Carta
Carta is a comprehensive equity management platform that helps you manage cap tables, valuations, and equity plans while ensuring compliance for your company, investors, and employees.
Pulley
Pulley is a comprehensive equity management platform that helps startups and established companies track their cap table, issue digital securities, and stay compliant with automated 409A valuations and tax filings.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Carta | Pulley |
|---|---|---|
| Website | carta.com | pulley.com |
| Pricing Model | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting Price | Free | Free |
| FREE Trial | ✘ No free trial | ✘ No free trial |
| Free Plan | ✓ Has free plan | ✓ Has free plan |
| Product Demo | ✓ Request demo here | ✓ Request demo here |
| Deployment | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Target Users | ||
| Target Industries | ||
| Customer Count | 0 | 0 |
| Founded Year | 2012 | 2019 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, USA | San Francisco, USA |
Overview
Carta
Carta simplifies how you manage equity, from your first hire to your eventual exit. Instead of messy spreadsheets, you get a centralized platform to track your cap table, issue electronic securities, and stay compliant with tax regulations like 409A valuations. You can automate the entire equity lifecycle, ensuring that your legal, finance, and HR teams stay perfectly aligned as your company grows.
The platform serves everyone from early-stage startups to late-stage private and public companies. You can provide your employees with a clear view of their ownership and vesting schedules through a dedicated portal, while giving your investors real-time access to their holdings. It eliminates the manual overhead of equity administration so you can focus on building your business.
Pulley
Pulley is a dedicated equity management platform designed to help you navigate the complexities of ownership from your first hire to your exit. Instead of messy spreadsheets, you get a single source of truth for your cap table, allowing you to issue shares, track vesting schedules, and manage option pools with total precision.
You can model future fundraising rounds to see exactly how new investments will impact your ownership and dilution. The platform also automates critical compliance tasks like 409A valuations and Rule 701 tracking, ensuring you stay audit-ready as you scale. Whether you are a founder at the seed stage or a CFO at a late-stage company, Pulley simplifies the legal and financial hurdles of equity.
Overview
Carta Features
- Automated Cap Table Track your company's ownership in real-time with a digital cap table that updates automatically whenever you issue new shares.
- 409A Valuations Get audit-ready valuations from experts quickly so you can stay compliant with IRS regulations when granting employee stock options.
- Electronic Securities Issue and sign stock options, warrants, and RSUs electronically to eliminate paper trails and speed up the board approval process.
- Employee Equity Portal Give your team a dedicated dashboard where they can track their vesting progress and understand the potential value of their holdings.
- Scenario Modeling Run what-if analyses to see how future funding rounds or exit events will impact your ownership and dilution levels.
- Compliance Tracking Stay on top of Rule 701 limits and Form 3921 filings with automated alerts and reporting built directly into your workflow.
Pulley Features
- Cap Table Management. Maintain a real-time, cloud-based record of your company ownership that updates automatically as you issue new securities.
- Fundraising Modeling. Run 'what-if' scenarios to visualize how future investment rounds and SAFEs will impact your dilution and share price.
- Digital Security Issuance. Issue stock options, RSUs, and certificates digitally to employees and investors with built-in legal workflows and signatures.
- Automated 409A Valuations. Get audit-ready valuations quickly through the platform to stay compliant with IRS regulations without the typical manual headache.
- Employee Equity Portals. Give your team members their own login to view their vesting progress, exercise options, and understand the value of their equity.
- Compliance & Tax Tracking. Automate your 83(b) election tracking and Rule 701 disclosures to ensure you never miss a critical filing deadline.
Pricing Comparison
Carta Pricing
- Up to 25 stakeholders
- Digital cap table management
- Electronic security issuance
- Onboarding support
- Standard equity reporting
- Everything in Launch, plus:
- Unlimited stakeholders
- Audit-ready 409A valuations
- Scenario modeling tools
- Equity plan administration
- Advanced compliance reporting
Pulley Pricing
- Up to 25 stakeholders
- Unlimited SAFEs and side letters
- Basic cap table management
- Onboarding support
- Data migration from spreadsheets
- Everything in Seed, plus:
- Up to 40 stakeholders
- Standard 409A valuation included
- Fundraising modeling tools
- Exercise and tax tracking
- Equity grant workflows
Pros & Cons
Carta
Pros
- Eliminates manual spreadsheet errors in cap tables
- Streamlines the 409A valuation process significantly
- Provides excellent visibility for employee shareholders
- Simplifies communication between companies and investors
Cons
- Pricing increases sharply as stakeholder count grows
- Customer support response times can be inconsistent
- Initial data migration requires significant manual effort
Pulley
Pros
- Extremely fast and responsive customer support team
- Intuitive interface compared to legacy equity platforms
- Quick turnaround times for 409A valuations
- Easy onboarding process for new employees
Cons
- Pricing can jump significantly between tier levels
- Advanced reporting features require higher-tier plans
- Limited international support for certain tax jurisdictions