Top Pulley Alternatives in 2026

Carta is the cap table platform most VCs, auditors, and 409A reviewers already recognize, and it's also a registered transfer agent, so option exercises and share transfers happen without bringing in a separate vendor. The free Launch plan works for companies under 25 stakeholders and $1M raised, putting it in the same early-stage lane as Pulley's Startup tier. Past that, every plan is a custom quote, so unlike Pulley's published $1,200 and $3,500 prices, you sit through a demo to learn what you'll pay. Reviewers describe steep, unannounced renewal increases, including one account that jumped from $99 to $3,000. Choose Carta if brand recognition and transfer agent status matter more to you than knowing your price upfront.

Mantle flips Pulley's stakeholder-tier pricing on its head: every plan, including the free Starter tier, covers unlimited stakeholders, so adding employees or advisors never bumps you into a pricier bracket the way crossing 25 or 40 stakeholders does on Pulley. Essentials ($1,200/year) and Growth ($3,000/year) land close to Pulley's Startup and Growth prices, and Growth bundles one 409A valuation a year the same way Pulley's Growth does. Mantle Clerk, its AI document reader that drafts cap table updates from legal documents, is newer and more ambitious than anything Pulley has shipped recently. The tradeoffs are real: no monthly billing, a login flow some users find annoying, and no stock-based compensation calculator for finance teams that need one.

Cake Equity prices almost exactly the way Pulley does, tiered by stakeholder count, but with a free entry point Pulley doesn't offer. Its Free plan covers up to 5 stakeholders, Build ($1,000/year) covers 25, and Team ($2,750/year) covers 40 with two 409A valuations bundled in, all cheaper than Pulley's equivalent Startup and Growth tiers. Extra stakeholders cost $1 or $5 each rather than forcing a plan jump, which suits a founder-heavy cap table growing slowly. The My Cake employee portal lets staff see and exercise their own equity directly. Reviewers note the option distribution workflow takes real effort to learn and that recalculating a large cap table can be slow.

Ledgy is the European-built answer to Carta and Pulley alike, free for up to 50 stakeholders on its Launch plan, a wider free tier than anything Pulley offers. Past that, Scale and Enterprise are custom quotes, though Ledgy's own site puts Scale starting around 4,000 euros a year. It covers the same ground as Pulley, cap table, vesting, option grants, and 409A-style valuations, and adds public-company share plan administration that Pulley doesn't touch. Its AI Auditor checks equity documents against recorded transactions for mismatches. The catch for US-first teams is support: no phone line and no round-the-clock coverage, a gap reviewers call out for teams outside European hours.

Eqvista undercuts Pulley on published price at almost every point. Premium Cap Table runs $2 per stakeholder per month, and its 409A bundle starts at $990/year for a pre-revenue company, well under Pulley's $3,500 Growth tier. The 409A work is done in-house by NACVA-certified analysts and ties directly back into the cap table instead of arriving as a standalone PDF. Its Freemium tier covers real cap table and ESOP management under 20 stakeholders with no credit card. The catch: the 409A price rises with funding stage rather than staying flat, support is email-only, and one reviewer reported being billed after cancelling with no refund, an echo of the cancellation friction some Pulley users report too.

Vestd is the one alternative here built entirely around UK equity law rather than US-style 409A valuations, which makes it a narrower fit for most Pulley buyers but the clear pick for a UK company. It handles EMI, CSOP, growth shares, and unapproved options with live HMRC valuation and submission support, plus a direct Companies House integration Pulley has no equivalent for. Self-Serve, at 2,200 pounds a year, is only sold to existing customers, so a new switcher's real starting price is Guided at 4,200 pounds a year. Every plan carries a 12-month minimum term, and Full Service is quote-only. Reviewers consistently call it pricier than other cap table tools, though they also praise the account management and support that comes with it.