Best Heists in GTA 5 Online, Ranked

Heists make for some of the most thrilling content available in GTA Online. These multi-part missions require meticulous planning for faultless execution and offer impressively high payouts. That said, not all heists are built the same in terms of quality or their cash rewards. Some of these missions are also best experienced as one-time events since their setups or total duration don’t justify the final compensation. To save you the stress of figuring out where to start, we’ve ranked the very best heists in GTA 5 Online with details on their payout and more. For the purpose of this list, we’re solely focusing on the eight heists released in GTA 5 Online to date. So with that, let’s begin.

8. The Prison Break

• Payout: $700,000 (Normal difficulty), $875,000 (Hard difficulty)
• Player requirement: Four players

The Prison Break is one of the OG heists that was added to Online back in 2015. It sees a crew of four players engineering a daring jailbreak, in collaboration with Agent 14, to collect Maxim Rashkovsky. But before you can infiltrate Boilingbroke Pententiary, the heist requires four setup missions, three of which are centered around stealing vehicles. It also has a setup cost of $40,000.

As for the finale, players are split into teams of two, with one person tasked with rescuing the prisoner while the other handles demolitions. This split ends up complicating things as the mission’s success is heavily reliant on every player carrying their weight. Furthermore, the combat sequences throw a flood of armed guards and special reinforcements your way, so remaining in sync becomes paramount.

Being one of the earlier heists released in the game, it comes with the annoying caveat of an instant mission failure if even one participant disconnects. This, coupled with the tricky combat scenarios, can turn decent progress into immediate disaster. And the effort isn’t worth it for that payout. As such, we rank it the worst heist in GTA 5 Online.

7. Series A Funding

• Payout: $707,000 (Normal), $883,750 (Hard)
• Player Requirement: Four players

Being another OG heist, Series A Funding shares many of its faults with The Prison Break. For starters, the infuriating mission failure requirements are also here, and so is the need for complete teamwork. With that being said, the finale itself should be easier to pull off with random players since the action isn’t frantic by any means.

The saving grace for this mission is the involvement of everybody’s favorite maniac, Trevor Philips. The GTA 5 protagonist plays a prominent role in the heist, meaning you’ll be seeing plenty of his homicidal tendencies and unfiltered absurdity. He even ends up sobbing by a tree when the curtains close, but we’ll let you discover why for yourself.

In conclusion, Series A Funding is definitely a quicker heist as compared to The Prison Break, and the payouts are also slightly higher. However, given its complicated nature, we still don’t recommend this GTA Online heist.

6. The Fleeca Job

• Payout: $201,250 (Normal), $250,250 (Hard)
• Player Requirement: Two players

The Fleeca Job was the first heist introduced in GTA Online, and this is really evident in its structure. The setup is pretty simple, and Lester even covers the financial investment during your first attempt. But keep in mind that subsequent attempts require $11,500.

The mission itself is a standard bank robbery, with one player serving as the designated driver and the other drilling open the safe. When it comes to the gateway, players hop into an armored vehicle and lead the police on a chase, which ends with their car being latched onto a magnet suspended from a helicopter.

It’s an undeniably cool way to wrap up the game’s first heist, and the best part is that you can easily blow through it under 30 minutes. This makes it very accessible, especially in terms of replayability, and the haul only needs to be split two ways, which is always a nice bonus. If you’re a beginner with a friend to waste some time with, do check this GTA 5 Online heist.

5. The Humane Labs Raid

• Payout: $945,000 (Normal), $1,181,500 (Hard)
• Player Requirement: Four players

The Humane Labs Raid heist requires a setup cost of $54,000 and the completion of five tasks before the finale. These prep missions aren’t the easiest since you’ll need to steal vehicles from armed convoys, which leads to an all-out shootout with Merryweather over a Valkyrie helicopter. But once the main event begins, all the buildup will feel worth it.

At its core, the heist is a stealth espionage mission as your crew breaks into a super secure research facility in search of biological weapons. You’re allowed to use all sorts of cool equipment, such as Night Vision goggles, Scuba suits, and a host of suppressed guns.

The mission’s aesthetic is very reminiscent of a Tom Clancy game, and the game emphasizes the use of stealth for most of the heist’s runtime. Eventually, things do devolve into chaos, and players are forced to make an underwater escape. This only ends up heightening the stakes and helps make the raid truly memorable. For all these reasons, coupled with the solid payout, the Humane Labs Raid is a must-play GTA 5 Online heist if you can.

4. The Bogdan Problem (Doomsday Heist Part 2)

• Payout: $1,425,000 (Normal), $1,781,250 (Hard)
• Player Requirement: 2-4 players

The finales for all three parts of the Doomsday Heist are high-quality, but it’s The Bogdan Problem that takes the cake for us. It requires a setup cost of $25,000, along with completing five setup missions. Just like all other heists, you’ll be stealing various vehicles for the finale. However, the vehicles in question include Deluxos (flying DeLoreans), Stormberg underwater cars, and an Avenger VTOL.

These robberies set the scene for a spectacle of a heist, which sees players infiltrate a submarine to take out the eponymous Bogdan. Depending on the team split, two players are racing behind the submarine in the futuristic Stormberg while the others are high in the air providing support against oncoming Buzzards. This is followed by intense gunfights both underwater and above the surface, before culminating in a race against the clock.

The heist is a thrill ride from top to bottom, and well worth playing at least once. Where it falters is replayability, as the setup missions and even the finale itself are far too time-consuming.

3. The Pacific Standard Job

• Payout: $1,500,000 (Normal), $1,875,000 (Hard)
• Player Requirement: Four players

The Pacific Standard Job is as classic as GTA heists come. It’s a straightforward bank robbery, bereft of any futuristic shenanigans, in which four players loot the titular bank, all while running through some beloved Hollywood heist cliches. It’s a tried-and-tested formula that has been repeated several times throughout the franchise, yet it remains just as potent here.

This GTA Online heist requires an investment of $25,000, along with the completion of five setup missions that can be breezed through quite easily. The finale itself features all the single-player mechanics you’d expect, including crowd control, elaborate getaways, and the possibility of losing money if the duffel bags get shot. The overall simplicity plays in the heist’s favor as it’s one of the best activities to grind for substantial payouts.

2. The Diamond Casino Heist

• Payout: $2,115,000 (Normal), $2,326,500 (Hard)
• Player Requirement: 2-4 players

If we’re talking strictly about the payout, the Diamond Casino Heist is in a league of its own. The payouts mentioned above only account for the minimum reward players expect. Depending on the contents of the safe inside the casino, the actual figure can rise to a whopping $3.6 million. But don’t mistake this heist as just a money farm, since it’s also one of the most detailed missions in the entire game.

Rockstar took a painstaking approach to the heist’s design, as it lets players control virtually every aspect of the job. There are three contrasting methods to pull off the robbery, all of which are worth experiencing at least once.

It’s also one of the few missions where recruiting top-tier professionals is almost a necessity. And if you’ve got the talent, you can even attempt to get away without alerting the authorities that are swarming the place. All this and more make robbing the Diamond Casino one of the best heists in GTA 5 Online.

1. Cayo Perico Heist

• Payout: $630,000 – $1,900,000 (Normal), $693,000 – $2,090,000 (Hard)
• Player Requirement: 1-4 players

To players familiar with the game, this should hardly come as a surprise. The Cayo Perico Heist has been a fan favorite since its release for several reasons. For starters, it takes place on an exotic island outside of Los Santos – a welcome switch-up fans had been clamoring for.

It also features multiple targets whom you’re free to tackle as you wish. So, you could go in all guns blazing or opt for a stealthy approach like you’re Agent 47. And the cherry on top is that the heist can be completed by solo players, meaning they can take the entire haul for themselves.

As part of the setup, you’ll need to tick off a few odd jobs and scope out the island, but these can be completed pretty quickly. The heist itself can be wrapped up in just 10 minutes, which makes the time-to-payout ratio downright insane. It’s pretty obvious why the Cayo Perico Heist is the go-to cash grind for solo players. And it also happens to be the best heist in GTA 5.

That concludes our rankings of the best heists in GTA Online. Do you agree with our rankings? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.