Franchises Win Again Among Options for Business Ownership
By: Michael Alston for Franchise Insights
September 23, 2026 – Aspiring entrepreneurs preferred the option to “buy a franchise” over acquiring an existing business by a wide margin in recent months. While over 51.4% indicated interest in the franchise purchase option, only 40.5% were interested in buying an existing business for sale in the July and August 2026 Startup Sentiment surveys.
Starting up a (non-franchise) business from scratch is under consideration by 45.9% of respondents, also edging out the “purchase existing business” option. The totals add up to more than 100% since survey participants could choose more than one option, if they are considering multiple options.
In the August 2026 survey, 67.6% agreed that “now is a good time to start a business,” with optimism about conditions ahead. Further, 89% of respondents see conditions for business and franchise startups “the same or better in three months” and are organizing their timeliness accordingly.
Aspiring business owners prefer franchises over startups or existing businesses for sale.
While reasons for these preferences for startup options were not collected in the survey, the benefits and support of a network of successful franchise owners and recognized brands are well-documented, with more than 845,000 franchise units expected in the U.S. by the end of 2026 according to the International Franchise Association.
Startups of entirely new businesses fail for a myriad of reasons – insufficient capital, faulty business plan or product, poor location, competition, or failure in execution, among others. Purchases of existing businesses can require orders of magnitude more capital than a franchise up front, with many of the same risks, and no network of training and support that is typically available to franchisees.
Despite high relative valuations of financial assets in recent months, alongside tariff-related ups and downs, access to funding remains a primary concern of aspiring business owners. Entrepreneurs plan to rely more on personal financial resources than in years past, likely related to higher interest rates and difficulty getting loans approved versus the appreciation of home equity and personal asset portfolios in recent years.
The data herein were from surveys of aspiring business owners was conducted in July and August 2026 for the Small Business Startup Sentiment Index™, which is conducted monthly by FranchiseInsights.com among individuals in the U.S. inquiring about franchises across the Franchise Ventures lead generation platform. It should be noted that survey respondents visiting these franchise directory websites may already have at least an awareness of franchises that may not be representative of aspiring businesses owners as a whole.
Franchise Ventures is the leading franchise lead-generation platform for potential franchisees to thousands of growing franchise systems in the United States and Canada. Its franchise lead generation brands include Franchise.com, Franchise Solutions, Franchise Gator, Franchise Opportunities, Franchise For Sale, SmallBusinessStartup.com and BusinessBroker.net, and together they provide the largest aggregation of prospective franchise buyers in the U.S.
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Published on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2026.