If you’ve spent even 10 hours zipping between star systems in No Man’s Sky, you’ve probably stared at a massive, glowing freighter floating in orbit and wondered how to make one your own. I spent my first 20 hours of gameplay hauling tiny stacks of resources in a beat-up shuttle, and I wish I’d looked up how to get a freighter in No Man’s Sky way sooner than I did. Freighters aren’t just cool to look at—they act as your mobile base, extra storage for thousands of units of resources, and the hub for your frigate exploration fleet. You don’t even have to spend millions of units to get your first one, either, if you know the right tricks.
How to Get Your First Freighter in No Man’s Sky for Free
You don’t have to jump through dozens of hoops to figure out how to get a freighter in No Man’s Sky, the entire process takes less than 10 minutes once you trigger the rescue event. The easiest, cheapest way to get your first freighter is to warp to any new star system you’ve never visited before. As soon as you load into the system, you’ll get a comms alert that a nearby freighter is under attack by pirates. All you have to do is take out the 3 to 5 pirate ships attacking the freighter, and the captain will invite you on board to thank you. The first freighter you are offered after this rescue mission will always be 100% free, no matter what class or size it is. If you’re brand new to the game, go ahead and take it—even a C-class small freighter gives you an extra 19+ storage slots immediately, which takes a ton of pressure off your limited starship inventory. You do not need to have a lot of units or advanced gear to pull this off—even a starter ship with basic photon cannons can take down the low-level pirates that spawn for new players. If you turn down the first free offer, you’ll have to wait 3 hours of in-game playtime before the free freighter trigger activates again, so make sure you’re sure about your choice before you say no.
How to Unlock Higher-Class and Capital Freighters
Once you’ve got a basic freighter, you might start craving the massive, sleek capital freighters you see floating around high-end systems. These ships can have up to 34 storage slots, S-class performance bonuses, and enough space to park your entire collection of starships. Capital freighters don’t spawn in every system, though, so you’ll need to hunt for them strategically. Capital freighters spawn more often in wealthy, high-population systems, so prioritize systems marked with a gold 3-star economy icon on your galaxy map if you’re hunting for one. You can also save your game right before warping into a new system, then reload if the freighter that spawns is a lower class or smaller size than you want. The cost of higher-class freighters varies widely: C-class regular freighters start around 5 million units, while top-tier S-class capital freighters can cost up to 150 million units. If you don’t want to grind for that many units, you can save your free freighter unlock for when you trigger a capital freighter rescue event, and you’ll get the multi-million unit ship for no cost at all.
Key Mistakes to Avoid When Getting Your First Freighter
A lot of new players make avoidable errors when they’re first trying to get a freighter, and I’ve made almost all of them myself. These mistakes can cost you hours of time or millions of units you don’t need to spend. Keep these common pitfalls in mind before you accept any freighter offer:
What to Do With Your Freighter After You Get It
Once you’ve got your freighter parked in orbit, you’re not done setting it up. There are a few quick upgrades that will make it way more useful, even if you’re still early in the game. The first upgrade you should build is the fleet command terminal, which lets you hire frigates to send on exploration, trading, and combat expeditions. These expeditions bring back free units, rare resources, and even upgrade modules for your freighter and ships, with almost no effort on your part. Next, build as many storage containers as you can. Each storage container holds 20 slots of resources, and you can build up to 10 of them on your freighter, which gives you more than enough space to store all your crafting materials, trade goods, and extra ship parts. You can also build base modules like refiners, a cooking station, and a teleportation module that lets you jump between your freighter and any surface base you’ve set up anywhere in the galaxy. A lot of players don’t realize you can also park up to 6 additional starships on your freighter, so it’s the perfect place to store your collection of exotic ships, shuttles, and fighters without having to sell any of your favorites.
Getting your first freighter completely changes how you play No Man’s Sky, and it’s one of the most rewarding milestones you can hit early in your playthrough. You don’t need to grind for hours or spend all your saved units to get a great one, either—if you follow the steps we’ve laid out, you can pick up a solid freighter for free within your first few hours of gameplay. Now that you know how to get a freighter in No Man’s Sky, you can stop stressing about limited storage space and start planning your long-distance exploration runs across the galaxy. Even if your first freighter is a beat-up C class, you can upgrade it over time or swap it out for a massive capital ship later down the line.
