If you’ve ever spent an hour mining rare activated indium on a radioactive planet only to find your inventory full right as you spot a stack of storm crystals, you know how frustrating limited storage can be. I’ve had to make that tough call more times than I can count, ditching half a stack of rare materials just to make room for a new multi-tool upgrade I’d been hunting for weeks. That’s why knowing how to get storage in No Man’s Sky is one of the first skills every new player should master, no matter if you’re a casual explorer or a dedicated interstellar trader. I’ve put over 300 hours into the game across multiple saves, and I’ve tested every storage method to find the easiest, most accessible options for every playstyle.
Core Ways to Get Storage in No Man’s Sky for New Players
You don’t need a fancy base or expensive freighter to start expanding your inventory right after you start the game. The first and most accessible storage upgrade comes from your exosuit, the gear you carry with you everywhere you go. You can find drop pods scattered across every planet in the galaxy, marked with a small white icon on your scanner when you’re exploring on foot. Each drop pod holds one exosuit inventory slot, which you can unlock either by fixing three small damaged components (usually just a handful of carbon, sodium, and ferrite dust) or using an Atlas Pass V1 if you have one handy. You can unlock up to 48 general slots and 48 cargo slots for your exosuit, which is enough to hold most basic supplies for short exploration runs. You can also buy exosuit slots directly from the upgrade terminal near the landing pads at any space station, though they get more expensive the more slots you unlock. If you’re short on nanites, prioritize hunting drop pods first, since they cost almost nothing to access and you can find them almost anywhere.
Base Storage Containers: Expand Your Holding Capacity Permanently
Once you’ve built your first base computer and unlocked basic building blueprints, storage containers are the next best investment for long-term storage. You can get the blueprints for standard storage containers from the Construction Research Station on the Space Anomaly, for just a handful of salvaged data you dig up with your terrain manipulator on any planet. Each storage container costs 50 ferrite dust and 20 condensed carbon to build, materials you can collect in five minutes on almost any starting planet. You can place up to 10 storage containers per base, giving you 200 extra dedicated slots that you can access from any of your bases across the galaxy. That means if you store a stack of gold in Container 3 at your starter base, you can pull that same stack out of Container 3 at a base you build 100 star systems away. The only downside is you can only access these containers when you’re standing near one you’ve placed, so they’re not ideal for on-the-go storage. To make the most of these containers, I recommend sorting your resources by category so you don’t waste time rummaging through all 10 to find what you need:
- Containers 1-2: Common raw resources (ferrite dust, carbon, oxygen, sodium)
- Containers 3-4: Crafted materials and building supplies (glass, metal plating, circuit boards)
- Containers 5-6: Rare trade goods and high-value resources (activated indium, storm crystals, void eggs)
- Containers 7-10: Upgrade modules, tech components, and quest-specific items
Ship and Freighter Storage Options for On-the-Go Access
If you want storage you can access almost anywhere, your ships and freighter are your best bet. You can own up to 9 ships total in No Man’s Sky, and each one has its own separate inventory, with top-tier ships offering up to 48 general slots plus extra tech slots. All your owned ships share inventory access when you’re at a space station or your freighter, so you can swap items between ships without having to summon each one individually. That means you can keep a dedicated “storage ship” with low combat and exploration stats parked at your freighter, just for holding extra resources you don’t need to carry on your main ship. Freighters are the biggest storage upgrade you can get in the game, and you don’t even have to pay for your first one. After you complete 3 to 4 warp jumps, you’ll get a notification that a freighter is under attack nearby. Help fight off the pirates, and the freighter captain will offer you the ship for free. Never pass up the free first freighter offer, even if it has low slot counts – you can swap it for a higher-capital freighter later, and even the smallest freighter gives you portable storage access anywhere in the galaxy. You can summon your freighter to any system you’re in (as long as you’re not in active combat) and access all its inventory plus any base storage containers you’ve built inside it. Top-tier capital freighters can have up to 96 inventory slots of their own, plus space for all 10 of your base storage containers, giving you more than 1000 total slots for resources and items.
Lesser-Known Storage Hacks to Maximize Your Space
There are a handful of underrated storage tricks most new players don’t find out about until dozens of hours into the game that can save you a lot of headache. First, pay attention to stack limits: common resources stack up to 9999 in cargo slots, storage containers, and freighter inventory, but only stack up to 250 in your general exosuit slots. Whenever you’re back at a base or freighter, move all common resources from your general exosuit inventory to your cargo slots or storage containers to free up more space for rare items. The Suit Refiner can act as temporary storage for up to 4 stacks of resources while you’re exploring – if you’re out mining and run out of space, you can toss extra stacks into the refiner even if you don’t plan to refine them, and come back for them later. Just don’t log out or leave the system for more than a few hours, or items left in refiners might despawn. You can also use your exocraft for extra storage during long mining runs on a single planet. Each exocraft has its own 20-slot inventory that you can access any time you’re standing near the vehicle, perfect for holding extra stacks of ore while you’re exploring a large planet. If you have a freighter, build a Storage Depot near the bridge – it lets you access all 10 of your base storage containers directly from one terminal, so you don’t have to run through your entire freighter base to grab a single stack of materials.
At the end of the day, you don’t have to choose between grabbing that rare storm crystal and holding onto the crafting supplies you spent an hour collecting. Taking the time to learn how to get storage in No Man’s Sky that fits your playstyle will make every exploration run, trade mission, and base building project way less stressful. I still remember how frustrating it was to leave behind stacks of activated indium when I first started playing, and these methods cut my resource waste by almost 80% within a few hours of gameplay. Experiment with a mix of exosuit upgrades, base storage, and ship/freighter slots to find the setup that works best for you, and you’ll never have to trash a valuable item again.
