Fidelity Private Shares, Carta Launch, and Eqvista all give you a $0 cap table tool at pre-seed. That's the short answer. The longer answer is that the free tier disappears fast — Pulley's is already gone — and picking the wrong one now means a messy migration later.
I've watched founders burn a Friday afternoon rebuilding a cap table in Excel because their free tool hit a stakeholder wall mid-raise. A free cap table tool in 2026 isn't a nice-to-have — Carta's median customer now pays around $14,500 a year, with some bills running past $77,000, and roughly 40% of startups surveyed say they're actively planning to switch providers to cut that cost. That's the same budget-conscious instinct that should shape what you put in your fundraising data room, where investors will want to see this cap table alongside the rest of your diligence materials. Below are the five real free options, ranked, plus exactly where each one's free tier ends.
Sources: Carta pricing, Eqvista, Fidelity Private Shares, and VC Beast 2026 buyer surveys, checked September 2026.
What Is the Best Free Cap Table Tool for Early-Stage Founders?
Fidelity Private Shares is the best free cap table tool for most early-stage founders in 2026 — free until your first priced financing round, with no stakeholder cap and a data room included. Carta Launch is the closest competitor, free for under 25 stakeholders or startups that haven't raised past $1M, but it converts to a paid plan the moment either threshold is crossed. Eqvista rounds out the top three with a free tier for under 20 stakeholders.
| Tool | Free Tier Limit | What's Included Free | Paid Plan Starts At |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fidelity Private Shares | Until first priced round | Cap table, equity workflows, data room | Custom after priced round |
| Carta Launch | 25 stakeholders / <$1M raised | Cap table, e-signing basics | $149/mo |
| Eqvista | 20 stakeholders | Cap table, ESOP, vesting, data room | $2/mo per stakeholder |
| Qapita | 25 stakeholders / <$1M raised | Cap table, equity plans, data room, DocuSign | $1,600/yr (Surge) |
| Foresight | Unlimited (template-based) | Excel/Sheets waterfall model | One-time purchase |
| Capboard | Unlimited (template-based) | Basic Google Sheets cap table | Custom software pricing |
| AngelList Stack | Existing customers only | Cap table + SPV integration | N/A — not onboarding new |
Figures are 2026 pricing pulled directly from Carta, Fidelity Private Shares, Eqvista, Foresight, and Capboard pricing pages, checked July 2026. AngelList Stack stopped onboarding new standalone cap-table customers in August 2026 while rebuilding around SPV infrastructure.
The 5 Best Free Cap Table Templates and Tools, Ranked
Free Cap Table Tool vs. Paying for Carta: What Actually Changes
The honest case for a free cap table tool isn't just cost — it's that most pre-seed and seed startups don't yet have the complexity that justifies Carta's compliance stack. You don't need ASC 820-grade 409A valuation workflows with three stakeholders and a SAFE. You do need one once you're granting options to a fifth hire and prepping for a priced round. That transition point, not an arbitrary calendar date, is when the free tier should end for you.
Carta's pricing has moved aggressively toward the enterprise end in 2026 — $149-599 a month depending on which compliance and reporting features you need — and multiple founders have reported renewal quotes running 3-5x their original contract. That's the gap the free tools above are built to fill, at least until a company outgrows them. For a deeper walkthrough of how ownership tracking actually works across rounds, our cap table guide covers the mechanics free tools handle automatically.
Carta Paid Plan vs. Free-Tier Tools: Annual Cost Comparison
Carta pricing disclosures, Eqvista, Fidelity Private Shares, 2026
Bottom line: Fidelity Private Shares is the strongest free cap table tool for most founders in 2026 — free until your first priced round, no stakeholder ceiling, and a data room included. Carta Launch and Eqvista are close seconds, and Foresight or Capboard's template-based options work if you'd rather own the spreadsheet yourself. Whichever you pick, migrate before you hit the stakeholder wall — not after — because rebuilding a cap table mid-raise is a far worse Friday than switching tools a month early. Explore more startup operating benchmarks on Value Add VC.
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