Carta 🧾 Service

What you get

Carta's Equity Suite covers cap table management, 409A valuations, SAFE financings, financial/stock-compensation reporting, equity advisory, total compensation benchmarking, secondary liquidity and QSBS attestation, alongside separate Fund ERP and Law product lines for investors and legal workflows. For early-stage founders specifically, Carta Launch is a free plan: build your first cap table, issue shares and SAFEs (Carta, YC or custom templates), model fundraising scenarios, receive funds via ACH/wire, and get unlimited chat/phone/video support and salary-and-equity benchmarking tools — no credit card required. Carta's site states it is trusted by 50,000+ companies, that $335B has been raised by companies on Carta, that 85% of unicorns use Carta, and that 1M+ employees hold equity on Carta cap tables.

Who qualifies

Anyone can use Carta. The free Launch plan is specifically for startups with under 25 stakeholders and less than $1 million raised; once you exceed either limit, or need a 409A valuation, you upgrade in-product to a paid plan priced for early-stage companies (pricing not published on the main site).

Good to know

Sign-up only needs an email address and your certificate of incorporation. Carta also offers a free plugin that connects its data into Claude and other AI workflows, plus integrations like Ramp, Vestwell 401(k), GetDynasty estate planning and Morgan Stanley wealth management. Paid-plan pricing sits behind a 'Request a demo' flow rather than listed on the site.

Verdict

A solid default for founders who want their cap table, SAFEs and fundraising tools in one place from day one, especially since Launch is genuinely free with no card required. Compare against Pulley or AngelList if you want to shop pricing once you outgrow the free tier.

1. Go to carta.com/equity-management/launch/ and click 'Get started for free'.
2. Create your account with just an email address and your certificate of incorporation.
3. Upload your incorporation documents to build your first cap table and start issuing equity.
4. Use the built-in tools to create SAFEs, model fundraising scenarios, and raise your first round.
5. Upgrade in-product to a paid plan once you pass 25 stakeholders, raise over $1M, or need a 409A valuation.