# Eq · Equity — element 43 of 58 > Who owns what, forever. Turns promises into a clean cap table. - **Group:** 9 · Back-office - **Necessity:** Optional - **Price band:** $ · under $30/mo - **Maturity:** Stable - **Edition:** v2026.Q3 · verified 2026-09-13 ## Leading tools (v2026.Q3) - **Carta** — the cap-table default - **Pulley** — transparent, founder-first, token-ready - **Cake Equity** — free start, cheapest paid - **Mantle** — ai-native, unlimited free stakeholders - **Ledgy** — europe's equity standard ## Our take Get it right at formation; fixing it later costs real money. This element is cheap insurance. ## Combines with In, Cp ## The top 5 — deep dossier (verified 2026-09-13) Carta, still — the network gravity is unarguable (50,000+ companies, $4.5T+ in assets on platform, 120k+ 409A valuations delivered), the free Launch tier covers a new startup through its first $1M and 25 stakeholders, and every lawyer and VC already knows how to read a Carta cap table. But it's a default with trust scars: the 2024 secondaries data-misuse scandal, cancellation-friction complaints, and contact-sales-only pricing above the free tier are all real. Pulley is the pick when you want listed prices and token + equity in one place; Cake when you want the cheapest credible paid tier and a free start; Mantle when you want an AI-native cap table with unlimited stakeholders free; Ledgy when you're European. AngelList — a canon candidate a year ago — sunset its legacy cap-table product in August 2025 and now points startups to Pulley. 1. **Carta** (Carta (eShares, Inc.)) — Launch free (≤25 stakeholders, ≤$1M raised, incl. SAFE closings) · Build/Grow/Scale contact-sales · 409A included Grow+. Best for: The default for a US venture-track C-corp — every investor, lawyer, and acquirer already speaks Carta, and the free tier covers you to $1M raised. Why: The category's network effect in one company: 50,000+ companies, 1.7M+ equity holders, $4.5T+ assets on platform (Aug 2026), and the largest 409A operation in existence — 120k+ valuations delivered, ~16k/year. $442M ARR in 2024 (+19% YoY), with cap table + 409A the core ~$250M of it. Now shipping Carta Plugins for Claude so agents can query and act on live cap-table data. Watch: Trust deficit is self-inflicted: exited secondary trading in 2024 after customers caught it using their cap-table data to broker deals; founders reported cancellation friction (Dec 2024); multiple discrimination suits settled through Feb 2025. Paid-tier pricing is opaque contact-sales, and the free tier's $1M-raised cap arrives fast. [https://carta.com](https://carta.com) 2. **Pulley** (Pulley (Prolific Labs)) — Startup $1,200/yr (25 stakeholders) · Growth $3,500/yr (40, incl. 409A) · Enterprise custom · token cap table $4,500/yr. Best for: Founders who want listed prices, an anti-Carta data stance, and the only serious token + equity cap table in one product. Why: The credible challenger: transparent pricing on the site ($1,200/$3,500/yr), an explicit "we don't monetize your data" position aimed at Carta's scandal, and customers like Linear, LayerZero, Runway, and Techstars. When AngelList sunset its legacy cap-table product (Aug 2025), it named Pulley an official migration partner — the market's endorsement of the #2. Crypto is a real vertical: token cap tables, token 409A-equivalent valuations, distributions. Watch: No free tier — Carta Launch, Cake, and Mantle all start at $0. Scale claims are vague ("thousands of companies"), and 409A requires the $3,500 Growth tier. [https://pulley.com](https://pulley.com) 3. **Cake Equity** (Cake Equity) — Free (5 stakeholders) · Build $1,000/yr (25) · Team $2,750/yr (40, incl. 2× 409A/yr) · Pro custom · 409A add-on $1,500. Best for: Cost-sensitive early teams — the cheapest credible paid tier in the category, with a genuine free plan and global (US/AU/UK) reach. Why: Undercuts everyone with published pricing: $1,000/yr Build vs Pulley's $1,200, and the $2,750 Team tier bundles two audit-ready 409As a year — less than many boutiques charge for one. Claims 10,000+ companies (2025), grew out of Australia (Startmate 2021) into a Venice, CA HQ, and handles SAFEs, ESOPs, and board approvals with e-signing built in. Watch: Scale claim is self-reported and thinner than Carta's; least US-investor brand recognition of the top four — some VCs will still ask you to move to Carta at the priced round. Per-stakeholder overage fees ($1–5) add up. [https://www.cakeequity.com](https://www.cakeequity.com) 4. **Mantle** (Mantle (Canada)) — Starter free (unlimited stakeholders) · Essentials $1,200/yr · Growth $3,000/yr (incl. annual 409A) — no per-stakeholder fees. Best for: AI-led startups that want the cap table itself to be agentic — and the only free tier with no stakeholder cap. Why: The AI-native entrant: agentic document extraction turns messy incorporation docs and SAFEs into structured cap-table data, works with Claude, GPT, and Gemini, and positions as "agentic infrastructure" rather than a filing cabinet. Pricing scales by features, not headcount — unlimited stakeholders on every tier including free, which no other vendor offers. Growth at $3,000/yr with 409A included undercuts Pulley's equivalent. Watch: Youngest and least proven of the five — no disclosed company counts or funding scale, and investor-side brand recognition is near zero; a lead VC may still push you onto Carta. AI extraction of legal documents deserves human spot-checks. [https://withmantle.com](https://withmantle.com) 5. **Ledgy** (Ledgy AG (Zurich)) — Free starter (1 round, 2 admins) · paid tiers custom by stakeholders · 50% off yr 1 under €5M raised · 20% climate discount. Best for: European and UK companies managing multi-jurisdiction ESOPs — from seed through post-IPO share plans. Why: The European default: Revolut, Synthesia, Personio, Motorway, and Aiven run equity on it, and it spans private cap tables through public-company share plans — useful when your EMI/VSOP/ESOP crosses borders, which US-centric tools handle poorly. Shipping AI too: "Ledgy Agent & MCP" exposes live equity data to agents for automated admin and instant answers. Watch: Paid pricing is opaque (contact-sales, sized by stakeholders); 409A is a US instrument — a US Delaware C-corp is better served by the four above. No published scale metrics. [https://ledgy.com](https://ledgy.com) ### How to choose - If You just incorporated a Delaware C-corp — under 25 stakeholders, under $1M raised → Carta Launch, free. SAFE modeling and closings are included, and being where your investors and lawyers already work is worth more than any feature. - If Opaque contact-sales pricing offends you, or you have tokens and equity on the same cap table → Pulley — $1,200/yr listed on the site, an explicit no-data-monetization stance, and the only mature token cap-table product (LayerZero, Bitwise run on it). - If You're past 25 stakeholders but pre-revenue, or allergic to per-stakeholder fees → Mantle — the only free tier with unlimited stakeholders, and its AI extraction ingests a messy existing cap table from raw documents. - If You're a UK/EU company issuing EMI options or running ESOPs across borders → Ledgy (multi-jurisdiction, Revolut-grade) — or Vestd/SeedLegals if you're UK-only and want Companies House sync and scheme setup bundled. - If You're Series B+ heading toward audits or an exit → Carta Grow/Scale — ASC 718 with audit support, Rule 701, Form 3921, exit modeling, and the 409A shop auditors see most often. Fidelity Private Shares is the credible non-Carta enterprise path. ### The field (14 more) AngelList (legacy cap table) (sunsetting), Fidelity Private Shares, Vestd, SeedLegals, Qapita, Eqvista, J.P. Morgan Workplace Solutions (renamed), Morgan Stanley Shareworks, Capbase, LTSE Equity (dead), Easop → Remote Equity (acquired), Capdesk → Carta Europe (acquired), Capshare (dead), Carta Liquidity / CartaX (dead) Full dossier data: https://elems.ai/e/eq.json --- Source: [elems.ai](https://elems.ai/e/eq.html) — the periodic table of the AI-led startup. Data: https://elems.ai/elements.json (CC BY 4.0, cite elems.ai).