Index › Equity and corporate › September 2026 Edition

Cap table management

Asked as “cap table management software”, and as “equity management platform”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 59 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.

Standing

Carta

Clear leader

44% of first choices, clear leader.

ShowinginAll 41 categories →

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.

Small business

Pulley30%ContestedStanding →Mid-market

Carta44%Clear leaderThis page Enterprise

Carta34%ContestedStanding →

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.

ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant

Carta22%65endorsed leader

Qapita4%26accepted challenger

Eqvista0%35accepted challenger

Pulley30%56criticized challenger

Cake Equity0%38accepted challenger

Ledgy6%36accepted challenger

Shareworks27%26criticized challenger

Fidelity Private Shares0%14accepted challenger

Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.

Head to head

Carta vs Qapita Carta vs Eqvista Qapita vs Eqvista

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default

Negative label rate →

Accepted challengerEndorsed leader

0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative60%

Key

Carta44%

Qapita14%

Eqvista12%

Pulley8%

Cake Equity7%

Ledgy3%

Shareworks3%

Fidelity Private Shares2%

02What they warned about

Five of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, Perplexity Sonar, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.

Carta

22%

14 of 65 labels negative · 11 of 12 models · 3 hard negative

“**Skip** enterprise tools like Carta's paid plans (Build/Grow can run $3,000–$12,000/year” DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt

Pulley

30%

17 of 56 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 12 hard negative

“**When to avoid**: Immediately if considering now—migrate risks data loss or disruption... obsolete.” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt

Shareworks

27%

7 of 26 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 3 hard negative

“treat any enterprise-level platform (Shareworks, Morgan Stanley) as a **contract trap** for early-stage companies” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt

Spreadsheets

100%

3 of 3 labels negative · 3 of 12 models · 3 hard negative

“These are risky because: No audit trail, Formula errors can cause costly mistakes, Version control chaos” MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

64 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 6 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 757 links across 127 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

cakeequity.com

vendor site · Cake Equity45 answers · 54 citations · 10 models

qapita.com

vendor site · Qapita31 answers · 43 citations · 9 models

guideflow.com

vendor site · Guideflow31 answers · 33 citations · 10 models

waveup.com

31 answers · 31 citations · 11 models

eqvista.com

vendor site · Eqvista28 answers · 33 citations · 10 models

valueaddvc.com

23 answers · 28 citations · 10 models

aifundingtracker.com

21 answers · 21 citations · 10 models

pulley.com

vendor site · Pulley18 answers · 24 citations · 7 models

worldmetrics.org

17 answers · 26 citations · 8 models

ctacquisitions.com

17 answers · 17 citations · 7 models

learn.g2.com

17 answers · 17 citations · 7 models

carta.com

vendor site · Carta15 answers · 16 citations · 7 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

cakeequity.com/guides/best-cap-table-software

38 answers · 10 models

waveup.com/blog/best-cap-table-management-software

31 answers · 11 models

guideflow.com/blog/cap-table-management-software

29 answers · 10 models

qapita.com/blog/best-cap-table-management-software

22 answers · 8 models

aifundingtracker.com/best-cap-table-management-software

21 answers · 10 models

valueaddvc.com/blog/best-cap-table-management-tools-in-2026-carta-pulley-an…

20 answers · 9 models

ctacquisitions.com/best-cap-table-software-2026

17 answers · 7 models

learn.g2.com/best-equity-management-software

17 answers · 7 models

eqvista.com/cap-table-management-software-startups

16 answers · 9 models

story.law/blog/best-cap-table-management-software-2026

15 answers · 7 models

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.

ModelDirect“What is the best cap table management software for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which equity management platform would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top cap table platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best cap table management software for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a cap table management software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which cap table platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”

Claude Haiku 4.5Carta

Three alternatives

Cake Equity, Pulley, Qapita

no first choiceChangedCarta

Three alternatives

Cake Equity, Eqvista, Ledgy

against: PulleyEqvista, Gust Equity Management

Two alternatives

Cake Equity, Mantle

no first choiceagainst: Carta, Pulley

GPT-5.4 miniCarta

Three alternatives

Eqvista, Ledgy, Shareworks

against: PulleyCartaHeld

Three alternatives

Eqvista, Ledgy, Shareworks

Carta

Three alternatives

Eqvista, Ledgy, Shareworks

against: PulleyEqvista

Two alternatives

Carta, Pulley

no first choiceagainst: Carta

Gemini 3.5 FlashCarta

Four alternatives

ClosingWell, Ledgy, Pulley, Qapita

CartaHeld

Four alternatives

Cake Equity, Eqvista, Ledgy, Pulley

against: ShareworksCarta

Five alternatives

Cake Equity, Eqvista, Fidelity Private Shares, Ledgy, Mantle

against: PulleyMantle

Three alternatives

Cake Equity, Eqvista, Fidelity Private Shares

against: Carta, PulleyCarta

Four alternatives

Ledgy, Pulley, Qapita, Shareworks

against: Carta, Pulley, Spreadsheets

Perplexity SonarCarta

One alternative

Qapita

QapitaChanged

Four alternatives

Carta, Eqvista, Ledgy, Shareforce

Carta

Seven alternatives

Cake Equity, Eqvista, Fidelity Private Shares, Ledgy, Pulley, Qapita, Shareworks

Cake Equity

One alternative

Eqvista

against: Pulleyno first choiceagainst: AngelList Stack, Carta

Grok 4.1 FastCarta

Two alternatives

Ledgy, Pulley

against: Google Sheets, Spreadsheets, Trusted InsightCartaHeld

Four alternatives

Cake Equity, Ledgy, Pulley, Qapita

Carta

Four alternatives

Cake Equity, Eqvista, Ledgy, Pulley

Eqvista

Three alternatives

Cake Equity, Carta, Fidelity Private Shares

against: Ledgy, PulleyCarta, Ledgy, Pulley

One alternative

Qapita

against: Shareworksagainst: Carta, Pulley, Shareworks

Mistral SmallCarta, QapitaCarta, QapitaHeld

One alternative

Cake Equity

Carta

Four alternatives

Cake Equity, Ledgy, Pulley, Shareworks

Carta, Eqvista, Pulley

Two alternatives

Cake Equity, Fidelity Private Shares

no first choiceagainst: Carta

DeepSeek V4 FlashCarta, Qapita

One alternative

Ledgy

against: PulleyAstrellaChanged

One alternative

Carta

against: Pulley, Qapita, ShareworksCarta, Pulley

Five alternatives

Cake Equity, Eqvista, Fidelity Private Shares, Ledgy, Shareworks

against: AngelList StackCarta, Eqvista, Fidelity Private Shares

Three alternatives

Cake Equity, Capboard, Pulley

against: AngelList Stack, Carta, ShareworksCarta, Qapita, Shareworksagainst: LTSE Equity, Pulleyagainst: Carta, Ledgy, Pulley, Shareworks

Llama 4 MaverickCarta, Pulley, QapitaEqvistaChanged

Three alternatives

Carta, Fidelity Private Shares, Qapita

Carta

Four alternatives

Cake Equity, Eqvista, Ledgy, Pulley

Cake Equity

Three alternatives

Carta, Ledgy, Pulley

no first choicenothing named

Qwen 3.7 FlashCarta

Two alternatives

Pulley, Qapita

PulleyChanged

Two alternatives

Captable Software, Carta

Carta, Pulley

Three alternatives

Capboard, Eqvista, Ledgy

Capsule

Three alternatives

AngelList Stack, Google Sheets / Excel, Shareworks

against: CartaCarta

Three alternatives

Capshare, Pulley, Shareworks

against: Broadridgeagainst: AngelList Stack, Carta, Microsoft Excel, Pulley

Kimi K2Carta

Four alternatives

Cake Equity, Eqvista, Ledgy, Pulley

CartaHeld

Two alternatives

Pulley, Qapita

Carta, Pulley

Six alternatives

AngelList Stack, Cake Equity, Eqvista, Ledgy, Qapita, Shareworks

Carta, Eqvista

Two alternatives

Capbase, Pulley

Carta

Two alternatives

Pulley, Shareworks

against: Carta, Pulley, Shareworks

GLM 4.7 FlashXQapita

Four alternatives

Cake Equity, Capshare, Mantle, Pulley

against: CartaCake Equity, QapitaChanged

Two alternatives

Carta, Ledgy

Carta

Six alternatives

Eqvista, Ledgy, Mantle, Morgan Stanley at Work, Pulley, Qapita

Carta, Pulley

Four alternatives

Cake Equity, Capboard, Eqvista, OpenCap Stack

no first choicenothing named

MiniMax M2.5Carta, Shareworks

Two alternatives

EquityZen, Ledgy

Carta, LedgyChanged

One alternative

Optio Incentives

Carta

Five alternatives

Cake Equity, Ledgy, Pulley, Qapita, Shareworks

Cake Equity

Two alternatives

Carta, Pulley

no first choiceagainst: Carta, Pulley, Spreadsheets

Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record

Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.

Prompt	Model	Version string	Time (UTC)	Searched	Sources	Latency
Direct recommendation	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 18:43	yes	9	10 s
Direct recommendation	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 19:20	yes	3	6 s
Direct recommendation	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 19:03	yes	13	24 s
Direct recommendation	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 21:01	yes	20	6 s
Direct recommendation	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 19:11	yes	20	17 s
Direct recommendation	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 20:10	yes	5	4 s
Direct recommendation	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 20:01	yes	13	20 s
Direct recommendation	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 18:38	yes	5	3 s
Direct recommendation	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 20:29	yes	5	29 s
Direct recommendation	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 18:38	yes	15	30 s
Direct recommendation	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 18:58	yes	29	57 s
Direct recommendation	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 19:58	no	0	11 s
Paraphrase	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 20:31	no	0	4 s
Paraphrase	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 19:17	yes	3	7 s
Paraphrase	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 19:26	yes	17	23 s
Paraphrase	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 20:40	yes	16	7 s
Paraphrase	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 21:08	yes	29	14 s
Paraphrase	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 20:47	yes	5	4 s
Paraphrase	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-09-17 17:56	yes	27	73 s
Paraphrase	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 19:36	yes	5	3 s
Paraphrase	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 20:01	no	0	26 s
Paraphrase	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 21:02	yes	12	41 s
Paraphrase	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 20:42	yes	15	32 s
Paraphrase	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 20:24	yes	8	21 s
Comparative	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 18:03	yes	10	10 s
Comparative	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 21:01	yes	6	14 s
Comparative	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 19:24	yes	22	26 s
Comparative	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 19:47	yes	20	13 s
Comparative	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 18:56	yes	20	16 s
Comparative	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 19:13	yes	9	12 s
Comparative	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 18:49	yes	16	19 s
Comparative	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 19:47	yes	5	3 s
Comparative	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 19:42	yes	5	20 s
Comparative	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 20:46	yes	9	45 s
Comparative	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 20:43	yes	14	86 s
Comparative	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 20:41	yes	9	20 s
Budget constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 18:13	yes	9	8 s
Budget constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 18:29	yes	2	8 s
Budget constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 18:35	yes	23	22 s
Budget constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 20:00	yes	20	7 s
Budget constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 20:30	yes	20	12 s
Budget constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 19:13	yes	5	4 s
Budget constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 19:13	yes	8	13 s
Budget constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 21:05	yes	5	2 s
Budget constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 19:31	no	0	31 s
Budget constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 18:08	yes	8	32 s
Budget constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 18:30	yes	9	18 s
Budget constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 18:34	yes	11	34 s
Scale constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 19:21	no	0	8 s
Scale constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 19:41	no	0	9 s
Scale constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 20:01	yes	12	29 s
Scale constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 18:09	yes	20	9 s
Scale constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 20:32	yes	12	10 s
Scale constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 18:52	no	0	7 s
Scale constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 19:36	yes	17	26 s
Scale constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 17:53	yes	5	4 s
Scale constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 20:47	no	0	29 s
Scale constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 18:18	yes	15	27 s
Scale constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 17:54	yes	10	22 s
Scale constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 21:05	yes	5	14 s
Negative framing	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 18:35	yes	17	9 s
Negative framing	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 20:11	yes	1	6 s
Negative framing	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 18:02	yes	13	19 s
Negative framing	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 21:01	yes	16	7 s
Negative framing	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 18:53	yes	40	20 s
Negative framing	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 18:03	yes	5	6 s
Negative framing	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-09-17 19:09	yes	24	71 s
Negative framing	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 19:16	yes	5	3 s
Negative framing	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 21:00	yes	25	49 s
Negative framing	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 20:01	yes	29	57 s
Negative framing	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 18:53	yes	27	48 s
Negative framing	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 20:08	yes	20	34 s

Noise floor in this category

Flips between the edition run and its calibration repeat. Six prompts per model is a small sample; the index-wide floor is the number to trust.

Claude Haiku 4.5

1 of 3 flipped

GPT-5.4 mini

1 of 4 flipped

Gemini 3.5 Flash

1 of 5 flipped

Perplexity Sonar

2 of 4 flipped

Grok 4.1 Fast

5 of 6 flipped

Mistral Small

4 of 5 flipped

DeepSeek V4 Flash

5 of 6 flipped

Llama 4 Maverick

4 of 5 flipped

Qwen 3.7 Flash

3 of 5 flipped

Kimi K2

5 of 6 flipped

GLM 4.7 FlashX

4 of 5 flipped

MiniMax M2.5

4 of 4 flipped

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings

AngelList read as AngelList Stack

AngelList (Wellfound) read as AngelList Stack

Cake read as Cake Equity

Excel / Spreadsheets read as Microsoft Excel

J.P. Morgan read as J.P. Morgan Workplace Solutions

Unresolved, counted raw

Blackbaud

Capsule

Captable Software

ClosingWell

EquityPoint

EquityZen

Keela

Optio Incentives

Proshare

Shareforce

Sharesight

Sharing

Trusted Insight

Vantage

Wiso

Discontinued, still offered

No shut-down product was recommended here.

Cap table management

By buyer segment

01The standing

Recommended versus criticized

02What they warned about

03What they cite

Sites the answers cite

Pages the answers cite

04How they answered

05The record

Noise floor in this category

Normalization in this category

Also in equity and corporate