5 Franchise Portals That Work

Buying a franchise and investing in your future is a major decision. And, as with any major decision, especially one involving a large investment, you need to do your research to find the best opportunity for you. But with a seemingly infinite amount of resources and thousands of brands and industries, it’s hard to know where to start. 

Many prospective franchisees turn to franchise portals to begin winnowing their search. According to research done by Franchise Update Media in 2019, nearly 1 in 7 franchise leads (13.2%) come from portals. But there’s no shortage of those to choose from either, and unfortunately, there is a wide range in quality between these sites.

Here are five of our favorite franchise portals. If you’re looking for a place to start your franchise search, start here. 

Franchise Direct

Founded in 1998, Franchise Direct has grown to become a leading portal for franchise opportunities targeting markets across North America, Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia. Franchise Direct allows franchisors to connect with prospective franchisees worldwide, which no other franchisor portal offers. They’ve also added a franchise blog, generate several franchise industry-sector reports a year and the web design is easy and user-friendly.

Entrepreneur

While it’s recognized as one of the most trusted business publications today, it dedicates a large portion of its content to ranking franchise brands. Every year, Entrepreneur publishes its Franchise 500 Ranking List that highlights the top-rated franchise opportunities in the industry. It’s a great resource to find more information if you’re torn between industries, as there are also specific secondary lists that rank the brand on a deeper level. It’s also a good place to find articles on franchises, CEO’s and executives. 

Franchise Gator

A growing site with a large directory, Franchise Gator has been around since 2002 and offers one of the largest directories of franchise and business opportunities online. It also has hundreds of articles about franchising to help educate you on buying a business. You can sort by industry, investment, or state making it very easy to narrow down your options. 

Franchising.com

Franchising.com offers comprehensive franchise information with a directory that includes more than 2,800 franchise opportunities from 20+ countries. You can filter your search by industry, type, location, investment and maturity. 

The site also hosts franchise topics from operations to marketing to technology to legal. They also list franchise conferences, magazines and newsletters, giving prospective franchisees an unlimited amount of resources.

Franchise Opportunities

Founded in 1999, one of the largest franchise opportunity directories, Franchise Opportunities aspires to continue giving potential franchisees simple search tools and resources. They’re part of the Franchise Opportunities Network and Business Broker Network company, giving them even insight into even more data. You can sort opportunities by industry, investment or state as well.