VetMyFranchise Research
Original analysis of every active U.S. franchise FDD on file. We extract structured data from Franchise Disclosure Documents at scale — initial fees, royalties, investment ranges, unit economics, financial performance disclosures — and publish what the data shows. Methodologically transparent. Updated as new disclosures land.
Last updated 2026-07-18 · 2,175 brands analyzed
Original Research
The headline benchmarks buyers and journalists cite: median investment, franchise fee, royalty, Item 19 disclosure rate, and litigation frequency across every analyzed FDD, with a per-industry breakdown. Computed live from the full database.
Flagship · Annual
Median initial fee, royalty rate, ad fund, and total investment by industry — across 2,000+ active FDDs. The most comprehensive cross-industry pricing benchmark in franchising.
Fee Analysis
What does a franchise fee actually cost? Median, P25/P75 bands, and the full distribution of Item 5 initial fees across 2,000+ FDDs, with per-industry medians — and why the fee is only a fraction of what you'll really spend.
New · Item 20 Data
Which franchises close the most units? Brand-level closure and turnover rates from Item 20, net-growth leaders, and industry aggregates — with the formula and caveats stated up front.
Item 19 Champions
Top 100 franchise concepts ranked by Item 19 unit revenue. Judge-verified ✓ medians where available — the more honest headline than the legacy average. Includes sample size and time period per disclosure.
New · Disclosure Quality
Brands ranked by judge-verified Item 19 sample size — the single most overlooked transparency signal in franchise research. Surfaces brands that disclose at scale vs. those with statistically thin samples.
Transparency
How many franchisors actually disclose Item 19 financial performance? Industry-by-industry rates, year-over-year change, biggest improvers and decliners.
Industry Pulse
Which industries are opening units, which are closing, and where net unit growth is concentrated. Built from last-fiscal-year Item 20 data across every active FDD.
Fee Analysis
Combined royalty + ad fund as a share of revenue, ranked by industry. The "what % of every dollar you make goes to the franchisor, forever" report.
Affordability
The lowest-investment franchises currently registered in the U.S., ranked by total Item 7 cost. Includes initial fee and royalty for each, sortable and downloadable.
Network Scale
The 100 largest U.S. franchise networks by unit count, with last-year openings and closures. Sortable by total units, openings, closures, or year founded.
Investment Tier
Programmatic browsing by total startup cost: under $25K, $50K, $100K, $250K, $500K, and $1M. Every active franchise sorted by midpoint investment, with industry mix and Item 19 disclosure rate.
About these reports. Every report on this page is computed directly from the VetMyFranchise FDD database — 2,175 active U.S. franchise systems as of 2026-07-18 — using the franchisors' own disclosure documents (Items 5, 6, 7, 19, and 20). Figures are medians unless noted and refresh as new FDDs are analyzed.
Cite this. Please attribute figures to "VetMyFranchise" plus the specific report name and year — e.g. "VetMyFranchise, Franchise Pricing Index 2026" — and link to the report page.
These reports cover industry-wide benchmarks. For one brand's exact Item 7, Item 19, fees, litigation, and a buyer verdict, our full 12-section FDD analysis is $49 per report, or three for $99.
VetMyFranchise
The only franchise report written entirely for the buyer.
Professional franchise due diligence. Helping buyers make informed investment decisions.
VetMyFranchise reports are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal or financial advice.
This page is part of VetMyFranchise. View all pages: llms.txt · llms-full.txt