How Much GP Does It Cost to Max in OSRS? Cheapest vs Fastest (2026)

Maxing in Old School RuneScape means grinding level 99 in every skill — and since the Sailing skill went live, that's now 24 skills, 312.8 million total XP, and a bill that runs from a few hundred million to well over a billion GP depending on how fast you push. This guide breaks down exactly where that gold goes, ranks the skills by cost, and answers the real question: cheapest route or fastest route?

Quick answer: how much GP to max OSRS in 2026?

At late-August 2026 Grand Exchange prices, maxing a main costs roughly 350–500M GP on the cheapest realistic routes, and 1.2B+ GP if you buy the fastest methods for every skill. Almost all of that spend is concentrated in just three "buyable" skills — Construction, Prayer, and Herblore — which can each run 150M–500M GP alone. Most gathering and combat skills are free or even turn a profit, so the max total is really "how much you choose to pay to skip time" on the big three. GE prices swing, so treat every number here as a live snapshot verified against prices.runescape.wiki on 27 August 2026.

Want to fund the grind without a second job? Buying GP is the fastest way to bankroll the expensive buyables. See OSRS Gold — instant delivery and our honest breakdown of OSRS gold prices per million.

What does "maxing" actually mean now?

Maxing = level 99 in all skills (a total level of 2,376) and the right to wear the Max cape, bought for 2,376,000 coins — 99,000 per skill — from Mac on his island west of the Warriors' Guild once every skill is 99.

The number of skills changed recently, and it matters for your budget. When Jagex released the game's first brand-new skill, the official news post spelled it out: "max capes can no longer be worn until you get 99 Sailing!" — Jagex, Sailing is OUT TODAY! (19 November 2025). Sailing is the 24th skill, and a Sailing cape + hood costs 99,000 coins at level 99.

So the maxing math in 2026 is:

• 24 skills to level 99
• 13,034,431 XP per skill for level 99
• 312,826,344 total XP across the account
• Then ~2.38M coins for the Max cape itself

The XP total is fixed. The GP total is a choice — it depends entirely on which methods you buy.

Which OSRS skills actually cost money?

Only a handful of skills are true gold sinks. The rest are free, cheap, or profitable. Here's the honest split:

Category	Skills	Net cost to 99
Expensive buyables	Construction, Prayer, Herblore	150M–500M GP each
Moderate buyables	Crafting, Smithing, Cooking, Fletching	~10M–80M GP each
Roughly break-even	Farming, Magic (alching/teles), Runecraft	small loss to small profit
Free or profitable	Fishing, Woodcutting, Mining, Hunter, Agility, Thieving, Slayer, Combat stats, Sailing	free — often net GP

That's why "cost to max" is dominated by three skills. If you already have those three at 99, you're most of the way to a cheap max.

How much does each expensive skill cost? (2026 ranked)

Below are the big three, with method choices and 2026 cost ranges. Cheapest methods take far longer; fastest methods cost a premium for the same XP.

Construction — the classic money pit

Construction is famous as the skill that eats your bank. The fastest route (mahogany tables with a demon butler from level 74) costs the most because every table burns 6 mahogany planks (~1,857 GP each at current prices). Cheaper routes like oak larders and oak dungeon doors cut the bill hard but add hours.

• Fastest (mahogany tables/home teleports): ~190M–520M GP
• Cheaper (oak larders/mythical cape racks): ~90M–150M GP
• Under ~13 hours at peak efficiency — one of the quickest 99s in the game, but you pay for the speed.

Prayer — bones on a Gilded Altar

Prayer scales directly with the bone you burn. Dragon bones (~3,300 GP) on a Gilded Altar with two lit incense burners give 252 XP each; superior dragon bones (~20,200 GP) give 525 XP each — the most Prayer XP of any bone, and up to ~810k XP/hour — but cost far more per point.

• Dragon bones 1–99: ~170M GP (17–20 hours)
• Superior dragon bones: ~200M–300M GP for the last stretch, up to ~520M GP if you burn supers from a low level (7–9 hours)

According to osrstoolkit.com, "Using Superior dragon bones on a gilded altar… takes 7–9 hours but costs 200–250M GP." Speed vs cost, again.

Herblore — potions all the way up

Herblore ranges from cheap prayer-potion routes to expensive high-level brews. The cheapest continuous route runs roughly 150M–300M GP; theoatrix's max-efficiency pathway (through the priciest potions) hits "430 million gp" over ~27 hours (theoatrix.net).

• Cheaper (prayer pots / super restores): ~150M–300M GP
• Fastest (high-level brews): up to ~430M GP

The moderate buyables — Crafting, Smithing, Cooking, Fletching

The next tier costs real GP but nowhere near the big three. Crafting (battlestaves, dragonhide, or glassblowing) runs roughly 30M–100M GP for 99 depending on method. Fletching via broad bolts or dart-tipping lands around 20M–60M GP and is one of the fastest skills to buy. Cooking (wines or karambwans) and Smithing (blast furnace gold bars, cannonballs) can be trained cheaply or even at a small profit, so budget only a few million each. Add it all up and this tier contributes maybe 60M–200M GP combined — meaningful, but dwarfed by Construction, Prayer, and Herblore.

Everything else — Slayer, Farming, Runecraft, Agility, Thieving, Hunter, and the gathering skills — is free or net-positive. You'll finish those with more GP than you started.

Cheapest vs fastest: the total bill

Here's how the whole account nets out, using the extremes:

Route	Big-3 buyables	Moderate buyables	Total to max
Cheapest realistic	~90M + 170M + 150M	~60M–100M	~450M–550M GP
Balanced	~200M + 250M + 250M	~100M	~750M–850M GP
Fastest possible	~500M + 500M + 430M	~150M	~1.2B–1.6B GP

osrsguru.com pegs the fastest-methods max at "approximately 350–500 million GP" for the buyables alone in 2026 — the low end of the range if you skip the priciest Prayer/Herblore variants. The takeaway is consistent: the difference between a cheap max and a fast max is roughly a full billion GP, and it's almost entirely time-vs-money on three skills.

Every combat and gathering skill you level along the way offsets this. Slayer and bossing generate hundreds of millions in drops; Fishing, Mining, and Woodcutting fund themselves. Many maxers finish with a positive lifetime GP balance because their money-makers outpaced the buyables — see our OSRS money-making guide and best AFK GP methods for the methods that pay for maxing.

Is it cheaper to max on an ironman?

Yes — in GP, no — in time. Ironmen can't buy bones, planks, or herbs, so their Construction/Prayer/Herblore "cost" is zero gold. But they pay in raw hours: farming their own dragon bones, growing their own herbs, and gathering planks. A main spends gold to skip that grind; an ironman spends time instead. If your account is a main, the fastest way to shrink the clock is to bankroll the buyables directly rather than grinding raw materials.

Can you buy your way to max?

You can buy the gold that funds the buyables, but you can't buy the XP — every level is earned in-game. The realistic play for a busy main is to buy GP to cover the Construction/Prayer/Herblore bill so you're not grinding a money-maker for weeks just to afford bones and planks. That's exactly where a bulk gold purchase pays off.

Bankroll your max the smart way:

- OSRS Gold — instant delivery — safe, best rate, fast; fund Construction/Prayer/Herblore in one go.

- All OSRS services — gold, capes, and account help in one place.

Before you buy, read our straight-talk guide on whether buying OSRS gold is safe in 2026 and how bonds compare for membership.

How long does it take to max?

Playtime, not gold, is the bigger wall for most people. A focused player maxes in roughly 1,500–2,000 hours depending on efficiency; the buyable skills (Construction ~13h, Prayer ~8–20h, Herblore ~27h) are actually the fast ones. The slow skills are Slayer, Agility, Runecraft, and the 200M-XP-adjacent grinds — those eat the calendar. Budgeting GP for the buyables is how you convert weeks of grinding into a few hours of clicking.

FAQ

How much GP does it cost to max in OSRS in 2026? Roughly 350–500M GP on the cheapest realistic routes and 1.2B+ GP if you buy the fastest method for every skill. Nearly all of it goes to Construction, Prayer, and Herblore. Prices are based on live GE data as of 27 August 2026 and will shift.

How much GP to max Construction? About 90M–150M GP via cheaper oak methods, or ~190M–520M GP for the fastest mahogany-table route. It's one of the quickest 99s in the game (~13 hours), but you pay for the speed in planks.

How much GP to max Prayer? Around 170M GP using dragon bones on a Gilded Altar, or ~200M–300M+ GP if you burn superior dragon bones for speed (7–9 hours instead of 17–20).

Is it cheaper to max as an ironman? In gold, yes — ironmen gather their own bones, planks, and herbs, so the buyable skills cost zero GP. But it costs far more time. Mains trade gold for those hours instead.

Do you make GP back while maxing? Often yes. Slayer, bossing, and gathering skills generate hundreds of millions in drops as you level them, so many maxers end with a net-positive bank despite the buyable costs. See our money-making guide.

Do I need 99 Sailing to wear the Max cape? Yes. Since Sailing released on 19 November 2025, the Max cape requires level 99 in all 24 skills, Sailing included.

Bottom line

Maxing in OSRS is a 312.8M-XP marathon, but the cost lives almost entirely in three skills. Take the cheap routes and you'll max for around 450–550M GP; buy the fastest methods and it's north of 1.2B. Either way, the smartest move for a main is to fund Construction, Prayer, and Herblore with gold so you spend your playtime leveling — not grinding raw materials to afford bones.