Pulley puts founders and finance teams first

Companies need a cap table solution built around their exact needs.
See why more founders and finance teams are switching to Pulley.

Why founders and finance leaders choose Pulley

Route icon

People you
can trust

Pulley will never share your data or use your confidential information to broker trades. Your data stays secure and protected with Pulley.

users icon

Expert
support

Get professional help in any area, with an average response time of five minutes. Pulley also offers managed services on a retainer basis.

Dollar icon

Transparent
pricing

Pulley provides startup-friendly pricing plans at a fixed price per stakeholder, so you don’t have to worry about any hidden costs.

graph icon

Scalable equity management

Plans include advanced features to support your startup’s growth—whether you're scaling, preparing for M&A, or planning an exit.

Pulley vs Carta in detail

Pulley

Carta

Pricing

Transparent, scalable pricing with startup-friendly options.

  • Startup Plan is $1200 per year for up to 25 stakeholders.

  • Growth plan is $3500 for your first year for a team of up to 40.

Free plan for up to 25 stakeholders and basic features. After that, Carta’s pricing is opaque and expensive for scaling companies.

You will have to ask a sales rep to get pricing info.

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 due to tiered support levels.

  • Variable wait times.

  • Wide range of support experiences across users.

Ease of Use

Intuitive experience designed for founders and finance teams.

Use individual issuance flows with step-by-step guides, helpful tips, and alerts. You only need to choose spreadsheet mode for bulk issuance.

Steep learning curve required.

Complicated spreadsheet mode is the only way to issue.

409A Valuations

Two valuations a year are included in most subscriptions.

  • 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 include audit support.

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 a third-party tool like DocuSign to collect signatures.

Reporting

Comprehensive reports that display all cap table data but also summarize 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.

Carta provides similarly comprehensive reports, but 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. There is no function to create or edit reports in-platform.

Stock-based Compensation Reporting

Transparent, fully-formulated ASC 718 reports including cost center reporting and comprehensive disclosure calculations required for financial statement footnotes.

Carta’s ASC 718 report does not include formulas, making it harder for auditors to understand.

Fundraising Modeling

Advanced fundraising modeling tools.

  • Export pro-formas 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.

Similar fundraising tools, but with limited functionality.

  • Grouped ownerships percentages.

  • No support for pro-ratas and YC's participation rights.

Scaling Capabilities

Designed to handle complex cap tables as you scale.

  • Stock splits process instantly.

  • Support for hybrid, milestone, and time-based vesting for all equity types.

  • Spousal agreements for grants.

Also has advanced scaling features, but some 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.

Token Equity

Comprehensive token cap table management

  • Issue & distribute token equity

  • Create and manage complex vesting schedules

  • Integrate with top custodian platforms and deploy through major blockchains

Only supports traditional equity.

Founder & Employee Experience

Designed to help founders and finance leaders understand equity.

Focused more on institutional investors.

Pulley vs Carta in detail

Pricing

Pulley

Transparent, scalable pricing with startup-friendly options.

  • Startup Plan is $1200 per year for up to 25 stakeholders.

  • Growth plan is $3500 for your first year for a team of up to 40.

Carta

Free plan for up to 25 stakeholders and basic features. After that, Carta’s pricing is opaque and expensive for scaling companies.

You will have to ask a sales rep to get pricing info.

Customer Support

Pulley

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.

Carta

Inconsistent support due to tiered support levels.

  • Variable wait times.

  • Wide range of support experiences across users.

Ease of Use

Pulley

Intuitive UX designed for founders and finance teams.

Use individual issuance flows with step-by-step guides, helpful tips, and alerts. You only need to choose spreadsheet mode for bulk issuance.

Carta

Steep learning curve required.

Complicated spreadsheet mode is the only way to issue.

409A Valuations

Pulley

Two valuations a year are included in most subscriptions.

  • Five-day turnaround time.

  • Dedicated 409A specialist.

  • Accelerated valuations by request.

  • Includes audit support if needed.

Carta

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

Option Grants

Pulley

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

Carta

Does not generate fully executed legal documents with all material terms included. Requires a third-party tool like DocuSign to collect signatures.

Reporting

Pulley

Comprehensive reports that display all cap table data but also summarize 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.

Carta

Carta provides similarly comprehensive reports, but 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. There is no function to create or edit reports in-platform.

Stock-based Compensation Reporting

Pulley

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

Carta

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

Fundraising Modeling

Pulley

Advanced fundraising modeling tools.

  • Export pro-formas 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.

Carta

Similar fundraising tools, but with limited functionality.

  • Grouped ownerships percentages.

  • No support for pro-ratas and YC's participation rights.

Scaling Capabilities

Pulley

Designed to handle complex cap tables as you scale.

  • Stock splits process instantly.

  • Support for hybrid, milestone, and time-based vesting for all equity types.

  • Spousal agreements for grants.

Carta

Also has advanced scaling features, but some 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.

Token Equity

Pulley

Comprehensive token cap table management

  • Issue & distribute token equity

  • Create and manage complex vesting schedules

  • Integrate with top custodian platforms and deploy through major blockchains

Carta

Only supports traditional equity.

Founder & Employee Experience

Pulley

Designed to help founders and finance leaders understand equity.

Carta

Focused more on institutional investors.

Carta offered me a free year, yet I chose to pay for Pulley. At the end of the day, it's the human element that really matters.

Brittani McCall

CEO and Co-Founder at FlowEQ

PRICING

Only pay for what you need

Carta is cheaper for seed startups, with a free plan for up to 25 stakeholders. But the free plan excludes pro formas, fundraising modeling, 409A support, and other important features. Carta’s costs increase dramatically as you scale, which is why many startups switch to Pulley once they start expanding.

Pulley offers flexible, startup-friendly plans that don’t lock you into unnecessary costs. The price is fixed per stakeholder, so you don’t have to worry about hidden expenses popping up as you grow.

View pricing

EXPERIENCE

Cap table management built for startup teams

Pulley is built for founders and finance teams instead of being tailored for institutional investors. The platform is designed for easy self-serve cap table management, with simple dashboards and intuitive workflows designed for founders, not finance pros. You can easily manage how stakeholders see their equity through Pulley’s investor and employee portals.

I can confirm our onboarding was simple, fast, and really smooth. Our rep is friendly and walked me through the process. Pulley has every feature we need.

Balázs Scheidler

CEO at Axoflow

We are an 18 year old company that has kept our cap table on a spreadsheet. We tried another leading cap table software provider and had to abandon them after 6 months of trying to set things up. The Pulley team was able to work with our spreadsheet and our management team to set things up in a fraction of the time it was taking the other leading company. We were able to get a 409a done from that setup with minimal effort on our side. We are thrilled with the product and the service we have received.

Larry B

Larry B

DataOceans

AUDIT SUPPORT

409As in less than half the time

Carta provides 409A valuations and audit support, but only in its ‘Grow’ and ‘Scale’ tiers—not the ‘Build’ tier. 409A valuations can take several weeks from start to end.

With Pulley, you automatically get two 409A valuations a year included in all plans above $3500. Pulley’s in-house valuation team delivers 409As in less than a week, and usually just three business days. You also receive lifetime audit support from Pulley’s concierge team.

How long does it take to switch from Carta?

Your Pulley cap table can be ready to approve and launch in as few as 10 days. You'll get concierge onboarding from a cap table expert and ongoing support you can trust.

1

Access

Grant us access to your Carta account.

2

Done-for-you onboarding

Pulley reviews your documents and quickly builds an accurate cap table.

3

Approval

Approve your cap table. Tell your stakeholders. Done.

Pulley’s concierge team can also help you connect your HRIS integrations and prepare for your next audit or funding round.

MAKE THE SWITCH
FROM CARTA TODAY

Pulley will transfer your data and build your new cap table for you.