Some popular farming advice is community strategy, not an official guarantee. Prices, production times, event rewards, and available offers may change with updates.
Fast answer
The answer before the background
The most dependable way to build your balance is to keep factories making materials, keep commercial queues running, and sell finished goods at full price through the Trade Depot or Global Trade HQ. For a simple loop, produce flour, sugar and spices, then queue donuts whenever the shop is free. Add bread rolls, chairs, or other goods that match your available ingredients. At higher levels, burger farming can create valuable batches, but it needs beef, bread rolls, BBQ grills, substantial storage, and patience. Claim daily rewards, complete challenges and shipments, and spend SimCash sparingly on permanent capacity or carefully chosen speed-ups rather than exchanging it casually for Simoleons.
Currency basics
Know which resource you are farming
The game’s everyday money is Simoleons, shown with the § symbol. You use it for buildings, services, roads, production-related purchases, and many city upgrades. Players often call this money coins, gold, or simply cash, but those names can cause confusion when discussing other currencies.
SimCash is the premium currency. It can speed up production, add store or warehouse capacity, and be converted into Simoleons, but converting it is usually poor value compared with earning money through production. Golden Keys and Platinum Keys are progression currencies for specialist buildings. Neo-Simoleons support Omega content, War Simoleons are used in Club Wars, and Rail Simoleons support the train system. Seasonal currencies and event tokens are temporary or mode-specific, so spend them according to the event rules rather than treating them as general money.
- “Diamonds,” “gems,” and “crystals” are not reliable official names for one universal currency in the current game. Check the icon and its tooltip before spending.
- There is no verified official currency called cat coins. Players may be referring to Cheetah Shop Speed-Up Tokens, which accelerate commercial production rather than directly paying for goods.
- Golden Keys come from activities such as cargo shipments and rewards, while Platinum Keys are tied to higher-level competitive and event rewards.
| Resource | Best legitimate sources | Main use |
|---|---|---|
| Simoleons | Selling goods, rewards, city activities, and official offers | Buildings, roads, services, and upgrades |
| SimCash | Daily rewards, challenges, events, and purchases | Speed-ups, capacity, and selected conversions |
| Golden Keys | Cargo shipments and rewards | Specialization buildings |
| Platinum Keys | Contest, Club Wars, and rewards | Premium specialization buildings |
| Neo-, War, and Rail Simoleons | Their matching systems | Omega, Club Wars, and trains |
If a guide promises unlimited coins, free diamonds, or a secret crystal code, treat it as unverified. Never give an outside site your account login or install an alleged currency generator.
Repeatable income
Set up a production loop that fits your schedule
A good farm is not just the item with the highest displayed sale price. It is the item you can produce continuously without blocking your storage, factories, or commercial queues. Finished goods usually offer more value than selling their ingredients, but only when you can keep the entire chain moving.
Start by filling factories with basic materials before leaving the game. Use commercial buildings to turn those materials into goods while you are away, then collect and list the finished items in batches. Keep a small reserve of common materials for building upgrades and deliveries so that a sale does not leave you unable to complete a task.
- Short sessions: sell surplus metal, wood, plastic, or other basic materials when storage is nearly full. This is convenient, but it is rarely the strongest long-term profit loop.
- Regular sessions: use a simple chain such as flour and sugar or spices into donuts, then refill the factories while the Donut Shop works.
- Mixed production: run chairs, planks, garden furniture, bread rolls, and other goods whose ingredients you already produce. This reduces downtime when one chain is waiting for a long material.
- Active play: use speed-up tokens on a commercial bottleneck, not automatically on every queue. Epic Buildings can provide Shop Speed-Up Token Parts, making them useful for burst production.
| Loop | Advantages | Limitations |
|---|---|---|
| Donuts | Simple chain, easy to queue repeatedly, suitable for many schedules | Requires steady flour and sugar or spice inputs; profits depend on current recipe values |
| Burgers | High sale value per item and useful for large batches | Needs beef, bread rolls, BBQ grills, storage, and several upstream queues |
| Basic materials | Fast to make and easy to sell when storage is full | Lower value per slot and weaker as a complete long-term farm |
| Mixed goods | Flexible and less vulnerable to one missing ingredient | Requires more planning and more types of storage |
Choose the loop that you can collect consistently. A slightly lower-value recipe running continuously beats a theoretically better recipe that sits idle because one ingredient or shop queue is missing.
Advanced farming
How burger farming and donut farming compare
Burger farming means producing burgers in the Fast Food Restaurant and selling them, usually in batches. Community references list a burger as requiring beef, a bread roll, and a BBQ grill, with the recipe unlocking in the later game. That chain is attractive because the final item has a high listed value, but the real production time includes animal feed, flour bags, cream, cooking utensils, and the grill. It also consumes more storage space than a simple donut loop.
Donut farming is easier to sustain because its chain is shorter and the shop can be kept active with fewer specialist inputs. It is therefore the better default for players who want dependable income without dedicating most of their warehouse to one product. Burgers become more reasonable when you have multiple factories, strong storage capacity, several commercial slots, and enough time to collect or sell regularly.
- For burgers, reserve storage for the final batch and its ingredients before starting a large run.
- Do not assume the highest individual sale price is the highest profit per hour. Count the time and materials for every upstream item.
- Use Daniel’s purchases, Trade Depot listings, or Global Trade HQ traffic when available, but do not build a plan around an offer appearing at a specific time.
- For donuts, keep the input materials moving even when you are offline, then list finished batches after collecting them.
| Choose donuts when | Choose burgers when |
|---|---|
| You want a low-maintenance or flexible loop. | You can support a longer multi-shop chain. |
| Your storage is limited. | You have enough storage for ingredients and finished batches. |
| You play in short or irregular sessions. | You can collect queues and manage sales frequently. |
| You want to diversify production. | You are deliberately targeting high-value batch sales. |
Recipe requirements and listed prices are best checked against the current in-game production screen. Community tables are useful for planning, but they do not prove that every offer, price, or Trade HQ listing will appear for every player.
Routes and rewards
Add shipments, challenges, and daily rewards
Production sales are only one income route. Complete cargo shipments when the requested goods are reasonable, because sea cargo can award Golden Keys as well as other rewards. Airport, challenge, event, and contest systems can provide currencies, speed-ups, keys, or special items, but their reward tracks and requirements can change.
The Global Trade HQ is useful both for buying missing materials and for selling surplus goods. Check it before starting a long recipe: buying one missing input can keep an expensive shop from sitting idle, while buying every ingredient can erase the profit you expected. A Trade Depot with more slots also gives you more control over batch sales.
- Claim daily rewards and inspect current challenge or event tracks before spending resources.
- Use cargo requests to turn surplus inventory into progression items, but skip a shipment when it demands scarce goods needed for a more profitable chain.
- Collect Shop Speed-Up Token Parts from Epic Buildings and save completed tokens for long commercial queues or event deadlines.
- Visit the official Web Store only if you intend to make a purchase; its daily rewards and offers are separate from ordinary free production income.
| Route | What it is good for | Planning rule |
|---|---|---|
| Trade Depot and Global Trade HQ | Simoleons and missing materials | Sell at the listed maximum when practical, but price and demand can vary. |
| Cargo shipments | Golden Keys and shipment rewards | Keep common goods available, but do not sacrifice all production capacity. |
| Challenges and events | Simoleons, SimCash, keys, tokens, and seasonal rewards | Check the active reward track because prizes can change. |
| Epic Buildings | Shop Speed-Up Token Parts | Collect daily and use tokens on meaningful bottlenecks. |
A route is only profitable if its reward is worth the materials, time, and opportunity cost. Keep one production queue available for ordinary city needs instead of farming every slot for sale items.
FAQ
Common questions
How do I get coins in SimCity BuildIt quickly?
For legitimate fast money, sell finished goods rather than emptying your storage of raw materials, keep factories and shops running, and use a recipe you can collect regularly. Donuts are a practical starting loop. Also claim rewards and complete worthwhile challenges, but avoid spending SimCash just to buy ordinary Simoleons unless you have a specific emergency.
What is the best gold farm?
There is no single best farm for every city. Donuts are usually easier to sustain, while burgers can produce valuable batches later in progression. Compare profit after all ingredients and production time, then choose the loop that matches your storage, number of factories, and play schedule.
Can I get free diamonds or gems?
The game uses several distinct currencies, so first identify the icon. SimCash can come from rewards and official events, while Golden Keys and Platinum Keys have different earning routes. Be skeptical of websites promising free diamonds, gems, crystals, or hacked money; there is no verified legitimate generator or cheat.
Is burger farming still useful?
It can be useful as an advanced batch-selling strategy, but it is not automatically superior. Burgers require a longer chain involving beef, bread rolls, and BBQ grills, so they need more storage and active management than donuts. Verify the current recipe and price in your version before committing.
Should I sell materials or finished items?
Sell raw materials when you need quick storage space or when a factory would otherwise stop. For planned income, finished items usually make better use of production time, provided you can supply their ingredients and sell them without blocking your city’s upgrade needs.
Sources
What we checked
Official listings establish current availability and product facts. Community pages are used for mechanics and build history, then labeled separately.
- OfficialEA Help: SimCity BuildIt beginner guide and currency overview
- OfficialEA Help: SimCity BuildIt rewards explained
- OfficialEA Help: How to use Shop Speed-Up Tokens
- OfficialEA: SimCity BuildIt Update 83 patch notes
- OfficialEA: SimCity BuildIt trains and Rail Simoleons
- CommunitySimCity BuildIt Wiki: item and production reference tables
- CommunitySimCity BuildIt Wiki: burger requirements and production reference