Phasmophobia: the 2026 money and XP guide — maximizing the payout of every contract

The payout table shown at the end of a contract doesn't lie: two teams that clear the same map, against the same ghost, can walk away with $400 or $2,000. The gap almost never comes from the identification — it pays out $100 to $200 — but from three lines that many hunters let slip through: media recorded in the journal, the Investigation Bonus, and simply making it out alive.

The mechanic has shifted recently. The v0.18.0.0 update from July 21, 2026 gave EMF Level 5 its own photo category and, more importantly, made media detection smart: when multiple pieces of evidence are in frame, the game now keeps whichever one pays the most, prioritizing Unique entries over Duplicates. The v0.18.0.1 patch from July 28 fixed animation bugs and the Photo Camera's double-trigger issue. As of August 9, 2026, this is still the live version: the second quality-of-life update promised by Kinetic Games for this August has not yet rolled out.

Here's the real breakdown of a contract's ending, what the difficulty multiplier affects — and what it doesn't — followed by the routine to follow to lock in the perfect Investigation Bonus without relying on luck.

What a contract actually pays

Six sources add up on the payout table. They pay out the exact same value in dollars and in experience points, which simplifies every trade-off: optimizing your wallet amounts to optimizing your level progression.

The Investigation Bonus is the most misunderstood line: it's not a fixed tip, it's worth the sum of the identification and the objectives completed. In other words, each completed objective counts double, and a correct identification on a large map mechanically turns into $400 instead of $200. Non-negotiable condition: making it out of the building alive.

The multiplier doesn't apply to everything

Once the total is set, it goes through the difficulty coefficient: x1 on Amateur, x2 on Intermediate, x3 on Professional, x4 on Nightmare, x6 on Insanity, and from x0 to x15 on custom difficulty. This calculation only applies to identification, objectives, media, and investigation bonuses.

The Bone is an exception. Picking up the Bone pays out $25, $35, or $50 flat, with no multiplier: on Insanity, this line becomes marginal. The Bone's photo, on the other hand, counts as media, so it is properly multiplied. The two actions are independent, which gives a simple rule to remember: photograph the Bone before picking it up, never the other way around.

Second exception, and this one is costly: if a player dies by the end of the investigation, the multiplier above x1 does not apply and their earnings are cut in half. They also lose the Investigation Bonus, which is reserved for survivors.

A worked example

Small map on Nightmare (x4), correctly identified entity, three objectives completed (25 + 25 + 30), $120 in media, journal filled with Unique entries, Bone recovered:

• identification $100 + objectives $80 + media $120 = $300;
• Investigation Bonus $180, Perfect Investigation Bonus $50;
• total before multiplier: $530, or $2,120 after the x4, plus $25 for the Bone.

The same contract, but dying in the final hunt: no more Investigation Bonus, no more Perfect Investigation Bonus, no more multiplier, and everything else cut in half — around $150. Fleeing a hunt doesn't just save time, it's the most profitable lever in the game.

Insurance only saves beginners

Dying causes you to lose all the equipment you brought, unless the "Item Loss On Death" setting has been disabled in custom difficulty. Insurance then refunds 50% of the value of items added on Amateur, 25% on Intermediate, and strictly nothing from Professional onward. This refund is never multiplied by the difficulty. From Nightmare onward, a death therefore costs twice over: earnings collapse, and the bag is lost outright.

Media, the only truly extensible line

The journal accepts five photos, five videos, and three sounds. Each subject category only pays full price once, with the Unique stamp; a second subject in the same category falls to Duplicate — the French client keeps the English word — and is worth only a handful of dollars. The Rank II Photo Camera, Video Camera, and Sound Recorder each add $1 and 1 XP per recorded media; Rank III ones add $2.

A randomly filled journal earns $40 to $60. A deliberately built journal easily exceeds $150, with a theoretical cap at $231. Multiplied by x6, this single line alone outweighs identification and objectives combined.

Photos to aim for

• The ghost ($15), to be photographed during a paranormal event rather than during a hunt: the entity flickers during a hunt and the shot often fails. Shadow Ghost, Twin Ghost, and Mist Form are also worth $15.
• D.O.T.S. Projector trace, Cursed Crucifix, EMF Level 5, Ghost Writing, Freezing Temperatures, and Obake footprint: $10 each. These are what fill a profitable journal, because they can be provoked or anticipated.
• Everything else — Bone, Dead Body, Dirty Water, Fingerprints, Footprints, plain EMF reading, cursed possessions — caps at $5 and should only take up a slot if the $10 and $15 categories are exhausted.

Note that since July 21st: the EMF Level 5 photo is now separate from the ordinary EMF reading, which frees up an extra $10 shot on a signal you're already looking for anyway. Rank II and III Photo Cameras also display an on-screen targeting frame, just like Video Cameras; the Rank I version simply has a light that turns from red to green.

Videos and sounds

On the video side, two subjects dominate at $20: the ghost hunting and the Obake's Shapeshift — the latter also validates the ghost's video objective since v0.18.0.0. Next come manifestations at $15, then a very accessible batch at $10 that fills the five slots without taking any risk: Disturbed Salt, Ghost Writing, Ghost Orb, flickering lights or blown bulbs, D.O.T.S. Projector, and Scorched Crucifix.

The three sound slots are filled with the Sound Recorder. The ghost hunting is worth $20, the ghost event $15, then a Spirit Box response, EMF Level 5, Ghost Writing, Scorched Crucifix, Paranormal Scream, and Paranormal Breathing are worth $10. Only three slots: no point wasting one on a moan or whisper worth $5.

The three objectives worth $30

Of the three optional objectives drawn at random, most are worth $25. Only three go up to $30, and all three revolve around fire and Incense:

• clear the area near the entity using Incense;
• repel the entity with Incense while it is hunting someone;
• get the entity to blow out a Fire Light.

The first two can be validated during the same hunt if you wait for the entity at the end of a hallway or at the top of a staircase and light the Incense at the last moment. The third can be forced by scattering several lit Fire Lights in the ghost's favorite room — avoid this at Maple Lodge Campsite and Camp Woodwind during heavy rain, where they go out on their own below Rank III. Also note that these rewards are affected by the difficulty multiplier.

The four conditions of the Perfect Investigation Bonus

• identify the correct entity;
• validate all three optional objectives;
• pick up the Bone;
• fill the journal only with Unique entries — five photos, five videos, three sounds.

The stated reward is modest, $50 and 50 XP, but that's a poor indicator: this $50 is affected by the multiplier, and above all the conditions require a full journal, meaning the "media" line pushed to its maximum. It's the bonus that forces the right routine more than it actually pays. A weekly task, moreover, requires three perfect investigations with a multiplier of x4 or more, for $500 and 500 XP.

Blood Moon: +10%, but a trap

Among the game's eight weather types, the Blood Moon increases the contract payout by 10%. It also speeds up the entity by 15% during hunts, doubles the passive sanity loss, and increases the frequency of paranormal events. These more frequent events are a boon for ghost photos and videos, the most lucrative in the journal; the increased hunt speed, however, significantly raises the risk of dying — and a death cancels out far more than the 10% gained. On a x4 or x6 difficulty, the Blood Moon should be played cautiously, not greedily.

Income that doesn't depend on contracts

Four daily tasks and four weekly tasks run in parallel, viewable on the main menu board, on the truck's clipboards, and in the lobby. Dailies pay $50 to $150, weeklies pay $500 each, and they reset at midnight UTC — every day for the former, every Monday for the latter. Several are validated without extra effort if you're already playing for the perfect investigation: capture 30 unique media, collect 15 Bones, correctly identify the entity 15 times. The only catch is that contracts set to a x0 multiplier don't advance any task.

The routine to apply starting tonight

Go in with the goal of filling out the journal, not just naming the entity. Place the Video Camera and the D.O.T.S. Projector early, keep the Photo Camera in hand rather than on the ground, photograph the Bone before picking it up, save an Incense to validate two objectives at once during the first hunt. Then get out. At x4 difficulty, one cleanly completed contract is worth more than a dozen contracts finished by dying: that's the only stat that really matters when you're farming.