GTA Online missions: the types of jobs, who hands them out and what's worth doing

A mission in GTA Online is a task with a goal, a timer and a payout, handed out by an in-game character (a contact). Unlike GTA 5 story mode, there's no single storyline from start to finish: dozens of separate series have been added in updates since 2013, and most can be played in any order. GTA 5 story missions are a separate topic, collected on the GTA 5 missions page.

Jobs start in five ways:

• Text or call from a contact. Contacts send invites on their own; you can also call them and pick “Request Job”.
• Pause menu. Any completed mission can be replayed from the jobs list.
• Payphone. That's how Payphone Hits and the KnoWay Out storyline start.
• A computer or terminal in your property - in the CEO Office, Agency, Terrorbyte, Avenger, Bail Office or Money Fronts businesses.
• A job board - in the Auto Shop, Salvage Yard and heist planning rooms.

The key economic rule since July 2026: some big jobs pay more for the first completion after the Thursday reset, and repeats until the next Thursday pay less. How that works for heists is explained on the GTA Online heists page.

Payouts are for the leader, without weekly bonuses, per GTA Wiki, GTABase and a timesaver.gg roundup (September 27, 2026). Rockstar doesn't publish official tables. Heists and heist-style series (The Cluckin’ Bell Farm Raid, KnoWay Out, Oscar Guzman Flies Again, the Dr. Dre contract) are on the GTA Online heists page.

Contact Missions are the oldest jobs in Online. According to GTABase, there are 26 strands of them: from the classic jobs for Lamar, Gerald, Simeon, Ron, Trevor, Lester and Martin Madrazo to later storylines - Casino Story Missions, A Superyacht Life, Operation Paper Trail, First Dose and Last Dose.

They pay by formula rather than a fixed sum. According to GTA Wiki and GTABase:

• the maximum payout ranges from GTA$18,300 for a rank 5 mission to 22,860 for a rank 81 mission;
• you get the full amount if the mission took 15 minutes or more; finishing too fast cuts it;
• per GTABase, Medium difficulty adds 25% and Hard 50% to cash and RP (GTA Wiki gives these maximums already for Hard);
• each extra player in the team adds another 10-30%.

So Contact Missions aren't a way to get rich - they're a way to rank up and unlock weapons early on. The exception is bonus weeks: from November 12 to December 2, 2026, Contact Missions pay double, and quadruple for GTA+ members. More on ranking in our GTA Online rank-up guide.

These jobs unlock when you buy property and pay the most of any regular missions.

• Security Contracts (Agency). Franklin hands them out from the agency computer: asset protection, recovering valuables, hostage rescue. Tiers pay from ≈31,000 to 70,000. Each completed contract also raises the agency safe's daily income.
• Payphone Hits. After your third Security Contract, Franklin starts calling payphones with assassination jobs. The base pay is 15,000, plus another 30,000 to the leader for meeting the client's condition (the kill method). There's a 10-minute cooldown between hits. Older guides quote 85,000 - that's the figure from before the bonus was cut.
• Auto Shop contracts. The board outside the Auto Shop office offers up to three contracts at a time. The seven regular ones pay 170,000-185,000, The Union Depository Contract about 300,000; the first completion of each as leader adds 75,000. The leader must be registered as a VIP, CEO or MC President.
• Dispatch Work. Police callouts from Vincent Effenburger, added in the Bottom Dollar Bounties update (June 2024). They unlock after Slush Fund - the first mission of The Cluckin’ Bell Farm Raid - and start from your own law enforcement vehicle bought at Warstock Cache & Carry. They pay 25,000 and unlock trade prices for police vehicles.
• Client Jobs. Jobs from Paige Harris on the Terrorbyte computer; some can be done solo.
• Salvage Yard. Vehicle robberies for Jamal Amir's yard - step by step in our Salvage Yard guide.

The order to buy the businesses that unlock these missions is on the GTA Online businesses page.

Some series have their own story and must be played in order; after the first run you can replay them from the pause menu.

• First Dose and Last Dose (Dax missions). The six First Dose missions start after a call from Ron outside Ace Liquor in Sandy Shores. After the first one The Freakshop opens with a free Weapon Workshop, and at the end you get the Brickade 6x6 truck for the Acid Lab. Last Dose is a five-mission follow-up. How to get the lab running is covered in our Acid Lab guide.
• Project Overthrow. Six missions for Charlie Reed against Merryweather from the San Andreas Mercenaries update (June 2023). They launch from the Operations Terminal in the Avenger.
• Mr. Faber Work. Jobs from Raf De Angelis on the laptop in Money Fronts businesses. According to the Newswire, they raise the business's Heat, so it's worth doing legal work in between.
• The Cluckin’ Bell Farm Raid, KnoWay Out, Oscar Guzman Flies Again, The Contract - full series with a heist-style finale. Payouts and requirements are on the GTA Online heists page.

For a new player with no property, our order is:

1. The first Contact Missions - to rank up and unlock basic weapons.
2. First Dose - free, and it gives you the Freakshop with a Mk II workshop and the truck for the Acid Lab.
3. The Cluckin’ Bell Farm Raid and KnoWay Out - no property needed, and the finales pay hundreds of thousands. After the first Cluckin’ Bell mission, Dispatch Work unlocks too.
4. A first business with missions - the Agency: Security Contracts, Payphone Hits and the Dr. Dre contract from one property. Tips on starting money are in our GTA Online beginner guide.

For solo players, the best fits are Payphone Hits (short, with a 10-minute cooldown), Security Contracts, Auto Shop contracts and Salvage Yard robberies: you can do them alone, and in a private session nobody gets in the way. A ranking of every way to earn is in how to make money in GTA Online.

Every Thursday Rockstar multiplies payouts for selected modes and missions. The Heist Event of November 5-11 is over; this week opens a three-week Contact Missions event: from November 12 to December 2, 2026, all Contact Missions pay double GTA$ and RP, and for GTA+ members the bonus stacks to 4X. Rockstar specifically names Madrazo’s Dispatch Services, Gerald’s Last Play, Premium Deluxe Repo Work and Lowriders. According to GTABase’s roundup, this week’s 2X also covers Terrorbyte Client Jobs, Project Overthrow and Mobile Operations, and both GTABase and RockstarINTEL list 2X on the FIB file The Brute Force File. Payphone Hits, Security Contracts, Auto Shop contracts and Dispatch Work are not in this week’s bonus list. Source: Rockstar’s announcement of November 5, 2026, confirmed by the GTABase and RockstarINTEL roundups of November 11. The full list of bonuses and discounts is on the GTA Online weekly update page; pick your gear with the GTA Online weapons page.