Is Carta or freee better?

Neither clearly leads. Carta starts at $29/month and freee at 980/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Carta or freee?

Carta starts at $29/month and freee at 980/month.

Does Carta or freee run on more platforms?

Carta runs on Web, Ios, Android. freee 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 freee is typically brought in for.

What can Carta do that freee cannot?

Carta covers Cap table of record, 409A valuations, Electronic issuance, Vesting and exercise.

Accounting · head to head

Carta vs freee

Carta

Accounting

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

From: $29/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

freee

Accounting

Japanese integrated cloud accounting software for sole proprietors and corporations

From: 980/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

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.; freee pricing varies significantly across multiple product categories and tiers
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Carta and freee actually diverge.

Attributes where Carta and freee differ
Attribute	Carta	freee
Starting price	$29/month	980/month
Platforms	Web, Ios, Android	Web
Founded	2012	Unknown

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), 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 freee

Nothing recorded that Carta does not also cover.

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 freee
A company issuing options to employees for the first time and needing a defensible 409A before it can set a strike pricenot freee
A finance team preparing its first audit and needing ASC 718 stock compensation schedules that tie to the grant recordsnot freee
A venture fund that wants LP reporting, capital calls and SPV administration handled outside a spreadsheetnot freee

freee

Filing Japanese tax documents electronically each yearnot Carta
Calculating payroll and year-end adjustments automaticallynot Carta
Creating opening documents without visiting tax officenot Carta
Tracking company expenses across departments centrallynot 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.

freee

Pricing varies significantly across multiple product categories and tiers
Some corporate tiers (Advance) reach ¥39,780+/month

Pricing, plan by plan

Carta

$29/month

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

freee

980/month

freee會計 Starter$980/month
- Individual business owner accounting tier
freee會計 Corporate Solo$2980/month
- Corporate accounting tier
freee人事労務$400/month per employee
- HR and payroll module per-employee pricing
freee勤怠管理$300/month per employee
- Attendance tracking per-employee

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 freee if

Nothing in the data separates freee from Carta on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

freee review

Questions people ask

Is Carta or freee better?: Neither clearly leads. Carta starts at $29/month and freee at 980/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Carta or freee?: Carta starts at $29/month and freee at 980/month.
Does Carta or freee run on more platforms?: Carta runs on Web, Ios, Android. freee 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 freee is typically brought in for.
What can Carta do that freee cannot?: Carta covers Cap table of record, 409A valuations, Electronic issuance, Vesting and exercise.

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.

freee: What is freee's accounting software pricing?

Individual business owners start at ¥980/month for Starter, while corporate accounting begins at ¥2,980/month for Solo Corp, with prices extending to ¥39,780+/month for Advance plans.

Source

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.

freee: Does freee charge per employee for HR and payroll?

Yes, freee人事労務 (HR/Payroll) costs ¥400-¥1,100 per employee per month, and freee勤怠管理 (Attendance) costs ¥300 per employee per month.

Source

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.

freee: Are there free freee products?

Several freee products are completely free, including freee開業 (Business Opening), freee請求書 (Invoicing), freeeカード (Card), and certain features like payroll rules creation.

Source

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.

freee: Does freee offer a free trial?

Freee offers a 30-day free trial for its accounting software and provides annual payment discounts on most plans.

Source

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.

Carta vs freee

Carta

freee

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Carta

Only in freee

What people use each for

Carta

freee

Where each one falls short

Carta

freee

Pricing, plan by plan

Carta

freee

Which should you pick?

Choose Carta if

Choose freee if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Carta

More on freee

Keep looking

Other head to heads