If you’ve ever found yourself stranded on a toxic planet 30 units short of a repair kit for your broken launch thruster, you know how tight resources can get in No Man’s Sky. I’ve spent hundreds of hours bouncing between star systems, and I’ve lost count of how many times I blew through my unit savings on overpriced trade goods or wasted rare resources crafting items I didn’t actually need. Figuring out how to save on No Man’s Sky doesn’t mean you have to skip upgrades or avoid fun base builds, either—it just means being intentional with how you spend and gather what you need. These tips come from years of trial and error, and they work for new players just finishing the tutorial and veteran explorers grinding for S-class freighters alike.
How to Save on No Man’s Sky By Prioritizing Free, Local Resources First
The fastest way to drain your unit balance is to buy common materials you can easily gather for free, and it’s a mistake almost every new player makes in their first 10 hours of play. You never need to buy common resources like ferrite dust, carbon, or oxygen from space stations, even if you’re running low when you dock. Even on the harshest, most unforgiving planets, you can collect 500 units of oxygen in two minutes flat by shooting glowing red flora, and ferrite dust is literally everywhere you point your terrain manipulator. I once bought 500 oxygen for 1200 units when I first started, only to realize I could have collected twice that amount right outside the station doors before I even took off.
This rule applies to rarer materials too, as long as you’re willing to do a little scanning. If you need sodium to refill your hazard protection, run a quick surface scan to mark local crystal deposits instead of buying stacks from the trade terminal. Always run a full surface scan when you land on a new planet to mark high-value resource nodes before you start exploring, so you don’t waste time wandering looking for materials you need later. You can even harvest stacks of rare materials like tritium and platinum from derelict freighters for free, as long as you’re prepared to fend off a few hostile drones inside. The small risk of taking a little hazard damage is nothing compared to the thousands of units you’ll save buying those materials from traders.
Cut Unnecessary Crafting Costs With Smart Inventory Management
Most players waste tons of resources crafting redundant items or hoarding junk they never use, and that adds up to hundreds of thousands of lost units over time. Only craft repair items and upgrades when you actually need them, not ahead of time. For example, if you have 10 launch thruster fuel stacks in your inventory, you’re wasting di-hydrogen that could be used to craft more valuable trade goods or upgrade your exosuit. I used to hoard every resource I found until my inventory was full, and I’d end up dumping rare stuff to make space for junk I didn’t need. That habit cost me well over 100,000 units in lost resources in my first 20 hours of play.
Follow these simple inventory rules to avoid unnecessary waste:
- Keep a maximum of 3 stacks of each common repair resource (carbon, ferrite dust, sodium) in your exosuit at all times
- Dismantle old, unused upgrades for 50% of their crafting materials back, instead of leaving them to take up inventory space
- Sell excess common resources only when trade terminals are offering 10%+ above the galactic average price
Another small trick that saves me thousands of units every month is to use the nutrient processor to turn excess flora into food that sells for way more than the raw plants. For example, a handful of regular carbon and a few common berries can be turned into a stew that sells for 3x the cost of the raw materials, and you don’t have to spend any extra resources to make it. Upgrade your exosuit inventory slots first before you spend units on ship upgrades—extra slots mean you can carry more resources to sell, and you won’t have to leave valuable materials behind when you’re out exploring.
Maximize Unit Savings By Taking Advantage Of In-Game Mechanics
No Man’s Sky is full of free rewards that most players don’t even know exist, and you can get almost every high-value item in the game without spending a single unit if you know where to look. For example, you never have to buy a new ship from a trader—you can find crashed ships all over the galaxy, claim them for free, and repair them gradually instead of dropping millions on an S-class model from a space station. I got my first S-class multi-tool for free from a crashed site on a frozen moon, instead of paying 3 million units for a lower-tier one at a trade terminal.
If you’re looking for a new freighter, you don’t have to spend 100+ million units on one from a trader either. Every 5 warps, you’ll get a random freighter rescue event, where you can fight off pirates to get the freighter for free. The class of the freighter depends on the system you’re in, so if you warp to a 3-star economy system, you have a high chance of getting an S or A class freighter for zero units. I got my current S-class freighter that way, and it saved me over 120 million units that I would have spent buying one from a trader.
You can also get free upgrade modules and nanites from frigate expeditions and settlement management, instead of buying them from the Anomaly. If you run a settlement, you get regular payouts of units and resources without any extra work, which adds up to thousands of units a week. Always check the settlement construction requests before you approve them—pick projects that give you resource bonuses or unit payouts instead of cosmetic builds that don’t give you any return on investment.
Avoid Common Spending Traps That Drain Your Resources Fast
There are a handful of common spending traps that drain even veteran players’ unit balances, and avoiding them will save you a ton of time and frustration. First, don’t buy exotic pets from traders—you can tame any creature on a planet for free with a little bait, and tamed creatures can even harvest resources for you while you explore. Don’t buy decorative base items from the Anomaly shop if you can unlock them for free by completing milestone missions either. Most of the most popular base decor items unlock automatically as you progress through the main story, so there’s no need to waste nanites buying them early.
Another huge waste of resources is spending nanites on low-tier upgrades. A lot of new players blow their first 10,000 nanites on C-class ship upgrades that they end up replacing a few hours later, which is a total waste. It’s better to save up for one S-class shield upgrade than to buy three lower-tier ones that don’t give you half the protection. You can earn nanites for free by scanning fauna and flora on new planets, or by completing small missions for NPCs at space stations, so you never have to buy them with units.
Don’t buy warp cells from the space station either. You can craft warp cells for a fraction of the cost using chromium and condensed carbon, both of which you can gather for free on almost any moon or rocky planet. I used to buy warp cells all the time when I first started, and I spent almost 50,000 units a month on them before I realized how easy they are to craft. If you play multiplayer, you can even hitch a ride on a friend’s freighter warp to get to new systems for free, no warp cells required at all.
At the end of the day, learning how to save on No Man’s Sky is all about being intentional with your choices, not restricting the way you play. You can still build massive bases, hunt for exotic ships, and explore every corner of the galaxy—you just don’t have to grind for hours to afford it. Try out one or two of these tips on your next play session, and you’ll notice your unit balance and resource stockpiles start to grow faster than you expected. The best part? You’ll have more time to focus on the parts of the game you actually enjoy, instead of grinding for resources just to cover basic costs.
