8 Best Cake Equity Alternatives & Competitors (2026)

Carta is a widely used equity management platform serving startups, investors, and law firms with cap tables, 409A valuations, and liquidity options. It offers extensive stakeholder portals and deep reporting but can feel complex for founder-only teams. Compared to Pulley, Carta often carries higher pricing tiers and monetizes marketplace data, while Pulley keeps a narrower founder focus and simpler UI. Companies switching from Carta to Pulley cite easier modeling and transparent costs.

Shareworks by Morgan Stanley provides enterprise-grade equity compensation, cap table tracking, and compliance tools primarily for public and late-stage companies. Strengths include robust global reporting and brokerage integration. Versus Pulley, Shareworks targets larger enterprises with complex needs and typically requires custom contracts, whereas Pulley emphasizes affordable, transparent pricing and crypto support for earlier-stage users.

Ledgy is a European equity platform focused on cap tables, valuations, and employee participation with clean dashboards and automation. It excels in multi-currency and regulatory compliance for EU companies. Relative to Pulley, Ledgy offers less emphasis on crypto tokens and U.S. 409A workflows, making Pulley preferable for U.S. startups needing integrated liquidity and founder-centric support.

EquityZen specializes in secondary liquidity marketplaces for private shares alongside basic cap table tools. Its strength lies in connecting employees and investors for liquidity events. Compared with Pulley’s integrated Nasdaq Private Market solution and full modeling suite, EquityZen functions more as a marketplace add-on than a primary cap table platform for day-to-day founder use.

Capshare delivers straightforward cap table management and 409A valuation ordering targeted at small to mid-size private companies. It provides solid core functionality at lower cost but offers fewer advanced scenario tools and no native crypto support. Pulley differentiates with deeper fundraise modeling and managed services that Capshare does not match.

Kruze provides fractional CFO and cap table services rather than standalone software. It helps startups with modeling and compliance through expert support. Unlike Pulley’s self-serve platform with optional managed services, Kruze operates primarily as a service firm, making it better for teams wanting full outsourcing than those seeking Pulley’s intuitive software-first approach.

StockOpter focuses on equity compensation planning and scenario analysis for finance teams. It offers detailed modeling but lacks full cap table management and token features. Pulley surpasses it with end-to-end equity infrastructure, compliance automation, and liquidity integration that StockOpter does not provide.