RANKED · 864 BRANDS QUALIFY · FDD FILINGS 2016–2026
What are the cheapest franchises to open?
Ranked by the low end of the total initial investment range in Item 7 of each brand's latest FDD — the smallest all-in figure the franchisor itself will put on paper.
Brands are ranked by the low end of the Item 7 total initial investment estimate in their latest real FDD filing, ascending. Item 7 is the franchisor's own estimate and famously optimistic on working capital; treat the low end as a floor, not a budget. Brands without an extracted Item 7 low figure are excluded.
Universe: every brand tracked here whose latest filing is a verified extraction from a public FDD (state regulator portals, chiefly Minnesota CARDS), filed 2016–2026. Sample/seed data never enters a ranking. Each row's “FDD” link is the official document the figure came from; each brand link leads to the full sourced profile. See the site methodology for extraction and confidence rules.
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. I'm paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing the numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.