Pulley Is Shutting Down (December 8, 2026): Carta Migration vs Alternatives, With Costs
Pulley is shutting down on December 8, 2026. Customers who want Carta's migration deal must opt in to sharing their details with Carta by November 30; Carta then honours the current Pulley price for the first full year and credits any unused prepaid Pulley balance. After December 8 the app is gone, and read-only access to your data ends on January 31, 2027. Pulley says it cannot help with a move to any other provider. If you stay with Carta, the open question is year 2: neither Pulley nor Carta has published what you will pay then. If you switch, Cake Equity, Eqvista, Qapita and EquityList all run Pulley switch offers, and J.P. Morgan's cap table tool is free up to 40 stakeholders.
The dates that matter
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| September 15, 2026 | Pulley announces the shutdown (its FAQ is dated September 15; some coverage says September 16) |
| November 30, 2026 | Last day to opt in to sharing contact and contract details with Carta to get the migration terms |
| December 8, 2026 | The Pulley app and support stop |
| January 31, 2027 | Limited, read-only access to your Pulley data ends |
Source: Pulley's own shutdown FAQ, read on October 12, 2026.
What the Carta deal covers, and what it does not
From Pulley's FAQ, in its own terms:
- Year-1 price match. "Your current Pulley pricing will be honored for your first full year on Carta," with a credit for any unused prepaid Pulley balance. The Carta agreement and its year-1 price start the day you sign, whenever the technical migration happens, and you have two weeks to sign once the agreement arrives.
- Opting in is not signing. Opting in only lets Pulley share your details with Carta; it "is not a contractual agreement to migrate to Carta."
- Your 409A carries over. Carta "can accept Pulley's existing 409A and FMV as-is" and will support the defence of Pulley's earlier 409A work.
- Monthly billing ends. Monthly Pulley customers move to annual or quarterly billing on Carta.
- Miss November 30 and you can still go to Carta, but on a new contract "that has no guaranteed pricing or credits applied."
What nobody has published is the year-2 price. Carta's pricing page lists a free Launch tier for up to 25 stakeholders and $1M raised, and "Contact sales" for its paid tiers. Vendr, which tracks software purchases, reports a median Carta contract of $15,450 a year across 406 purchases and a $3,000 to $8,000 band for companies under 50 stakeholders (reported by Vendr, read October 12, 2026). A Pulley Startup customer paid $1,200 a year, so ask Carta for the year-2 number in writing before you sign.
| Plan | Price (monthly / billed yearly) | For / limits |
|---|---|---|
| Launch | Free | Up to 25 stakeholders and $1M raised (pricing page); support FAQ: 'less than $1M raised and 25 stakeholders or fewer' |
| Build | Contact sales | Up to 50 stakeholders |
| Grow | Contact sales | |
| Scale | Contact sales | |
| Add-on: Liquidity, QSBS Attestation | Contact sales | Pricing page lists both as add-ons 'available with any paid plan'. |
| Estimate | median $15,450/yr (range $2,947-$55,413), 406 purchases | Page says 'Last updated: February 2026'; early-stage (<50 stakeholders) band $3,000-$8,000/yr. A same-day search snippet showed median $14,500 / 365 purchases, so the page is moving.; reported by Vendr |
| 409A | $2,000-$5,000 per valuation | Vendr estimate, not a Carta list price.; reported by Vendr |
Prices verified on carta.com/plans/equity-management on October 12, 2026.
Export your data now, whichever way you go
Pulley's FAQ gives no export procedure, but its help center (live today) does. An admin can download the cap table as Excel three ways: the green Download Cap Table button on the Dashboard, Cap Table > Download Cap Table, or Company > Reports > Detailed Cap Table. Untick "All Time" and enter an end date to export the table as of a specific date (Pulley help). The reports page also lists stakeholder, grant, exercise, vesting and stock-based compensation reports; most need admin access.
Save all of it before December 8, plus every signed document: grant letters, SAFEs and notes, board consents and your 409A reports. Two switching vendors (Cake Equity and EquityList) say the cap table export does not include paperwork and that drafts are excluded unless you include them; we could not confirm this in Pulley's own documentation, so check your export against your documents folder.
The alternatives and their Pulley switch offers
Our criteria for a seed-stage SaaS company leaving Pulley: a published price, a free or low-cost path to its first 409A, migration help without Pulley's involvement, and a vendor still taking new customers. Offers below are quoted from each vendor's page on October 12, 2026; they change, so confirm before you sign.
| Tool | Pulley switch offer | Published price |
|---|---|---|
| Carta | Exclusive partner: year-1 Pulley price matched, prepaid balance credited (opt in by Nov 30) | Launch free (up to 25 stakeholders and $1M raised); paid tiers by quote |
| Cake Equity | "Fast, accurate, and free migration"; unused prepaid Pulley months credited "up to six months"; 2-5 days | Free to 5 stakeholders; Build $1,000/yr (25 incl.); Team $2,750/yr (40 incl., two 409As); +$60 per extra stakeholder |
| Eqvista | "Rest of your Pulley term added free," "30% off your current Pulley invoice," year-2 price lock, free migration | Free under 20 stakeholders; cap table + unlimited 409As $990-$2,590/yr by stage |
| Qapita | "Match your current Pulley pricing, or Qapita's own rate, whichever is lower"; free migration | Not in our tracked set yet |
| EquityList | Contract term carries over; first auditor-supported 409A free; 60% off later 409As from Series A | Not in our tracked set yet |
| Fairmint | Free migration help (video call; documents uploaded and parsed) | No price published |
| J.P. Morgan Workplace Solutions | No Pulley-specific offer found | Free up to 40 stakeholders (per AngelList's FAQ) |
| Ledgy, Capbase | No Pulley offer found | Ledgy free tier, paid from EUR 3,000-5,000/yr (its pages disagree); Capbase $999/yr |
Not an option for most: AngelList stopped taking new standalone cap table customers on August 6, 2025 (AngelList FAQ), while existing customers continue as before. J.P. Morgan Workplace Solutions, free up to 40 stakeholders according to the same FAQ, is the option it points new companies to.
What a cap table plus 409A costs, by stage
For most Pulley customers the 409A, not the cap table, decides the bill. The table adds a stand-alone 409A at $1,500 where a plan does not include one (Cake's add-on price; published stand-alone 409As run from $1,299 at Aranca to $2,500 at Kruze for Series A). List prices, before any switch offer.
| Stage | Cake Equity | Eqvista | J.P. Morgan WS + 409A | Capbase + 409A | Carta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed, 8 stakeholders, no 409A yet | $1,000 | $0 | $0 | $999 | $0 (Launch) |
| Seed, 25 stakeholders, one 409A | $2,500 | $1,990 | $1,500 | $2,499 | Quote |
| Series A, 70 stakeholders, two 409As | $4,550 | $2,590 (may be higher above 50 stakeholders) | Paid tier not published | $3,999 | Quote |
Annual cost in USD from each vendor's pricing page, read October 12, 2026; computed in our cost model. Pulley's own prices were Startup $1,200/yr (25 stakeholders) and Growth $3,500/yr (40 stakeholders).
| Plan | Price (monthly / billed yearly) | For / limits |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0, always free | 5 stakeholders |
| Build | $1,000/yr | 25 stakeholders included; +$60 per additional stakeholder per year |
| Team | $2,750/yr | 40 stakeholders included; +$60 per additional stakeholder |
| Pro | Custom | 100 stakeholders included; +$60 per additional stakeholder |
| Add-on: 409A valuation | $1,500 on any annual plan | FAQ: 'You can also add a 409A to any other annual plan for only $1,500.' Was $1,000 on the 2026-02-14 Wayback capture. |
| Add-on: QSBS | Add on (price not shown) |
Prices verified on cakeequity.com/pricing on October 12, 2026.
| Plan | Price (monthly / billed yearly) | For / limits |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium Cap Table | $0 | <20 stakeholders |
| Premium Cap Table | $2/mo | Custom pricing above 50 stakeholders |
| 409A + Premium Cap Table: Pre-Revenue/Pre-Funding | $990/yr | |
| 409A + Premium Cap Table: F&F/Angel | $1,290/yr | |
| 409A + Premium Cap Table: Seed | $1,990/yr | |
| 409A + Premium Cap Table: Series A | $2,590/yr | |
| 409A + Premium Cap Table: Series B+ | Custom | |
| Add-on: Expedited processing | $490 and up | |
| Add-on: QSBS attestation | $1,000 and up | |
| Add-on: ASC 718 | $500 and up |
Prices verified on eqvista.com/pricing on October 12, 2026.
How to decide
- Take the Carta deal if you expect to raise a priced round soon and want the 409A defence continuity, or your investors and law firm already work in Carta. Opt in before November 30 and get the year-2 price in writing.
- Switch if price matters more than continuity: at seed, a free cap table plus a stand-alone 409A, or an Eqvista bundle, costs well under what Vendr reports for Carta. Start the migration before December 8 so the vendor can read your live Pulley account; Cake and Eqvista accept admin or read-only access instead of files.
- Either way, export everything this month and reconcile the export against your signed documents.
Not hands-on tested: we have not run a migration ourselves. Dates and terms come from Pulley's FAQ and help center and each vendor's published page, read on October 12, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Is Pulley shutting down?
Yes. Pulley shuts down on December 8, 2026, announced in its FAQ dated September 15, 2026. Carta is the exclusive transition partner.
Do I have to move to Carta?
No. Opting in only shares your details with Carta and is not a contract. You can move to any provider, but Pulley will not help with that move, so export your data yourself.
Will my Pulley 409A still be valid?
Carta says it accepts Pulley's existing 409A as-is. A 409A valuation generally relies on its date: it is good for up to 12 months unless a material event, such as a new funding round, happens first. A new provider will usually start a fresh valuation at your next refresh.
What happens to my data after December 8?
You keep limited, read-only access until January 31, 2027. After that, Pulley does not say it will keep any copy for you.
What does Carta cost after the first year?
Not published. Carta lists paid tiers as "Contact sales". Vendr reports $3,000 to $8,000 a year for companies under 50 stakeholders and a $15,450 median across all its Carta purchases.
Related: SaaS valuation, the SaaS fundraising guide, and our cap table calculator.