Founder & Employee Equity on Stack & Scale Journal

The Best Cap Table Management Software From Pre-Seed to Series B

Mon, 09 Nov 2026 16:57:00 +0000

A cap table is a ledger of who owns what, on which terms. A spreadsheet holds it fine until the first option grant, the first SAFE conversion or the first diligence request that asks for every certificate and board consent behind each line. Cap table software earns its fee when those records have to agree with each other.

On the pricing pages checked, cost turns on two things: the number of stakeholders on the ledger and whether a 409A valuation is bundled. The list below sorts seven platforms by those two variables, using what each vendor publishes.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice.

Method

Stage fit. Whether the vendor’s own plans line up with pre-seed through Series B, judged by stakeholder limits and features such as SAFE and priced-round modeling.
409A bundling. Whether a 409A valuation is included in a plan, sold as a published add-on, or not listed.
Published pricing. Whether the vendor states prices on its own pricing page, and at what stakeholder count.

Checked against each provider’s own pages on November 5, 2026.

Plans and Prices

Platform	Free tier	Entry paid price	409A	Stakeholder basis
Carta	Launch: up to 25 stakeholders and $1M raised	Not published	Included from the Grow plan	Build up to 50; Grow and Scale flexible
Pulley	None listed	$1,200 a year (Startup)	Included in Growth, $3,500 a year	25 included on Startup, 40 on Growth
Cake Equity	Up to 5 stakeholders	$1,000 a year (Build)	Two a year in Team, $2,750; $1,500 add-on otherwise	Priced by stakeholders via quote calculator
Eqvista	Under 20 stakeholders	$2 per stakeholder per month	Bundles from $990 a year	Custom above 50 on Premium
Ledgy	Launch plan, free	Scale from €5k a year	Valuation add-on, price not listed	Launch capped at 50 (25 elsewhere on the page)
Astrella	None listed	$1,200 a year for 0 to 25 stakeholders	Offered, price not on pricing page	Tiers at 25, 100 and 300
Shareworks	None listed	Quote-based	409A offered for private companies	Not published

The Platforms

Carta

Included: Cap table management, securities issuance, 83(b) forms, ISO management, SAFE modeling and SAFE closings on every plan, starting with the free Launch plan.

Cost: Launch is free for up to 25 stakeholders and $1M raised. Build, Grow and Scale prices aren’t published; Carta’s plans page routes to sales.

The catch: 409A valuations start at the Grow plan, so a company that outgrows Launch and needs a 409A is buying the third tier at a price it has to request.

Build adds priced-round modeling, deal pro forma and closings, and white-glove onboarding. Grow adds board meetings, Form 3921 and 409A valuations with audit support. Scale adds ASC 718 reporting, Rule 701 management and exit modeling. Carta states it is an SEC-registered transfer agent for US companies.

Pulley

Included: Startup covers the cap table, share certificates, templated SAFE, option and RSA agreements, a fundraise modeler and concierge onboarding.

Cost: $1,200 a year for Startup (first 25 stakeholders) and $3,500 a year for Growth (first 40 stakeholders), per Pulley’s pricing page. Enterprise is quoted.

The catch: There’s no free tier on the pricing page, and the 409A arrives only at the $3,500 tier.

One counting rule helps early companies: Pulley counts angel investors who wrote checks of $50,000 or less as half a stakeholder. Growth adds custom agreements, option exercises, Rule 701, Form 3921, board approvals and HRIS integrations.

Cake Equity

Included: A free cap table for up to 5 stakeholders. Build adds option grants with e-signing. Team and Pro include two 409A valuations a year.

Cost: Build is listed at $1,000 a year and Team at $2,750 a year. Pro is quoted. A 409A can be added to any annual plan for $1,500 a year.

The catch: Cake’s pricing page uses a quote calculator tied to stakeholder count, so the listed figures are starting points rather than fixed prices for a 40-person ledger.

Cake states that managed migration from Carta, Pulley or a spreadsheet is free. Add-ons include QSBS support at $500, an SPV at $500 and stock-based compensation reporting at $500.

Eqvista

Included: A free cap table for fewer than 20 stakeholders with ESOP management, vesting schedules and a data room. Premium adds e-signed certificates and SAFEs, board resolutions, Rule 701, Form 3921 and round and waterfall modeling.

Cost: Premium is $2 per stakeholder per month, with custom pricing above 50 stakeholders. The 409A and Premium bundle runs $990 a year (pre-revenue, pre-funding), $1,290 (friends and family or angel), $1,990 (seed) and $2,590 (Series A), per Eqvista’s pricing page.

The catch: Above 50 stakeholders the published per-seat math stops and pricing becomes custom.

Eqvista is the only platform here that publishes a 409A price by funding stage. For a seed-stage company that needs one valuation a year, that makes the budget line knowable in advance.

Ledgy

Included: The free Launch plan covers cap table management, equity plans and grants, simple vesting, stakeholder dashboards and employee scenarios.

Cost: Launch is free. Scale starts at €5k a year and Enterprise at €18k a year, per Ledgy’s pricing page.

The catch: The same page gives two different free-plan caps: 50 stakeholders in the Launch card and 25 in a separate note. Founders should confirm which applies before building a plan around it.

Ledgy prices in euros and supports IFRS 2, FRS 102 and ASC 718 reporting through a paid financial reporting add-on. Valuation is sold as an add-on without a listed price. That makes it a fit for companies with European operations or employees.

Astrella

Included: Cap table management, round and exit modeling, e-signature, document management, SAFE and warrant tracking, full-service onboarding and ASC 718 reporting on every tier.

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. Above 300 is quoted.

The catch: Astrella sells 409A valuations as a product, but the pricing page doesn’t list a 409A price.

Astrella’s tiers are the widest bands in this list. A company growing from 30 to 90 stakeholders stays on the same $3,200 plan. LTSE Equity’s notice to its customers names Astrella as the platform those customers are moving to.

Shareworks (Morgan Stanley at Work)

Included: Equity compensation management for private and public companies, with equity administration, liquidity and 409A valuation listed among Morgan Stanley at Work’s private-company solutions.

Cost: Quote-based. We couldn’t confirm any published prices on the Shareworks page.

The catch: There’s no self-serve plan or published price, so even a small company starts with a sales conversation.

Shareworks services are provided by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. The platform is designed for both private and public companies, so a company can keep the same system through an IPO.

A Seed-Stage Budget, Worked Out

Assumptions
- Seed-stage C corp, 30 stakeholders (founders, employees, angels).
- Needs one 409A valuation a year.
- Published prices only; "?" means not published.
- Pulley: 10 of the 30 are angels under $50,000, so they count
 as 5, giving 25 stakeholders for Pulley's purposes.

Carta Grow plan (409A included) ?
Pulley Startup covers 25 counted stakeholders,
 but 409A requires Growth $3,500
Cake Build $1,000 + 409A add-on $1,500 (list) $2,500+
 or Team with two 409As (list) $2,750+
Eqvista 409A + Premium bundle, seed tier $1,990
Ledgy Launch (free cap table) + valuation add-on €0 + ?
Astrella 26 to 100 stakeholders, 409A priced separately $3,200 + ?
Shareworks Quote ?

Cake’s “+” marks a listed starting price that can rise with stakeholder count. At this size, the spread between published options runs from $1,990 to $3,500 before anyone asks for a quote.

What Is Not on This List

AngelList was on the original shortlist. Its startups page now says cap table management is only available for companies using its Roll Up Vehicles and Consolidation Vehicles, so it no longer fits a general cap table search.

Before Choosing

The software only records decisions founders have already made. Settle how much equity to give a co-founder and the vesting terms first, and make sure each founder’s 83(b) was filed inside the window covered in the 83(b) election deadline. Founders who incorporated through Atlas or Clerky, compared in Clerky vs Stripe Atlas, should export their formation documents before migrating, so every ledger line has a signed agreement behind it.

How Much Equity to Give a Co-Founder, With the Math Shown

Mon, 09 Nov 2026 15:58:00 +0000

There is no correct percentage. There is a split the founders can defend in one sentence to each other and to an investor, protected by vesting so it can survive someone leaving. Everything else is detail.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice.

The equal-split argument

Y Combinator partner Michael Seibel’s essay on splitting equity among co-founders argues for equal splits. His reasoning: the work is almost all ahead of the team, and a small grant to a co-founder signals to investors that the founders do not value that person. The essay lists the usual reasons founders give for unequal splits (who had the idea, who started first, who is older) and treats most of them as weak.

The argument is strongest for a team that starts together, full time, at roughly the same point.

When an unequal split is defensible

Some differences are real and lasting. They hold up because they describe the future, not the past:

Factor	Why it can justify a difference	Why it often does not
One founder is full time, the other is not yet	Different risk and output for months	Fixable by vesting start dates
One founder is CEO with fundraising duties	More accountability to investors	Titles change; equity does not
One founder brings a working product or IP	Real asset contributed	Can be valued and assigned separately
One founder put in cash	Money at risk	Cash should buy stock or a SAFE at a price, not founder equity
Idea came from one founder	Origin story	Ideas without execution are not the asset

Cash deserves a separate note. A founder who funds the company $50,000 should get a security for that money, such as a SAFE on the same terms as an outside investor, not an extra slice of founder stock. That keeps the founder split about work and the investment about money.

How dilution treats each split

Dilution does not change the ratio between founders. It shrinks both stakes by the same factor.

Assumptions
- 10,000,000 shares fully diluted before any outside money
- 9,000,000 founder shares; 1,000,000 reserved option pool
- Pre-seed SAFE: $500,000 at a $6,000,000 post-money cap
 (8.33% on conversion; before any priced-round dilution)
- Percentages are fully diluted (they count the reserved pool)

Split Before SAFE After SAFE converts
50 / 50 45.0% / 45.0% 41.25% / 41.25%
60 / 40 54.0% / 36.0% 49.5% / 33.0%

Check: 45.0% x (1 - 0.0833) = 41.25%; 54.0% x (1 - 0.0833) = 49.5%

The 60/40 founder’s majority on a fully diluted basis disappears with the first SAFE. Founders who split unevenly to give one person control should know that control comes from the board and voting agreements, and the percentage will not hold it for long.

The late co-founder problem

A co-founder who joins after the company has raised money is more expensive in tax terms, because the stock is now worth something.

Assumptions
- Co-founder joins in month 9, after a pre-seed SAFE
- 409A valuation of common stock: $0.05 per share
- Grant: 1,000,000 shares of restricted stock, vesting over 4 years

Option A: co-founder pays fair market value
 1,000,000 x $0.05 = $50,000 paid; 83(b) election shows $0 income

Option B: shares issued for services, nothing paid, 83(b) filed
 Income at transfer: 1,000,000 x $0.05 = $50,000 of ordinary income

Option C: stock options at a $0.05 strike instead of stock
 Nothing owed at grant; exercise price $50,000 later

Each choice has a cost. Founders at formation avoid this because their stock is bought at a fraction of a cent. That is one more reason to settle the founding team before incorporation, and before any outside money comes in.

Vesting makes any split survivable

A split is only risky without vesting. With a repurchase right on unvested shares, a co-founder who leaves in month eight walks away with nothing (under a one-year cliff), and the remaining founders can use those shares to hire a replacement. YC’s essay describes four years with a one-year cliff as a typical setup in the Valley.

Vesting does not help unless the 83(b) election is filed. The 83(b) election explained article shows what happens to a founder who skips it, and the 83(b) deadline article covers counting the 30 days.

Write it down

Put the split, the reasoning and the vesting terms in a founder agreement before incorporating. The co-founder agreement template has a clause for each. The founders who found each other through the process in how to find a technical cofounder should have this conversation at the end of the trial project, while both still have the option to walk away.

A quick test for any split

Three questions, answered honestly by each founder separately:

If the other founder left in year two, would the remaining founder feel the split had been fair?
Can the split be explained to an investor in one sentence that is about the future?
Would each founder accept the same split if their roles were reversed?

If the answers differ, the conversation is not finished.