Cake vs. Pulley

Pulley is shutting down. Cake is the top-rated alternative.

Cake has all the features you had with Pulley, and more.
Cake is here for the long haul. Cake has all the features you had with Pulley, a user interface you'll actually use, and customer support that shows up. Learn more.
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Get in early, beat the rush.

We're migrating Pulley users every day. Don't wait until the last minute!
Today
Sept 16Shutdown announced
Nov 30Decision deadline
Dec 8Pulley shutdown

Fast, accurate, and free migration.

Human in the loop migration included with every Cake plan.
1
Upload your cap table.
Accurate data matching.
2
A human reviews it.
Optional free call.
3
See your cap table.
Review it before you pay.
Why Choose Cake over pulley

Founders and finance teams choose Cake.

Whether you're setting up your first cap table or migrating from another platform, Cake is built for where you are today and everything that comes next.
Get startedBook a demo

Self-serve, right now.

Easier to setup and use.
Unlike Pulley, you don't need to wait for a demo to get started with Cake. You can sign up, upload your cap table yourself, and if you ever get stuck, you can access our free migration support.
"I signed up and tested it out for myself. I was able to migrate everything over myself without any help from Cake staff. Enough said, I was sold."
— JOSH M, Founder & CEO, 🇺🇸 California

Startup-friendly pricing.

Start free, take it for a spin.
Scale later and add features as needed. Annual discounts and quarterly plans (on PRO) are available.
"We wanted more value for our money. So we tried Cake and, the delightful surprise was, it was a better product. We saved money with a better product."
— TOM H, Co-Founder & CFO, 🇺🇸 California

Support that shows up.

Human interaction, US time zones.
Rated higher than Pulley on G2 for Quality of Support, Customer Relations, Product Direction and Partnership.
"I have been using Cake over a year now. The support I get from Elin and team is one of the best support I've received for a product in a while!"
— ALCIDES A, Co-Founder & COO, 🇺🇸 San Francisco

Trusted by US experts and firms.

US law firms, finance firms, and VCs trust Cake.
Take it from our growing community of US partners and firms who share our mission to make equity simple.
"As a US attorney, our partnership with Cake has been invaluable in guiding clients through cap tables and equity incentive plans seamlessly."
— MATT S, Partner at Taft Law,  🇺🇸 Cleveland, Ohio

On the ground with you.

A growing community in LA, SF, NY, and all over US.
Thousands of founders, CFOs, and attorneys navigating equity together. And a team of experts that know your market, your regulations, and in your timezone.
Connect with us
Cake's key features

From cap table accuracy, to compliance-readiness, to culture.

Each feature built to keep your cap table clean and accurate, from seed to scale.
Manage your growing cap table.
Cake scales with you. FREE to start for smaller teams, with tools that will take you from seed to Series A and beyond.
Know more
Get ready for your next raise.
Run the scenarios. Model the dilution. Cake gives you the tools to walk into your next raise knowing exactly where you stand.
Know more
Stay compliant and audit-ready.
409A, 83(b), Form 3921, ASC 718,  QSBS, all built in. Keep your compliance docs accurate and get notified of important due dates.
Know more
An equity app designed for teams.
The My Cake app shows your team what their equity is worth, and why it matters, with built-in education, aligning their life goals with yours.
Know more
Based From Actual Customer reviews

Cake vs. Pulley, at a glance

See Cake vs Pulley on G2
*Based on G2's live Cake vs Pulley Comparison Report, and G2 Fall Report 2026
Pulley is shutting down and going offline on Dec. 8. If you're here to switch, see this page for more details.
In a nutshell

Cake is rated higher, free to start, and scales better with mid-market companies.

Of all Pulley competitors, Cake is rated highest. Cake and Pulley ratings look close at a glance, 4.8/5 versus 4.7/5. Break it down by market segment and category, and you'll see where they actually differ.
Rating
4.8/5
136
4.7/5
135
Entry-level pricing
FREE
$1200
Market segments
Small business 84.8%
Mid-market 15.5%
Small business 92.7%
Mid-market 5.6%
G2 Categories

Cake is ahead of Pulley in most shared categories*.

In a race among top Equity Management platforms, G2 users rated Cake higher than Pulley in most categories.

In practice, this means a more efficient equity management workflows, a product that keeps iterating to support your growing needs, and a support team that shows up when it counts.
Ease of use
9.2
123
9.1
91
Ease of setup
9.2
90
8.9
82
Ease of admin
9.2
63
9.1
67
Quality of support
9.8
89
9.6
78
Good partnership
9.6
64
9.5
62
Product direction
9.7
92
9.2
74
Breaking it down

Cake vs. Pulley

Pulley is shutting down and going offline on Dec. 8. If you're here to switch, see this page for more details.
Pricing
Flexible, startup-friendly pricing
  1. Free for the first 5 stakeholders.
  2. Build Plan starts at $1,000, Team Plan at $2,750.
  3. Annual discounts available on all plans. Quarterly option for PRO customers.
  4. Add stakeholders as you grow, with straightforward pricing beyond your plan.
  5. Add-on features and reports as needed.
Fixed annual tiers
  1. 7-day free trial if migrating from Carta.
  2. Starter Plan starts at $1,200, Growth Plan at $3,500.
  3. Fixed annual tiers, no flexible pricing options.
Support
Designed to support founders, finance experts, and startup teams
  1. Email, chat support, and power-up calls.
  2. Dedicated Slack channels for higher tiers.
  3. Employee Q&A sessions, free, available upon request.
  4. Rated higher than Pulley for Quality of Support and Product Direction.
Designed for founders and finance teams
  1. Phone, email, and chat support.
Migration and onboarding
Self-serve option available, or migration done for you in as fast as 48 hours*
  1. Option to self-serve and get started immediately. Follow the prompts and upload your cap table yourself.
  2. Free migration support available, whether you're transitioning from a spreadsheet or another platform.
  3. Rated higher than Pulley for Ease of Setup and Quality of Support.
*Most cap tables can be migrated within 2-5 days. Timing depends on how complex your cap table.
Migration in 3-5 days
  1. No option to self-serve, everyone goes through a demo process.
  2. Migrate within 3-5 days.
409A Valuation
Audit-ready 409As prepared by integrated valuators
  1. Team Plan includes two 409As.
  2. Delivered within 3 business days.
  3. 1:1 consultation with our integrated valuation expert.
  4. Option to add-on a 409A Valuation report on lower tier plan, any time, as needed.
Valuations by in-house experts, included in higher-tier plan
  1. Growth Plan includes two 409As.
  2. Delivered within 3-5 days.
  3. Dedicated specialist.
Equity Compliance
Built-in US compliance
  1. 83(b)
  2. 3921 Reporting
  3. ASC 718
  4. Rule 701
  5. QSBS Attestation
US compliance support
  1. 83(b)
  2. Rule 701
  3. 3921
  4. ASC 718
Equity Incentive Plans
Built-in US equity structure
  1. NSO and ISO
  2. RSU and RSA
  3. Employee Stock Options
  4. Warrants
  5. Custom Vesting
  6. Grant Agreement templates
  7. Equity benchmarking
US equity plan support
  1. NSO, ISO, RSU, RSA, ESOP
  2. Warrants
  3. Custom vesting
Equity Management
Focus on founders, finance experts, and teams
  1. Designed to help founders hire, educate, and motivate talent with equity ownership.
  2. Customizable vesting engine with built-in notifications that keep employees informed.
  3. Digital signing and contract management.
  4. Portfolio management, tools, and calculators for investors.
  5. My Cake
Strong focus on finance leaders
  1. Designed to help founders and finance leaders manage equity
Capital Raise
Tools that support and simulate your raise.
  1. SAFEs/Convertibles, ready-made templates, stacking, workflows, digital signing.
  2. Scenario modeling for priced rounds and dilution comparisons.
  3. Pre-money and post-money scenarios.
  4. Option pool top-ups.
  5. Investor communications.
Tools to simulate raise.
  1. SAFE stacking and dilution, round and waterfall modeling, pre-money and post-money scenarios.
Philosophy
Equity that motivates
  1. Our mission is to help founders and teams unlock equity ownership as a performance driver. We believe in transparency, fairness, and the idea that every builder should be an owner.
Equity management for founders and finance leaders
  1. Pulley’s mission is to make it easy for startup founders and finance leaders to manage equity.
Trust factors
Highly rated by US founders and teams from a wider range of growth
  1. Loved by hundreds of Carta switchers.
  2. G2 Category Leader (2026) in Equity Management. Rated higer than Pulley for most equity management categories, Ease of Setup, Ease of Admin, Ease of Use, Quality of Support, Partnership, and Product Direction.
Great for early-stage founders and finance teams
  1. Rated well by small businesses according to G2 reviewers.
Market focus
US-focused, and loved by a growing community of US startup founders and leaders
  1. Thousands of US-based customers from all stages of growth
  2. Hundreds of community partners across legal, accounting, and VCs.
  3. A growing community presence in LA, SF, Denver, Austin, and NYC.
    Join our next in-person event!
Great for early-stage founders and finance teams
  1. Has a great repuation in the YC ecosystem and leans early-stage according to G2 reviewers.
Cake vs Pulley Pricing
Flexible, startup-friendly pricing
  1. FREE for the first 5 stakeholders.
  2. Build Plan starts at $1,000, Team Plan at $2,750.
  3. Annual discounts available on all plans. Quarterly option for PRO customers.
  4. Add stakeholders as you grow, with straightforward pricing beyond your plan.
  5. Add-on features and reports as needed.
Fixed annual tiers
  1. 7-day free trial if migrating from Carta.
  2. Starter Plan starts at $1,200, Growth Plan at $3,500.
  3. Fixed annual tiers, no flexible pricing options.
Support
Designed to support founders, finance experts, and startup teams
  1. Email, chat support, and power-up calls.
  2. Dedicated Slack channels for higher tiers.
  3. Employee Q&A sessions, free, available upon request.
  4. Rated higher than Pulley for Quality of Support and Product Direction.
Designed for founders and finance teams
  1. Phone, email, and chat support.
Migration and onboarding
Self-serve option available, or migration done for you in as fast as 48 hours*
  1. Option to self-serve and get started immediately. Follow the prompts and upload your cap table yourself.
  2. Free migration support, whether you're transitioning from a spreadsheet or another platform.
  3. Rated higher than Pulley for Ease of Setup and Quality of Support.
*Most cap tables can be migrated within 2-5 days. Timing depends on how complex your cap table is.
Migration in 3-5 days
  1. No option to self-serve, everyone goes through a demo process.
  2. Migrate within 3-5 days.
409A Valuation
Audit-ready 409As prepared by integrated valuators
  1. Team Plan includes two 409As.
  2. Delivered within 3 business days.
  3. 1:1 consultation with our integrated valuation expert.
  4. Option to add-on a 409A Valuation report on lower tier plan, any time, as needed.
Valuations by in-house experts, included in higher-tier plan
  1. Growth Plan includes two 409As.
  2. Delivered within 3-5 days.
  3. Dedicated specialist.
Equity Compliance
Built-in US compliance
  1. 83(b)
  2. 3921 Reporting
  3. ASC 718
  4. Rule 701
  5. QSBS Attestation
US compliance support
  1. 83(b)
  2. 3921
  3. ASC 718
  4. Rule 701
Equity Incentive Plans
Built-in US equity structure
  1. NSO and ISO
  2. RSU and RSA
  3. Employee Stock Options
  4. Warrants
  5. Custom and milestone vesting
  6. Grant Agreement templates
  7. Equity benchmarking
US equity plan support
  1. NSO, ISO, RSU, RSA, ESOP
  2. Warrants
  3. Custom vesting
Equity Management
Focus on founders, finance experts, and teams
  1. Designed to help founders hire, educate, and motivate talent with equity ownership.
  2. Customizable vesting engine with built-in notifications that keep employees informed.
  3. Digital signing and contract management.
  4. Portfolio management, tools, and calculators for investors.
  5. My Cake
Strong focus on finance leaders
  1. Designed to help founders and finance leaders manage equity
Capital Raise
Tools that support and simulate your raise.
  1. SAFEs/Convertibles, ready-made templates, stacking, workflows, digital signing.
  2. Scenario modeling for priced rounds and dilution comparisons.
  3. Pre-money and post-money scenarios.
  4. Option pool top-ups.
  5. Investor communications.
Tools to simulate raise.
  1. SAFE stacking and dilution, round and waterfall modeling, pre-money and post-money scenarios.
Philosophy
Equity that motivates
  1. Our mission is to help founders and teams unlock equity ownership as a performance driver. We believe in transparency, fairness, and the idea that every builder should be an owner.
Equity management for founders and finance leaders
  1. Pulley’s mission is to make it easy for startup founders and finance leaders to manage equity.
Trust factors
Highly rated by US founders and teams from a wider range of growth
  1. Loved by hundreds of Carta switchers.
  2. G2 Category Leader (2026) in Equity Management. Rated higer than Pulley for most equity management categories, Ease of Setup, Ease of Admin, Ease of Use, Quality of Support, Partnership, and Product Direction.
Great for early-stage founders and finance teams
  1. Rated well by small businesses according to G2 reviewers.
Market focus
US-focused, and loved by a growing community of US startup founders and leaders
  1. Thousands of US-based customers from all stages of growth
  2. Hundreds of community partners across legal, accounting, and VCs.
  3. A growing community presence in LA, SF, Denver, Austin, and NYC.
    Join our next in-person event!
Great for early-stage founders and finance teams
  1. Has a great repuation in the YC ecosystem and leans early-stage according to G2 reviewers.

Take it from users who have switched to Cake.

"Cost wasn't the primary driver for us. But Cake costs significantly less than Carta. So when it's basically ahead on all those features, it was a no-brainer decision for us to choose to move to Cake."
Dave Christianson
Legal Counsel, Tracksuit
🇺🇸
New York
"Emphasis on the user experience for shareholders! Far more user friendly than Carta. I also enjoy the company updates that are pushed to all shareholders."
Ron Pragides
VP of Engineering,
Blackhawk Network
🇺🇸
California
"Keep doing what you are doing! I was a former Carta user. Happy to have left them :-)"
Joe Gagnon
Founder & CEO, Raynmaker.ai
🇺🇸
Colorado
"When you have an issue with Carta, you need to call them and it gets escalated to multiple people and it takes days to get stuff done. With Cake, I have access to my own rep, I can book meetings with them, and they get things done within hours."
Julien D
Co-founder & CEO, Codiga
🇺🇸
Colorado
"My onboarding process was personalized, fast, and supportive. The system is easier to use than Carta. It has all the features I need."
Ray Thompson
Head of Ops, Gloo
🇺🇸
Colorado
"During migration, I spoke to your customer service every day, maybe twice a day. And they were on the phone. They were helpful."
Sonny Thadani
Founder & CEO, Robin
🇺🇸
New York
"I previously used Carta, and as market leaders, they seem to have gotten a bit complacent. Cake feels like the next generation—much more dynamic and attentive to user needs."
Christoph Dressel
CEO, Mimo.fit
🇺🇸
California
"We saved money with a better product."
Tom Hakel
Founder & CFO, CXO Strategies
🇺🇸
California
"Better Carta with real customer support. Simpler, easier usability. Great support. Very happy I switched!"
Griffin Hermes
Principal, Pegasus Angel Accelerator
🇺🇸
San Francisco
"I signed up and tested it out for myself. I was able to migrate everything over myself in two days without any help from Cake staff. Enough said, I was sold."
Josh Marris
Founder & CEO, Chipd
🇺🇸
California

More love from Cake users

Know more about why fast-growing startups love Cake!
Frequently Asked QUestions

Your questions about how Cake compares to Pulley, answered.

Need help? Visit the Help center

How does Cake's pricing compared to Pulley?

Cake has a free plan for the first 5 stakeholders. Pulley offers a 7-day free trial, only if you're switching from Carta. Otherwise, Pulley's entry-level plan is a paid, fixed annual plan from day one.

Cake's starter plan starts at $1,000 per year, Pulley starts at $1,200. Both platforms bundle 409A valuations at their higher tier, where Cake is priced at $2,750 p/year and Pulley at $3,500 p/y. Cake offers a standalone 409A add-on to its starter tier, while Pulley's 409A is only available bundled into their higher-tier plan.
See Cake's current rates and inclusions

How does Cake compare to both Pulley and Carta?

On G2, Cake holds the highest overall rating at 4.8. Pulley comes close at 4.7 and Carta 4.4. Pulley's reviewer base skews more toward small businesses, while Cake carries a strong small-business presence too and reaches further into mid-market. Pulley also leans heavily toward YC portfolio companies, while Cake has expanded into a broader range of companies across seed, Series A and B growth stages. Carta, meanwhile, serves later-stage and enterprise companies.

Is Cake or Pulley better for growth-stage companies?

Both platforms serve early-stage and growth-stage startups well. However, based on G2 data, Cake reaches further into the growth stage: 15.5% of Cake's G2 reviewers are mid-market companies, versus 5.6% for Pulley, whose base skews more toward small businesses.

Is migration to Cake free?

Yes. Cake's migration experts transfer your cap table at no cost, whether you're moving from Pulley, Carta, or a spreadsheet. Cake's upload tools prepare your cap table data and our team reconciles every row for accuracy before you go live. You can also self-serve the migration yourself if you'd rather move at your own pace.

Does Cake or Pulley offer QSBS attestation?

Cake offers QSBS attestation letter as an add-on. Pulley does not currently offer QSBS attestation.

Is Cake designed for US-based companies?

Yes. Cake has a US-based team in LA, and the platform covers US compliance requirements including 409A, 83(b), Form 3921, ASC 718, and QSBS. More than 10,000 startups use Cake, with community presence in LA, SF, Denver, Austin, and NYC.

Clean cap table.

Confident raise.

Motivated team.

Join over 10,000 companies already on Cake.
Get startedBook a demo
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