Is Carta or Empower better?

Neither clearly leads. Carta starts at $29/month and Empower at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Carta or Empower?

Carta starts at $29/month and Empower at $29/month.

Does Carta or Empower run on more platforms?

Both run on Web, Ios, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.

What is Carta best used for?

Carta is most often used for equity management, 409a valuations, fund administration. Of those, equity management and 409a valuations are not what Empower is typically brought in for.

What can Carta do that Empower cannot?

Carta covers Cap table management, 409A valuations, Equity plans, Investor reporting. Empower covers Net worth tracking, Investment tracking, Retirement planner, Cash flow. Both handle SOC 2, Bank-level encryption, Web support, Ios support.

Accounting & Finance · head to head

Carta vs Empower

Carta

Accounting & Finance

Equity management & valuations

From: $29/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

Empower

Accounting & Finance

All your finances. One app.

From: $29/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Carta free plan eligibility as captured 19 January 2024 was capped at companies with fewer than 25 stakeholders and less than $1M raised in funding; Empower empower's managed advisory tiers require a minimum of $100,000 in investable assets for Personal Strategy and $1,000,000 for Private Client, with exact advisory fee percentages deferred to the Form ADV filing rather than published on the site.
They diverge on capability: Carta covers Cap table management, Empower covers Net worth tracking.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Carta and Empower actually diverge.

Attributes where Carta and Empower differ
Attribute	Carta	Empower
Pricing model	subscription	freemium
Founded	2012	2009

Identical on both: starting price ($29/month), free tier (No), platforms (Web, Ios, Android), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Accounting & Finance).

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 management
409A valuations
Equity plans
Investor reporting
Fund administration
QuickBooks
Gusto
Slack

Only in Empower

Net worth tracking
Investment tracking
Retirement planner
Cash flow
401k fee analyzer
Bank connections
Brokerage accounts

Both cover

SOC 2
Bank-level encryption
Web support
Ios support
Android support

What people use each for

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

Carta

Equity managementnot Empower
409A valuationsnot Empower
Fund administrationnot Empower

Empower

Wealth trackingnot Carta
Retirement planningnot Carta
Investment analysisnot Carta

Where each one falls short

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

Carta

Free plan eligibility as captured 19 January 2024 was capped at companies with fewer than 25 stakeholders and less than $1M raised in funding

Empower

Empower's managed advisory tiers require a minimum of $100,000 in investable assets for Personal Strategy and $1,000,000 for Private Client, with exact advisory fee percentages deferred to the Form ADV filing rather than published on the site.

Pricing, plan by plan

Carta

$29/month

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

Empower

$29/month

Free ToolsFree
- Net worth tracking
- Cash flow
- Investment checkup
Wealth ManagementFree
- 0.89% AUM fee
- Dedicated advisor
- Tax optimization

Which should you pick?

Choose Carta if

You need cap table management.
You work on Web, Ios, Android.
You also want 409a valuations.

Carta review

Choose Empower if

You need net worth tracking.
You work on Web, Ios, Android.
You also want investment tracking.

Empower review

Questions people ask

Is Carta or Empower better?: Neither clearly leads. Carta starts at $29/month and Empower at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Carta or Empower?: Carta starts at $29/month and Empower at $29/month.
Does Carta or Empower run on more platforms?: Both run on Web, Ios, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is Carta best used for?: Carta is most often used for equity management, 409a valuations, fund administration. Of those, equity management and 409a valuations are not what Empower is typically brought in for.
What can Carta do that Empower cannot?: Carta covers Cap table management, 409A valuations, Equity plans, Investor reporting. Empower covers Net worth tracking, Investment tracking, Retirement planner, Cash flow. Both handle SOC 2, Bank-level encryption, Web support, Ios support.

Carta vs Empower

Carta

Empower

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Carta

Only in Empower

Both cover

What people use each for

Carta

Empower

Where each one falls short

Carta

Empower

Pricing, plan by plan

Carta

Empower

Which should you pick?

Choose Carta if

Choose Empower if

Questions people ask

Related pages

More on Carta

More on Empower

Keep looking

Other head to heads