For a European startup, equity management software typically runs from free at the smallest cap tables to roughly €1,000-5,000 per year for an early-stage company, €5,000-25,000 for a growth-stage company, and €30,000 or more for late-stage or enterprise plans. Most tools price per stakeholder, so the cost rises as you add employees and investors. Low-cost EU options like Capboard and Eqvista start in the low hundreds per year, Ledgy and GAIA publish paid tiers from €4,000 and €2,500 per year before custom enterprise pricing, and Carta sits at the higher, quote-based end. The sticker price rarely includes valuations, legal drafting, or migration, so budget for those separately.
Pricing is the single biggest complaint about cap table software, and almost no vendor publishes a clear cross-platform answer, because opacity is part of the model. This page gives honest, indicative ranges for 2026 so you can budget before you sit through a sales call. Treat every figure as a starting point to confirm with a quote: prices change, currencies differ (several tools price in US dollars), and your stakeholder count moves the number more than the plan name does.
What does equity management software actually cost in Europe?
Here is the indicative annual cost across the platforms a European buyer most often compares. Figures are approximate, drawn from each vendor's public pricing and reseller data in 2026, and exclude VAT and add-ons.
| Platform | Pricing model | Indicative annual cost | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capboard | Base + per stakeholder | From €22.50/mo (~€270/yr) incl. 15 stakeholders; +€1.50/mo each extra; Scale-up custom | EU-built, GDPR, built-in data room |
| Eqvista | Per stakeholder | Free ≤20 holders; ~$2/stakeholder/mo; ~$3,300/yr at 100 | In-house 409A valuations |
| Cake | Free tier + annual plans | Free ≤5; Starter €432/yr (≤25); Growth €1,008/yr (≤30); Pro custom | Simple, early-stage focused; +€24-48 per extra stakeholder |
| Pulley | Per stakeholder | Free ≤25; from ~$1,200/yr; ~$3,500/yr growth tier | US-centric, strong modeling |
| Ledgy | Free tier + published + custom | Free (Launch); from €4,000/yr (Scale); custom (Enterprise) | Mature European equity admin |
| Carta | Per stakeholder | ~$3,000-8,000 early; $10,000-25,000 growth; $30,000+ late | Median reported ~$14,700/yr |
| GAIA | Tiers from free to custom | Free (Starter); from €2,500/yr (Growth); custom (Enterprise) | Cap table plus governance and resolutions |
The headline pattern: several tools start cheap and suit early teams, including Capboard, Eqvista, Cake, and the free entry tiers of both Ledgy (Launch) and GAIA (Starter). Ledgy and GAIA then publish a paid tier (Scale from €4,000 per year and Growth from €2,500 per year respectively) before moving to custom enterprise pricing, while Carta stays per-stakeholder and quote-driven at the top end. Where a tool bundles more than equity administration, the comparison stops being like-for-like, which is the point of the next section.
How is equity management software priced?
Three models dominate, and the model matters more than any single number because it determines how your cost behaves as you grow.
Per-stakeholder pricing charges for each person on the cap table: employees with grants, investors, and option holders. Carta, Pulley, and Eqvista work this way. It looks cheap at seed stage and gets expensive precisely when you are growing fastest, which is the most common source of bill shock. Pulley and Eqvista keep the per-stakeholder rate transparent; Carta's is the one founders most often report rising after a funding round.
Published-tier pricing names a plan with a clear entry price. Ledgy (free Launch, then Scale from €4,000 per year), GAIA (free Starter, then Growth from €2,500 per year, both excluding VAT), and Cake all work this way. The important caveat is that the published figure is a starting point, not a flat fee: stakeholder count still feeds the final price at every tier, the custom Enterprise plans included. So the benefit of a published tier is not that you escape per-stakeholder scaling, but that you can see where pricing begins and what each plan bundles before you talk to anyone. Capboard makes the mechanism explicit, with a low annual base from about €270 per year including 15 stakeholders plus a small fee per additional stakeholder. A visible starting price is more transparent than a pure quote and friendlier to early-stage budgets, but you should still model the cost at your expected headcount rather than assume the entry number.
Quote-based pricing means no public price: you get a number after a sales conversation, scoped to your size and needs. Carta sits here in practice, and it is also where the top tiers of Ledgy and GAIA land, since both have custom Enterprise plans. It is less transparent up front, but it is also how bundled platforms reflect scope that a per-seat number cannot.
What drives the price up?
Four things move the bill, often more than the base plan does.
Stakeholder count moves the bill on nearly every model, not just the per-stakeholder plans, since the published tiers scale with it too. Every new hire with options and every new investor adds to the count, so a fast-growing team sees the cost climb in step with headcount, and it is the lever you control least.
Valuations are frequently a separate line. 409A valuations (US-style) or German valuations for real-share plans are often add-ons rather than included, and they recur. Eqvista bundles in-house 409A valuations; Pulley includes a limited number on higher tiers; others charge per valuation.
Add-ons and tiers gate the features you may actually need: board resolutions, scenario modeling, data rooms, advanced reporting, or premium support. The entry price can understate what your real configuration costs.
Price increases after funding rounds are a documented pattern with the per-stakeholder incumbents, where the renewal quote arrives higher once you have raised. Ask about renewal terms before you sign, not after.
What is not included in the sticker price?
The software fee is only part of the cost of running equity properly, and the gaps are larger for a German company.
Legal drafting and structuring sit outside most equity-admin tools. Grant agreements, plan rules, and the structuring needed for a §19a-compliant employee incentive plan are typically your law firm's bill, not the software's. For real-share plans there are also notarial fees. These can exceed the software cost in the first year. We break this down separately in what it costs to set up a VSOP, ESOP, or EIP in Germany.
Migration from spreadsheets or another platform is usually a one-time onboarding effort, sometimes included, sometimes scoped as a service.
Integrations into your HR and payroll stack may sit behind higher tiers.
This is where a bundled approach changes the math. GAIA's plans include the governance layer (shareholder resolutions and the legal structuring around the cap table and share plans) alongside equity administration, so the comparison is not just software-versus-software but one platform versus a software subscription plus separate legal spend.
How should you budget by stage?
Match the spend to where you are, not to the most featured tool.
At pre-seed and seed you can usually start for free. Most platforms offer a free entry tier, each capped at a small number of stakeholders (often around 10), which is plenty while your cap table is just founders and a handful of early holders. Expect to move onto a paid plan, in the low hundreds to low thousands of euros a year, once you outgrow that free stakeholder limit, and keep the cap table clean rather than over-buying before you need to.
At Series A and growth, complexity arrives: more option holders, more investors, scenario modeling, and reporting for the board. Expect roughly €5,000-25,000 per year depending on the platform and stakeholder count, and weigh per-stakeholder against tiered or quote-based models for how they behave as you scale.
At late stage and enterprise, you are into quote-based territory with the incumbents, often €30,000 or more, and the deciding factors become support, integrations, and whether the legal and governance work is inside or outside the platform.
For the wider evaluation beyond cost, see how to choose equity management software in Europe and the honest field in Carta alternatives for German and European startups.
FAQ
How much does cap table software cost for an early-stage startup in Europe?
For a small cap table, expect anywhere from free to roughly €1,000-5,000 per year. EU-built tools like Capboard start from a few hundred euros a year on a low base plan, and Eqvista, Cake, and Pulley offer free tiers for the smallest teams. The cost rises as you add stakeholders.
Why is Carta so expensive compared to European tools?
Carta prices per stakeholder, so the cost grows with headcount and investor count, and founders frequently report increases after funding rounds. It is also US-first, so a European company can pay for functionality, like US-centric valuation workflows, that it does not fully use.
Is equity management software priced per user?
Almost always, yes, in one form or another. Carta, Pulley, and Eqvista price purely per stakeholder. Ledgy and GAIA publish named annual tiers with a clear entry price, but stakeholder count still feeds the final figure at every tier, the custom Enterprise plans included, so the published number is a starting point rather than a flat fee. Capboard makes this explicit with a low base plus a per-stakeholder fee. The real difference is less about whether stakeholder count matters, since it does almost everywhere, and more about whether the vendor publishes where pricing starts and what each plan bundles.
What costs are not included in the software price?
Usually valuations (409A or German real-share valuations), legal drafting and notarial fees for setting up a plan, migration, and sometimes integrations and premium support. For a German company the legal setup cost can exceed the first-year software fee. See the breakdown in what it costs to set up a VSOP, ESOP, or EIP in Germany.
Does GAIA publish pricing?
Yes. GAIA publishes tiered annual pricing: a free Starter plan for early-stage teams, a Growth plan from €2,500 per year for scaling companies, and a custom Enterprise tier, all excluding VAT. That is more transparent than the quote-based incumbents, and the plans include the governance layer alongside the cap table rather than equity administration alone.
