The Best Cap Table Management Software for 2023

A startup founder faces approximately four thousand pressing questions in a typical day. But there’s at least one question that can be avoided with the right software: “Who owns equity in my company, and what percentage of equity does everyone own?”

A startup founder faces approximately four thousand pressing questions in a typical day. But there’s at least one question that can be avoided with the right software: “Who owns equity in my company, and what percentage of equity does everyone own?” (OK, that’s two questions, but you get our point.) A capitalization table — or cap table, for short — is a document that accounts for your company’s equity ownership even as your business grows. And before you start sweating over the prospect of maintaining an ever-growing spreadsheet, rest assured that cap table management software exists to solve this problem for you.

Not that we’re against spreadsheets (Pulley even offers a free cap table template in Google Sheets). When you and your co-founders are the only stakeholders in your business, a spreadsheet may be a perfectly fine equity management solution. But as new stakeholders invest in your company and you start to think about future funding rounds, you may recognize that Excel has its limits. What you really need is a flexible cap table that can function as a single source of truth and grow with your business in real-time. 

The best cap table management software does this and more. It not only provides a comprehensive picture of your company’s equity, but also saves you from costly legal and compliance headaches. In this guide, we’ll start with a basic overview of cap table management tools before moving on to a list of the most impressive solutions, from Carta to Pulley to LTSE Equity and beyond. 

  • Understanding cap table management
  • Evaluating cap table management software
  • The best cap table management software for startups in 2023
  • How to choose the right cap table software for your startup
  • Managing your cap table as your company grows

Understanding cap table management

The first step to landing on the right cap table management software? Knowing what a cap table is. We have a whole guide that covers the ins and outs of cap tables for startup founders, but we’ll start with an abbreviated summary below.

What is a cap table?

A cap table is a table that tracks the equity ownership of your company’s stakeholders. At the beginning, these stakeholders may be limited to yourself (the founder) and some friends or family members. Later, the list may include members of your executive team, private equity and venture capital investors, and anyone else who throws money down on your company. And don’t forget your employees, who may hold stock options or other forms of equity compensation included in their equity grants. 

As your cap table grows and becomes more complicated, you’re more likely to make mistakes if you stick to a manual or spreadsheet method. That’s why a software solution is usually best, even for startups in the earlier stages of growth.

The importance of cap table management for startups

Let’s pretend you aren’t already convinced by the argument we made above — namely, that cap table management software can serve as a single source of truth that works like a spreadsheet on steroids. Why else might a startup want to invest in a reliable, user-friendly equity management solution?

  • Fundraising. Investors have no shortage of startups clamoring for their money. Sometimes, the difference between a failed pitch and a successful pitch can come down to how neatly you keep your house in order. A clean and reliable cap table helps investors do their due diligence on your business and understand exactly how existing equity is diluted. If the information they need to bet on your business isn’t close at hand, an investor might fold and walk away from the table.  
  • Decision-making. Want to pounce on hiring an in-demand manager for your engineering team? You’ll need to know exactly how many stock options you can offer to hire and retain that manager — and you’ll probably need to know it fast. But hiring is only one of the ways cap table software can make decision-making easier for your business. The right solution also makes it easier to expand to new geographies, model scenarios to avoid unwanted dilution, and prepare for an audit-ready 409A valuation.
  • Legal and compliance. The best cap table management software is designed with law firms in mind. This means that it can easily spot errors on essential compliance and legal documents, integrate with existing workflows, and automate complex waterfall reports for your in-house legal team members. 

Evaluating cap table management software

It’s a surprisingly crowded market, so how does a founder select the best cap table management tool for the job? It helps to know the essential criteria to look out for. Let’s start with some key features. 

Key features to look for in a cap table management solution

Everyone has a different definition of “key” or “crucial,” and some of the below features may be more important to your startup than others. But we’ve decided to outline some general features that should serve as your baseline criteria when evaluating cap table management software:

  • Transparent pricing that scales with your business. Some solutions may make sense with fewer stakeholders but price you out as your company grows. Focus on a solution that gives you a fair per-stakeholder pricing discount for adding additional stakeholders — and doesn’t use confusing language to get you to pay more.
  • Integration with other tools in your workflow. Managing a bunch of different tools can be a drag on your time and energy, which is why the best software for your startup should integrate with your payroll platform to help you more easily track and manage your employees’ equity compensation. Prioritize a tool with a robust API that can fully integrate with your law firm and other internal tools.
  • Accurate employee equity management. OK, yes, accuracy is important. But so is the ability to avoid using unnecessary third-party tools like Docusign to get your employee equity grants squared away. To take a page from Stevie Wonder, the best software lets you sign, seal, and deliver employee equity grants from a single interface.
  • Support for complex vesting schedules. Different vesting schedules may make sense for your company in general or for individual employees. The best cap table management software should support time-based vesting, back-weighted vesting, milestone-based vesting — you name it.
  • Support for custom forms and legal documents. You may need to ask your legal team which tax and compliance forms are the most important for your company. Important forms to support may include IRS Form 3921 as well as spousal agreements and other custom documents. 
  • Employee views. Transparency is a virtue! The best software should give your employees a user-friendly view of their equity grants, which can help their equity feel more motivating over the long term.
  • Customer support and onboarding assistance. All this functionality probably comes with a lot of questions, which is why you should prioritize a tool that offers concierge onboarding and ongoing, real-time customer support. 

Cap table management: Free vs. paid solutions

So, how much is equity management software worth to you? The answer may depend on where you’re at in your startup journey. It probably doesn’t make a lot of sense for an early-stage company to fork over a ton of cash to manage a relatively simple cap table. But a company with dozens of investors and employees may want to look at pricing options beyond “free.”

The good news is that the best cap table management solutions tend to scale with your startup. Many of them even offer free solutions for companies below a certain size. Pulley, for example, is free for companies of up to 25 stakeholders. As you grow beyond that number, you’ll gain access to paid plans that include a larger number of stakeholders and make sense for a larger, more complex startup. These plans include many of the key features referenced above, such as scenario modeling, 409A valuations, Form 3921, and concierge onboarding.

The best cap table management software for startups in 2023

1. Pulley

Pulley excels at making complex cap tables easier to manage without requiring help from a lawyer.

Pulley has a number of features and tools that make it simple for founders and executives to manage employee equity, including a built-in equity calculator that converts percentages to actual dollars. Other employee-friendly features include bespoke offer letters that clearly highlight the value of your company’s equity, employee views that help employees keep track of what they own, and support for various different vesting schedules.

In terms of fundraising and investing, Pulley supports legal workflows for custom fundraising documents, templates for SAFE issuance, and easily navigable data that can be shared with investors in real-time. A robust API also ensures easy integration with your existing workflow and tools such as Gusto, Bamboo, and more.

In fact, calling Pulley a cap table management solution is understating what it can really do. From scenario modeling to Form 3921 and other advanced equity features, there’s a lot to like here. 

Reviews on the software marketplace G2 generally note that Pulley excels for early-stage startups with more straightforward equity plans. However, one reviewer notes that for a “highly complex equity plan that requires a lot of edge-case handling,” other solutions may also be worth considering.

Learn more about Pulley’s cap table management solution. 

What users like best about Pulley:

  • Excellent customer service and quick response times
  • Knowledgeable team members
  • Fundraiser modeling that helps users compare different scenarios
  • Easy-to-read employee dashboard that breaks down vesting and taxes
  • Free for up to 25 stakeholders

2. Carta

Carta is the big kid in the pile of cap table solutions, and the one you’re most likely to already be familiar with. All that clout comes with a cap table solution notable for its robust features, which include robust integrations with all sorts of third-party tools your company may already use. There are few tools out there that offer support for more forms and use cases than Carta, which makes this one especially good if you have a tricky tax and compliance situation.

Other features to recommend include audit-ready reports and what Carta calls “end-to-end equity management,” powered by the authorization to issue, track, and process payments related to your company’s equity. 

That’s a lot of impressive functionality, which may make Carta a bit overwhelming and expensive for early-stage startups — even the ones that plan to grow into a bigger use case in the long term. Carta doesn’t offer transparent pricing on its website and onboarding onto the platform can take up to 90 days to complete in some cases, so you may want to consider other options if timely customer support is your biggest concern.

See our comparison of Pulley vs. Carta.

What users like best about Carta:

  • Trusted by many top companies
  • Available across several geographies
  • Custom add-on pricing 
  • integrations with third-party tools and products

3. AngelList Equity

Cap table management may not be the first thing you think of when you think of AngelList. This online platform is a lot of things to a lot of people, though it started as a fundraising tool designed to simplify investing communications between startups and investors. These days, AngelList also features a number of tools for startups and their founders, one of which is the cap table management solution AngelList Equity.

At the early-stage level, AngelList Equity charges $50 monthly for up to two team members, so it may not be quite as competitive as products that offer a free solution for up to 25 stakeholders. With that said, AngelList Equity only counts founders, employees, and advisors with equity as “team members,” so if you have a small in-house team but a large number of investors, it may be a more cost-efficient solution.

Simplicity and investor-friendliness are major features here. Still, you may find functionality limited and pricing prohibitive if you need features such as 409A valuations and priority onboarding, which are only available at the top subscription level (“Growth”). 

What we like best about AngelList Equity:

  • Investors are free and not counted as stakeholders for pricing 
  • Integrates with AngelList’s robust fundraising tools
  • Includes tools for banking and hiring 

4. Shareworks by Morgan Stanley

Shareworks is generally focused more on enterprise solutions and certainly has size on its side; Morgan Stanley’s international network of regulatory resources is nothing to sneeze at if you’re a company with global ambitions. Shareworks does have a startup-level cap table management tool that provides basic equity management and an impressive array of features. But it really shines at the higher subscription levels, which offer tools for global due diligence, support of multiple currencies and languages, and a full suite of financial reporting forms. 

If your startup ambitions are less international in scope, you may find Shareworks to be a bit less user-friendly than some of the other options on this list. (Some G2 reviewers cite a “slow” or “unclear” user interface.) With that said, companies with a strong international focus may find Shareworks to be the best platform for them, even if they experience some early bumps in the road in terms of onboarding and ease of use.

See our comparison of Pulley vs. Shareworks.

What we like best about Shareworks:

  • Great for international companies, with updated database of regulatory changes for 170+ countries 
  • “Partner” product available exclusively to clients of partner law firms
  • Highly customizable and automated grant agreements

5. LTSE Equity (formerly captable.io)

LTSE Equity is owned by LTSE (the Long-Term Stock Exchange), whose primary goal is to build a stock exchange for public companies. LTSE Equity is a cap table management solution that stands among LTSE’s other tools that specifically target startups. 

As such — and in contrast to options like Shareworks — LTSE Equity is more explicitly geared toward startup founders. It features a competitive free plan for up to 10 stakeholders (or $1 million raised), though onboarding may cost as much as $1,500 in some cases. 

G2 reviews for LTSE Equity often cite the platform’s “simplicity” and say it’s “easy to navigate,” though others say more “a la carte options” and built-in features would be helpful. If you’re looking for a streamlined source of truth that you can get up and running relatively quickly, this may be one to consider. It’s only available in the US, so startups with global ambitions may want to look elsewhere.

See our comparison of Pulley vs. LTSE Equity.

What we like best about LTSE Equity:

  • Easy-to-use, user-friendly interface 
  • Transparent and competitive pricing 
  • Self-service or guided onboarding available

6. Figure

Figure advertises itself as an “end-to-end equity management solution for private companies,” and cap table management is a part of that. Transparency and accuracy are a focal point here; Figure has built its software on a private blockchain and promises automatic real-time alignment of your cap table with transactions as they happen.

Key features include next-round scenario modeling tools, Rule 701 calculators, auto-generated investor reports, support for 83(b) elections, and support for an annual 409A valuation. We found it difficult to locate pricing on Figure’s website and the company has scant G2 user reviews, so you’ll want to request a demo to see if it’s really the right tool for you.

What we like best about Figure:

  • Focus on real-time updates may appeal to investors who want up-to-the-minute info
  • Trustless backend powered by a private blockchain
  • Flexible and transparent tools for employees

How to choose the right cap table software for your startup

In general, there are two steps to consider when choosing a cap table solution for your startup:

Assess your startup’s needs and preferences

Finding the cap table solution with the most features doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve found the one with the best features. Does it really make sense to pay for waterfall modeling if you’re nowhere near a liquidity event such as an acquisition or an IPO? Probably not.

If all your startup needs is a simple equity management solution to keep track of a simple equity plan, you may save time and stress by going with a more basic solution. Similarly, your legal and compliance people may not feel the need to integrate all of their documents and workflows with cap table software. Talk to your people and listen to your gut (it got you this far) to figure out what you really need.

A few other ideas to keep in mind:

  • If you're just starting out and costs are tight, consider a free solution. For example: Pulley Seed.
  • Beware of products that aren’t easy to use, especially if you won’t be the only one using it. Your lawyers may be able to figure out how to navigate your cap table, but what about your other employees? You shouldn't have to have a law degree to manage your cap table.
  • Need a 409A valuation? Consider solutions that help you save costs by including an audit-ready 409A valuation in your fee.

Plan for future growth

Most startups begin their journey with big plans — and most early investors dream of big payouts. Private companies looking to go public via an IPO one day should plan accordingly, and bank on software that allows them to simulate payouts for every stakeholder on their cap table in the event of an acquisition or IPO. 

There’s also the issue of onboarding and adopting new tools, which anyone who’s ever worked at a startup can tell you is a hassle and a half. If you can, pinpoint a solution that will scale with your future growth. And even if you don’t think you’ll grow beyond a certain point, plan for the eventuality anyway. Your legal team, your investors, and your employees may end up thanking you for it.

Managing your cap table as your company grows

So, there you have it. We hope this guide has given you a better idea of which cap table management solutions to explore from here, and we hope you consider Pulley in your final decision. We’ve listened to our customers — many of them founders just like you — and built a scalable, flexible product with their needs in mind. You can try Pulley for free if your company has fewer than 25 stakeholders, and we also have Startup, Growth, and Custom plans designed to scale alongside your business and keep pace with your company’s ever-shifting needs. 

With that said, we know you have a lot of options to consider and a ton of other questions to figure out as your company continues to scale. Whichever option you move forward with, keep in mind the key criteria of scalability and support. Ideally, you can find a product that gives you everything you need at a competitive price point, with more extensive plan options available for when the time is right. And ideally, you can find a product that doesn’t force you to do all the legwork in terms of onboarding new stakeholders and giving your employees the views they want.

We think Pulley is that product, and we encourage you to get in touch with us for a demo today.