Marcos 
If you just want the answer: the best Phasmophobia custom settings for money push the multiplier with evidence, sanity and setup time, then stop exactly where the game starts cutting your bonus in half. Most people miss that last part. With three evidence types, anything you stack above 4x only counts at half value, and with two evidence the same thing happens above 5x. Below you’ll find three setups ready to copy (a 4x solo run, a 5x leveling run and a 6.35x group run), the math behind each one, and the traps that quietly drain your payout. The group one is my go-to with a full squad, and it out-earns Insanity without feeling twice as punishing.
Quick heads up before we dig in. Kinetic Games has the Resonance update lined up for late November 2026, and it brings Dowsing Rods for finding the bone and a reworked Sound Sensor. The values in this guide match the current version of the game, and if Resonance moves any multiplier I’ll add an Update note with the date right here.
How custom difficulty pays you in Phasmophobia
Custom difficulty unlocks at level 50 and starts at a base of 1.00x. Every option either adds to that number, subtracts from it, multiplies it or clamps it, and the final figure (anywhere from 0x to 15x) shows up on the board before you ready up. That same multiplier applies to both cash and experience, so a good money setup is automatically a good leveling setup.
For reference, the standard modes pay 1x on Amateur, 2x on Intermediate, 3x on Professional, 4x on Nightmare and 6x on Insanity. Custom is the only way to land between or above those numbers. The trick is that harder doesn’t always mean richer, because a few rules decide whether your extra suffering actually gets paid.
The multiplier rules most guides skip
Rule one is the evidence cap. With three evidence types, everything above 4.00x is halved; with two, everything above 5.00x is halved. With one or zero, nothing gets halved. So a 3-evidence setup that reads 5.00x on paper really pays about 4.50x, and you took on a full point of extra pain for half a point of reward. That’s a bad trade.
Rule two is setup time, and this one got me early on. Any setup time above zero clamps your multiplier: 30 seconds caps it at 2.60x, 60 seconds at 2.30x, 120 seconds at 2.00x and the full 300 seconds at 1.00x. If you want real money, setup time has to sit at 0, which also gives you a +0.30x bonus. No exceptions.
Which settings raise the multiplier the most
Some options are worth way more than others. Zero evidence gives +4.00x and one evidence +2.00x, sprinting off +1.50x, a 0-second grace period +1.25x and starting sanity at 0 adds +1.00x. Those five settings are where the big money lives; weather, doors and monitors only nudge the number by a few hundredths.
Watch the combos, though, because many bonuses shrink if you soften something else. Starting sanity 0 drops to +0.15x if sanity pills restore 25% or more, and sprinting off falls to +0.50x if your grace period is 3 seconds or longer. Flashlights off is +0.45x only with a broken fuse box (otherwise +0.10x). Pair your hard settings with each other, or the game pays you a fraction of what you expect.
Why dying or guessing wrong costs more than you think
Here’s the part that changes how you should play high multipliers. If you’re dead when the contract ends, the multiplier isn’t applied at all and your money is halved. A dead hunter at 6.35x takes home less than a living one on Amateur, because Amateur at least pays the full base reward. And since every paying custom setup keeps lose items on, the gear you carried in is gone too.
A wrong guess hurts in a different way. Misidentify the ghost on custom and your multiplier rounds down to the nearest standard difficulty, so 6.35x becomes 6x and 5.00x becomes 4x. Dying is the real money killer, not guessing wrong, which is why I’d rather lose a few hundredths of multiplier and keep hiding spots available.
The best custom settings for money, ready to copy
These are the three setups I keep saved. Each one stops right before the game starts halving bonuses or uses one evidence so nothing gets halved at all. Every option not listed in the table stays at its default (100% player and ghost speed, flashlights on, sprint on, random ghost, lose items on).
| Setting | Solo (3 evidence) | Fast leveling (2 evidence) | Group (1 evidence) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting sanity | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sanity pill restoration | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Sanity drain speed | 200% | 200% | 200% |
| Roaming frequency | High | High | High |
| Changing favourite room | None | Low | Low |
| Activity level / Event frequency | High / Low | High / Low | High / Low |
| Grace period | 3s | 3s | 3s |
| Hunt duration | Low | Low | Low |
| Evidence given | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Setup time | 0s | 0s | 0s |
| Weather | Heavy Rain | Heavy Rain | Heavy Rain |
| Doors starting open | None | Low | None |
| Hiding places | Very High | Medium | Very High |
| Sanity / Activity monitor | On / On | Off / Off | Off / Off |
| Fuse box at start | Off | Off | Off |
| Cursed Possessions | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Final multiplier | about 4.07x | 5.00x | 6.35x |
Before each run, glance at the multiplier on the board and compare it with the table. If the number doesn’t match, one setting is off, and nine times out of ten it’s setup time or pill restoration sitting at its default.
Solo setup that keeps all three evidence types
Solo is where people overdo it. On paper this setup adds up to 4.15x, and because of the 3-evidence rule it pays about 4.07x. That’s Nightmare money while you still get three evidence types, both monitors, a 3-second grace period and the maximum number of hiding places. You earn Nightmare cash with far more tools than Nightmare actually gives you.
The catch is sanity 0 with no pills, so the ghost can hunt from the first minute. It feels tense but fair. I walk in, find the room with the monitor, drop the gear and always know my nearest locker. Turning monitors off here would add only +0.025x each after halving, so I leave them on and enjoy the help.
Fast leveling setup that stops right at 5x
This one lands at exactly 5.00x, the last point before the 2-evidence rule starts halving. Nightmare pays 4x with two evidence types, so you get an extra full point while keeping sprint, a 3-second grace and high ghost activity. High activity is the secret to fast runs, because the ghost throws things and leaves evidence quickly.
Since XP uses the same multiplier, what matters for leveling is contracts per hour, not money per contract. I pair it with small maps and go for a quick ID plus whatever objectives are on the way. Two fast 5x runs on a small map often beat one slow run on a huge one. More on map size further down.
Group setup that beats Insanity at 6.35x
With one evidence, no bonus is halved, so every hard setting pays in full. The result is 6.35x, above Insanity’s 6x, while you keep sprint, high activity, the most hiding places and a 3-second grace. Compared with Insanity, you trade a few comforts for a steadier crew that actually survives.
One evidence works better in a group because four people can cover behavior tells, hunt speed and ghost abilities at the same time. In my squad, one person watches the ghost’s room and another handles objectives. Anyone who isn’t comfortable identifying ghosts by behavior will struggle here, so if your group is new to that, stay on the leveling setup for a while.
How to make more money per contract in Phasmophobia
The multiplier is only half of the story. The other half is what you’re multiplying, and that’s where a lot of players leave cash on the table. The multiplier boosts your ghost ID, objectives, media and investigation bonuses, so a sloppy run at 6x can pay less than a clean one at 4x.
I treat each contract like a checklist instead of a sprint to the truck. That mindset is the same one I use when I write our game guides: figure out where the value is, then go get it. Grab everything that pays before you guess the ghost, since guessing early doesn’t save time on most maps.
When a standard difficulty pays more than custom
Under level 50 you don’t have custom, so Professional, Nightmare and Insanity are your money modes. Even later, standard can win if your team dies often. A living team on Professional at 3x earns more than a dead team at 6.35x, because the dead lose the multiplier completely and half of their pay.
Then there are the Apocalypse presets inside custom, built around the 6x, 10x and 15x marks of the Apocalypse challenge. The top preset stacks the harshest settings in the game to hit the 15x cap, and for most players it’s a great way to lose a lot of equipment. I only recommend it to people who already beat it consistently.
Objectives, media and the bone: where the cash really comes from
The ghost ID pays more on bigger maps, and every optional objective adds its own reward before the multiplier kicks in. Media is the most underrated source of cash: each unique photo, video and sound in the journal pays on its own, and Tier II and Tier III cameras and recorders add a small bonus per item. At a high multiplier, a full journal stops being a side task and becomes a real chunk of the payout.
Grab the bone as well, since it pays on its own, and the Dowsing Rods coming with Resonance should make finding it far less of a chore. Get the right ghost, all objectives, the bone and the journal’s media targets for the $50 Perfect Investigation bonus, which gets multiplied like everything else. At 6.35x, that bonus alone is worth more than $300.
Settings that quietly wipe out your payout
Some options set your rewards to 0x straight away: lose items off, a friendly ghost, infinite sprint, 0% sanity drain or picking a specific ghost type. Choosing a ghost to practice against is fine, but that run won’t pay a cent. If you’re grinding, leave Ghost on Random.
Others just cut the number. Each extra Cursed Possession beyond one costs 1.00x, and choosing the Monkey Paw costs 5.00x. Infinite fingerprint duration is -3.00x, pills at 45% or more start at -1.00x, and 125% player speed multiplies everything by 0.75. Clear and Sunrise weather also cost 0.10x, small but annoying when you’re chasing round numbers.
Picking the right map size for each setup
Large maps pay more for the ghost ID than small ones, but they also take much longer to search with sanity at 0. For money per contract I play the group setup on large maps, and for leveling I stick to small ones. Fit the map to the setup, not the other way around. Similar to building a deck in our Slay the Spire 2 Ascension guide, the goal is to match the risk to your strengths.
Solo players should stay on small and medium maps. Running a large map alone with sanity at 0 means long hunts and a lot of backtracking. A dead solo hunter earns almost nothing, so the bigger ID reward isn’t worth the risk alone.
Personal review
What surprised me most when I started doing the math is how much better custom pays when you stop right before the halving point. A 5x run with sprint and three seconds of grace feels easier than Nightmare and pays more, and the 6.35x group setup beats Insanity without taking away your hiding spots. If you like the grind of optimizing a run, the same way we break down every Pyre Heart in our Monster Train 2 tier list, you’ll love building your own presets.
It’s ideal for co-op groups who already know the ghost types well, and if you liked the money loop in Lethal Company or the investigations in Demonologist, you’ll feel at home. Phasmophobia is available on PC through Steam for $19.99, as well as PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, with VR support too. Tell me in the comments which setup you’d recommend and what you think I missed. And if you need a break from ghosts, our Paralives baby guide is a much cozier way to spend an evening, or check out more PC games.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best way to make money in Phasmophobia?
Use a custom difficulty with setup time at 0, sanity at 0 and the fewest evidence types your team can handle, then survive and fill the journal with media. The multiplier boosts your ID, objectives, media and investigation bonuses, so a clean run matters as much as the number.
What are the best custom settings for money in Phasmophobia?
For groups, a 1-evidence setup with sanity 0, no pills, 200% drain, 3s grace, setup time 0 and no Cursed Possessions lands at 6.35x. Solo players do better with a 3-evidence setup at about 4.07x.
At what level do you unlock custom difficulty?
Custom difficulty unlocks at level 50. Before that, your best money options are Professional (3x), Nightmare (4x) and Insanity (6x).
What is the highest multiplier in Phasmophobia?
The cap is 15x, the same as the Apocalypse III preset. Anything above that is cut back to 15x.
Does the custom multiplier also boost XP?
Yes. Cash and experience use the same multiplier, so a setup that pays well also levels you up faster.
What happens to my money if I die or guess the wrong ghost?
If you die, the multiplier is not applied and your money is halved. A wrong guess on custom rounds your multiplier down to the nearest standard difficulty, for example from 6.35x to 6x.