft, which is usually within the first 5 hours of a new playthrough.
How to Find Portals in No Man’s Sky Using 2026’s Most Reliable Methods
I’ve tested every trick for locating portals over the past year, and these three methods work 99% of the time, even on uncharted dead worlds with no alien settlements. You don’t need anything more than a basic exocraft and a few units to get started.
If you’re playing on the new 2026 console update, you’ll notice that portal locations are marked with a unique purple icon on your HUD once you’ve discovered them, a quality of life change added in the 2026 No Man’s Sky Pathfinder Update patch notes. That means you won’t have to write down coordinates or take screenshots to find a portal again later if you leave the planet.
One small catch: If you’re playing in permadeath mode, portal locations won’t sync across save files, so you’ll have to hunt for them separately for each new permadeath run you start. That’s a small tradeoff for the extra challenge of permadeath, in my opinion.
Steps to Activate a Portal Once You’ve Found It
Finding the portal is only half the battle; you’ll need to do a little prep work before you can use it to jump across the galaxy. First, you’ll need to collect all 16 glyphs, which are the alien symbols that correspond to different star system coordinates. You can get glyphs by talking to traveling NPCs at space stations and settlements; they’ll usually offer to tell you the location of a hidden grave in exchange for 100 units, and digging up that grave gives you one new glyph.
You only need to collect all 16 glyphs once per save file, so it’s a one-time grind that takes most players 2-3 hours total to finish. I usually collect glyphs while I’m running other missions at space stations, so it doesn’t feel like extra work at all.
Once you have all your glyphs, you’ll need to charge the portal’s 16 slots with common resources. The 2026 update cut the required resource amount in half, so you only need 50 of each elemental resource (carbon, oxygen, sodium, ferrite dust, di-hydrogen, and uranium) to fully charge a portal. That’s a huge improvement over the old 100 per slot requirement that made activating portals a chore for new players.
Make sure you have a waypoint set at the portal before you jump, so you can get back to your home system easily if you don’t like the world you land in. I learned this the hard way on my first playthrough, when I jumped through a portal without setting a waypoint and spent 3 hours warping through random systems to get back to my base. Don’t make that mistake.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Hunting for Portals in 2026
Even with the right methods, it’s easy to make small mistakes that waste your time when you’re hunting for portals. I’ve made almost all of these at some point, so I’m sharing them to help you skip the frustration.
First, don’t waste ancient navigation data on random "secret structure" maps from the cartographer. Always specifically ask for monument location maps, since those are the only ones that guarantee you’ll find a portal or other ancient structure, not a random trading post or ruin. I once wasted 20 ancient navigation data on random maps before I realized I was selecting the wrong option.
Second, don’t try to find portals on extreme weather or extreme sentinel planets without a fully upgraded exosuit. Storms on extreme planets can drain your exosuit’s life support in 10 seconds flat, and aggressive sentinels will attack you nonstop while you’re trying to follow the portal marker. Stick to mild, low-sentinel planets for your first few portal hunts to save yourself the headache.
Don’t activate a portal without confirming the glyph sequence is correct either. It’s easy to mix up similar-looking glyphs, and entering the wrong sequence can send you 10,000 light years away from your intended target with no easy way back. Double check each glyph before you hit the activate button, especially if you’re jumping to a rare system you found online.
Finally, avoid using third-party mods or cheat codes to teleport directly to portals. The 2026 update added new anti-cheat detection that can corrupt your save file if it detects you’re using mods to bypass normal exploration mechanics. It’s far safer to use the legitimate methods we outlined earlier, even if they take a little extra time.
Portals are easily the most useful structure in No Man’s Sky, letting you explore every corner of the galaxy without grinding for warp fuel or upgrading your freighter endlessly. Once you get the hang of how to find portals in no man's sky, you’ll be able to access rare resources, meet up with friends across the galaxy, and complete expedition challenges in half the time. Spend an hour hunting for your first portal this week, and you’ll wonder how you ever played the game without it.
