Bells have always been the standard form of currency for all Animal Crossing games, but in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Nintendo has introduced a new form of currency in addition to Bells: Nook Miles. Each form of currency has its own benefits, but as the game progresses, one becomes more necessary than the other.
After arriving on the island and settling in, Tom Nook gives the player a bill for airfare, accommodations, Nook Phone and more for 49,800 Bells. Since players have just arrived and have zero Bells, Tom allows players to pay their outstanding bill with 5,000 Nook Miles instead.
These can be earned through completing certain tasks -- but although it's possible to pay this first major fee with Nook Miles, later they can only be used to purchase Nook Miles Tickets for mystery islands, some upgrades, certain items and DIY recipes. Any other house upgrades, most items and island construction is paid for in Bells.
Here's a breakdown of both Animal Crossing: New Horizons currencies and which one is ultimately more important.
Nook Miles
The newest form of currency for the game is Nook Miles, which can be obtained through Nook Stamps and Nook Miles+. Nook Stamps are gained from completing various tasks on the island, such as catching a certain number of fish in a row, collecting fruit, placing items in storage, decorating a house, building furniture and more. The amount of Miles acquired for each Stamp varies depending on if it is a single task or series of tasks. For example, naming the island nets 500 Miles, but catching 80 unique fish nets 3,000 Miles.
After paying off the initial fee for 5,000 Miles and opting to swap a tent for a house, Nook Miles+ will be unlocked. Stamps are more long-term goals, whereas Nook Miles+ are daily tasks that can be achieved each day. Daily tasks net fewer miles, but can sometimes double, triple, or even quintuple at random, which means players can rack up Miles all the time.
Nook Miles are slightly more limited in availability than Bells, in that while there are tons of Nook Stamps and possibly more included in future updates, the number of Stamps is limited. Nook Miles+ are unlimited and refresh daily, but still ultimately net fewer Miles.
Bells
The standard currency of Bells is easy to acquire, but there are lots of items that will require huge amounts of them. Most Bells will be acquired from selling items, with some being obtained from burying money to grow money trees each day. Sometimes, residents will also trade Bells for gifts. While Bells are easy to get, between the cost of house payments (a total of 5,746,000 Bells) moving houses on the island to suit a player's desired design (50,000 Bells per house), or building bridges and inclines (which both range from 98,000-228,000 Bells each), the costs definitely add up and will require tons of savings.
There also some other ways to get Bells. Players can try their luck with the Stalk market and check both prices (one price in the morning until noon, then a new price until 10 p.m.) to try and get double, triple, or even quadruple their initial investment. However, turnips rot after a week and prices sometimes trend downward, which makes this risky.
Other ways include stocking up on insects and selling them to traveling NPC Flick for 1.5 times more than the what the store would pay, or doing the same with fish to sell to traveling NPC C.J. for 1.5 times more than the store. Crafted items sell for more than the basic components or resources they are made of; for example, a manila clam sells for 100 Bells, crafting it into fishing bait will net 200 Bells. Each day, Nook's Cranny also has a featured, crafted "hot item" that the Nook brothers will buy for double its usual price.
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Which Is Better?
After players acquire hairstyle/color upgrades, inventory upgrades and DIY recipes from the Nook Miles menu, all that's left to buy is repeat decorations and Nook Miles Tickets. These are important, certainly -- especially Tickets -- but not essential once the game gets to a certain point, lest Nintendo introduces more Nook Miles items in a future update.
Bells, meanwhile, pay for essentially everything else -- furniture, clothing, renovations and more. While Miles are important early on, Bells eventually become more necessary, thus making the original Animal Crossing currency the better of the two.