For most early-stage founders, the right cap table platform comes down to three questions: how much it costs before your Series A, whether it handles the instruments you're actually raising on (usually SAFEs), and whether it can grow with you without a painful migration. On those criteria, Eqvista offers the most generous documented free tier—up to 20 shareholders with core tracking included—while Carta's free Launch plan caps eligibility at 25 stakeholders and under $1M raised. One popular alternative, Pulley, is shutting down on December 8, 2026, which removes it from consideration for new users. Cake Equity remains open and is offering free migration, though its published feature detail is thinner than the other two. This comparison is based on publicly available vendor information and third-party guides, not hands-on testing, and pricing figures should be verified with each vendor before committing.

Key Features for Early-Stage Startups: Understanding the Comparison Criteria

A cap table is the ledger of who owns what in your company, and the software category has consolidated around four capabilities that matter disproportionately before Series A. The first is equity tracking across instrument types: priced shares and options, but also SAFEs and convertible notes, which most pre-seed and seed rounds actually use. Tracking discounts, valuation caps, and conversion scenarios by hand is where spreadsheet errors start compounding, as Eqvista's comparison guide notes when it describes convertible note management becoming complex quickly.

The second is scenario and dilution modeling—the ability to ask "what does the cap table look like after a $2M SAFE round converts, plus a priced Series A?" A platform like Carta builds this into the core cap table, forecasting dilution and exit scenarios, while some competitors treat waterfall analysis as an add-on or omit it. The third is 409A valuations, the independent appraisal required for issuing stock options at fair market value; turnaround speed and whether the valuation is integrated with your cap table data differs meaningfully across vendors. The fourth is cost and scalability, because pricing that scales with stakeholder count can turn a free tool into a real expense the moment your headcount or investor base grows.

Carta: The Incumbent's Offering and Early-Stage Access

Carta is the category's incumbent, and that status brings genuine advantages: the deepest feature set—issuance, 409A valuations, ASC 718 reporting, scenario modeling—and what Founder's CPA, a startup-focused accounting firm, calls "the network effect of being where most law firms and funds already work." If you're venture-track and expect institutional rounds, that network effect reduces friction at every financing event, since your counsel and your investors are likely already in the ecosystem.

For early-stage access, Carta's free Launch plan is free only if you have 25 or fewer stakeholders and have raised less than $1M. As Qapita's comparison puts it, "both conditions matter, so a seed round can take you out of the free plan even if your team hasn't grown." Within the free tier, it's a functioning product: you can manage SAFEs, track fundraising benchmarks, and handle electronic issuance. Beyond Launch, Carta's paid plans are quote-only, and Founder's CPA flags the incumbent's usual trade-offs—pricing that scales aggressively with stakeholders and features, periodic founder grumbling about upsells, and what it describes as "more platform than a pre-seed company needs."

Eqvista: A Free and Feature-Rich Option

Eqvista is the strongest documented option for cost-conscious or bootstrapped teams. Its Freemium plan is free for up to 20 shareholders and covers core cap table tracking and basic reports; beyond that threshold, the Premium plan runs $2 per shareholder per month, prorated, and adds e-signing, funding modeling, waterfall analysis, and spreadsheet imports. That per-shareholder pricing is unusually transparent in a category where paid plans are often quote-only, so your costs are predictable as you add employees and investors.

Feature-wise, Eqvista's own comparison table—which the company says draws on vendor documentation, pricing pages, and verified G2 reviews—claims in-house 409A valuations with a 3–5 day turnaround versus 2–3 weeks for Carta, full convertible note and SAFE tracking, scenario modeling for fundraising, LLC and membership interest support, S-Corp support, and role-based access control. Eqvista positions itself as suitable for all stages and structures, from pre-seed to pre-IPO. Two caveats apply: this table is authored by a competing vendor, so treat its cross-platform ratings as a starting point for verification, and features like waterfall analysis sit in the paid tier, not the free one.

Pulley: A Strong Alternative Facing Transition

Pulley deserves mention because it was a credible choice—and because choosing it now would be a mistake. The platform was particularly strong on SAFE-heavy early-stage structures, offering side-by-side waterfall comparison across multiple round structures and an integrated view of round math and cap table data that some founders preferred over Carta's more loosely connected valuation and modeling workflows, according to a Rework comparison. Eqvista's review noted Pulley's transparent pricing and startup focus, while observing that very early-stage teams might find simpler free tools sufficient.

The decisive fact is timing. According to a StartupCFO comparison page, Pulley shuts down on December 8, 2026, with limited data access only until January 31, 2027. Carta is offering assisted migration for Pulley customers who opt in by November 30, 2026, and Cake Equity is offering free migration. Eqvista's comparison table independently lists Pulley as "shutting down." If you're a current Pulley customer, the actionable deadline is the migration opt-in window; if you're evaluating new software, Pulley is off the list. All shutdown details here come from third-party reporting rather than Pulley's own announcements, so confirm dates directly before making plans.

Cake Equity: International Focus and Core Features

Cake Equity is the fourth name most often surfaced in this comparison, and current reporting indicates it remains open and is actively offering free migration to departing Pulley customers. Unlike Carta and Eqvista, however, the publicly available material reviewed for this comparison provides little specific detail on Cake's free plan limits, SAFE handling, or 409A support—so founders considering it should request those specifics directly rather than assume parity with the platforms documented above. That asymmetry is itself a data point: the platforms that publish concrete stakeholder limits and feature matrices are easier to hold to account.

Cap Table Software Comparison for Early-Stage Startups

The table below contrasts the viable options across the criteria that drive the early-stage decision. Pulley is excluded as a current choice given its December 2026 shutdown, but its profile is summarized in the section above.

Cap table platforms compared for pre-seed to Series A needs
PlatformIdeal ForFree Plan DetailsKey Early-Stage FeaturesLimitations / Considerations
Carta Venture-track startups expecting institutional rounds; teams whose law firms and investors already use it Launch plan free for 25 or fewer stakeholders and under $1M raised; paid plans quote-only SAFE and convertible note management, electronic issuance, scenario modeling, in-house 409A valuations, ASC 718 reporting Both free-tier conditions must hold; pricing scales aggressively with stakeholders and features; may exceed pre-seed needs
Eqvista Bootstrapped and cost-conscious startups; companies wanting predictable per-shareholder pricing Freemium free for up to 20 shareholders; Premium at $2 per shareholder per month (prorated) beyond that Equity tracking, 409A valuations (vendor-claimed 3–5 day turnaround), SAFE/note tracking, LLC and S-Corp support, scenario modeling (paid tier) Advanced tools like waterfall analysis and e-signing require the paid tier; cross-vendor claims come from Eqvista's own comparison and warrant verification
Cake Equity Founders evaluating alternatives, including departing Pulley customers Free migration offered to Pulley users; current plan limits not publicly detailed Open platform; specific feature set not specified in current comparison material Confirm free plan limits, SAFE support, and 409A options directly with the vendor

Reading the table against the profiles: a bootstrapped team with a simple structure fits Eqvista's free tier until 20 shareholders, then faces predictable per-head costs. A VC-track team that expects a seed round above $1M should model Carta's paid pricing early, since the funding condition—not headcount alone—can end the free plan. A departing Pulley customer faces a time-boxed choice between Carta's assisted migration and Cake's free migration.

Choosing the Right Cap Table Software for Your Startup

Founders should select a cap table management solution that aligns with their current stage, financing strategy, budget, and anticipated growth, prioritizing free or low-cost options that support essential early-stage features. Concretely: if you're pre-seed with SAFEs and fewer than 20 shareholders, Eqvista's free tier covers you; if you're raising a priced institutional round, Carta's ecosystem and integrated 409A flow justify its cost curve—but check the $1M threshold before assuming the free plan survives your next raise; if you're on Pulley, act before the November 30, 2026 migration opt-in and the January 31, 2027 data-access cutoff.

The measurable indicator of a good choice is your ability to accurately track equity, model dilution scenarios, and generate investor reports without manual errors or unexpected costs, particularly as your stakeholder count or funding rounds increase. This comparison is not financial or legal advice, and pricing is subject to change—verify current terms with each vendor.

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