No Man's Sky: Best Ways to Farm Nanites

Nanites are the second currency in No Man's Sky, and while units buy ships and gear, nanites buy the blueprints and upgrade modules that make that gear genuinely strong. If you have ever wondered why your weapons feel underpowered, the answer is usually that you need more nanites to spend at the right vendors.

The methods here were checked in October 2026 against the official No Man's Sky wiki, Reddit's r/NoMansSkyTheGame, and written guides from GameRant and IGN. Because drop rates and refine ratios occasionally change between updates, I keep the numbers qualitative and focus on methods that have stayed reliable.

What nanites are actually for

You spend nanites at technology merchants on space stations to buy upgrade modules and blueprints, and at specialist vendors to unlock recipes. The best S-class upgrade modules for weapons, ships, exosuits, and multi-tools all cost nanites, and so do many of the convenience technologies you will want. In short, units get you the hardware and nanites turn it into something that performs.

You also use nanites to upgrade your multi-tool and ship classes at certain points, and to buy procedural upgrade modules that you then install. Because the best modules are expensive, a steady nanite income is what separates a capable loadout from a mediocre one.

It is worth understanding the division of labor between the two currencies before you farm either. Units are abundant and easy to generate in bulk once you know how, so most players end up with more units than they know what to do with. Nanites are tighter, because every meaningful upgrade competes for them, and there is no single method that produces them as quickly as the best unit methods produce units. That scarcity is exactly why a deliberate nanite plan pays off: the players whose gear feels overpowered are usually the ones who set up a steady nanite source early rather than hoping to stumble into enough.

Scrapping ships: the fast active method

The most efficient active nanite method is ship scrapping. Buy or claim cheap ships, then dismantle them at a space station's scrap dealer. Dismantling returns salvage components and damaged modules, and selling those damaged modules back to technology merchants converts them into a healthy pile of nanites. Repeat this at busy stations and you can bank a large amount in a single session, especially if you focus on cheap haulers with many slots to strip.

This pairs naturally with building unit income, since you need units to buy the ships you scrap. If that side is thin, see our guide on how to get units.

There is a simple efficiency to the scrapping loop worth knowing. You are effectively converting units into nanites by buying cheap ships, stripping them for damaged modules, and selling those modules back for nanites. Because units are easy to come by and nanites are not, this trade is usually favorable even after you account for the purchase cost, especially when you catch cheap ships at a busy station. Some players set a budget of a few ships per visit and move on, treating it as a routine chore rather than a marathon, which keeps it from feeling like a grind.

Runaway mould: the passive classic

The oldest reliable farm is runaway mould. Certain spots on certain planets continuously spawn runaway mould nodes. Harvest the mould, refine it in a refiner, and the output converts into nanites at a strong ratio. Players set up a base beside a good spawn with a line of refiners, harvest the regrown mould in a loop, and leave the refiners processing while they do other things. It takes setup, but once established it is close to free nanites on tap.

The appeal of the mould farm is that it is almost entirely passive once built. The nodes regrow on their own, so every time you return to the base there is more mould waiting, and the refiners quietly churn away whether you are there or not. The downside is the initial hunt for a good spawn location and the patience to let refiners work, which is why some players prefer the faster, more active scrapping loop. The two complement each other well: the farm provides a passive baseline, and scrapping gives you a burst whenever you need nanites now.

Missions, scanning, and discoveries

Several lower-effort sources add up over time:

• Nexus missions at the Space Anomaly frequently pay nanites, and they are quick to run solo or with others.
• Interacting with damaged machinery, abandoned buildings, and certain alien encounters often rewards nanites through dialogue choices.
• Uploading discoveries, especially fully scanned systems and creatures, pays a nanite bonus on top of the unit reward.
• Harvesting larval cores from whispering eggs is high-risk but lucrative, since the cores refine into substantial nanites.

These smaller sources are easy to overlook, but they are genuinely significant if you simply play the game the way it wants you to. Scanning everything you pass, picking the nanite dialogue option at damaged machinery, and running a couple of Nexus missions each session adds up to a meaningful trickle without any dedicated farming at all. Many players never set up a formal nanite farm and still afford their upgrades purely by being thorough, so if farming does not appeal to you, leaning into these organic sources is a perfectly valid approach. The key is consistency: a nanite here and a nanite there, gathered every session, quietly adds up to the balance you need when the right upgrade finally appears.

Building a nanite routine

The sustainable approach is to combine one active and one passive source. Keep a runaway mould base running in the background, and when you want a burst, do a ship-scrapping circuit at a few stations. Fold in Nexus missions whenever you visit the Anomaly, and upload every discovery you make. With that routine you will rarely be short of nanites when a good upgrade module appears at a vendor.

It also helps to know where you are going to spend them. If you are optimizing a loadout, our best multi-tool guide explains which upgrades are worth the nanites and which to skip.

A sensible target early on is to bank enough nanites to buy the handful of upgrades that most improve your quality of life: scanner modules that boost your scanning income, a stronger mining upgrade, and the economy or hyperdrive technologies that make travel and trade easier. Those pay for themselves quickly because they increase your other income, creating a virtuous cycle. Save the expensive combat min-maxing for later, once your nanite income is comfortable, since those modules cost the most for the smallest day-to-day benefit unless you specifically seek out tough fights.

One habit that quietly builds nanites is simply logging in and checking the usual spots each session. The Nexus missions refresh, the station cabinets offer new modules, and a quick pass through a mould base or a short scrapping circuit tops you up. Treating nanites as something you accumulate in small, regular increments rather than in one marathon grind keeps the process painless and ensures you always have a little set aside when a tempting upgrade appears at a vendor.

It is also worth being deliberate about what you buy with your nanites rather than spending them the moment you have enough. Procedural upgrade modules vary in quality, so buying several and installing only the best, then selling or discarding the rest, gets more out of each nanite. The same goes for blueprints: unlock the technologies you will actually use before splurging on situational ones. A little discipline here means your nanites translate into real power rather than a drawer full of mediocre modules, which matters precisely because nanites are the scarcer of the two main currencies.

To put it all together, the players who never feel short of nanites tend to share a simple pattern. They set up one passive source, usually a mould farm, early in a save. They fold ship scrapping into their routine whenever they are flush with units. They run the quick Nexus missions and pick the nanite dialogue options as a matter of course. And they spend carefully, buying the upgrades that boost their income first and saving the luxury min-maxing for later. Adopt even two or three of those habits and nanites stop being a bottleneck. The game is generous with them once you stop relying on luck and build a small, repeatable system you actually stick to.

If you would rather skip the farm

Running a mould base and a scrapping circuit is a legitimately good way to learn the game's systems, and plenty of players enjoy it. If you would rather have the resources ready and spend your time exploring instead, our No Man's Sky modded starter save provides a save with maxed resources on PS4 and PS5, so your upgrades are already affordable.

It is a save file and you need to own the game. The full lineup is on the No Man's Sky page.

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