From what I know, it depends of the broker's clearing company. Some like Penson allow endless daytrading of all options regardless of account balance and some like IB allow no daytrading of equity or index options without at least 25k.
If you have only a small account (e.g. $15K in day trading buying power), you can have some success in daytrading options that have small spreads and an IV that's a bit less than it should be, so that 10 or 20 option contracts are affordable (e.g., in recent days, QQQ, DIA, and TTWO). It of course sucks that you might need to see a .5-1% change in the underlying before you see any profit, but it's all about getting the most money that you can, given what you have.
I don't know a thing about options, but wouldn't it be easier to trade the eminis if capital is a problem? For example, with $5k in your account, you can trade four YM contracts. A ten point move on four contracts is $200. Seems alot easier than options to me, and no PDT rule. Just my opinion.