Carta alternatives, compared honestly.
Carta is good software. It's also expensive at scale, broader than most companies actually need, and doesn't handle corporate records or minute books. This is a fair read on four credible Carta alternatives (Octelligence, Pulley, Mantle, and Cake Equity), with a clear answer on who should pick which.
Octelligence (free to $149/mo) or Pulley (from $1,200/yr).
Octelligence or Mantle. Both built with Canada in mind.
Octelligence is the only one on this list that includes one.
Carta isn't bad. It's just not always the right fit.
Carta is the largest and most established cap table platform. It's the default at most US-based VC firms. For a Series A+ Delaware C-corp raising in the US ecosystem, it's the path of least resistance. Your investors already use it and your law firm probably does too.
But "default" isn't the same as "right." We hear four reasons people end up shopping for an alternative.
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Pricing escalates fast at growth stage
The starter tier is reasonable; growth tiers and add-ons (409A, fund admin, equity plans) push annual costs into the thousands and tens of thousands.
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Built for too many stakeholders at once
Carta serves founders, VCs, law firms, and employees simultaneously. That breadth means the founder experience can feel heavier than it needs to be.
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Non-US support is uneven
If you're a Canadian corporation or operating across multiple jurisdictions, you may find specific securities types or local conventions handled as an afterthought.
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It's cap-table-only
Your minute book, share certificates, resolutions, and governance documents still live in a shared drive. The cap table is one piece of the corporate record, not the whole thing.
Criteria that actually matter when you evaluate
Feature checklists lie. Use these instead.
- Jurisdiction fit. Does the platform actually understand the securities law where your corporation lives? Ask about specific instrument types, not "yes we support Canada."
- Total cost at your next stage. Today's pricing isn't the question. Run the numbers for the tier you'll be on after your next round.
- What lives outside the cap table. Where will your minute book, resolutions, share certificates, and shareholder agreements live? Many tools punt on this.
- Diligence-readiness. When a deal opens, can your law firm pull a complete corporate record package in one export? Or will it be a scramble?
- SAFE conversion math. Test how the platform handles cap, discount, MFN, and batch conversion at a priced round. This is where spreadsheets and weak tools break.
- Share-link audit. If you send a cap table to investors, can you tell who opened it? Do you control revocation? Carta has this; most tools do not.
Four credible Carta alternatives
Octelligence first because we built this page, then in order of how broadly they substitute for Carta.
Cap table + corporate records, in one platform.
Octelligence is the only platform on this page that handles your minute book, share certificates, share register, and cap table together. Every SAFE, option, warrant, and conversion lives next to the resolution that authorized it. Built for Canadian + US corporations from the start.
- Structured corporate records (minute book) with pre-built folders
- QR-verified share certificates with public verification pages
- Cap table with SAFE batch conversion, options, warrants, scenarios
- Free for one corporation; $19 / $69 / $149 per month tiers
Founder-first cap tables with transparent pricing
Pulley positions itself directly against Carta with a sharper focus on founders and finance leaders. From their site: "Other equity platforms try to serve founders, VCs, and law firms at the same time. Pulley is focused on founders and finance teams." Public pricing starts at $1,200/year for up to 25 stakeholders.
- Clean, founder-focused UI
- Transparent published pricing
- 409A and ASC 718 reporting
- No corporate records / minute book layer
- Primarily US-focused
Lightweight cap tables with AI-assisted data entry
Mantle pitches "clear equity, instantly" with no per-seat pricing and AI-assisted extraction of SAFEs and term sheets. Built with North American founders in mind, they also offer a US Incorporation service for Canadian founders. Pricing isn't published.
- AI-assisted document extraction
- No per-seat pricing
- US + Canada coverage built in
- No corporate records / minute book
- Pricing not published
Multi-jurisdiction employee equity
Cake Equity is strongest when your equity story is global and employee-heavy: stock options across multiple countries, RSUs, RSAs, and an employee-facing app. Originally Australian, now US-headquartered. Lists "10,000+ companies" on their site.
- Strong employee-facing experience
- Multi-country option grants
- 409A, QSBS, ASC 718, 83(b)
- No corporate records / minute book
- Pricing not published
A spreadsheet, until it breaks
If you have one founder, one share class, no SAFEs, and aren't raising priced in the next six months, a careful spreadsheet is genuinely free and works. It stops working the moment you have multiple SAFEs, an option pool, and a term sheet asking for a fully-diluted view.
Almost everyone underestimates how fast that day arrives. By the time the spreadsheet drifts from your register, you're already cleaning up under deadline.
Cap table basics for foundersCarta vs the alternatives
Direct recommendations
Stop reading. Pick the option that matches your situation.
You're a Series A+ Delaware C-corp raising in the US VC ecosystem, your investors and law firm already use Carta, and you need 409A plus fund administration in one ecosystem. Switching cost outweighs savings.
You want one platform for your corporate records, share certificates, and cap table. You're Canadian, US, or both. You'd rather pay $19–$149/mo than $5,000+/year. You're a law or accounting firm managing client corporations at scale.
You're a US-based founder who wants a cleaner Carta-style cap table tool with transparent pricing, you need 409A in one place, and you don't need a corporate records layer or non-US support.
You're early-stage in North America, want a lightweight cap-table-only tool, value AI-assisted data entry, and don't need a minute book in the same platform.
You're running employee equity across multiple countries, you want a strong employee app, and your differentiator is global option/RSU programs more than the cap table itself.
You want Carta for cap-table-plus-409A in the US ecosystem AND a real corporate records layer. Octelligence Free for the minute book and certificates, Carta for the cap table, is a legitimate setup until you outgrow either.
FAQ
Free migration plus 50% off your first 3 months on monthly billing, when you bring your Carta cap table to Octelligence.
We'll import your share classes, shareholders, SAFEs, options, and certificates, add the records layer Carta doesn't ship, and apply 50% off your first 3 months on monthly billing of whichever paid tier you pick. Move to annual any time at standard pricing. Use code CARTA2OCT.
Sign up free, import your share classes, and see your cap table next to your minute book in the same platform. We'll help you migrate from Carta if it turns out to be the right move.