Short answer: friendship level-ups are the fastest XP in Pokémon GO — 100,000 XP at Best Friend and 150,000 at Forever Friend, doubled to 200,000 and 300,000 under a Lucky Egg. Raids pay about 10,000, Excellent throws 1,000 and evolutions 1,000. Everything on the list doubles under a Lucky Egg except sending gifts.
Trainer school
The fastest XP in Pokémon GO, ranked (2026)
Most XP guides still quote numbers from before the 2020 XP rework. Here is the current, verified ranking — and why the top spot isn't even close.
1. Friendship level-ups (the king)
| Level-up | XP | With Lucky Egg |
|---|---|---|
| Good Friend | 3,000 | 6,000 |
| Great Friend | 10,000 | 20,000 |
| Ultra Friend | 50,000 | 100,000 |
| Best Friend | 100,000 | 200,000 |
| Forever Friend | 150,000 | 300,000 |
Nothing else in the game pays six figures for tapping a gift. The strategy is batching: add many friends the same day, interact daily, and pop all the level-ups under one Lucky Egg — the game even prompts you to activate the egg on the level-up screen now. Full playbook in the friendship XP guide; fresh friends are one tap away.
2. Raids
Legendary (5-star) raids pay 10,000 XP each (Elite ~12,000, Mega Legendary 13,000, lower tiers 3,500–5,000). With the 10-per-day remote limit and a Lucky Egg, a raid session stacks up fast — and each raid with a friend doubles as that day's friendship interaction.
3. Excellent throws
1,000 XP per Excellent (+20 curveball) on a successful catch — Nice is 20, Great is 100, so accuracy pays 10× over sloppy throws. New Pokédex entries add another 1,000. During Community Day spotlights with easy targets, Excellent-throw grinding under an egg rivals raiding.
4. Mass-evolving (the old classic, demoted)
Evolutions pay a flat 1,000 XP (2,000 under an egg). A 30-minute Pidgey-style evolve session still earns a steady ~60–80k with an egg, but it costs hours of candy farming — friendship pays more for less.
5. The background trickle
- Hatching: roughly 500 XP (2 km) up to 4,000 XP (12 km) per egg.
- First catch and first spin of the day, and 7-day streaks — worth keeping alive, exact values have shifted over the years (Niantic's help center lists the current ones).
- Sending a gift: 200 XP (one of the few things a Lucky Egg does not double).
The takeaway
Everything on this list doubles under a Lucky Egg except gift-sending — so the meta is: stack friendship level-ups, then fill the same egg window with raids and Excellent throws. A well-planned 30 minutes clears a million XP. It all starts with having enough active friends: get fresh codes, keep the list healthy with the cap guide, and let the XP roll in.