GTA 5: Best Businesses To Buy [Top 10]

Rockstar Games offers players an opportunity to buy some of the best multiple businesses in GTA 5. Live a rich and leading life with the most appealing and distinctive looks on your character, representing you in GTA’s mad and wacky world.

---

Key Takeaways

• For the beginner, you should go for the Acid Lab and Coke Lockup business. Coke Lockup is an MC business, whereas the Acid Lab works similarly as an MC business.
• If you are more of a car person, you can buy Auto Shop and Cargo Vehicle businesses in GTA 5.
• The best supply businesses in GTA 5 currently to buy are Special Cargo and Bunker. For the basic level, you should go for the Bunker business because Special Cargo requires a lot of investment in it. But it is also the best profit-generating business.
• To have the best Active sources of business, you should aim to buy Arcade and the Agency. However, it is preferable to buy Arcade as it ties all the other businesses in it and makes things quite easier for you to manage.
• Finally, for the old players of GTA 5, buy the Nightclub and the Kosatka Submarine. Both businesses come with heavy investment and pay the best result as the money-making source.

---

Types Of Businesses In GTA 5

Before breaking down the list of best businesses in GTA, it will be pretty helpful for you to understand the nature of the business that you have interested in. It won’t be a complicated mess of dynamics to comprehend rather, there are only 2 basic types of it.

Passive Income

First off, there is a passive way of income that everyone would like to get their hands on. This is the way of generating money on the backend. To simplify it further, once you have set up your business and made all your investments, you can rest easy while doing other stuff in the game while your income will keep on generating from that business.

However, you are still required to pay a visit to that purchased property every often to restock your inventory and keep your business booming.

Active Income

Lastly, there comes the method of active income. These types of businesses are bound to players’ performance. Explicitly, this way requires the players to go from place to place regarding the fulfillment of their objectives. Or the game will simply assign a specific mission that needs to be done to gain any profit at all. Such missions can include the delivery, killing, or time race for the completion.

This is a somewhat better way of keeping the gamers engaged in the game while entertaining them with fruitful results in the end. Moreover, you will appreciate the money you have earned the hard way and can boast about it in front of your friends.

Tips For Business

Keeping yourself tangled with concerns of only one business will not profit you according to your needs. Instead, engage in multiple activities and own various businesses that will prove to be a money-spinning opportunity. Help yourself out with some of the few essential tips while you are planning to buy some best businesses in GTA.

• The best tip to start any new business in GTA is to not invest a hefty sum in it initially. Its foundation should come in cheap else; it will be rather tricky for you to make any profit out of it in the early stages of the business.
• Moreover, try not to handle multiple Active businesses simultaneously, as it will become quite complicated to manage. Own several Passive business titles and work for a few Active sources of income.
• Your friends can also tag along to make things fast and generate a productive outcome.

List Of Best Businesses To Buy In GTA 5

Keeping yourself updated with the ongoing events in GTA 5 Online is essential. It is because some updates change the overall or minor mechanics of the business that you may have taken your interest in. Sometimes new businesses are introduced, while sometimes, old ones are modified into something better. Regarding this, take a gander at some of the best businesses to buy in GTA 5.

Acid Lab

The Acid Lab Business is best suitable for beginners that have just entered GTA Online. The best capability of this business is that it enables the player to make Millions of dollars as a solo runner, which means that you don’t have to rely on the help of others to produce such a lucrative sum.

Furthermore, Acid Lab doesn’t involve a high substantial sum to start working with. The Acid Lab was introduced in the Los Santos Drug Wars update.

Requirement

The reason why Acid Lab is considered to be beginner-friendly is due to its unique trait of accessibility. You cannot purchase it simply like all other businesses. But compromising the simplicity here is bringing you a beneficial moment.

In this case, you are saving the initial sum of investment by going through the GTA Online missions and unlocking Acid Lab functionality by completing those missions.

Once you have set foot in GTA Online, there will appear a mission of Ron Jakowski at the location of Freakshop. This will count as the very first mission that you need to complete in order to unlock the Acid Lab. There are six missions in total that you need to complete afterward.

After the first mission from Ron, there will appear a mark on the map as “D,” representing Dax. An NPC who will assign you the following five missions that you need to progress through to make a further step towards setting up your Acid Lab.

Upon completing all the Dax missions, you will have the Brickade 6/6 present in the Freakshop, as the last of the Dax mission will require you to steal it. Lastly, a side mission will appear in Los Santos where you must deliver a truck loaded with crates to the Freakshop. From there on, you can buy the Acid Lab by talking to the NPC by the name “Mutt,” who will be present at the very moment.

Working

Acid Lab is a passive income method that relies on stock management. You need to fill the Supply Bar and the Product Bar for profit gain. You can get supplies by either Stealing or Buying.

In this case, buying is always preferable because it saves a hefty amount of time. Moreover, a fair amount of profit is guaranteed. When you steal the supplies, it will be time-consuming, but the profit will be enough to satisfy you. Regarding the stealing process, it is often considered to do it with friends to save time and money.

Once the stock is replenished, Mutt will convert the supplies to Products. The profit calculation is based on the Product bar, which is directly proportional to the Supply bar. One of the best features of Acid Lab is that it is more forward into solo plays.

No matter how many supplies your Acid Lab contains, there will always spawn one vehicle that will carry all those supplies and be ready to be delivered in a single go.

Stats

If you are doing this business in the live lobby, each player ( excluding you ) will add a 2% bonus.

Without Equipment Upgrade

• The purchase of Acid Lab will cost you $750,000, which is the lowest among all the businesses.
• It will take $60,000 to fill the 5 bars of the Supply bar. To complete the storage of Acid Lab, it will cost you $192,000 ( $60k  x  3.2 bars ).
• A 5-bar supply will earn you $74,250 and will take its time up to approximately 2 hours.
• To fill the Acid Lab with supplies, you are needed to fill 16 Bars of Supply Bar. Which is to be converted into calculation will yield the result of earning $237,600 and requires 6 hours to be supplied.
• Stolen supplies sum up to generate $38,610 per hour. Bought supplies will create a profit of $7600 per hour.

With Equipment Upgrade

• You can install an Equipment Upgrade which will drastically increase the profit generation and lower the amount of time that takes the lab to be filled with supplies.
• The Equipment Upgrade will cost you $250000, which is surprisingly profitable as there is a requirement for doing this upgrade. You need to call Dax and ask for work to complete further missions for him. After the success in all ten missions, the upgrade will be available. However, the most interesting part is that completing each mission will hand you over $50,000, which will sum up to $500,000. Half of the upgrade cost hence, putting you in a practical step.
• With the Equipment Upgrade, there will be an increase of 41% in the profit and a 33% reduction in the time of making the products.
• The Supply Bar will also drop from 3.2 to 1.6 that required to fill the lab’s storage.
• Stolen supplies will now provide a profitable sum of $83,800 per hour. Whereas the Bought Supplies will be exceedingly better and will give the improved outcome of $59,800 of profit per hour.
• Due to the upgrade, the complete Acid Lab worth will be $335,200. Also, the time consumption will be reduced from 6 hours to 4 hours.

Arcade Business

There is a twisted fact regarding the Arcade Business. This business has the purpose of serving as a GTA Online story mission Casino Heist. It serves as the place for setting up your plans for the heist mission.

Although you can make a decent amount of money through this business, it is just that you won’t be able to create a profit quite efficiently. So what makes Arcade to be one of the best businesses to buy in GTA 5 is the fact that it provides connectivity will all of your other businesses.

This is a completely Passive way of income. Arcade can be counted as one of the businesses that you must have to buy in GTA 5 if you are a veteran player.

Requirement

The requirement for setting up an Arcade business is pretty favorable to everyone. The goal for adding this business to GTA was to provide an improvement in the management of other businesses.

However, if you want to own the Arcade business, then simply start the Casino Heist mission in GTA Online that was introduced in The Diamond Casino Heist update. To unlock the full features of Arcade, you need to complete a setup mission that will require you to grab some equipment from an NPC. Then you will progress through the heist mission.

To put it simply, the Arcade business does not have any requirements of its own. Instead, other businesses may require the Arcade business and it is also the requirement of Casino Heist mission. That means you will not progress any further in the mission if you do not own the Arcade.

This business will require only the purchasing of Arcade mainly which is over the total of 6 areas on the map. You can learn more about these in our detailed best arcade to buy GTA 5 guide.

Working

The Arcade is divided into different operation purposes. Each carries its unique task and effect.

Money Generation

The first one, pretty basic, is the business itself. You need to invest in the arcade machines that will generate you profit of a fixed amount. Profit generation does not depend on the type of arcade machine that you have bought.

So it’s best not to invest in expensive machines as the profit margins calculated through running this business are pretty low. The machines sure add a valuable look to your business with a variety of unique games to play on them.

Mission Progress

The second most famous use of the Arcade business is the storyline of the Casino Heist. In the basement of the Arcade, you will be given a portion where you will be planning the heist. One fact about this heist is that it will offer you an equipment section while preparing for the heist.

Sure it improves the probability of the success of the mission however, it is best considered not to waste your money on that expense as the default gear will be reasonable to move on with.

Drone Station

The most unique and fun feature that the Arcade will include in it is the Drone Station. You can find the Drone Station behind the Casino Heist setup. However, do mind the fact that the Drone Station is not there to help you with any sort of profitable activity.

It is still fun to fly drones and shoot people all over the city. Generally, this is a luxurious addition to your Arcade, so it is not recommended for the beginner level.

Master Control Terminal

Now to know the most dominating factor of Arcade, which is the Master Control Terminal. This business gains its popularity through this feature. It will help the player to manage his other businesses through this terminal. The management will include the restocking and selling of the goods for every business.

This connection provides a better time-saving mechanic by allowing the player to access the inventory of goods from a single point rather than going over to each place every time individually.

An important key point to remember here is that you should avoid making sales by using Master Control Terminal. This will put you in a more difficult situation as now you will have to drive all your way to the cargo point. Then you will have to reach the destination where the delivery must happen. You have to do this while the timer is running. So it’s best to use only the resupply option.

Master Control Terminal is the cause that this is counted as one of the best businesses to buy in GTA.

Stats

• As discussed earlier, you need to purchase the Arcade business from any of the six places on the map. You will find the cheapest one on the top side of the map called Paleto Bay and Grapeseed. That will cost you $1,235,000 ( Pixel’s Pete ) and $1,565,000 ( Wonderama ).
• Although these are the cheapest ones, but also the most avoided ones. Due to their location not being near the places you need to go for mission purposes and being in the less populated places.
• The rest of the four is located in Los Santos. The first is in La Mesa, which is worth $1,875,000 ( Videogeddon ). The second is in Davis, worth $2,135,000 ( Warehouse ). The third is in Rockford, worth $2,345,000 ( Insert Coin ). Lastly, the one in Vinewood costs $2,530,000 ( Eight-Bit ).
• The safe provided to you in the Arcade can hold a worth of $50,000. You need to collect this amount to let more money in.
• The profit this business makes is $5000 for a whole in-game day. Thus, making it the slowest money-making business throughout the game.
• The Drone Station upgrade will cost you $1,460,000 while giving nothing in return.
• The Master Control Terminal is worth nearly $1,700,000. This is a rather good investment in GTA 5 overall.
• Casino Heist will give you $2M+ upon completion, and the mission is replayable.

Auto Shop

A business that is fully based on the Active method for income. There are basically two reasons to consider this as one of the best businesses to buy in GTA 5.

First is that this business includes stunning-looking cars that can grab anyone’s attention. And the second is that you don’t prefer doing a resupply mission. The Auto Shop business provides a decent amount of profit in a short period. Making it an ideal choice for players to set as a source of Active money-making opportunities.

Overall, Auto Shop is one of the best vehicle businesses to buy in GTA 5.

Requirement

To start this business, you just need to buy the Auto Shop. Once, you enter the Los Santos Car Meet; you will go through a cinematic. After you are done with that, you will be able to buy an Auto Shop. There are a total of 5 Auto Shops available to purchase in Lost Santos.

Once you have bought the Auto Shop, there are some upgrades that you can work on. The Staff Upgrade will let you hire a maximum of 2 Staff Members who can help you with the delivery. Other than that, you can have the Extra Upgrades that include Personal Quarter and Car Lift.

Working

Auto Shop consists of 3 different aspects. Each of them has a fair amount of profit generation and are Active source of income. The Extra Upgrades of Car Lift will help you generate a good amount of money.

By default, you will have one Car Lift which allows you to deal with 1 customer at a time. Car Lift Upgrade will add another one, which will enable you to process 2 requests at the same time.

Customer Delivery

Over time, you will receive message pop-outs on your screen informing you about the new customer request. A new car will appear in your garage, waiting for the customization according to the customer’s request.

Details will be given to you. Once you are done with the vehicle modification, you will have to drive the vehicle to its destination, where the delivery needs to be.

You can either do the delivery yourself or hire a Staff Member to deliver it for you. You will need Staff Member upgrades, which are quite costly for this purpose.

Also, do keep in mind that if the car is damaged on the way, you will have to face a moderate amount of loss in the end. Staff Members also can crash the car and deduct the profit. So it’s better to do it yourself.

Car Exports

A section in the Auto Shop will offer you a few contracts on car delivery. Unlike customer delivery, you will have to find these cars in the Free Mode and steal them. Every vehicle needs to be delivered at the docks and upon completion, you will receive your profit.

Some cars do not spawn commonly. In this situation, you need to be cautious while driving around and keep your eye on the mini-map. A Blue Dot will appear on the map which will indicate the location of the car required for the contract. The contract board is refreshed on daily basis.

Mini Heist

This is the best money-generating method inside the Auto Shop. A planning board will be present inside the shop which will offer you 3 heist missions.

Initially, 2 of them will be set up missions and will unlock the other one which is to be the Finale, rewarding the highest amount of money. These heist missions will earn you a relatively small amount of money compared to the other heist missions.

Stats

Investment

• La Mesa Auto Shop – $1,920,000
• Burton Auto Shop – $1,830,000
• Rancho Auto Shop – $1,750,000
• Mission Row Auto Shop – $1,670,000
• Strawberry Auto Shop – $1,705,000
• Staff Members 1 and 2 Upgrade for $385,000 each.
• Car Lift Upgrade will cost you $650,000.

Profit Calculation

• Car Delivery service will cost you $35,000 in car modification. Once you have delivered the car successfully, without any damage, you will receive $60,000. This will save you up to $25,000.
• Car Export will give you $20,000 for each car delivered.
• For the Mini Heist, there are 2 types of missions. Firstly, the set-up missions will reward you generally somewhere near $170,000. Once the setup missions are completed, you will get to play the Finale which will reward you with better money, ranging between $180,000 to $300,000.

Bunker

Bunker is undoubtedly one of the top most popular and best businesses to buy in GTA. This is a Passive way of income as it is counted among the supply businesses.

What makes Bunker unique from other Supply businesses is that it deals with the manufacturing and supplying of weapons. Moreover, you can unlock some new upgrades on your weapons which you will not be able to obtain otherwise.

If you have involved your friends in this business, then there is a lot for you to make a profit here. It is because each time your supplies are ready to be delivered, you will have different vehicles spawned for every delivery.

Requirement

The Bunker comes up with pretty basic requirements. First, you need to buy the Bunker. A word of advice: every person will recommend you buy the Bunker closer to the city. Once you have bought it, you will be required to complete a setup mission which will not take long.

Although this comes as an addition to the Bunker business, it is often considered mandatory to buy the Upgrades of Equipment and Staff. Both have their distinctive features for maximizing your profit.

• Equipment Upgrade: Enhance the working of the business overall. This increases the speed of work and quality of supplies which saves you time and adds value to the stock—resulting in a better profit margin.
• Staff Upgrade: This upgrade will decrease the time spent in manufacturing and researching.

Working

Firstly, there will be a Supply bar that you need to fill for any profit-making to happen. You can either buy it or steal it. You can fill the Supply Bar 4 times to fill the Bunker storage.

However, each time your supply is prepared for delivery, it will spawn a vehicle respectively for that each time. This will make it harder for you to manage it if you are playing solo.

Secondly, there is the Stock Bar that will indicate the supplies converted and ready to be delivered. Each full Supply Bar will fill the 1/4th Stock Bar and will spawn 1 vehicle at this point. This amount will favor the solo player else it is recommended to play it with friends.

Lastly, there is the Research Bar. You can set your staff to work as manufacturers to fill the Research Bar. This has the purpose of unlocking new weapon upgrades that you can use for yourself. Of course, this does not offer any profit generation.

The Manage Staff menu allows you to control the working behavior of the staff. Here, you can assign your team to Manufacturing, Research, or both. If you are looking into making the most profit from this business, then you should only select Manufacturing. You can use the Research option for the work on weapon improvements that you can apply to your weapons. To have the Staff assigned to both will result in the deficiency of both sides’ outcomes.

Stats

Investment

• Chumash Bunker – $1,650,000
• Route 68 Bunker – $1,950,000
• Grand Senora Desert Bunker – $2,120,000
• Farmhouse Bunker – $2,375,000
• Thomson Scrapyard Bunker – $2,290,000
• Smoke Tree Road Bunker – $2,205,000
• Grapeseed Bunker – $1,750,000
• Raton Canyon Bunker – $1,450,000
• Lago Zancuda Bunker – $1,550,000
• Equipment Upgrade will cost $ $1,155,000
• Staff Upgrade will cost $598,500

Profit Calculation

• Buying supplies will cost you $75,000 ( 1 full Supply Bar ). This will be turned into stock that holds worth $210,000.
• It will take nearly 90 minutes for supplies to be converted into stock.
• With a basic level of business, Bunker will generate $40,000 per hour.
• Staff upgrades will make it $54,000 per hour.
• Equipment upgrades will make it $55,000 per hour.
• Both of the upgrades combined will increase the profit drastically as then the stats will be $79,000 per hour.
• Generally, it will take you around $375,000 – $395,000 to fill the Bunker with supplies. These supplies will be sold for $1,050,000. So a profit of approximately $650,000+ is made overall. This makes the Bunker one of the best supply businesses to buy in GTA 5.
• Once an in-game day, you will get a vehicle in the Bunker that spawns there to deliver the weapon supplies. This minor mission will give you $50,000 upon completion.

Coke Lockup

Cocaine Lockup is the supply business that most of the players will tend to invest in at the beginning stage. It is because this business requires a little less investment money to set up as compared to the other businesses. Moreover, it is one of the MC businesses that provide a relatively good amount of profit when compared to other MC businesses.

In brief, Coke Lockup is one of the best-starting businesses to buy in GTA 5 and start cashing out some profit. This is a Passive method for the income in GTA.

Requirement

The essential requirement for setting up the cocaine business is first buying the Motorcycle Club. These clubs come in so cheap that it will not bother you in terms of spending money on them. However, it is advised that you do not buy any upgrades for the Motorcycle Club as that will be a total waste of money.

Once you have bought the MC, you will now be able to enter there and buy other businesses. From here, you can go to the Cocaine option and purchase the location where you want to start your Coke Lockup business. There will be 4 locations available for purchase, and all of them will come at a cheap price.

After that, you will be required to do a primary setup mission like most businesses. Then, it is totally up to you how you want to manage the business. Supplies have the same procedure here of either buying them or stealing them.

However, it is much more advocated that you look into stealing the supplies in the early stages of this business. It is because the production at an early level will not generate profit to satisfy you if you have bought the supplies.

Working

The model of this business is pretty straightforward. There is the Supply Bar which your staff will convert into a Product Bar and start generating profit out of it. The business is best done with friends to cover the maximum amount of profit in a short time spam.

Similar to Bunker, Product Bar can be filled to its max value by ordering supplies 3 times. Each time the supply is converted into the product, a new vehicle is spawned. If you want to play solo, then do not fill the Product Bar. Instead, order 1 Supply Bar and work with it as it will be fair for 1 player to deliver 1 product.

You should invest in the Staff and Equipment upgrade which will enhance the profit margins by speeding up the process and adding much more value to your products.

Stats

Investment

• Motorcycle Club locations do not matter as you will only need to pay to visit when you need to buy new businesses. So buy the cheapest one which is Great Chaparral Clubhouse which will cost you $200,000. If you have the Criminal Starter Pack, then it is free of cost.
• Cocaine Business is a Passive income. So it is also best to invest in the cheapest here. The best option is to buy the Alamo Sea Cocaine Lockup, which will cost you $975,000.
• Other locations are Paleto Bay ( $1,098,000 ), Elysian Island ( $1,462,500 ), and Morningwood ( $1,852,500 ).
• Equipment Upgrade will cost $935,000.
• Staff Upgrade will cost $390,000.
• Security Upgrade will cost $570,000. Security will be required for this business as the MC businesses get raided most of the time by players or NPCs.

Profit Calculation

• The supplies will cost you $75,000.
• A full Supply Bar will take 2.5 hours to be converted. The full Supply Bar will give 1.5 Product Bars.
• Coke Lockup will generate $37,500 per hour without any upgrades.
• With the upgrades ( both equipment and staff ), it will generate $92,500 per hour.
• The maximum money that a Product Bar will generate is $300,000 without any upgrades.
• Having one of the upgrades will make the stock money reach $360,000. And if you have both upgrades, then the worth is $420,000.
• The time consumption will also improve with the upgrades. The basic level will take 8.3 hours to fill out the whole storage. With any of the upgrades, it will take 6.6 hours. With both upgrades, it will take 5 hours. Resulting in the best MC businesses to buy in GTA for a good amount of profit.
• If you sell the products in a live lobby, you will get a bonus of 1% for each player currently in there.

Agency

A business that came with the DLC Criminal Enterprise. This business can work as both a Passive and Active source of generating income. An Agency is the best way of keeping yourself entertained for a while along with some profit being generated at the same time. Because an Agency business has tons of activities to offer, it will offer you various ways to make money.

Requirement

To start with one of the best businesses to buy in GTA 5, you need to buy an Agency building. Sure, this will require a hefty amount of sum to be put in investment but buying it will grant you some of the additional perks.

Firstly, you will get a free garage along with the building where you can store up to 23 vehicles. This also has a purpose in serving as one of the ways to produce money. You will be required to steal cars and bring them to the garage if you have taken such a contract.

Secondly, there will be an upgrade by the name Vehicle Workshop. This will enable you to modify your cars within the Agency and add an extra option for the car upgrade. These upgrades include 2 new abilities for your ride.

• Remote Control Unit: As the name suggests, allows you to remotely control the vehicle in which this upgrade is applied. To install this upgrade, you need $235,000.
• Missile Lock-on Jammer: The most helpful upgrade to ever exist for GTA 5 Online world. This upgrade will prevent others from locking on your vehicle, making it a non-targetable unit and easily slipping through sights and rocket barrage. This upgrade will require the amount of $400,000.

Uniquely, you will be given an Armory if you have spent money on that upgrade. This will allow you to purchase weapons within the Agency, and if you do it this way, you will receive a discount on your purchases. Moreover, this will grant you an option to buy armor which is quite essential as this business will put you up on tasks that will require extra protection points.

Working

The Agency business offers the players to gain profit from 3 methods. All of them are rather fun missions to go through, but some might require a hefty amount of time to be accomplished.

Contracts

Once you are inside your Agency, you can take on contracts that will require a few minutes of effort to put into it. These contracts will provide you with money upon completion, and with each contract completed, you will be given $100 for every in-game day. There are three types of contracts that you can choose to work on.

• Liquidize Assets: You need to chase down a person for a couple of minutes. Once they enter their hideout, you must rush in and kill everyone in sight. However, this will not stop here as now you will have to lose the cops from your tail. This is the highest-paying contract mission.
• Rescue Operation: This mission involves the stealing of a vehicle. You need to protect the car from the waves of enemies coming to kill you. Once you have eliminated each one of them, you can deliver the car to the Agency’s garage.
• Gang Termination: You must reach a specific location and eliminate the whole squad of troublemakers.

Payphone Hits

You can start this mission from any place on the map. To start the payphone hits, you need to call Franklin, and you will be requesting him to put you up on a task. Either this, or you can look at the mini-map and watch out for the Blue Phone icon where you will receive the phone call regarding the purpose of starting the mission.

Once the mission starts, you will earn a fixed amount of pay every time you succeed. Moreover, an important fact is that you will be provided with instructions on assassinations. These will not be necessary, but if you manage to fulfill this additional requirement, you will earn a multiplied profit upon completion.

This is one of the most enjoyable aspects of the Agency, and one of the reasons make it among the best businesses to buy in GTA 5.

Dr. Dre Contract

This mission is one of the most profit-generating methods in GTA. However, this mission requires a total time of 1+ hour but makes it all worth it due to the high pay. One of the best features of this mission is that while doing it, you can reach Franklin and take on the Payphone Hit mission in between. Thus, making this a perfect scenario for generating an enormous amount of sum in a fair amount of time.

Stats

Investment

• Vespucci Canals – $2,145,000
• Little Seoul – $2,010,000
• Rockford Hills – $2,415,000
• Hawick – $2,830,000
• Armory upgrade will cost you $720,000.
• Vehicle Workshop will come at an expense of $800,000.

Profit Calculation

• Each contract will offer you a random amount of money upon completion. Once you complete a contract, you will get $100 inside your safe vault of the Agency every in-game day ( 48 minutes real life ). You can complete up to 200 contracts this way, which will generate $20,000 each day for you—counted as a Passive way of making money.
• Payphone Hit missions will give you $15,000 for every successful mission. However, if you follow the instructions given to you, you can increase this profit drastically up to $85,000.
• Dr. Dre’s mission will surely take time to complete. But once it’s done, he will pay you a ransom of $1,000,000 straight away. This mission will then go on a cooldown for a bit of a time before you can play it again.

These factors make the worth of the Agency relatively high and make it absolutely one of the best businesses to buy in GTA 5 for both Active and Passive sources.

Vehicle Cargo

Vehicle Cargo is one the oldest and best-running businesses in GTA 5. This is a completely Active method business. The working of this business might seem a bit similar to the Auto Shop business, but that is not the case. It does require the same way of delivering the vehicle to the customer but offers a rather generous sum in return.

Moreover, if you love driving stunning cars out on the road, this is one of the best vehicle businesses for you to buy in GTA 5.

Requirement

To set up this profit-making business, you need to invest in 2 things. First off, you need a CEO office, and it does not matter what location you have picked for it. So it is best to invest in the cheapest CEO office. This will enable you to own a few other businesses as well. One of those businesses will be Vehicle Cargo.

The second thing that you need to purchase is the Vehicle Warehouse. This will also come at a high cost, so it is best to own a cheap warehouse. You will need this to deliver the car here and manage its sale through the warehouse location.

It is not considered wise to do this business solo as it will put a limit on the number of cars that you can sell at the same time. Invite your friends and increase the profit by the times each player works with you.

Working

To enable this mission, you need to go to the CEO’s office, and in the Vehicle Cargo business option, you have to click on the Source Vehicle. This will start the mission where you will have to reach the location, steal the car, and drive it back to your warehouse. If the vehicle is damaged on the way, you will have to pay a Repair Cost for it once it arrives at the warehouse.

Every car will be categorized into different standards, which will reflect its price of it. These are divided into Mid Range, Standard Range, and Top Range. As expected, the Top Range vehicle will return the most money. Whereas, the other ranges of the cars can be ignored for the better reason.

Once you have selected the car for export, you will have three options to sell it.

1. You can sell it to a Private customer.
2. You can deliver it to a Showroom.
3. You can sell it for the highest price by giving it to the Specialist Dealer.

While delivering the car to its buyer, keep in mind that you will lose a meager sum upon each damage the car has received. This will come as a frustrating aspect as it is preferable to also do these missions in a live public lobby.

Stats

• To buy the cheapest CEO office, it will cost you exactly $1,000,000 without any downfall to come. So it is the best investment.
• The rest of the offices are Arcadius Business Center ($2,250,000), Lombank West ( $3,100,000 ), and Maze Tower Bank ( $4,000,000 ).
• There are lots of Vehicle Warehouses to buy in Lost Santos. To have the best start at this business, go for the cheap ones, which are located at La Mesa ( $1,500,000 ), El Burro Heights ( $1,635,000 ), and Elysian Island ( $1,950,000 ).
• The Private selling option will have the least profit of $40,000, but you will not have to pay for anything in it.
• If you sell it to a Showroom for $70,000, he will require modification in the car, costing you around $10,000.
• To make the maximum profit, sell it to Specialist Dealer for $100,000 at the cost of nearly $20,000 on modification. Making a profit of $80,000 per sale. That is if you do not damage the car.
• Do note that these calculations were done for the Top Range cars.
• If you are doing this solo, you will only sell one car at a time. You can add three more friends to sell the four cars at once and gain the maximum profit. Simply, you can earn $400,000 with a $320,000 profit in a single go.
• This business can have the High Demand bonus, which means that there is a 2% increase in profit for players in the public lobby.

Special Cargo

This business is much more likely to be an Active method, but there will be a lot of worth in it if you have turned it into a passive income. The business has a lot of flexibility in terms of investment. It favors beginners as well as rich players. This is one of the best profit-generating businesses to buy in GTA 5 if you have invested a substantial sum.

Requirement

To own this business, you must have two things quite similar to that of Vehicle Cargo. It requires a CEO’s office as well as a Cargo Warehouse. Regarding the CEO’s office, buying the cheapest one around you is preferable. It is because these offices’ functionality remains the same and only differs in location. So no point wasting too much money on them.

As for the Cargo Warehouse, you need to think before investing in this. Usually, you can set your aim to buy the cheap ones however, the cheap ones will not favor you much in your profit. Cargo Warehouse comes in 3 different sizes.

• Small warehouse will have the capacity to store 16 crates.
• Medium warehouse can host up to 42 crates.
• Large warehouse will be the most profitable as it can store a maximum of 111 crates.

There are various locations in GTA 5 where you can buy these warehouses. If you are short on money, then invest in a small or medium size warehouse. Buy the large warehouse if you prefer to go all out and make the most money through this business.

To receive the best profit through the Special Cargo business, do not own multiple small or medium warehouses. It is because you will only have the limit of owning up to 5 warehouses. You should own the small and medium ones at the least number of 1-2 and try to invest more in large cargo warehouses.

Working

The Special Cargo business offers you to earn money through 2 methods. The first one is sourcing the crates, and the other one is the delivery mission that happens every in-game day. Buying the crates is the leading cause of making money through this business while the other is just a side mission that acts as bonus content.

To go through the procedure of buying crates, you will need to invest in the number of crates.

• 1 Crate will be the cheapest option but not the most beneficial.
• 2 Crates will cost a standard amount of money.
• 3 Crates are the most preferable option as it is best to invest in the highest possible option for this business.

Purchasing the crates will reveal the location where you will have to steal those crates and take them to your warehouse. Now the reason to invest in the 3 Crates option is considered best is that there will be a 70% chance that all three crates will be ready to be delivered to your warehouse by a single vehicle.

The rest of the time, you will have to pick them individually, still resulting in less time-consuming as compared to the 1 Crate option. It is because once you have collected the crates, the mission will go on a cooldown before you can do it again.

Now there is one interesting fact to know here, in that warehouse, you can reach out to an NPC present there and pay him a small amount of money to source the crates for you. After an in-game day, he will bring the crates to the warehouse, making this business behave much like a Passive method and saving you a lot of time.

Stats

• The cheapest CEO office will cost you $1,000,000, and the most expensive one will cost you $4,000,000.
• Cargo Warehouse will depend on the size that you want to buy. The small size will range between $250,000 – $400,000. Medium size will range between $880,000 – $1,017,000. Large sizes will vary between $1,900,000 – $3,500,000.
• Regarding buying the crates: 1 Crate cost $2000, 2 Crates cost $8000, and 3 Crates cost $18,000.
• For the Large Size Warehouse, the full 111 crate capacity will generate an income somewhere between $3,100,000 -$3,500,000.
• To have the NPC source crates for you, you will have to pay them $7500 each time.
• If you buy 3 Crates every time, you will need to buy them 37 times to fill the Large Warehouse.
• It will cost you $660,000 to fill 111 crate capacity.
• This will leave you with a profit of $2,434,000 – $2,134,000 if you prefer to sell the 111 crates.
• A high Demand bonus applies for this business by 2% for each player in the live lobby.
• When you complete the truck delivery mission and deliver the cargo to the docks, you will receive $50,000. This makes Special Cargo one of the best businesses to buy in GTA 5 for both Active and Passive income.

Kosatka Submarine

The mechanics of the Kosatka Submarine put it on the list of best businesses to buy in GTA 5, but it’s not like running any sort of business. It is counted as an Active source of income.

Kosatka Submarine requires a hefty amount of investment but also returns a massive sum as well. So it is wise to pick up a Kosatka Submarine and start with the heist mission it offers.

Requirement

You will need the Motorcycle Club to get into buying this submarine. Other than that, the only requirement for starting the Kosatka Submarine business is to simply purchase the submarine. There will not be any variety to select from rather, just the purchasing option from your phone and buy it. The submarine will offer you many other benefits, such as Fast Travel, Vehicle spawning, and much more.

In terms of business, it offers a heist mission, “The Cayo Prico Heist,” that generates a high amount of money within 1 hour (real-time). To start the heist mission, you must first complete a few of the set-up missions that decide the planning of your heist, such as the Weapon Loadout.

Once you have completed the set-up missions, you will enter the Finale of the heist. You will receive the money when the mission is completed.

Working

The set-up missions will count as the heist preparation. Surely these missions will take time to complete. Still, you can fasten the process of completion by owning a few upgrades in your submarine. The main upgrade that you need is the Sparrow upgrade. This will add a mini chopper to your submarine from where you can reach the destination quite fast and efficiently.

The heist mission will comprise different rewards each time you attempt it. However, if you are attempting the mission again in less than an in-game day, you will enter the Hard Mode, which will increase the prize money by 10% in the end. Upon the completion of the heist, it will go on a cooldown of a few hours before you can go for it again.

During the Finale of the heist, you will get a chance to acquire a bonus loot which will give a fair amount of money right on the point. The mission is best-done solo as then it will provide you with more money as compared to doing it with a friend.

Stats

• Kosatka Submarine will cost you $2,200,000.
• Sparrow Upgrade will cost $1,800,000.
• Each time the heist will offer different packages. There will be 6 in total, which are: Panther Statue ( $1,900,000 ), Pink Diamond ( $1,300,000 ), Madrazo Files and Bearer Bond for the same worth ( $1,100,000 ), Ruby Necklace ( $1,000,000 ), and Tequila ( $900,000 ). These are worth of missions if done solo.
• The bonus loot you can get during the mission is around $50,000 – $100,000.
• The mission will take approximately 1 hour to complete.

Nightclub

Throughout the years, Nightclub has remained on top of the list of best businesses you need to buy in GTA 5. Sure, the amount of money it requires to set up is relatively high, but it is also the top income-generating business you can get. Nightclub is a Passive way of earning money, and their supply missions get you the best profitable numbers when compared to any other businesses that you buy in GTA 5.

Requirement

Nightclub requires a pretty standard way to start printing money. You need to buy the Nightclub that has various locations on the map. To learn about the sites of nightclubs and their extra upgrades, check out our guide on GTA Nightclubs.

Once you have bought a Nightclub, you need to perform a few set-up missions that will not take much time. Inside the Nightclub is the underground warehouse that acts as a massive source of income.

This warehouse will include the supply business in it and not just one but multiple. Each business will be related to other businesses that you have set up. Otherwise, you will be unable to source that product.

You can source seven supplies that correspond to other businesses.

• Cargo and Shipment will require Special Cargo.
• Sporting Goods will need Bunker.
• South American Imports will require Coke Lockup.
• Pharmaceutical Research will require Meth Lab.
• Organic Produce will require Weed Farm.
• Printing and Copying will require Document Forgery.
• Cash Creation will require Counterfeit Cash.

Without these businesses, you can not source these supplies. However, one thing important to keep in mind is the fact that you do not have to keep the other businesses operative. Once you set up the required business, you do not have to worry about ordering the supplies there. Overall, you need to invest significantly to start gaining benefits from the Nightclub.

Working

Nightclub comes with two methods of earning money. The most convenient thing to learn here is that both ways are passive. The first one to know about is the most standard model, the club itself. The second way is the warehouse.

The Club

The club will generate the ransom every in-game day. But this is generated on the base of your club’s popularity. There are various ways of keeping the Popularity Bar filled. The first one is by completing missions that you can get from Tony. To do so, you can do it from the warehouse desktop by clicking on the option of Nightclub Management and then clicking on Promote. Or you can simply call tony, and he assigns you on a mission.

The second one is by hiring DJ for your Nightclub. The first time you buy the DJ, it will bring your Popularity Bar to the maximum. Later on, when you hire the same DJ, it will only cause that popularity bar to be filled 1/4th.

Another unique method for filling the bar was introduced later in GTA 5. At least once a day, you will interact with the NPCs inside the club. These can either be Troublemakers or the Drunken VIP. For the Troublemaker, you can kick him out of the club and gain popularity. For the Drunken VIP, you serve him by taking him to the destination that he wants to go to. He will play you there, and you will gain popularity as well.

The Warehouse

This will be a passive way as you can hire technicians to deal with the sourcing of these goods. By default, the warehouse will give you a free technician. Later, you can buy more and assign them to each supply. Five technicians in total can be assigned for each supply.

You can also get the supplies on your own by doing the mission. To start this mission, you need to call Yohan, and then it will assign you to fetch some supplies. You will also be paid while doing this.

Apart from the supplies, you should consider upgrades for the Nightclub.

• Equipment Upgrade: This upgrade will enable your warehouse technicians to work more efficiently.
• Staff Upgrade: Minimize the loss of popularity for each day.
• Security Upgrade: Reduces the chance of being raided. Nightclub businesses tend to get more raided, so this upgrade is essential.

Stats

• Nightclubs will cost you from $1,080,000 to $1,700,000.
• The club will generate $50,000 each in-game day for a full Popularity Bar. It has a capacity of $250,000.
• Helping out a Drunken VIP will give you $10,000 on the point. The same is the amount for manually doing the supply mission.
• Cargo and Shipment give $8570 / hour.
• Sporting Goods gives $7500 / hour.
• South American Imports gives $13,500 / hour.
• Pharmaceutical Research gives $11,500 / hour.
• Organic Produce offers $6075 / hour.
• Printing and Copying give $5400 / hour.
• Cash Creation gives $9450 / hour.
• Equipment Upgrade costs $1,425,000.
• Staff Upgrade costs $475,000.
• Security Upgrade costs $695,000.
• Hiring a DJ will cost you $100,000 for the first time. Later, if you want to hire the same DJ, it will cost you $10,000.

Honorable Mentions

Due to the changes that happened from time to time with updates in GTA 5, some businesses took preference over others. But that did not make them any less than the preferred businesses to buy in GTA 5. Some of these might come as additional bonuses while working with the other best.

Counterfeit Cash

An MC supply business that will generate a moderate amount of profit. This also comes as an optional requirement for the Nightclub business. It runs on the basic factor of Supply and Product bars. This is a Passive way of earning money.

Once your product bar is complete, it will be worth $192,000 on a basic level. If you have both upgrades to enhance the profit value, the product value will reach the number of $294,000. To fill up the Product bar this much, 5 hours and 20 minutes are required.

Weed Farm

Another MC business that is worth investing in. This is a supply business and is a Passive method. Like Counterfeit Cash, you will need supplies to fill up your product bar and turn it into a profit. With no upgrades for this business, you will generate $120,000 with a 1 Supply bar. If you have one upgrade installed, $144,000 will be made, and with both upgrades, you will make $168,000, which is a reasonably good amount of profit.

If you deliver the supplies on the opposite side of the map, you will also get a 50% bonus. Which sums up to make:

• $180,000 without the upgrades.
• $216,000 with any of the upgrades.
• $252,000 with both upgrades.

Final Thoughts

The best businesses in GTA 5 are not only there to buy, but Rockstar has made it possible that these also provide content to entertain the players. Moreover, these are a cycle of events that keep the players engaged with the game and its mechanics. This is fun to play with friends or enjoy a good time. Buy any of the best businesses in GTA 5 and keep yourself involved with the fun and playful side of the community.

Read more of the related guides that are similar to the best businesses to buy in GTA 5:

• Best Criminal careers in GTA 5
• GTA 5 solo missions for quick money
• Best missions to earn money in GTA 5