Pulley vs Carta

Equity is the most valuable asset at every stage, and Pulley empowers you to manage it more efficiently and effectively as your business scales

This page compares two of the top-rated cap table platforms — Pulley vs Carta — to help you choose the equity management platform that’s right for you. Pulley offers a better cap table management experience:
‍
• Easy-to-use platform that helps you do more
• Responsive and knowledgeable team you can trust
• Flexible, robust reporting to stay audit-ready
• Features to help you as you scale

Set time with us to learn more and see Pulley in action.

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Pulley powers companies at every stage

Why choose Pulley?

Ease of Use

An intuitive and easy-to-use platform that saves you time, money, and headache. Do more without needing an equity expert or legal counsel review.

Top-notch support

Get reliable and responsive customer support. Onboarding, professional services, and equity resources for you and your stakeholders. Available by phone, chat, or email.

Trust

Pulley operates with a higher standard of data security and reliability. Cap table data is incredibly sensitive and we are committed to protecting it.

Grow with Pulley

Pulley equips you with the right tools and insights for every stage. From cap table management to robust audit-ready reporting, to liquidity options that help you as your business scales.

Feature

Pulley

Carta

Onboarding

Concierge onboarding in 5-10 days for all plans:
‍
• Led by cap table experts.
• Highest rated onboarding experience (source).
• Supported by AI to ensure higher accuracy.

Onboarding can take up to 30 days to complete (source).

Option grants

Generate signed, legally binding option grants with all material terms for diligence.

Does not generate fully executed legal documents with all material terms included. Requires third party tool like DocuSign if signatures are required.

Issuance Flows

Individual issuance flows with step-by-step guides, helpful tips, and alerts. Choose spreadsheet mode for bulk issuance.

Complicated spreadsheet mode is the only way to issue.

409A valuations

More transparent and customer-centric valuation process:

‍• Five-day turnaround time.
• Dedicated 409A specialist.
• Accelerated valuations by request.
• Includes audit support if needed.

Valuations take up to ten business days, are almost entirely automated without a dedicated expert, and do not audit include support.

Reporting

Comprehensive reports that display all cap table data but also summarizes each element of your equity plan and cap table in separate line items for easy analysis.

Custom Reports are included in Growth and Custom plans.

A large variety of reports. Carta cap table data may require manual calculations to get the information you need, such as how many options have been exercised in your stock plan.

Custom reports require an email request to support, extended turn-around time. Can not create or edit reports in platform.

Stock-based compensation reporting

Transparent, fully-formulated ASC718 reports including cost center reporting and comprehensive disclosure calculations required for financial statement footnotes.

Carta’s ASC718 report does not include formulas, making it harder for auditors to understand.

Fundraising modeling

Advanced fundraising modeling:
‍
‍• Exportable pro-forma in Excel for your legal and venture capital team.
‍• Support for pro-rata and YC's participation rights.
‍• Detailed ownership percentages for all stakeholders.
‍• Accurate conversion for pre-money SAFEs.
‍• Model dilution.

Limited functionality:
‍
‍• Grouped ownerships percentages.
‍• No support for pro-rata and YC's participation rights.

Scaling features

Engineered to handle complex cap tables:

• Stock splits process instantly.
‍• Support for hybrid, milestone, and time-based vesting for all equity types.
• Spousal agreements for grants.
• Token cap tables for web3 startups.

Complex cap table situations may take longer to process:

• Stock splits take up to 14 days to process.
‍• Support for hybrid, milestone, and time-based vesting requires separate grant agreements for most equity types.

ISO/NSO Splits

Step-by-step issuance flow that guides admins through impacts, allows for manual tax withholding, and shows when and how the 100k rule is triggered.

Acceptance flows for stakeholders are clear, and help them understand the impacts of their exercise.

Bulk issuance flow that shows errors in spreadsheet view. It's easier for admins to make mistakes, or not fully understand the impact of their issuance.

Users are emailed after issuance if the 100k rule is triggered, and grants are affected.

Customer support

Fast and experienced support team:

• Average response time is less than 5 minutes.
‍• Get answers from seasoned founders and lawyers.
• Best-rated support in the industry (source).
• Phone, email, and chat support for you, your stakeholders, and third-parties like law firms and auditors.

Inconsistent support:

• Variable wait times.
• Wide range of support experiences across users.

Pricing

Startup Plan is $1200 per year with up to 25 stakeholders. Growth plan is $3500 for your first year for a team of up to 40.

Unclear - ask your sales rep.

Carta

Onboarding

Concierge onboarding in 7-10 days for all plans:
‍• Led by cap table experts.
‍• Highest rated onboarding experience (source).
‍• Supported by AI to ensure higher accuracy.

Onboarding can take up to 90 days to complete (source).

Option grants

Generate signed, legally binding option grants with all material terms for diligence.

Does not generate fully executed legal documents with all material terms included. Requires third party tool like DocuSign if signatures are required.

409A Valuations

More transparent and customer-centric valuation process:

• Five-day turnaround time.
• Accelerated valuations by request.

Valuations take up to ten business days.

Reporting

Comprehensive reports that display all cap table data but also summarizes each element of your equity plan and cap table in separate line items for easy analysis.

A large variety of reports. Carta cap table data may require manual calculations to get the information you need, such as how many options have been exercised in your stock plan.

Fundraising modeling

Advanced fundraising modeling:

‍• Exportable pro-forma in Excel for your legal and venture capital team.
‍• Support for pro-rata and YC's participation rights.
‍• Detailed ownership percentages for all stakeholders.
‍• Accurate conversion for pre-money SAFEs.
‍• Model dilution.

‍See how this works.

Limited functionality:

‍• Grouped ownerships percentages.
‍• No support for pro-rata and YC's participation rights.

Scaling features

Complex cap table situations may take longer to process:
‍
• Stock splits take up to 14 days to process.
‍• Support for hybrid, milestone, and time-based vesting requires separate grant agreements for most equity types.

Customer support

Fast and experienced support team:

• Average response time is less than 5 minutes.
• Get answers from seasoned founders and lawyers.
• Best-rated support in the industry (source).

Inconsistent support:

• Variable wait times.
• Wide range of support experiences across users.

Pricing

Estimated cost for your first year for a team of 50 is $3,500.

Unclear - ask your sales rep.

Concierge onboarding

Start your first cap table, or migrate from spreadsheets or you current provider to Pulley.
You'll get concierge onboarding from a cap table expert and ongoing support you can trust.

Grant Access

Grant us access to your documents or current provider.

We onboard you

Pulley transfers your data to our platform. Pulley reviews your documents and quickly builds an accurate cap table.

Approve

Approve your cap table.
Tell your stakeholders.
Done.

Ready to see Pulley in action?

Talk with one of our sales team members to learn more.

Request a demo