Carta vs. Shareworks: which equity platform fits your private company?
The useful question is not which vendor has more features. It is whether you need a startup-to-scale equity operating system or a global stock-plan and liquidity program—and whether your source records can survive the migration.
Choose around the next two years of equity events.
Evaluate Carta first when you want a defined progression from formation through audit and IPO readiness. Carta publishes four packages: Launch, Build, Grow, and Scale. Launch is free for eligible companies with up to 25 stakeholders and $1 million raised; later packages add priced-round tools, 409A valuations, tax and financial reporting, Rule 701 management, exit modeling, and IPO advisory.
Evaluate Shareworks first when equity administration is already a cross-border benefits, accounting, or liquidity program. Morgan Stanley at Work emphasizes global plans, HRIS data sharing, audit-ready reporting, participant education, scenario modeling, stock-plan administration, and private-company liquidity. Pricing requires a tailored quote.
Do not choose from a demo alone. Reconcile the cap table to legal evidence, then run the same grant, reporting, and liquidity scenarios in both systems.
Carta vs. Shareworks at a glance
| Decision point | Carta | Shareworks |
|---|---|---|
| Best first evaluation | Formation through growth companies that want cap-table, fundraising, valuation, compliance, and later-stage tools in a published package ladder. | Companies that need mature plan administration, global workflows, participant services, financial reporting, or private-company liquidity. |
| Pricing visibility | Eligible Launch tier is free; paid packages use package, stakeholder-count, minimum-fee, and add-on pricing. | No public list price on the official product pages reviewed; request a scoped quote. |
| Cap table and modeling | Core cap-table workflows plus SAFE modeling; higher packages add priced-round modeling, deal closings, and exit modeling. | Real-time cap table, customizable reporting, and modeling for financing rounds, management carve-outs, exits, grants, and expenses. |
| 409A and reporting | Grow and Scale list 409A valuations and audit support; Scale adds ASC 718, IFRS, and related audit support. | Private-company offering includes 409A services and financial reporting with audit trails, expense allocation, and scenario modeling. |
| Global and participant scope | Confirm jurisdiction, mobility, withholding, payroll, language, and service coverage in the quote. | Highlights global plans, tax-rule tracking, HRIS data sharing, equity education, and participant-facing tools. |
| Liquidity | Offers liquidity and IPO advisory within the broader private-company suite. | Offers controlled secondary transactions and company-led events including repurchases, distributions, M&A, and other liquidity programs. |
| Main diligence risk | Package and add-on boundaries can make the paid total differ materially from the free-tier impression. | Broad scope and custom pricing make it essential to separate software, services, transaction, reporting, and implementation costs. |
1. Compare the operating model before the feature list
Carta's package structure maps recognizable startup milestones to progressively broader scope. Launch covers core cap-table and securities workflows for eligible companies. Build adds priced-round modeling and deal workflows. Grow adds board meetings, Form 3921, 409A valuations, and audit support. Scale adds financial reporting, Rule 701 management, exit modeling, IPO advisory, and admin SSO.
Shareworks presents a different buying motion. Its private-company pages connect cap-table management with equity administration, financial reporting, global intelligence, 409A services, and liquidity. That can be valuable when Finance, Legal, HR, Payroll, and employee-support teams are all part of the operating model—but only if the proposal clearly identifies who owns each workflow.
2. Normalize the quote into a three-year cost
Carta publishes the boundaries of its free Launch tier but requires a quote for paid packages. It says paid pricing is based on the package and number of stakeholders, with a minimum annual fee and optional add-ons. Shareworks does not publish a price on the product pages reviewed.
Ask both vendors to quote the same stakeholder forecast, jurisdictions, award types, annual grant volume, HRIS and payroll connections, 409A cadence, financial-reporting requirements, audit support, liquidity scenarios, participant service, data conversion, implementation, and renewal term. Separate recurring software from professional and transaction services.
Price the post-financing and post-hiring cap table. Today's stakeholder count is almost always the wrong denominator for a growth-company decision.
3. Test the accounting and global edge cases
Shareworks describes audit-ready financial reporting with real-time expense allocation, adjustable reporting templates, period snapshots, and scenario modeling. Its equity-administration materials also highlight a sandbox for grants and expense forecasts, jurisdictional tax-rate tracking, and real-time collaboration.
Carta's Scale package lists ASC 718/US GAAP reporting, IFRS reporting, audit support, Rule 701 management, and exit modeling. The page-level comparison is insufficient: require each vendor to produce the same sample expense roll-forward, forfeiture treatment, modification, cost-center allocation, mobility scenario, and audit trail from representative data.
4. Treat liquidity as a transaction, not a checkbox
Morgan Stanley at Work describes controlled secondary transactions and company-led events such as dividend payouts, distributions, terminated-employee repurchases, mergers and acquisitions. It also emphasizes a single digital workflow from sale through settlement. Carta describes liquidity and IPO advisory as part of its private-company suite.
If liquidity is within the planning horizon, test eligibility rules, seller and buyer onboarding, approvals, communications, tender mechanics, tax documents, funds flow, settlement, cap-table updates, broker-dealer roles, support responsibilities, and transaction fees. Have counsel and advisers confirm the structure; the platform does not make a transaction compliant by itself.
5. Reconcile the legal source of truth before migration
Neither platform can prove that an imported spreadsheet is correct. Build a security-level transaction ledger that ties every issuance, grant, exercise, transfer, repurchase, cancellation, conversion, and amendment to its approval and governing document. Reconcile authorized, issued, outstanding, reserved, and fully diluted shares by class.
Then compare platform totals to the ledger, obtain counsel sign-off on unresolved exceptions, and delay stakeholder invitations until the reconstructed record is approved. A clean interface can amplify a bad ownership record just as quickly as a spreadsheet.
Run this eight-part real-data pilot
- Reconstruct the source record. Index charter documents, approvals, agreements, SAFEs, notes, grants, exercises, transfers, repurchases, and cancellations.
- Load the same cap table. Track every manual correction, assumption, exception, and vendor-assisted change.
- Process a grant lifecycle. Test approval, grant, acceptance, vesting, exercise, termination, cancellation, and amendment.
- Model the next financing. Include conversions, pro rata, option-pool expansion, new money, ownership, and dilution.
- Run accounting edge cases. Test expense allocation, forfeiture, modification, mobility, audit trail, and period reporting.
- Test participant service. Review portal clarity, education, support routing, identity changes, and restricted-data controls.
- Simulate a liquidity event. Walk through eligibility, communication, approvals, settlement, tax outputs, and cap-table updates.
- Export the exit package. Require usable ledgers, documents, transaction history, reports, and migration files before signing.
Recommendation by operating profile
Startup-to-scale continuity
You value an eligible free starting point, defined package progression, fundraising workflows, integrated 409A, and a visible path into compliance and IPO readiness.
Global administration depth
You need a mature stock-plan program spanning multiple teams or jurisdictions, participant education, complex financial reporting, or structured private-company liquidity.
Pre-IPO or transaction complexity
Your decision involves audited reporting, international mobility, unusual securities, a tender offer, or a migration where the source record contains material exceptions.
Compare equity tools in context.
Use the rules-based matcher or browse the Equity directory when cap-table software is one piece of a wider finance stack. Vendors cannot pay for a higher position.
Frequently asked questions
Is Carta or Shareworks better for a private company?
Carta is the clearer first evaluation for an early-stage or growth company that wants a published package ladder, an eligible free tier, integrated fundraising workflows, 409A valuations, and a path into later-stage compliance. Shareworks is the stronger first evaluation when the buying problem centers on global stock-plan administration, complex reporting, participant education, or private-company liquidity. The right answer depends on the next two years of equity events, not company size alone.
How much do Carta and Shareworks cost?
Carta Launch is free for eligible companies with up to 25 stakeholders and no more than $1 million raised. Carta's paid price depends on package, stakeholder count, minimum annual fee, and add-ons. Morgan Stanley does not publish a Shareworks price on the product pages reviewed, so buyers need a scope-specific quote that separates implementation, administration, reporting, valuations, participant services, transactions, and support.
Do Carta and Shareworks both support 409A valuations?
Yes. Carta lists 409A valuations and valuation audit support in its Grow and Scale packages. Morgan Stanley at Work lists 409A valuation services among its private-company solutions. Buyers should compare the engagement terms, turnaround, material-event coverage, audit support, data requirements, and pricing rather than treating 409A as a binary feature.
Can either platform replace legal, tax, or accounting advice?
No. Equity software can maintain configured records and workflows, but it cannot establish that the underlying grants, approvals, securities documents, tax elections, valuations, and transaction terms are legally or financially correct. Qualified advisers should validate the source records and material events.
Method and limitations
This guide compares official public pricing and product documentation reviewed on September 30, 2026. It does not rely on vendor payment, private demonstrations, customer-review averages, or claimed hands-on experience. Shareworks is used here as the familiar product name; Morgan Stanley notes that its stock-plan accounts were previously referred to as Shareworks, StockPlan Connect, or E*TRADE stock plan accounts, as applicable. Pricing, product names, services, jurisdiction coverage, and package scope can change. Verify the signed proposal and consult qualified legal, tax, and accounting advisers.
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