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Accounting · head to head

Carta vs Medius Expense

Carta logo

Carta

Accounting

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

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Medius Expense logo

Medius Expense

Accounting

Expense management, formerly Expensya, now the expense module of the Medius spend platform

From
On request
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.; Medius Expense the Expensya name is being retired, so contracts, logins and support articles change identity mid-relationship and internal documentation has to be rewritten.
  • They diverge on capability: Carta covers Cap table of record, Medius Expense covers Receipt OCR.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Carta and Medius Expense actually diverge.

Attributes where Carta and Medius Expense differ
AttributeCartaMedius Expense
Starting price$29/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
Founded2012Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), platforms (Web, Ios, Android), 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 Medius Expense

  • Receipt OCR
  • Mileage and per diem
  • VAT recovery
  • Card reconciliation
  • Approval workflows
  • AP suite integration

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

Medius Expense

  • A French or Spanish employer needing VAT-compliant receipt capture in local formats and languagesnot Carta
  • A company already running Medius for supplier invoices that wants employee spend on the same platformnot Carta
  • A finance team with heavy mileage claims needing statutory rates applied without spreadsheetsnot Carta
  • A group consolidating several country expense tools into one European platformnot 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.

Medius Expense

  • The Expensya name is being retired, so contracts, logins and support articles change identity mid-relationship and internal documentation has to be rewritten.
  • It is now a module inside an accounts payable suite, so expense-specific roadmap items compete with supplier invoice work for engineering time.
  • Pricing is not published and is discounted against bundling with Medius AP, which makes standalone expense quotes less competitive than they look.
  • Strength is concentrated in Europe and the Maghreb; North American and Asian tax and mileage handling are thinner than the European coverage.
  • It does not issue cards, so real-time spend controls are absent and it relies on card feed reconciliation after the fact.

Pricing, plan by plan

Carta

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

Medius Expense

On request
  • Medius Expense$undefined/year
    • Per-user subscription, quoted not published
    • Tiering by feature set and entity count
    • Implementation and OCR configuration fees

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 Medius Expense if

  • You need receipt ocr.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want mileage and per diem.
Medius Expense review

Questions people ask

Is Carta or Medius Expense better?
Neither clearly leads. Carta starts at $29/month and Medius Expense at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Carta or Medius Expense?
Carta starts at $29/month and Medius Expense at On request.
Does Carta or Medius Expense run on more platforms?
Carta runs on Web, Ios, Android. Medius Expense runs on Web, iOS, Android.
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 Medius Expense is typically brought in for.
What can Carta do that Medius Expense cannot?
Carta covers Cap table of record, 409A valuations, Electronic issuance, Vesting and exercise. Medius Expense covers Receipt OCR, Mileage and per diem, VAT recovery, Card reconciliation.

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.

Medius Expense: Is Expensya still available?

Under that name, no. The product continues as Medius Expense, with the branding cutover on 30 September 2026 and no change to features or data.

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.

Medius Expense: Do I have to buy Medius AP as well?

No, but the commercial terms improve materially if you do, which is worth testing during negotiation.

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.

Medius Expense: Does it issue corporate cards?

No. It reconciles existing card feeds rather than issuing its own cards.

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.

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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