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Read about experiences from teams that have switched from Carta to EquityList
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Companies that chose EquityList over Carta
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India
Series A
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US
Series A
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US
Seed
India
Seed
US
Series A
India
Series A
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UAE
Series E
US
Series B
India
Series B
India
Seed
600+
Customers
50,000+
Stockholders
$4B+
Options Managed
What founders and teams tell us about Carta
Doesn’t scale globally
Carta breaks when you add a subsidiary, hire overseas, or issue cross-border grants. EquityList is built to handle global equity operations.
Steep costs
Carta charges higher per-stakeholder fees while limiting flexibility with rigid workflows. EquityList gives you more control and stronger ROI.
No public company support
On Carta, public companies are handed off to Morgan Stanley at Work. EquityList supports public companies from day one.
Difficult offboarding
On Carta, cancellation is routed through an offboarding call, delaying timelines and creating uncertainty around data and securities. With EquityList, you can cancel anytime.
Delayed support
Carta’s responses can be slow, delaying grants and exercises. EquityList delivers timely, on-demand support.
Rigid workflows
On Carta, you’re boxed into rigid templates. EquityList adapts with customizable workflows, reports, and structures.
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Lacks usability
On Carta, teams often rely on lawyers for routine tasks. EquityList puts control back in the hands of founders, HR, and finance teams.
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Why EquityList wins as a Carta alternative
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Compliance & reporting
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SH-6, IND AS 102, ASC 718, and other region-specific reports at no extra cost
US-first compliance; India and MENA workflows missing
Multi-entity support
Multi-entity support for subsidiaries across geographies
No multi-entity support
Support
Dedicated onboarding manager, WhatsApp/Slack/email support
Primarily email support
Cost
Transparent per-stakeholder/year pricing; no extra charges for automated reports
High fixed costs; extra charges for standard reports
Valuations
409A, HMRC, merchant banker valuations
Limited to 409A and HMRC
Advisory
Custom ESOP, SAR, and RSU plan structuring
Consultative services not offered
Onboarding
White-glove onboarding with data cleanup in 48-72hrs*
Customer-led; may take up to 3 months
Admin analytics
Available
Not available
Payment gateway integration for exercise workflow
Available
Not available
MythBusters:
Carta edition
Carta is an SEC-RTA,
so you shouldn’t switch
What does Carta say
Carta positions itself as an SEC-Registered Transfer Agent (RTA), suggesting that securities issued on its platform are ‘valid’ and warn users that offboarding may require re-issuance via legal teams or another RTA, therefore increasing cost and time spent.
What an RTA actually does
An RTA acts as the official registrar, handling transfers, cancellations, and interfacing with brokers.
This is mainly required for public companies with securities registered under Section 12 of the Exchange Act or for large private issuances conducted under specific SEC frameworks such as Regulation A+ and Regulation Crowdfunding.
For most private companies, these securities are not “qualifying securities” as defined in Section 3(a)(25) of the Exchange Act. As a result, Section 17A(c) does not require them to use a registered transfer agent.
In such cases, the validity of the shareholder ledger comes from state corporate law, board approvals, executed agreements, and compliance with securities exemptions, rather than from the platform itself.
When needed, companies can still engage RTAs on a standalone basis.
For most private companies, an SEC-RTA isn’t required; validity comes from board approvals, executed agreements, and legal compliance, not from the platform itself.
TL;DR
RTA status does not lock you with a specific vendor, and it does not, by itself, determine whether your securities are valid.
Carta gives you ‘unlimited’ 409As, which is better
What Carta offers
Carta’s includes unlimited system-generated and automated unlimited 409A valuations in its plans.
Why automated reports are a problem
While fast and inexpensive, they often lack the credibility required by IRS, auditors, and investors. So despite these system-generated reports, companies frequently end up commissioning an independent third-party valuation anyway, leading to additional costs and delays.
TL;DR
Unlimited valuations don’t help if they can’t be trusted.
On EquityList, 409A valuations are prepared by independent experts, making reports audit-ready and credible with regulators & investors.
Without global support, companies face:
Fragmented dashboards where each entity’s cap table lives in isolation
Employee grants in local subsidiaries that aren’t tied back to the parent company
Manual equity reporting for geographies the platform doesn’t support
Global employee tax calculations have to be managed manually outside the system
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EquityList solves
this with:
One dashboard unifying parent and subsidiary entities, including cross-border structures
Integrated tracking of equity awards across all entities
Compliant and audit-ready reports for U.S. and India regions
Built-in support for global employee tax calculations
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It's highly customizable, meeting our specific use-case needs, including those for an India-US company structure. The platform is a centralized system to track equity instruments, manage vesting schedules, and stay compliant with regulations.
Snehanshu Gandhi
Co-Founder, Kaagaz
Managing cap tables for multiple entities within our company structure was tricky, but EquityList made it easy. We're also using the platform to issue digital share certificates to investors, and with all our other stakeholders now on EquityList, it's super easy to manage them.
Sanidhya Narain
CEO, Dashtoon
The platform is cost effective, user-friendly - employees can easily check their ESOP details and company administrators have multiple customizations for reporting, dashboards, and access controls.
Ayush Sinha
Vice President & Head of People,Healthify
Using EquityList, we're now more capable in showing our employees the potential for wealth creation and reinforce our cultural value of ownership.
Karan Vanwani
Strategy, Tabby
Since 2020, the EquityList team and their software have helped us streamline and automate some of our most crucial financial aspects like the ESOP management, grants, and reports.
Mikami Chandrasekaran
Associate Director, People Operations, Slice
From promptly addressing our queries to providing regular updates on plan performance, EquityList's communication style fosters a sense of transparency and trust.
Akshay Jain
Senior Manager, Yulu
After raising series B, managing our ESOPs and cap table on Excel became tough and inefficient, and we wanted to digitize it. We could get this setup done quickly and get used to it with its easy-to-use interface.
Saurabh Gupta
CEO and CoFounder, UrbanPiper
EquityList enabled us to move from manual to a sophisticated and automated setup for issuing ESOPs. EquityList hosted Bizongo's maiden ESOP buyback program worth $3.7M - and it was one of the most seamless product experiences.
Aarfa Shaikh
Associate Director, People Success, Bizongo
EquityList helped us transition from managing ESOPs on scattered Google sheets to managing them professionally. EquityList makes sharing details with investors and auditors hassle-free, making the process error-free!
Deepanshu Arora
Co-founder and CEO, Toddle
We believe in generating wealth for our employees and, therefore, use EquityList to issue multiple grant letters and provide real-time visibility on the valuation updates, which helps boost their confidence and gives them a bird's-eye view of their impact on the organization's growth.
Kaushal Pawar
Director People & Culture,Leap Finance
We came across EquityList in 2020, which has since helped us manage our cap table and employee grants in one place. Employees, too, can visualize and easily comprehend the value of their growing stock through their dashboard.
Revant Bhate
Co-Founder & CEO, Mosaic
EquityList has significantly increased the credibility of ESOPs among our team members, making the ESOPs more tangible by showcasing the potential monetary growth achievable over the long term.
Shiffana MK
People & Culture, Nova benefits
EquityList's sophisticated tools have enabled us to optimise our pool usage, ensuring that remaining stock options are strategically allocated for subsequent grants.
Nilangi Netravalkar
Admin, Operations & Payroll Specialist, Limechat
EquityList was a no-brainer for us in terms of trust and digitization. The quality of support and onboarding was a superior experience.
Jagadeesan Kumar
CFO and Head, Corporate Development, Kapture
The UX is simple and intuitive for employees and administrators and can be used with little or no training. The platform makes the administrator's job of managing the ESOP pool and reporting pretty easy.
Bikramjit Singh
Head of Business HR,BlackBuck
“EquityList is a great platform to manage the ESOP flow internally—from issuing grants to managing cap tables, etc. Onboarding is relatively easy, and the team is very helpful. The platform is very easy to navigate and use. Moving from another platform is tedious, but the EQ team made it very easy.”
Yaswanth Goteti
Head of People, Fincent
“Transitioning to EquityList was a breeze. The platform's straightforward design ensured a hassle-free migration process. If you need a straightforward ESOP platform with excellent support, EquityList is the way to go. Highly recommended for its simplicity, smooth transition, and fantastic support team!”
Chithra Ramachandran
Director - People, smallcase
Equitylist saved us not only time but also minimized the risk of errors that often accompany manual processes. What truly sets it apart is the exceptional support- from onboarding to ongoing- by the team, their dedication to ensuring our success was evident.
Rupal Rajal
Head HR, Rupifi
Frequently Asked Questions
Does EquityList offer unlimited 409A valuations like Carta?
Which geographies does EquityList support?
How does migration to EquityList work?
Will I need to re-execute my securities when switching over to EquityList?
What kind of support does EquityList offer?
How does subscription cancellation work on EquityList?