RANKED · 678 BRANDS QUALIFY · FDD FILINGS 2024–2026 · NONE OLDER THAN TWO YEARS
Which franchises have the lowest royalties?
Ranked by ongoing royalty — the cut of gross sales you pay the franchisor forever — lowest first, from Item 6 of each brand's latest FDD.
Brands are ranked by the ongoing royalty percentage disclosed in Item 6 of their latest FDD filing (no more than two years old), ascending. Brands whose royalty is a flat fee, variable, or not extracted as a percentage are excluded, as are figures above 20% — those are revenue-share arrangements (the franchisor bills the customer and remits a split), not a royalty on the franchisee's sales. A low royalty is not automatically a good deal: check the ad-fund and technology fees in Items 6 and 11, and the exit numbers in Item 20.
Universe: every brand tracked here whose latest filing is a machine extraction from a public FDD (state regulator portals, chiefly Minnesota CARDS), filed 2024–2026. Filings more than two years old and sample/seed data never enter 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 usually paid by the franchisor to place you. I'm paid only by you, never by a franchisor you're considering — and the job is pressure-testing the numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.