Subway franchise: what it costs
Opening a restaurant with the Subway franchise can cost $263,000 at the low end and $630,000 at the high end. The source is the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), which a brand must hand to you before you buy.
Subway franchise cost, item by item
- Full cost of opening
- $263,000 to $630,000 Item 7, 2026 FDD
- Franchise fee you pay one time at the start
- $15,000 Item 5, 2026 FDD
- Royalty, your ongoing payments to the brand
- 8% out of gross sales Item 6, 2026 FDD
- Marketing fund, which covers shared advertising
- 4.5% out of gross sales Item 6, 2026 FDD
- Figures on sales or earnings
- Not given Item 19, 2026 FDD
- Location count when 2025 ended
- Franchise owners ran 18,773; the company ran 0 Item 20, 2026 FDD
Doctor's Associates LLC submitted its 2026 Subway Franchise Disclosure Document to the Minnesota Department of Commerce. That document, dated April 30, 2026 and amended June 15, 2026, is where each figure above comes from. Each small label points to the numbered part of the FDD where that figure sits.
Sales and earnings numbers in the Subway FDD
Item 19 lacks sales or earnings figures from Subway, so the FDD cannot tell you how much its locations sell or earn. Ask the owners listed under Item 20, the FDD's list covering locations and owners, how much they earn.
Before you rely on any figure in an Item 19, our guide shows how to read it.
Subway beside other restaurant franchises
Subway is the cheapest restaurant franchise to open among those on this site.
| Brand | Total cost to opentotal, lowest to highest | Upfront feeone-time fee | Royaltyongoing, usually a % of sales | Sales or earnings showndoes the brand show sales figures | Year filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subway | $263K to $630K | $15,000 | 8% | No | 2026 |
| Jimmy John's | $366K to $734K | $35,000 | 6% | Yes | 2026 |
| Firehouse Subs | $405K to $876K | $20,000 | 6% | Yes | 2026 |
| Jersey Mike's | $436K to $1.16M | $20,000 | 6.5% | Yes | 2026 |
| Arby's | $869K to $2.46M | $37,500 | 4% | Yes | 2026 |
| Five Guys | $928K to $1.38M | $25,000 | 6% | No | 2026 |
| Panera Bread | $1.34M to $4.57M | $50,000 | 5% | Yes | 2026 |
| McDonald's | $1.47M to $2.64M | $45,000 | 5% (plus rent) | Yes | 2024 |
| Sonic Drive-In | $1.49M to $2.52M | $15,000 | 5% | Yes | 2026 |
Before you buy, a brand has to hand over its Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD); the brand's latest one is where every figure comes from. After opening, you still pay the brand either a share of sales or a set amount as the royalty. "Sales or earnings shown" tells whether the brand says what its locations take in. A K stands for thousand, an M for million. The filing year is the year that FDD was listed with the Minnesota Department of Commerce.
The number of Subway locations
At the end of 2025, the United States had 18,773 Subway locations; franchise owners operated 100% of them (Item 20). In that same part of the FDD, you get phone numbers for owners still running stores and ones who left. Your best way to learn how these costs play out in real life is to call a few of them.
Get the Subway FDD read by a franchise attorney
Before you sign, one franchise attorney can go through the Subway FDD and franchise agreement with you.