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Accounting · head to head

Carta vs Cledara

Carta logo

Carta

Accounting

Cap table, equity and 409A valuation software built around United States private company practice

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Cledara logo

Cledara

Accounting

Software subscription management with a virtual card per application, priced from £100 a month

From
£100/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Carta pricing scales with the number of stakeholders on the cap table, so a company that grants options broadly pays a rising annual fee for employees and small angels who sign in once a year, and the cost keeps climbing after the round that justified it is spent.; Cledara control only extends to subscriptions paid on a Cledara card, so anything billed by invoice, bank transfer or a legacy company card is invisible to the system and undermines the inventory it promises.
  • They diverge on capability: Carta covers Cap table of record, Cledara covers Virtual card per subscription.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Carta and Cledara actually diverge.

Attributes where Carta and Cledara differ
AttributeCartaCledara
Starting price$29/month£100/month
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer month by number of applications
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidWeb
Founded2012Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Accounting).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Carta

  • Cap table of record
  • 409A valuations
  • Electronic issuance
  • Vesting and exercise
  • Employee portal
  • Scenario modelling
  • Waterfall analysis
  • ASC 718 expense reporting

Only in Cledara

  • Virtual card per subscription
  • Cancel by card
  • Application inventory
  • Approval workflow
  • Invoice collection
  • Accounting export
  • Spend optimisation module
  • IT management and compliance modules

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Carta

  • A startup that has just closed a priced round and whose investors and counsel expect the cap table to live somewhere they can read itnot Cledara
  • A company issuing options to employees for the first time and needing a defensible 409A before it can set a strike pricenot Cledara
  • A finance team preparing its first audit and needing ASC 718 stock compensation schedules that tie to the grant recordsnot Cledara
  • A venture fund that wants LP reporting, capital calls and SPV administration handled outside a spreadsheetnot Cledara

Cledara

  • A finance team that cannot say what software the company pays for because everything is on three people's company cardsnot Carta
  • A company that keeps paying for tools nobody uses and cannot get the vendor to process a cancellationnot Carta
  • A startup wanting approval on new software purchases before the first charge rather than at the auditnot Carta
  • A finance function that spends days each month chasing SaaS invoices for the accountantnot Carta

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Carta

  • Pricing scales with the number of stakeholders on the cap table, so a company that grants options broadly pays a rising annual fee for employees and small angels who sign in once a year, and the cost keeps climbing after the round that justified it is spent.
  • The cap table is a legal record assembled from years of board consents, so migrating to another provider means re-entering historical transactions and having counsel confirm the rebuilt table matches the signed documents, which is why most companies stay whatever they think of the service.
  • The product is built around United States company law and tax practice, Delaware entities, 409A and ASC 718, so a company incorporated in the United Kingdom, Europe or elsewhere gets a record keeping tool while the valuation and compliance features that carry the price are of limited or no use.
  • 409A valuations are delivered on a cadence and require a refresh after each material event or every twelve months, so a company that raises or changes materially is repeatedly back in a valuation process with fees and turnaround time attached, and a late valuation blocks option issuance.
  • Carta drew sustained criticism in 2024 over how customer cap table data intersected with its secondary trading business, and although it exited that activity the episode is a live reason to check what a vendor holding your ownership record is permitted to do with it.

Cledara

  • Control only extends to subscriptions paid on a Cledara card, so anything billed by invoice, bank transfer or a legacy company card is invisible to the system and undermines the inventory it promises.
  • Tier limits are set by number of applications rather than headcount, and twenty applications on the Basic plan is fewer than most companies of fifty actually run, so buyers often land on a higher tier than the entry price suggests.
  • The modules that turn it from a payment layer into a management platform, spend optimisation, IT management and compliance, are each priced at £150 to £200 a month, comparable to the base plan itself.
  • Usage data is inferred from payment and integration signals rather than deep application telemetry, so its judgement of whether a tool is underused is weaker than a discovery product built on single sign-on and API usage.
  • It is a card issuer as well as a software vendor, which adds financial counterparty considerations and means a change in its banking arrangements would affect how the company pays every one of its suppliers.

Pricing, plan by plan

Carta

$29/month
  • LaunchFree
    • Cap table
    • Stakeholder management
  • Seed$360/year
    • 409A valuations
    • Option exercising
    • Scenarios

Cledara

£100/month
  • Basic$100/month
    • Up to 20 software applications
    • Virtual card per subscription
    • Application inventory and approvals
  • Premium$undefined/month
    • Up to 75 software applications
    • Typically 51 to 150 staff
    • 1% cashback in the first year, capped at the subscription cost
  • Pro$undefined/month
    • For organisations above roughly 150 staff
    • Scoped individually
    • 1% cashback in the first year, capped at plan cost
  • Add-on modules$200/month
    • Spend Optimization £200 a month or £1,500 a year
    • IT Management £150 a month or £1,500 a year
    • Software Compliance £150 a month or £1,500 a year

Which should you pick?

Choose Carta if

  • You need cap table of record.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want 409a valuations.
Carta review

Choose Cledara if

  • You need virtual card per subscription.
  • You also want cancel by card.
Cledara review

Questions people ask

Is Carta or Cledara better?
Neither clearly leads. Carta starts at $29/month and Cledara at £100/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Carta or Cledara?
Carta starts at $29/month and Cledara at £100/month.
Does Carta or Cledara run on more platforms?
Carta runs on Web, Ios, Android. Cledara runs on Web.
What is Carta best used for?
Carta is most often used for a startup that has just closed a priced round and whose investors and counsel expect the cap table to live somewhere they can read it, a company issuing options to employees for the first time and needing a defensible 409a before it can set a strike price, a finance team preparing its first audit and needing asc 718 stock compensation schedules that tie to the grant records, a venture fund that wants lp reporting, capital calls and spv administration handled outside a spreadsheet. Of those, a startup that has just closed a priced round and whose investors and counsel expect the cap table to live somewhere they can read it and a company issuing options to employees for the first time and needing a defensible 409a before it can set a strike price are not what Cledara is typically brought in for.
What can Carta do that Cledara cannot?
Carta covers Cap table of record, 409A valuations, Electronic issuance, Vesting and exercise. Cledara covers Virtual card per subscription, Cancel by card, Application inventory, Approval workflow.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Carta: Do I need Carta before I have employees with options?

No. Before options exist a spreadsheet reviewed by your lawyer is usually enough. The pressure to move normally comes at a priced round, or the first time you need a 409A to set a strike price.

Cledara: What does it cost?

Basic is £100 a month for up to 20 applications, with Premium covering up to 75 and Pro above that. Add-on modules are £150 to £200 a month each, and annual payment saves 16%.

Carta: Is the 409A included in the subscription?

The subscription tiers bundle valuations differently and refreshes after material events can carry additional cost. Check what triggers a chargeable revaluation before you sign, because raising a round is exactly the moment you will need one.

Cledara: Does it find software we did not tell it about?

Only what passes through its cards or connected integrations. Subscriptions paid by invoice or another card stay hidden, which is the main limitation of the model.

Carta: Can my accountant get the stock compensation numbers out of it?

Yes, it produces ASC 718 expense schedules and exports. If your accounts are prepared under a different framework, expect the schedules to be a starting point that your accountant reworks rather than something they post directly.

Cledara: How does cancelling work?

You cancel the virtual card for that subscription, which stops the payment. It does not remove your contractual obligation, so check notice periods.

Carta: Is it useful for a company outside the United States?

It can hold the share register and grants, and it does support some non United States structures. The 409A and United States tax workflow will not apply to you, so weigh it against local alternatives that understand your filings.

Cledara: Is the application limit by users or by tools?

By tools. Twenty on Basic, seventy-five on Premium. Count your actual subscriptions before assuming the entry price applies to you.

Carta: How hard is it to leave?

Harder than the export button suggests. You can export the data, but the receiving system has to reproduce every historical grant, cancellation and transfer, and someone has to verify the result against the original signed consents.

Carta: Who normally pays for it, the company or the investors?

The company, even though investors and counsel are frequent users. That is the usual complaint about the pricing model: the party paying is not the only party benefiting.

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