Free · Word + PDF · no email

Free business plan templates (Word + PDF), with a sample plan for your industry

Pick your industry and download the business plan template as a Word document or a PDF — the complete eleven-section plan with the trade's typical startup costs and monthly figures already in the tables. Each one comes with a finished sample plan, what owners earn and the licenses you need in the US. Or write yours in five questions.

Find my industry's templateWrite my plan in five questions →

112 industries · Free to download · No sign-up to write a plan

Business plan templates by industry

Browse by category, or read how to write a business plan first — the sections, a worked example from one of these plans, and the mistakes to skip.

Home services and trades

The lead-driven trades, where the website is the next purchase after the plan.

Cars, trucks and transport

Detailing, repair, towing, hauling and delivery.

Food and drink

From a food truck to a winery; the build-out and the margins.

Shops, hospitality and travel

Retail, rooms and routes.

Beauty, health and fitness

Chairs, tables, memberships and care.

Professional and financial services

Practices that sell time, advice and paperwork.

Kids, pets and education

Care and lessons, booked by the week.

Events, creative and media

Weekends, packages and the day rate.

Nonprofits, churches and foundations

Written in the funding voice: formation, the first program, the first year.

Business plan templates: common questions

Is the business plan template really free?

Yes. Every template on this page downloads as a Word document or a PDF with no email, no sign-up and no watermark. The sample plan beside each one is free to read and download too. The generator that writes a plan from your own answers is free to use; printing or exporting what it writes uses a free sign-in.

What's in each business plan template?

The complete eleven-section plan for your industry — executive summary, products and services, market analysis, marketing strategy, operations plan, startup costs, financial plan, risks, licenses and permits, the first 30 days and a lender's checklist — written for a placeholder business with [bracketed] lines to fill out, and the typical US startup and monthly figures for the trade already in the tables. You replace the estimates with your quotes.

Should I download the Word template or the PDF?

Word if you want to edit it in Word, Google Docs or Pages: open it, replace the bracketed lines, keep or change the figures. The PDF is the same template to print and fill out by hand, or to read on a phone. The sample plan is a PDF because it's finished — read it to see what each section looks like done.

My industry isn't on the list. What do I use?

The free generator. It writes the same eleven sections for any business from five plain-language questions, with small-business ranges you replace with your own figures; the industry pages are those same plans with a trade's checklist already loaded. New industries are added regularly, so check back, and the generator's plan can be saved and exported as Word after a free sign-in.

How do I actually write the plan once I have the template?

Numbers first: fill the startup-cost table and the monthly costs before you touch the words, because they decide what the rest can promise. Then the services, the customers, the marketing and the operations sections, the financial arithmetic, the first 30 days and the risks, and the executive summary last. The how-to guide linked on this page walks every section with a worked example.

Free

Your industry isn't here? Write the plan anyway.

The generator covers every business: five plain-language questions, a complete plan with your own startup list and financials, no sign-up to write it.

Write my business planHow to write a business plan — the guide

Free to write, read and edit. Sign in free to print, export or save.