Cap table management is where jurisdiction decides the product. American tools assume Delaware, stock options and 409A valuations; a Dutch BV, a German GmbH with notarised transfers or a UK company filing SH01s needs something else.
This guide ranks on that fit first, then on setup, real price and how the register leaves.
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In short
What cap table management software does
Cap table software keeps the register of who owns what in a company: shares, options, convertibles and vesting, with the paperwork and the dilution maths attached.
In this order: setup effort, what it really costs, how your data comes back out, whether
you can leave, and who each cap table management tool is built for. Why those five, and why there is no
score out of ten, is on the how we work page.
Listed companies with thousands of shareholders and dividend payment obligations
Private companies with a handful of shareholders and options
Country is where the vendor is headquartered or contracts from, which is a
different question from where your data is hosted. Where the two tell different stories, the
entry says so.
European equity management that understands local company law
Ranked #1 of 12 in Best Cap Table Management Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingEurope
Ledgy was built in Zurich for companies whose share register lives under European law, which means it models virtual shares, STAK and BSPCE structures that American products treat as edge cases. Employees get a portal that explains their grant in plain terms, and that reduces the questions finance answers.
Valuations, 409A included, are delivered through partners such as Deloitte rather than an in-house team, and the tiers get expensive quickly: free to 50 stakeholders, then €5,000 a year and €18,000 for Enterprise.
What stands out
EU and Swiss law
Employee portal
Published pricing
Where it costs you
Valuations come through partner firms, not an in-house practice
Price jumps from free to €5,000 a year past 50 stakeholders
Right for
European companies with continental entities and their employee equity plans
Wrong for
US corporations wanting an in-house 409A practice and a US incumbent's name
SwitzerlandFree Launch plan up to 50 stakeholders; Scale from €5,000 and Enterprise from €18,000 a year, published
UK share schemes, EMI options and Companies House filings
Ranked #2 of 12 in Best Cap Table Management Software in 2026.
Published pricingEurope
Vestd knows the UK rules in detail: EMI eligibility, HMRC valuation submissions, growth shares for people who joined after the value rose, and the Companies House filings each event triggers. A UK founder can run a scheme without a corporate lawyer on retainer, and that is the saving.
The constraint is geography. Beyond a separate Indian ESOP product it does not cover other jurisdictions, and the plan you compare on matters: Starter is for zero-value companies with unapproved options, while EMI and HMRC valuations start at £420 a month.
What stands out
EMI options
Companies House
UK and India
Where it costs you
Covers the UK and India only, so European subsidiaries need a second system
EMI and growth shares need the Guided Service plan, not Starter
Right for
UK companies running EMI or growth share schemes without lawyers
Wrong for
Groups with legal entities in continental Europe or the US
United KingdomMonthly plans by support level and scheme members, 12-month minimum, published; Essentials from £25, EMI from £420 a month
Funding round paperwork with the cap table attached
Ranked #3 of 12 in Best Cap Table Management Software in 2026.
Published pricingEurope
SeedLegals sells the funding round and gives you the cap table as a consequence, which works well while the company is young and every event is documented on the platform.
The weakness appears when something happens off-platform: a transfer agreed by email, a share issue handled by a lawyer, a foreign subsidiary. Those have to be entered manually and often are not, and a register that quietly diverges from reality is worse than a spreadsheet.
What stands out
Round documents
EMI schemes
Self-serve legal
Where it costs you
Register is only reliable if every event happened in the platform
Coverage outside the UK and France is weaker
Right for
Early companies doing rounds, options and agreements in one place
Wrong for
Established companies with complex registers and outside counsel
Cap table and scenario modelling without the platform lock-in
Ranked #4 of 12 in Best Cap Table Management Software in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
Pulley is the cap table for people who actually open the cap table, because the scenario modelling makes dilution and liquidation preferences legible without a spreadsheet.
Published pricing and clean export make it easy to leave, which is why it ranks above larger products here. The assumptions are American: a Delaware C corporation, stock options, standard documents. A GmbH or a BV can be recorded but the product is not thinking in those terms.
What stands out
Scenario modelling
Published pricing
Clean export
Where it costs you
Assumes a Delaware corporation as the default structure
409A valuations and US compliance filings start on the Growth plan, not the entry plan
Right for
Founders who model dilution and waterfalls before every funding round
Wrong for
European entities with notarised or registry-based share transfers
United StatesPer company per year by stakeholder count, published; Startup $1,200 a year
US cap table and option management with a free entry plan
Ranked #5 of 12 in Best Cap Table Management Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingAsia-Pacific
Cake Equity has moved from its Australian origins to a US focus, and its own site now corrects anyone who thinks of it as an Australian or international product. What it covers is the American toolkit: ISOs and NSOs, RSUs, SAFEs, warrants, 409A, 83(b), Form 3921 and Rule 701.
Pricing is published and setup is self-serve, with a free plan for five stakeholders. For a German, Dutch or Nordic company that is the wrong set of assumptions, and European investors running diligence are less likely to recognise it.
What stands out
US equity
Option plans
Free plan
Where it costs you
Built for US corporations; non-US company law is not its subject
Less familiar to European investors running diligence
Right for
US startups wanting a cheap, self-serve cap table and option plan
Wrong for
German, Dutch or Nordic companies needing local law support
AustraliaFree plan up to 5 stakeholders; Build $1,000 and Team $2,750 a year by stakeholder count, published
Cap table with valuation services in the same shop
Ranked #6 of 12 in Best Cap Table Management Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingNorth America
Eqvista competes on price and on bundling the 409A valuation with the register, which for a small US company is two invoices reduced to one. The register, vesting and basic reporting work.
The software is plainer than its competitors and integrates with less. The bundling deserves a moment's thought: the firm valuing your shares is also the firm you pay to record them, and that arrangement is worth being deliberate about.
What stands out
409A valuations
Free plan
Small companies
Where it costs you
Plain interface and a short integration list
Buying valuations from your register vendor creates a conflict
Right for
Small US companies wanting a register and a 409A cheaply
Wrong for
European companies, or anyone needing wide investor familiarity
United StatesFree under 20 stakeholders; Premium $2 per stakeholder a month; 409A bundles from $990 a year, published
The American default, with the ecosystem that implies
Ranked #7 of 12 in Best Cap Table Management Software in 2026.
Pricing on requestNorth America
Carta is the American default and diligence is smoother because of it, with option administration, valuations and reporting all in one place. It ranks mid-table here on independence rather than capability.
Pricing rises with the stakeholder count that success produces, renewals come with a sales conversation, and the company's past handling of customer data during its secondaries push is a reason to read the terms about what it may see and use.
What stands out
Investor familiarity
409A valuations
Large ecosystem
Where it costs you
Price climbs steeply with stakeholder count and add-ons
Has previously used customer data in ways customers objected to
Right for
US companies raising from investors who expect to see Carta
Wrong for
Buyers who prioritise independence and predictable renewal pricing
United StatesPer company per year by stakeholder count, quoted
Swedish and Finnish share register, now under the Allshares Grow name
Ranked #8 of 12 in Best Cap Table Management Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingEurope
The Qoorp domain now leads to Allshares Grow, the former StartupTools, which Allshares offers to growing companies in Sweden and Finland. It keeps shareholders, the aktiebok, option programmes, share issues and board resolutions with the documents linked, and it is free to start, with Allshares' paid experts behind it when the structure gets complex.
It is a Nordic product by design. A company that later incorporates a holding structure abroad, or takes on international investors with their own document expectations, will find the boundaries quickly.
What stands out
Swedish company law
Aktiebok
Free to start
Where it costs you
Serves Swedish and Finnish companies only
Bolagsverket filings and signing are not described on the new site
Right for
Swedish and Finnish limited companies keeping the aktiebok and option programmes in order
Wrong for
Companies incorporated outside Sweden and Finland, or raising money internationally
#9 J.P. Morgan Workplace Solutions (Global Shares)
Share plan administration for companies with employees worldwide
Ranked #9 of 12 in Best Cap Table Management Software in 2026.
Pricing on requestEurope
The hard part of international employee equity is not the register, it is the tax: what withholding applies when an employee in Spain vests shares in an Irish parent, and what has to reach each payroll. Global Shares, now branded J.P.
Morgan Workplace Solutions, does that, which is why listed companies use it. It also sells a self-service cap table plan for startups and private companies, but prices only on request, and the full-service offer assumes scale that early companies do not have.
What stands out
Global payroll tax
Listed companies
J.P. Morgan owned
Where it costs you
Startup cap table plan is quoted, not published
Sold under the J.P. Morgan brand as part of a wider banking relationship
Right for
Companies with share plan participants across many different tax jurisdictions
Wrong for
Private companies with a small, single-country option pool
Cap table and legal workflows backed by a large institution
Ranked #10 of 12 in Best Cap Table Management Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingNorth America
Formerly Shoobx, this treats every equity event as a workflow with documents, approvals and signatures rather than as a row to update, which keeps the register and the paperwork in step.
The Fidelity ownership answers the question of whether the vendor will still exist in a decade. The rigidity is the cost: firms with their own document standards find the templates constraining, and outside the US it barely registers with investors.
What stands out
Document workflows
US corporations
Institutional backing
Where it costs you
Workflow model is rigid if your counsel works differently
Built around US corporations, little known in Europe
Right for
US companies wanting equity documents and register in one workflow
Wrong for
European entities, or teams whose lawyers use their own templates
United StatesFree Launch plan up to 25 stakeholders; Startup, Growth and Scale quoted
Equity accounting and audit reporting for corporate finance departments
Ranked #11 of 12 in Best Cap Table Management Software in 2026.
Pricing on requestNorth America
Certent exists because share-based payment accounting is genuinely difficult: expense recognition across grant types, forfeiture estimates, disclosures that survive an audit. It handles that and feeds the numbers to finance.
It now offers private companies a cap table with waterfall and scenario modelling, but that is not the reason to buy it. It now sits inside insightsoftware's portfolio, which tends to mean steady maintenance rather than ambition, and the participant-facing screens look like software bought for accountants, because they are.
What stands out
Share-based accounting
Audit reporting
Enterprise
Where it costs you
Sold and priced to enterprise finance, not to founders
Now part of a larger group with portfolio priorities
Right for
Finance teams reporting share-based payment charges to their external auditors
Wrong for
Startups wanting a self-serve cap table with published prices
Share registry and plan administration at listed-company scale
Ranked #12 of 12 in Best Cap Table Management Software in 2026.
Pricing on requestAsia-Pacific
Computershare is a registrar with software attached, not a product you sign up for. It matters when the register runs to thousands of names, dividends have to be paid across countries, and a market regulator expects controlled processes.
That work is done by people on an account, with fees quoted rather than published. For a private company with twenty shareholders it is an expensive way to solve a problem a spreadsheet was solving badly.
What stands out
Listed companies
Registrar services
Global coverage
Where it costs you
Fee structure stays opaque until a quote arrives
Self-service is not how the relationship works
Right for
Listed companies with thousands of shareholders and dividend payment obligations
Wrong for
Private companies with a handful of shareholders and options
Cap table software keeps the register of who owns what in a company: shares, options, convertibles and vesting, with the paperwork and the dilution maths attached. The differences that matter are rarely in the feature list, so this is
the order we would work through them.
01
Decide whether you need a published price
8 of the 12 tools here publish what they cost; the other 4 quote per organisation. The ones you can compare without a sales call: Ledgy, Vestd, SeedLegals, Pulley, Cake Equity, Eqvista, Allshares Grow, Fidelity Private Shares.
02
Decide how much the jurisdiction matters
These 12 vendors are established in 6 countries across 3 regions (North America 5, Europe 5, Asia-Pacific 2). That decides whose disclosure law applies to what the vendor holds, wherever the servers are.
Jurisdiction decides this purchase before features do
Most cap table software is written for a Delaware corporation with stock options and a 409A valuation, and that model does not transfer. A German GmbH has shares transferred by notarial deed, so the authoritative record is a notarised list, not your dashboard. A Dutch BV has shares in a notarial register too, and a shareholders' agreement that the software will not read.
A UK company has to file an SH01 after each allotment and may run EMI options with HMRC valuations. Vestd is built around the UK mechanics, Allshares Grow, where qoorp.se now points, around the Swedish ones, Ledgy around continental company forms, and Pulley and Carta around the American ones. Picking on interface quality and then discovering your notary keeps the real register is the standard mistake here. Establish which document is legally authoritative first.
Ask your notary or company lawyer which record is legally binding.
Confirm the product knows your company form, not just your currency.
If you have entities in two countries, decide now whether one system can serve both.
What the register is for changes what you should buy
Three different jobs share this category. Founders want to model dilution before agreeing terms, and Pulley does that best. Employees want to understand what they hold and what it might be worth, which is where Ledgy's portal earns its place. Finance and auditors want share-based payment accounting and tax withholding, which is the subject of Certent Equity Management and, across jurisdictions, Global Shares.
A product optimised for one of these is usually mediocre at the others, and the demo will be the job the vendor is best at. Work out which of the three causes you actual pain this year. Companies with fewer than twenty shareholders usually have a founder problem, and companies with two hundred option holders in five countries usually have a tax problem.
Say out loud which of the three jobs you are buying for.
Have an employee open the portal during the trial and explain their grant back to you.
Ask your auditor what they need before choosing, not in January.
The bill grows with your stakeholder count, not your use
Almost everything here prices on the number of stakeholders, so the invoice rises as you issue options, which is exactly when budgets are tight. Carta is the clearest example, but Ledgy, Pulley and Cake Equity all step up by band. Read where the bands fall, because hiring twenty people with options can push you across one. Then look at what is outside the subscription.
Valuations are often sold as a separate line, as with Eqvista's 409A bundles, or reserved for a higher plan: Cake Equity includes 409A valuations from Team, Pulley from Growth and Carta from Grow. At Vestd, EMI and growth share schemes need the Guided Service plan rather than Starter. Legal documents may be separate or included depending on the plan. The comparison that matters is the cost in the year you raise and grant, not the entry price today, and vendors quote the second one.
Find the next price band and count how many grants away it is.
List every service quoted separately: valuation, filings, documents, signatures.
Model the bill for the year of your next round, not this quiet year.
Leaving, and who actually holds your register
A cap table is the record of who owns the company, so it must outlive the vendor. Ask for a full export in the trial and check that it includes grant-level detail, vesting schedules, exercise history and the signed documents, not just a summary of holdings. Pulley and Ledgy export cleanly.
At the service end, Global Shares and Computershare hold the relationship rather than hand you a file, and exit means a transfer project between providers. The other risk is accuracy: a register that has drifted from the legal documents cannot be fixed by exporting it, which is the thing to watch with SeedLegals when events happen outside the platform. Reconcile the software against the signed paperwork once a year, at minimum.
Export everything during the trial and check vesting and exercise history survived.
Reconcile the software register against signed documents annually.
Ask what happens to employee access to grant information after you leave.
What goes wrong most often when buying cap table management software
Choosing an American product for a European entity because the interface is nicer. The notary or the registry holds the binding record, and the software will not know it.
Letting the cap table drift from the signed documents. Every transfer agreed by email and never entered turns into a diligence problem during a raise.
Comparing entry prices while ignoring stakeholder bands. The bill arrives in the year you grant options, which is the year you can least afford it.
Buying the valuation from the same vendor that keeps the register without thinking about it. It is convenient, and it is a conflict you should acknowledge.
07
Frequently asked questions
6 answers
What is the best cap table management in 2026?
Ledgy leads our ranking of 12. The one product here designed around European equity rather than adapted to it, covering virtual option plans, Dutch STAK structures, French BSPCE and UK EMI alongside ordinary options.
The employee portal is the part teams notice. Valuations, including 409A and HMRC, come through partner firms rather than an in-house practice, and the price jumps from the free plan to €5,000 a year once you pass 50 stakeholders.
Which cap table management tools publish their pricing?
8 of the 12, with the pricing model each one publishes:
Ledgy: Free Launch plan up to 50 stakeholders; Scale from €5,000 and Enterprise from €18,000 a year, published.
Vestd: Monthly plans by support level and scheme members, 12-month minimum, published; Essentials from £25, EMI from £420 a month.
SeedLegals: Annual plans by activity, published.
Pulley: Per company per year by stakeholder count, published; Startup $1,200 a year.
Cake Equity: Free plan up to 5 stakeholders; Build $1,000 and Team $2,750 a year by stakeholder count, published.
Eqvista: Free under 20 stakeholders; Premium $2 per stakeholder a month; 409A bundles from $990 a year, published.
Allshares Grow: Free to start; paid support quoted.
Fidelity Private Shares: Free Launch plan up to 25 stakeholders; Startup, Growth and Scale quoted.
The other 4 quote per organisation.
Is there a free cap table management tool?
Ledgy, Cake Equity, Eqvista, Allshares Grow, Fidelity Private Shares offer a free tier or a free self-hosted edition.
Where are these cap table management vendors established?
In 6 countries across 3 regions: North America 5, Europe 5, Asia-Pacific 2.
Ledgy: Switzerland.
Vestd: United Kingdom.
SeedLegals: United Kingdom.
Pulley: United States.
Cake Equity: Australia.
Eqvista: United States.
Carta: United States.
Allshares Grow: Sweden.
J.P. Morgan Workplace Solutions (Global Shares): Ireland.
Fidelity Private Shares: United States.
Certent Equity Management: United States.
Computershare: Australia.
What should you use instead of Ledgy?
Vestd and SeedLegals are the next two on this page. Vestd is for UK companies running EMI or growth share schemes without lawyers; SeedLegals is for Early companies doing rounds, options and agreements in one place.
Who should not buy Ledgy?
US corporations wanting an in-house 409A practice and a US incumbent's name. Valuations come through partner firms, not an in-house practice.
If your cap table management product belongs among these 12, tell us what it does and who it is for. Inclusion is an editorial call; what a listing is and is not is set out under software advice.
