Key takeaways
- EquityList and Carta are both cap table and equity management platforms, but Carta publishes pricing for only its free Launch tier, while EquityList lists exact prices for three of its four plans.
- Carta's product assumes a single entity registered in the United States. Outside the US it can track equity, but Carta is not a registered transfer agent there, so a company still needs its own local share register or transfer agent of record.
- EquityList supports AI-native features, multi-entity cap tables from its Growth plan up, cross-border valuation requests, dematerialisation for Indian subsidiaries, and region-aware banking fields for fundraising accounts in multiple countries.
- EquityList's AI agent is built into the platform itself, on every plan. Carta's AI access runs through an MCP server and a set of plugins that connect outside AI clients to Carta data, built mainly for fund administration rather than into the cap table product.
- Pulley, a Carta competitor, is shutting down on December 8, 2026, and named Carta its exclusive migration partner. Customers who opt in by November 30, 2026 keep their current Pulley price on Carta for one year.
Carta and EquityList both manage cap tables and equity for private companies, and at a glance, they solve the same problem: tracking ownership, issuing equity, and keeping records straight as a company grows. But the two take different approaches. Carta's paid plans are quote-based, and real buyer data puts the median contract very high (roughly $14,000 to $15,000 a year); its AI access also runs through an external protocol bridge rather than being built into the product itself. EquityList publishes pricing for most of its plans starting at $0, runs noticeably cheaper by comparison, and runs its AI agent natively from day one.
This comparison covers where that difference actually shows up: pricing, multi-entity and cross-border support, and how each platform's AI access actually works, so you can work out which platform fits your company better. For the fuller, continuously updated side-by-side, including onboarding time and what changes if you later go public, see EquityList's Carta alternative page.
What EquityList and Carta are built to do
EquityList is an AI-native cap table and equity management and compliance platform for private companies, and one of the more established Carta alternatives for teams running equity across more than one country. It manages cap table records, equity grants, board and shareholder approvals, and valuation requests across jurisdictions, including the US and India, through a single dashboard rather than separate systems per entity.
Carta is a cap table and equity management platform that manages ownership records, equity grants, and valuations for private companies, and separately runs fund administration and venture-fund formation products for investors. Cap table management is one of Carta's main lines of business alongside fund administration and private equity services.
Where Carta creates friction for growing and global teams
Carta lists exact pricing for only its free Launch tier. Every plan above that is priced by quote, and Carta does not publish what those plans cost on its own site. Independent trackers don't agree on what Carta's paid tiers actually cost: estimates range from roughly $2,900 to $30,000 a year depending on company size and stakeholder count, real-buyer data puts the median closer to $14,000 to $15,000, and Carta does not publish a per-stakeholder rate anywhere on its own site to settle the question. A company cannot get a reliable price comparison before talking to sales.
A US company might register an India subsidiary to hire engineering or operations talent locally, a structure common among global SaaS companies. Carta's single-entity model runs into trouble here: outside the US, Carta is not a registered transfer agent, so while it can track a company's equity, the company still has to keep its true stock record with a local transfer agent or share register, which can mean issuing and retaining paper certificates rather than fully electronic ones. For India specifically, that gap extends to dematerialisation and to drafting ESOP scheme documents for Indian plans, so companies need outside legal help for schemes Carta can't generate on its own.
EquityList vs Carta: feature comparison
Most of this comes down to two product philosophies: a single-entity, US-centric platform versus a multi-entity one built to handle more than one country from the start. AI access is the clearest version of that split, so it is worth reading the row below carefully rather than taking either platform's own framing at face value.
At IPO, Carta customers transition to Morgan Stanley at Work, Carta's exclusive U.S. public equity management partner since late 2024; Odyssey Trust is Carta's preferred transfer agent for the listing itself
EquityList vs Carta: pricing compared
EquityList publishes exact pricing for three of its four plans. Free costs $0 a month and covers 10 stakeholders. Build costs $100 a month, or $1,200 billed annually, and covers 35 stakeholders, with each stakeholder beyond that billed at $35 a year. Growth costs $292 a month, or $3,500 billed annually, covers 50 stakeholders at $50 a year each beyond that, and includes a 409A valuation, but only when billed annually; on monthly Growth, the 409A is a separate add-on. Enterprise is quote-based.
Carta publishes pricing only for its free Launch plan, available to companies that have raised under $1 million and have fewer than 25 stakeholders. Every plan above that is negotiated by quote; Carta does not publish what those plans cost. Independent trackers report paid-tier costs in the range of roughly $2,988 to $11,988 a year, though Carta does not confirm this range itself, and what a given company actually pays depends on a sales conversation rather than a published rate card.
Why companies move from Carta to EquityList
60% of switches to EquityList come from Carta, by EquityList's own published figure. The pattern tracks the gaps described above: companies that have added a second entity, expanded into India, want an AI agent built into the platform rather than bridged in through MCP, or simply want a quoted price before a sales call are the ones most likely to find Carta's single-entity, quote-based, often-expensive model a poor fit as they grow.
That shift has a specific, time-bound driver in late 2026. Pulley, a Carta competitor, announced on September 15, 2026 that it is shutting down and will cease all operations and services on December 8, 2026. Pulley has entered into an exclusive partnership with Carta: existing Pulley customers who opt in by November 30, 2026 get an assisted migration and keep their current Pulley price on Carta for the first year, with Carta crediting any unused prepaid Pulley balance. Pulley will not assist a migration to any destination other than Carta.
Companies moving through that path are landing on Carta by the route Pulley itself arranged, not necessarily because they evaluated it against other options. A side-by-side comparison matters more in that situation, not less.
How to migrate your cap table from Carta to EquityList
Migrating starts with exporting cap table data, grant records, and valuation history from Carta. EquityList's team rebuilds the cap table from that export and reviews a full sandbox version with you before anything goes live. For most cap tables the full process, from receiving the export to a live, reconciled account, takes about a few hours, though more complex structures with multiple entities or unusual instruments can take longer. Existing grants, agreements, and executed certificates move across as historical records and are not re-executed.
Companies moving from Pulley to EquityList directly, rather than through Pulley's arranged Carta path, can carry over the remaining term of their Pulley contract instead of starting a new one, and get their first 409A valuation included. YC-backed startups get 50% off their first year, with migration from either Pulley or Carta handled by EquityList's team at no additional cost. For the full walkthrough of the Pulley migration specifically, see EquityList's Pulley alternative page.
Evaluating Carta alternatives usually comes down to one question: does the gap between what Carta publishes and what a growing, multi-entity company actually needs justify a switch. For a company that fits Carta's single-entity, US-first model, the answer may be no. For a company that has already outgrown that shape, or one being routed to Carta by Pulley's shutdown without having compared it to anything else, the comparison above is the starting point, not the whole decision.
.avif)
.svg)
.svg)