How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Rankite is independent; if a vendor ever pays for a featured spot, that listing is clearly labeled Partner.
Key takeaways
- If you have 20 or fewer shareholders, you should not be paying for cap table software: Eqvista is free up to 20 shareholders, Gust's core cap table tools are free, Cake Equity is free up to 5 stakeholders, and Carta Launch is free up to 25 stakeholders for companies that raised under $1M.
- Two familiar names are gone from this market. Pulley announced it will cease operations on December 8, 2026, and captable.io now serves an LTSE Equity sunset notice. Astrella (Equiniti) absorbed LTSE Equity's customers and is included below as the replacement.
- Published pricing is rare past the free tier. Eqvista charges $2 per shareholder per month and Cake Equity's Build plan starts at $1,000 per year, both public. Carta, Ledgy, Shareworks and Fidelity quote custom prices.
- The 409A valuation is the hidden second purchase. Eqvista bundles unlimited 409As from $990 per year; everywhere else it is a separate line item, typically $1,000 to $5,000 per valuation.
- Enterprise buyers face a different market: Shareworks by Morgan Stanley and Fidelity Private Shares publish no prices and sell through consultation, with contracts typically in the five figures.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Carta | VC-backed US startups from seed to pre-IPO that want the industry-standard platform | See website (Launch free; Build, Grow and Scale custom-quoted) | Yes (Launch: free up to 25 stakeholders and $1M raised) |
 Cake Equity | Growing startups that want published prices and a founder-friendly Carta alternative | From $1,000/year (Build plan, up to 25 stakeholders) | Yes (free for up to 5 stakeholders) |
 Eqvista | Startups that want a free cap table bundled with the cheapest credible 409A valuations | $2/shareholder/month (Premium plan) | Yes (Freemium: free up to 20 shareholders) |
 Gust Equity Management | Pre-seed founders who need a real cap table and have no budget for one | Free (core cap table management; paid tiers quoted) | Yes |
 Ledgy | International teams that need equity management across multiple jurisdictions | See website (quote-based) | Yes (free Launch tier for early-stage companies) |
 Astrella | Startups wanting simple per-stakeholder pricing and a guided move off a legacy platform | See website | Free trial ("Try Astrella free" on the vendor homepage) |
 Vestd | UK SMEs that need HMRC-compliant share schemes without lawyer-led admin | From £500 (vendor pricing page) | No |
 Shareworks by Morgan Stanley | Larger private companies and pre-IPO teams that need institutional equity administration | See website (enterprise, custom-quoted) | No |
 Fidelity Private Shares | Companies that want the cap table plus liquidity options and shareholder services from one institution | See website (custom-quoted) | No |
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
The best cap table software
Here is the uncomfortable truth about cap table software: if you have fewer than 20 shareholders, you should not be paying for it. Three credible platforms will run your cap table for free, and a fourth (Carta) will do it free until you raise real money. The paid market only starts making sense when your stakeholder count grows, when you need 409A valuations, or when compliance gets complicated. These nine tools cover the full range, from free startup plans to the enterprise suites that run pre-IPO equity programs.
#1
Carta
Best for: VC-backed US startups from seed to pre-IPO that want the industry-standard platform
Visit carta.com
Starting priceSee website (Launch free; Build, Grow and Scale custom-quoted)
Free planYes (Launch: free up to 25 stakeholders and $1M raised)
Carta is the default answer in US startup equity, and defaults matter. When your law firm, your investors and your acquirer's counsel all already work in Carta, diligence moves faster and nobody questions your records. The platform covers the whole lifecycle: electronic cap table and securities issuance, 409A valuations, ASC 718 reporting, scenario modeling, fund administration and secondary liquidity. Carta's own pricing page confirms Launch is free for companies with up to 25 stakeholders that have raised up to $1M.
The honest catch is what happens after Launch. Build, Grow and Scale are all custom-quoted, and third-party contract data puts seed-stage deals around $3,000 to $8,000 a year, rising steeply from there. The 409A is a separate cost on top. If you are pre-seed with a handful of shareholders, take the free Launch tier and revisit when you raise. If you are choosing on price alone, the tools below will undercut Carta at every stage.
What we like- The platform US investors and law firms know best, which smooths every fundraise and audit
- Covers cap table, 409A valuations, fund admin and liquidity in one suite
- Launch tier is genuinely free with no credit card games for the smallest companies
Watch out for- Paid pricing is fully custom-quoted and climbs fast with stakeholder count
- Founders routinely report the bill surprises them at renewal, and 409A valuations sit outside the platform fee
#2
Cake Equity
Best for: Growing startups that want published prices and a founder-friendly Carta alternative
Visit cakeequity.com
Starting priceFrom $1,000/year (Build plan, up to 25 stakeholders)
Free planYes (free for up to 5 stakeholders)
Cake Equity wins the startups that leave Carta over price, and its homepage says so openly, with case after case of founders reporting 40 to 60 percent savings after switching. The product covers the real startup equity workflow: cap table management, SAFEs and convertible notes, scenario and dilution modeling, electronic grants and signatures, an employee app that shows the team what their equity is worth, and the full US compliance set from 409A valuations to ASC 718 reporting.
The pricing page is the differentiator. Free up to 5 stakeholders, then Build at $1,000 per year for up to 25 stakeholders and Team at $2,750 per year for up to 40, all published on the vendor's own site. Migration is free and handled by their team. The honest catch is the free tier's ceiling: at 6 stakeholders you are paying while Eqvista would still be free, so count your shareholders before you commit.
What we like- Pricing is public and simple: free to 5 stakeholders, Build from $1,000/year, Team from $2,750/year
- Full US compliance layer (409A, 83(b), Rule 701, ASC 718, QSBS) without enterprise bloat
- Free white-glove migration with every row reconciled before go-live
Watch out for- No free ride past 5 stakeholders, so slightly larger tiny teams pay sooner than on Eqvista
- The brand is newer than Carta, which can mean explaining your choice to a conservative law firm
#3
Eqvista
Best for: Startups that want a free cap table bundled with the cheapest credible 409A valuations
Visit eqvista.com
Starting price$2/shareholder/month (Premium plan)
Free planYes (Freemium: free up to 20 shareholders)
Eqvista bundles two purchases most startups make separately: the cap table and the 409A valuation. The Freemium plan covers up to 20 shareholders free, with cap table and ESOP management, vesting schedules, stakeholder accounts and a data room, no credit card required. Premium adds e-signing, board resolutions, Rule 701, Form 3921 and waterfall modeling at $2 per shareholder per month, all published on their pricing page.
The 409A side is where Eqvista distances the field. Plans start at $990 per year for pre-revenue companies and include unlimited 409A valuations with white-glove migration, where competitors charge $1,000 to $5,000 per valuation as a separate purchase. The honest catch is the per-shareholder meter: at 40 shareholders you are paying $80 a month before any valuation plan, so model your headcount growth, not just today's roster.
What we like- The most generous free tier here: 20 shareholders free with cap table, ESOP, vesting and data room
- Premium at $2 per shareholder per month is the clearest paid pricing in the category
- 409A plans from $990/year include unlimited valuations, which nobody else bundles
Watch out for- Premium pricing is per shareholder per month, so costs scale linearly as the team grows
- The 409A-first positioning means pure cap-table buyers pay for valuation infrastructure they may not need yet
#4
Gust Equity Management
Best for: Pre-seed founders who need a real cap table and have no budget for one
Visit equity.gust.com
Starting priceFree (core cap table management; paid tiers quoted)
Free planYes
Gust is the only genuinely free cap table tool on this list, built for founders navigating their first SAFEs. The vendor's own page is blunt about it: no cost for the cap table management software, no lawyer required for every action, no mandatory document uploads blocking your workflow. You get option issuance, a live cap table, fundraising round and exit modeling, compliance tracking and stakeholder views.
The 409A valuations come from Gust's in-house analyst team (delivered through a partner), which keeps the whole equity stack in one place. The honest catch is depth: reporting and analytics are basic next to Carta or Ledgy, and anything beyond the free core moves to quoted pricing. For a pre-seed company with a simple cap table, that trade is invisible. For a Series A company with an option pool and three SAFEs outstanding, it starts to show.
What we like- Core cap table management is genuinely free with no stakeholder cap advertised
- Includes option issuance, round and exit modeling, and compliance tracking
- 409A valuations available from an in-house analyst team
Watch out for- The free product is narrower than paid competitors on reporting and analytics
- Paid tiers and support options are quote-based, so growing past free means a sales conversation
#5
Ledgy
Best for: International teams that need equity management across multiple jurisdictions
Visit ledgy.com
Starting priceSee website (quote-based)
Free planYes (free Launch tier for early-stage companies)
Ledgy is the pick for companies that outgrow US-only thinking. Where Carta is built around Delaware C-corp norms, Ledgy handles equity across jurisdictions with automated country-specific compliance reporting, global mobility tracking and IFRS 2 share-based payment expensing. It has expanded beyond cap tables into a unified platform for equity, deferred compensation, carried interest and pensions, aimed at finance, legal and people teams together.
The customer list leans European scale-up: companies with thousands of employees and cross-border grants. The honest catch is access: everything is quote-based, onboarding is consultative, and a small US startup will find the sales process and the price built for bigger fish. If your team spans three countries, Ledgy is worth the process. If everyone sits in one state, the simpler tools above do the job for less.
What we like- Built for global equity from the start: multi-jurisdiction compliance, global mobility reporting and IFRS 2 expensing
- Unifies equity, deferred compensation and carried interest in one platform
- 70+ HRIS integrations for automated granting workflows
Watch out for- Pricing is entirely quote-based with no public numbers
- The platform's center of gravity is the scale-up and enterprise, which can be heavy for a ten-person startup
#6
Astrella
Best for: Startups wanting simple per-stakeholder pricing and a guided move off a legacy platform
Visit astrella.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planFree trial ("Try Astrella free" on the vendor homepage)
Astrella inherited an opportunity: when LTSE Equity exited the cap table business, it selected Astrella to take its customers, and Astrella now markets directly to founders migrating off legacy platforms. The product covers cap table management, employee stock plan tracking, scenario planning, board notes and a globally compliant document vault, with a mobile app for investors and employees.
The pitch is simplicity and service: per-stakeholder pricing, month-to-month contracts, free white-glove onboarding, and a public promise to halve your current Carta invoice. The honest catch is transparency: for all the talk of simple pricing, the vendor's site shows no actual plan prices, so the quote call survives. Still, for a team migrating off Pulley or LTSE, the guided transition is the path of least resistance.
What we like- Straightforward per-stakeholder pricing model with month-to-month terms
- The designated successor for LTSE Equity customers, with free white-glove onboarding
- Blockchain-tracked share genealogy and AI-assisted admin for audit-ready records
Watch out for- The vendor publishes no plan prices, only the per-stakeholder model
- As the Equiniti-owned successor to a sunset platform, some buyers will want proof of long-term roadmap commitment
#7
Vestd
Best for: UK SMEs that need HMRC-compliant share schemes without lawyer-led admin
Visit vestd.com
Starting priceFrom £500 (vendor pricing page)
Free planNo
Vestd is the UK specialist, and it does not pretend to be anything else. The platform designs and runs tax-efficient share schemes for British SMEs: EMI options, growth shares, unapproved options, with guided HMRC submissions, Companies House filings and valuations handled inside the product. Two-way Companies House integration means the legal share register and the cap table stay in sync without paperwork.
Being FCA-regulated is a genuine differentiator in a category where most vendors are just software companies. The honest catch is geography: everything about Vestd, from the tax logic to the pricing in pounds (plans from £500 on their pricing page), assumes a UK company. A US startup gets nothing here, and a UK startup gets the most compliant option on this list.
What we like- Purpose-built for UK share schemes: EMI, growth shares and unapproved options with HMRC submission support
- Two-way Companies House integration keeps the cap table legally accurate
- FCA-regulated with valuations, legal documents and support bundled into plans
Watch out for- UK-only by design, so US startups should stop reading here
- Pricing is in pounds and plan-based, which makes direct comparison with US per-stakeholder tools awkward
#8
Shareworks by Morgan Stanley
Best for: Larger private companies and pre-IPO teams that need institutional equity administration
Visit shareworks.com
Starting priceSee website (enterprise, custom-quoted)
Free planNo
Shareworks plays in a different league from the startup tools above. Born as Solium and acquired by Morgan Stanley, it administers equity plans for thousands of corporate clients with millions of participants across 150+ countries. The platform covers the full equity compensation stack: options, RSUs, ESPPs, cap table tracking, transactions in 50+ currencies, and participant tools that connect to Morgan Stanley's brokerage and wealth services.
This is the system a CFO buys when the company is approaching IPO and the spreadsheet-plus-startup-tool era ends. The honest catch is everything about the buying experience: custom enterprise contracts, implementation fees, and annual costs that start in the five figures. If you are a 30-person startup, this is not your product yet. If you are planning a listing in two years, it is exactly your product.
What we like- Institutional-grade administration from Morgan Stanley, trusted for complex global plans
- Handles stock options, RSUs, ESPPs and cap tables for public and private companies
- Deep participant services including brokerage, financial education and wealth management tie-ins
Watch out for- No public pricing and an enterprise sales process
- Overkill in cost and complexity for startups under ~100 employees
#9
Fidelity Private Shares
Best for: Companies that want the cap table plus liquidity options and shareholder services from one institution
Visit fidelityprivateshares.com
Starting priceSee website (custom-quoted)
Free planNo
Fidelity Private Shares is the choice when the cap table is only half the job. Beyond cap table management, Fidelity offers the surrounding machinery that later-stage private companies need: shareholder services, liquidity programs and the credibility of a major financial institution. For a Series C company whose employees are asking about secondary sales, that bundle matters more than another modeling feature.
The honest catch mirrors Shareworks: this is enterprise software sold through consultation, with no public pricing and implementation expectations to match. Early-stage founders will find the process slow and the price high. Later-stage companies that already bank with Fidelity will find the integration story compelling.
What we like- Fidelity backing brings institutional credibility and integrated financial services
- Covers cap table management with shareholder communication and liquidity program options
- Suited to later-stage privates planning secondary transactions
Watch out for- Quote-only pricing with an enterprise sales motion
- The product skews toward larger, later-stage companies, not early startups
The 409A question: the second purchase nobody budgets for
Every US startup that grants options needs a 409A valuation, usually annually and after every material event like a funding round. The valuation sets the strike price for option grants, and getting it wrong creates tax problems for your employees. Most cap table vendors treat it as a separate product: Carta includes it only on paid tiers and charges thousands per valuation outside them, Cake Equity offers it as part of its compliance layer, and Ledgy and the enterprise tools price it through services teams.
Eqvista is the exception that proves the rule: its 409A plans start at $990 per year and include unlimited valuations. If you grant options every quarter, that single line item can decide the whole purchase. Before you compare cap table prices, ask each vendor two questions: what does a 409A cost, and how many do I get per year. The answers vary more than the software prices do.
Free tiers and shutdowns: where the free plans actually stop
The free tier map in 2026 is generous but full of edges. Eqvista gives you 20 shareholders free, the most on this list. Carta Launch gives you 25 stakeholders but only if you have raised under $1M, and the feature set is deliberately limited. Cake Equity stops at 5 stakeholders. Gust's free core has no advertised stakeholder cap but less depth. Ledgy's free Launch tier exists for early-stage companies but the vendor says little about its limits.
Then there are the shutdowns. Pulley, long the founder-favorite Carta alternative, announced it will cease operations on December 8, 2026, which is why it is not on this list despite its reputation. Captable.io's domain now serves an LTSE Equity sunset notice; LTSE exited the cap table business and moved its customers to Astrella. The lesson: pick a vendor with a real business behind it, keep your data exportable, and never build your equity records on a free tier alone without an exit plan.
How we chose
We started with the categories buyers search: cap table software, best cap table software and equity management software. For each candidate we opened the vendor's own site, read the product and pricing pages, and checked public reviews on G2, Capterra and Software Advice plus founder discussion on Reddit and startup forums. Where a price could not be verified on the vendor's own page we wrote "See website" rather than repeating a third-party estimate. We excluded Pulley (announced shutdown December 8, 2026) and Captable.io (domain now serves an LTSE Equity sunset notice), and we excluded generic HR and payroll suites with no real cap table product.
Frequently asked questions
What is cap table software?
Cap table software tracks who owns what in your company: founders, investors, employees with options, and convertible instruments like SAFEs. It replaces the spreadsheet with a live record that updates when you grant options, raise a round or have an employee leave, and it produces the reports your lawyers, investors and auditors ask for.
Is there really free cap table software?
Yes. Eqvista is free for up to 20 shareholders, Gust's core cap table tools are free, Cake Equity is free up to 5 stakeholders, and Carta Launch is free up to 25 stakeholders for companies that raised under $1M. The free tiers cover the basics; you start paying when you need 409A valuations, advanced compliance or more stakeholders.
What happened to Pulley?
Pulley, the startup-focused cap table platform, announced it will cease operations on December 8, 2026. If you are on Pulley, migrate before that date: Eqvista and Cake Equity both run white-glove migration programs aimed at Pulley customers, and Astrella absorbed LTSE Equity's customer base in a similar transition.
How much does Carta cost?
Carta Launch is free for companies with up to 25 stakeholders that have raised up to $1M. Beyond that, Carta's Build, Grow and Scale tiers are custom-quoted. Third-party contract data puts seed-stage deals around $3,000 to $8,000 per year, rising steeply with stakeholder count, with 409A valuations as a separate cost.
Do I need a 409A valuation with my cap table software?
If you are a US company granting stock options, yes, you need a 409A valuation at least annually and after material events like funding rounds. Some vendors bundle it (Eqvista includes unlimited valuations from $990/year), while others charge $1,000 to $5,000 per valuation separately. Ask about this before you compare software prices.
When should I switch from a spreadsheet to cap table software?
Switch when you have outside investors, when you start granting options to employees, or when a lawyer first asks for your cap table "in Excel, yesterday." A spreadsheet works for two founders and no investors. The moment SAFEs, option grants or a priced round appear, the error risk of a spreadsheet exceeds the cost of any free tier on this list.
Sources we checked (14)
- https://carta.com/
- http://carta.com/pricing/?ref=glancefyi
- https://ledgy.com/
- https://www.cakeequity.com/
- https://www.cakeequity.com/guides/best-cap-table-software
- https://eqvista.com/
- https://eqvista.com/pricing/
- https://equity.gust.com/
- https://astrella.com/
- https://www.shareworks.com/
- https://www.vestd.com/je/pricing
- https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/
- https://www.g2.com/categories/equity-management
- https://www.capterra.com/equity-management-software/
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has spent more than a decade helping SaaS and e-commerce brands grow through search. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.