Carta built its reputation on cap table management. For early-stage startups with a simple ownership structure and a handful of stakeholders, it served a clear purpose. But as companies grow, so does the cost — and the limitations.
Entity Desk is a different kind of platform. It manages the entire entity, not just the cap table. For startups that want full operational control over their corporate structure, compliance, documents, and shareholder records in one place, the difference in value is significant. The difference in price is even more significant.
This is a direct comparison.
What Carta Actually Costs at Scale
Carta's pricing is based on the number of stakeholders on your cap table. That sounds straightforward until you factor in how fast stakeholder counts grow — founders, investors, employees with options, advisors — and how quickly costs follow.
Early-stage companies with fewer than 25 stakeholders commonly pay in the $3,000–$6,000 range annually. Companies with 50–100 stakeholders move into the $6,000–$12,000 range. At 200 stakeholders on Carta's Build plan, the annual cost reaches approximately $16,000. At 500 stakeholders on the Scale plan, list price reaches $112,000 per year.
That is before add-ons. Several of Carta's most important features are not included in the base plan:
- ASC 718 / IFRS reporting: sold separately
- Fund administration: custom pricing
- Premium support: $5,000–$12,000 annually
- Cap table migration and onboarding: $15,000–$25,000 for complex structures
- Stakeholder overage fees: $20–$50 per stakeholder beyond your plan cap
The total cost of ownership on Carta is rarely what it appears at the point of sign-up. It scales with your company in a way that is difficult to predict and harder to negotiate.
What Entity Desk Costs for the Same Scale
Entity Desk's Transfer Agent Mode is priced per entity, not per stakeholder. Each plan includes up to 150 users (stakeholders) per entity, with unlimited staff seats across the platform.
| Plan | Price Per Entity / Year | Entities | Stakeholders Per Entity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $3,600 | 1–5 | Up to 150 |
| Professional | $3,300 | 6–10 | Up to 150 |
| Business | $3,000 | 11–20 | Up to 150 |
| Enterprise | $2,400 | 21+ | Up to 150 |
A startup on the Starter plan managing one entity with up to 150 stakeholders pays $3,600 per year. If stakeholder counts exceed 150, additional users are charged at $24 per stakeholder — the per-user rate derived from that plan tier. The same logic applies across all plans: Professional at $22 per additional stakeholder, Business at $20, and Enterprise at $16.
That structure is straightforward and predictable. There are no hidden feature charges, no mandatory add-ons, and no onboarding migration fees built into the model. You know exactly what growth costs before it happens.
Compare that to Carta, where stakeholder overage fees run $20–$50 per stakeholder on top of a base plan that already scales steeply with headcount — and where core operational features are sold separately. At equivalent scale, Entity Desk costs a fraction of what Carta charges, even after accounting for stakeholder growth.
Annual Cost by Stakeholder Count — Entity Desk Starter vs Carta
| 25 Users | 50 Users | ~58 Users | 100 Users | 250 Users | 500 Users | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carta | $0 | $2,800 | ~$3,600 | $8,000 | $20,000 | $112,000 |
| Entity Desk — Starter | $3,600 | $3,600 | $3,600 | $3,600 | $6,000 | $12,000 |
Entity Desk Starter plan: $3,600/year flat for up to 150 stakeholders, then $24 per additional stakeholder. Carta figures are based on publicly available and independently verified pricing data and reflect base plan costs only, excluding add-ons such as fund administration, premium support, and onboarding fees, which would increase the total further.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Entity Desk | Carta |
|---|---|---|
| Cap Table Management | ✓ | ✓ |
| Share Management & Issuance | ✓ | ✓ |
| Vesting Schedules | ✓ | ✓ |
| Shareholder / Stakeholder Portal | ✓ | ✓ |
| Document Generation & E-Signing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Compliance Deadline Tracking | ✓ | ✓ |
| Role-Based Access Control | ✓ | ✓ |
| Full Audit Trail | ✓ | ✓ |
| Xero Integration | ✓ | ✓ |
| KYC / AML Compliance Automation | ✓ | ✗ |
| White-Label Client Portals | ✓ | ✗ |
| Virtual Data Rooms (built-in) | ✓ | ✗ |
| Integrated Invoicing & Billing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Compliance Workflow & Document Review | ✓ | ✗ |
| Staff & Client Activity Audit Tracking | ✓ | ✗ |
| Security Watermarking on Documents | ✓ | ✗ |
| Encrypted Document Storage | ✓ | ✗ |
| Bring Your Own Cloud Storage (AWS, Azure, Cloudflare) | ✓ | ✗ |
| Multi-Jurisdiction Entity Compliance | ✓ | ✗ |
| Full Entity Lifecycle Management | ✓ | ✗ |
| Predictive Deadline Management | ✓ | ✗ |
| Custom Integrations (on request) | ✓ | Limited |
| Unlimited Staff Seats | ✓ | ✗ |
| Dedicated IP Address | ✓ | ✗ |
| AI Agent (own keys or subscribe via Entity Desk) | Add-on | ✗ |
| Pricing Model | Per entity | Per stakeholder |
| Pricing Transparency | Full | Partial |
The Fundamental Difference
Carta is a cap table tool that has added features over time. It does one core thing well — tracking equity — and charges incrementally for everything that surrounds it.
Entity Desk is built to manage the entire entity. That means the cap table and shareholder records sit inside a broader operational platform that also handles compliance workflows, document control, KYC and AML, client communication, virtual data rooms, and corporate administration. All of it is included. None of it is an add-on.
For a startup, that distinction matters for one practical reason: the work of running a company does not stop at the cap table. Entities have compliance obligations, document requirements, shareholder communications, filing deadlines, and governance records that need to be maintained alongside equity. Managing those separately — across Carta, a document system, a compliance tool, and email — adds friction, cost, and risk.
Entity Desk consolidates that work. Carta does not.
What Entity Desk Does That Carta Cannot
KYC and AML compliance automation. For startups onboarding investors or managing regulated shareholder relationships, KYC and AML workflows are a real operational requirement. Entity Desk automates collection, review, and ongoing monitoring. Carta does not offer this.
Virtual data rooms. Due diligence, fundraising, and M&A activity require controlled document sharing with external parties. Entity Desk includes secure virtual data rooms with granular access controls and full audit trails. On Carta, this requires a separate tool entirely.
Full entity lifecycle management. Entity Desk manages the entity as a whole — incorporation details, officer and director records, ownership structures, compliance history, and client communication — not just the equity layer. The CSP mode is included alongside the Transfer Agent mode on the same platform.
White-label client portals. For startups working with service providers, or for service providers managing startup entities, Entity Desk provides branded, secure portals for client-facing document submission and communication. Carta has no equivalent.
Compliance workflow and document review. Entity Desk includes a structured review process for documents submitted within the platform. Not all submitted documents are automatically approved — they move through defined review stages assigned to different staff members. This gives organisations a controlled, auditable approval chain that reflects how regulated teams actually operate. Carta has no equivalent workflow system.
Integrated invoicing and billing. Entity Desk handles invoicing and payments within the platform. Carta does not.
Full activity audit tracking. Every action taken by staff members and clients within the platform is logged and traceable. This includes document access, submissions, approvals, and changes to entity records. All documents generated by the system carry security watermarks for tracking purposes, and all documents stored on the platform are encrypted. This level of auditability is essential for regulated environments and listing preparation. Carta does not offer this depth of operational traceability.
Bring your own cloud storage. Organisations that require data sovereignty or have existing cloud infrastructure can connect their own AWS, Azure, or Cloudflare storage accounts to Entity Desk. Data does not have to sit on a shared environment if that is a compliance or operational requirement.
Predictive deadline management. Beyond basic reminders, Entity Desk surfaces upcoming compliance obligations before they become urgent, reducing the risk of missed filings.
Built for non-reporting issuers and pre-listing companies. Entity Desk is actively used by non-reporting issuers — companies that carry regulatory filing obligations comparable to listed companies but are not yet publicly traded. This is particularly relevant in the Canadian market, where these obligations are substantial and the corporate record must be maintained to a high standard. For companies working toward a listing, and for the lawyers and service providers who manage them, Entity Desk provides a platform to keep corporate books clean, organised, and audit-ready well in advance of any listing process.
AI agent. Entity Desk includes an AI assistant that can answer questions about company-specific tasks, bylaws, and jurisdiction-relevant laws tied to each entity. This is available as an add-on — clients can subscribe directly through Entity Desk or connect using their own API keys. Given the operational complexity of running a true AI agent at this level, it is priced accordingly, but the capability is there for teams that need it.
Who Entity Desk Is For
Entity Desk is built for startups, corporate service providers, transfer agents, law firms, and accounting practices that need more than a cap table. If your company has shareholders to manage, compliance obligations to track, documents to control, and clients or counterparties to communicate with — all of which describe most startups beyond the earliest stage — Entity Desk provides a more complete operating environment at a lower total cost.
Entity Desk also offers a free plan — one entity, up to 10 stakeholders, full platform access. It is designed to give teams a complete picture of what the platform does before they need to scale. Most teams reach that limit faster than they expect.
For everything beyond that, the numbers and the feature set both point in the same direction.
Ready to See the Difference
Entity Desk offers a full demo across both Transfer Agent and Corporate Service Provider modes. See how the platform manages the complete entity — not just the cap table — and what that means for your operational costs and compliance readiness.