Every free ship you can unlock in Starfield
Spaceships are expensive. Even customizing your own Starfield ship will quickly rack up quite the bill if you’re not careful. Thankfully, there are ways to track down some freebies in the game if you know where to look. Some require quite a bit of work and not all of them are necessarily worth it, but you have a surprising amount to choose from.
We’ll run down every free ship in Starfield so you have plenty of options when cruising out in the stars.
Frontier
This is the default ship you get given right at the start of the story, so it’s pretty well-rounded. If you want to take it all the way to the end of the game with you then you’ll need to upgrade just about every part of it along the way – it’s a more sound financial investment than trying to build your own though.
Star Eagle
The Rangers, based in Akila City are likely one of the first faction questlines you’ll come across, and that’s good because seeing their story through to the end will earn you a free ship. It’s only an A-class ship, but it’s about the best A-class ship you can find with a decent grav jump range, solid weaponry, and a massive cargo hold.
Razorleaf
A special ship, you can only get this one by completing the Mantis quest and infiltrating this vigilante’s secret lair. This is a light and nimble ship designed to dart around the place in record time. It’s not especially durable, bulky, or powerful, but it’s perfect for long-distance exploring.
Wanderwell
This is the ship you get if you choose the “Kid Stuff” trait in character creation, and it’s…fine. It’s the equivalent of a sensible family car, only with lasers. It’s a nice gesture from your loving parents, but truthfully you shouldn’t bother using it.
UC Prison Shuttle
This is a terrible ship, but it is one you get for free during the Crimson Fleet questline, so here it is. It doesn’t have weapons or shields of any kind and it’s honestly not worth paying to get them installed. It’s not even worth enough credits to bother selling.
Kepler R
A little way into the main story questline, you can get the “Overdesigned” side-quest from Walter, where you’ll need to lead the R&D department in creating a new ship. Cheap out and don’t do enough tasks and you’ll end up with a decent B-class ship, but go for the big budget option, thoroughly research it, and you’ll get this magnificent C-class beast.
It has a gigantic cargo hold, high hull, solid shields, and enough fuel to get you just about anywhere. Its weapons are the only major downside, but you can always add more on later.
Beware scrolling further, as you’ll be entering spoiler territory.
Starborn Guardian
This is the ship you’ll start in when you enter New Game+ and it sure looks cool, but it’s actually only a mid-tier ship. For one thing, it isn’t customizable, which stops you from ever upgrading it, which is a pain considering its limited cargo capacity and only two weapons. However, those unique weapons are pretty powerful, and it has great grav jump range, so it’s not all bad.
Check out our full Starfield walkthrough for more explainers, tips, tricks, guides, and more.