F2P Money Making — The Methods People Actually Do
Free-to-play GP is slow compared with members. The wiki F2P table is a GE snapshot, not a promise — shop methods and 99 Smithing rune alchs sit at the top of that table and are not how most accounts fund a bond. This page is the ladder YouTube and the wiki still agree on: hides, wines, ogresses, yews, then alchemy if a margin exists.
Skip if: you already have members. Train on F2P only if you are stuck without a bond or playing a permanent free account.
Active F2P ladder, not 99 Smithing
99 Smith / shopscape — not typical
Corsair Cove after Corsair Curse
33 Magic telegrab, contested
Requirements mindset- Grand Exchange to sell. F2P ironmen are a different problem — gather supplies, do not chase these GP/hr numbers.
- Check live prices on the GE tracker before you commit a night. Wiki F2P hourly profits cache and rot.
- A bond is the usual goal. Use the bond calculator for how many hours that actually is at your method.
- Full method dump: Wiki F2P money making. Ignore the top of that list until you have 99 Smithing or enjoy world-hopping shops against bots.
The ladder (what to do)1. Cowhides — first stack
- Lumbridge cows. Bank hides in Lumbridge castle or Al Kharid.
- Wiki: killing cows and tanning is ~57k/hr; collecting and tanning ~66k; tanning bought hides ~126k if you already have capital. Early accounts kill the cows.
- Tanner in Al Kharid. Soft leather vs hard leather — check GE, not habit.
2. Hill giants — bones + limps
- Edgeville dungeon (brass key) or the Giant Pit after Dragon Slayer I.
- Wiki ~57k/hr. Big bones and limpwurt roots are the loot. Fine while you train combat toward ogresses.
3. Wines of Zamorak — 33 Magic
- Chaos Temple north of Falador. Telekinetic Grab (33 Magic): law rune + air (staff).
- Wiki F2P page ~89k/hr. Empty-world YouTube hours run higher; crowded worlds collapse it. Hop. Do not stand in melee of the monks without food.
- This is still the F2P collect method people name first after hides.
4. Ogress warriors / shamans — Corsair Cove
- Unlock Corsair Cove with The Corsair Curse (F2P quest). Ogresses live in the dungeon.
- Wiki: warriors ~86k/hr, shamans ~144k/hr (80+ combat recommended for shamans). Rune drops and alchables — the combat method F2P YouTube still ranks first.
- Safespot if you are undergeared. Bring a looting setup you can bank at the nearby bank.
5. Yew logs — 60 Woodcutting
- Edgeville or south Falador yews. Wiki F2P cutting yews ~114k/hr. AFK. GP follows live log price — check GE the day you cut.
- Maple at Corsair (45 WC, after Dragon Slayer I for the resource area) is slower GP, easier WC XP.
6. High Alchemy — 55 Magic, only with a margin
- Wiki lists ~358k/hr for profitable F2P alchs. That assumes you found items where alch value beats GE buy + nature. Most weeks the list is thin.
- Use the alch calculator and the High Alchemy guide. If natures are high and nothing is green, skip this.
Honest extras (do not build a bond plan on these)- Iron ore (15+ Mining): wiki ~40k/hr. Good Mining XP, bad GP. Al Kharid / Mining Guild (60).
- Lobsters / swordfish: wiki ~15–24k/hr. Food for you, not a money maker.
- Wilderness natures / runite: wiki still lists them. PKers eat the average. Only if you accept deaths.
- Shopscape (feather packs, tinderboxes, bronze pickaxes): wiki hourly looks fine until the world is full of bots. Treat as optional, not a route.
- GE flipping: real, capital-scaled, not a gather method. No honest GP/hr without your cash stack. Flip Finder is on the GE tracker.
- 99 Smithing rune items: top of the wiki F2P table. Irrelevant until you are already there.
Profit honestyAlmost all F2P GP is GE price of logs, hides, wines, and rune drops. There are no uniques to carry you. Crowding (wines, yews, ogress worlds) is the real variance. Members herb runs and birdhouses beat this ladder on GP per minute once a bond is in.
Skip this if…- You can afford a bond another way — members methods are a different page.
- You expected 1M+/hr. That is not F2P unless you are flipping a large cash stack or 99 Smithing.
Common mistakes- Power-mining iron for gold. Train Mining; sell something else.
- Alching without checking nature + buy price the same day.
- Staying at cows after you have 33 Magic and a few law runes.
- Treating a wiki 300k shop method as guaranteed — look at the world first.