Carta’s free Launch plan covers up to 25 stakeholders and $1M raised. Either line can arrive with the first few hires or a seed round, and from there Carta’s plans page asks for a sales conversation instead of showing a price. That’s the point where founders start pricing alternatives.
This page prices six of them at three ledger sizes, using only figures each vendor publishes, and sets out what each one says about moving an existing cap table across. The broader category comparison, with Carta included, is in the best cap table management software.
This is general information, not legal or tax advice.
Method
- Price at small stakeholder counts. Published annual cost at 10, 25 and 50 stakeholders, using the vendor’s own stakeholder definitions.
- Migration support. What the vendor’s pricing or product pages say about onboarding an existing cap table: free, included, paid or not stated.
- 409A path. How a company on the plan gets its first 409A valuation, and whether the price is published.
Checked against each provider’s own pages on November 5, 2026.
Price at Three Ledger Sizes
| Platform | 10 stakeholders | 25 stakeholders | 50 stakeholders | Migration, as published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulley | $1,200 | $1,200 | $3,500+ (Growth includes 40) | Concierge onboarding on Startup |
| Cake Equity | $1,000+ (free covers 5) | $1,000+ | Quote | Managed migration, free |
| Eqvista | $0 (free under 20) | $600 | $1,200 | White-glove migration in 409A bundle; Pulley switch offer |
| Ledgy | €0 | €0 | €0 at the 50 cap, or Scale from €5k | Self-serve on Launch; implementation specialist on Scale |
| Astrella | $1,200 | $1,200 | $3,200 | Full-service onboarding with a dedicated implementation manager |
| Shareworks | Quote | Quote | Quote | We couldn’t confirm |
Prices are annual list figures. A “+” means the vendor lists a starting price that can rise with stakeholder count.
The Alternatives
Pulley
Included: Startup: cap table, share certificates, templated SAFE, option and RSA agreements, a fundraise modeler, interactive offer letters and concierge onboarding. Growth adds 409A valuations, option exercises, Rule 701 and Form 3921.
Cost: $1,200 a year for the first 25 stakeholders, $3,500 a year for the first 40, per Pulley’s pricing page.
The catch: The page doesn’t publish the price of stakeholders beyond the included count, so a 50-person ledger on Growth is $3,500 plus an amount we couldn’t confirm.
Pulley counts angels with checks of $50,000 or less as half a stakeholder. A company with 16 holders, eight of them small angels, counts as 12. That stretches the 25-stakeholder Startup plan further than the raw headcount suggests.
Cake Equity
Included: A free cap table up to 5 stakeholders. Build adds option grants with e-signing. Team includes two 409A valuations a year.
Cost: Build listed at $1,000 a year, Team at $2,750 a year, Pro quoted. A 409A can be added to an annual plan for $1,500.
The catch: Cake’s pricing page prices through a stakeholder-based quote calculator, so the listed figures are floors.
On migration, Cake is the most explicit of the six: its pricing FAQ states that managed migration is free, including moves from Carta, Pulley or a spreadsheet. Team is billed annually only. Build and Pro can be paid quarterly, and paying Build annually saves $500 a year.
Eqvista
Included: Free cap table and ESOP management under 20 stakeholders. Premium adds e-signed certificates and SAFEs, board resolutions, Rule 701, Form 3921 and round and waterfall modeling, plus spreadsheet import and onboarding.
Cost: Premium is $2 per stakeholder per month, custom above 50. Bundles of a 409A plus Premium run from $990 a year (pre-revenue) to $2,590 (Series A), per Eqvista’s pricing page.
The catch: The per-stakeholder model rewards small ledgers and stops publishing prices at 50.
The 409A bundle includes white-glove migration. Eqvista also advertises a dedicated migration offer for Pulley customers on the same page. It doesn’t advertise one for Carta.
Ledgy
Included: The free Launch plan covers cap table management, equity plans and grants, simple vesting and stakeholder dashboards, self-serve.
Cost: Launch is free. Scale starts at €5k a year with 50+ stakeholders, a data room and an implementation specialist. Enterprise starts at €18k, per Ledgy’s pricing page.
The catch: The page lists the Launch cap as 50 stakeholders in one place and 25 in another. At the edge of either number, the next step is a €5k plan.
Ledgy’s paid tiers bring assisted onboarding: an implementation specialist on Scale, and a dedicated specialist during onboarding plus a customer success manager after on Enterprise. Launch customers move their own data. Ledgy prices in euros and supports European accounting standards, which suits companies with staff outside the US.
Astrella
Included: Every tier includes cap table management, round and exit modeling, e-signature, SAFE and warrant tracking, ASC 718 reporting and full-service onboarding with a dedicated implementation manager.
Cost: $1,200 a year for 0 to 25 stakeholders, $3,200 for 26 to 100 and $8,200 for 101 to 300, per Astrella’s pricing page.
The catch: 409A valuations are sold separately, without a price on the pricing page.
Astrella’s onboarding is included at every tier rather than reserved for the top plans, and the 26 to 100 band means price doesn’t move with each new hire. LTSE Equity’s customer notice directs its users to Astrella for the transition.
Shareworks (Morgan Stanley at Work)
Included: Equity administration, liquidity and 409A valuation for private companies, plus public-company equity administration.
Cost: Quote-based; no prices on the Shareworks page.
The catch: No published price and no self-serve plan, which makes it hard to compare at 10 or 25 stakeholders.
Shareworks is on this list for companies further along: those planning tender offers or an eventual IPO that want a single provider through both. We couldn’t confirm what Shareworks offers for migrating an existing cap table.
The Math Behind the Table
Assumptions
- Annual list prices on November 5, 2026.
- No add-ons, no 409A, no discounts.
- Pulley stakeholder counts assume no small angels (no half counting).
- Eqvista: free tier is under 20 stakeholders; Premium at $2 per
stakeholder per month applies from 20 up to 50.
Eqvista Premium
25 stakeholders x $2 x 12 months = $600
50 stakeholders x $2 x 12 months = $1,200
Pulley
10 or 25 stakeholders: Startup = $1,200
50 stakeholders: Growth covers 40 = $3,500 + (10 extra x ?)
Astrella
10 or 25 stakeholders: 0 to 25 band = $1,200
50 stakeholders: 26 to 100 band = $3,200
Add one 409A a year at 25 stakeholders
Cake: Build $1,000 + $1,500 add-on = $2,500+
Eqvista: seed-stage bundle = $1,990
Pulley: requires Growth = $3,500
Astrella: $1,200 + 409A (price not listed) = $1,200 + ?
The ranking flips once a 409A enters the budget. At 25 stakeholders with no valuation, Eqvista’s $600 is lowest among paid options. With one valuation, Eqvista’s bundle at $1,990 leads the options with a complete published total, Cake follows, and Pulley’s tier jump puts it last of the three.
Staying on Carta, Priced Properly
Leaving isn’t the only move. Carta’s paid tiers add real features: Build brings priced-round modeling, deal pro forma and closings with white-glove onboarding; Grow adds board meetings, Form 3921 and 409A valuations with audit support; Scale adds ASC 718 and IFRS reporting, Rule 701 management and exit modeling. The problem is only that none of those prices are on the page.
A founder can fix that with a written quote and compare it line for line. The questions worth putting to Carta, and to every vendor above, are the same:
- What is the annual price at today’s stakeholder count, and at double it?
- How is a stakeholder counted? Do small angels, SAFE holders or former employees count?
- Is a 409A included, and how many per year? What does a second one cost after a material event?
- Is migration included, who does the data entry, and who reconciles errors?
- What is the contract term, and does the price reset at renewal?
- Can the company export everything, in a usable format, if it leaves later?
A quote that answers all six is comparable with the table above. One that skips any of them isn’t, yet.
What to Pull Before Leaving Carta
A migration is only as clean as the records that go with it. Before switching, founders should have their own copies of:
- Every stock certificate or electronic issuance record, with the board consent that approved it.
- Founder stock purchase agreements with the vesting schedule, matching the vesting schedule for founders actually adopted.
- Each founder’s 83(b) election and proof of mailing. The window is covered in the 83(b) election deadline.
- The equity incentive plan, every option grant notice and the 409A report each grant relied on.
- Every SAFE and convertible note, with side letters.
- A current cap table export, reconciled to the documents above line by line.
Founder grants deserve a second look in the same pass. If the split recorded on the ledger no longer matches what the founders agreed, the reasoning in how much equity to give a co-founder is a useful check before the numbers are copied into a new system.
Gaps found during migration are cheaper to fix than gaps found by an investor’s counsel. A vendor’s onboarding team can flag mismatches, but only the company can supply a missing signature.