TheCorporation vs Carta

Carta

Open browser & log in ~30s

Navigate to cap table ~15s

Click "Add Stakeholder" ~10s

Fill out 12 form fields ~5min

Upload signed documents ~3min

Submit & wait for confirmation ~24hr

~8 min + 24hr wait · $3,000/yr

TheCorporation

$ corp cap-table issue-equity --entity-id ENT_ID --grant-type common --shares 4000000 --recipient "Alice"

✔ [7d8e9f0] corp: add founder "Alice" (4M)

✔ RSPA + 83(b) election prepared

✔ Human page ready for signature

$ git log --oneline

7d8e9f0 corp: add founder "Alice"

~3 seconds · $0 · open source

Two Different Products

Carta is enterprise cap table software built for a world of lawyers, dashboards, and manual workflows. TheCorporation is corporate infrastructure for the agentic era — open source, version-controlled, and agent-native. Carta manages your cap table. TheCorporation manages your corporation.

The Architecture Gap

  Carta                          TheCorporation
  ─────                          ──────────────
  Proprietary SaaS               Open source + self-hostable
  Web dashboard                  CLI + agents that commit autonomously
  Your data on their servers     Your data in your git repo
  Cap table only                 Full corporate lifecycle
  $3,000+/yr                     Free / $299/yr
  Manual workflows               Agents execute on your behalf

What You Get

Open Source

Inspect every line. Self-host on your infrastructure. No vendor lock-in, no trust required — read the code.

Version Controlled

Every action is a commit. Your corporate history is a git repo. git clone to take your data anywhere, anytime.

Agent-Native

AI agents commit to your repo autonomously — compliance scans, filing automation, deadline monitoring. First-class citizens, not afterthoughts.

Formation to Exit

Carta starts after you incorporate. TheCorporation handles formation, bylaws, EIN, registered agent, and everything that follows.

Continuous Compliance

Agents monitor deadlines and prepare filings automatically. Annual reports, franchise tax, BOI — the agent never misses because it never sleeps.

$0 to Start

Self-host unlimited corporations at no cost. Carta charges $3,000+/yr before you've issued a single share.

Side by Side

	TheCorporation	Carta
Price	Free / $299/yr	$3,000+/yr
Open source	Fully	Proprietary
Git-native	Every action	No
Self-hostable	Full platform	SaaS only
Data portability	git clone	Export request
Formation	Built-in	Not offered
Cap table	Full	Full
Compliance filing	AI-automated	Reminders only
Document generation	Auto-generated	Equity docs only
Registered agent	$200/yr add-on	No
AI agents	First-class	No
CLI / MCP / API	All three	API only
Per-stakeholder fees	None	$20+/person
Built for	Agent-native founders	Legacy orgs

The Carta Tax

Carta's pricing scales with your cap table. Every stakeholder, every share class, every transaction increases the bill. A 10-person startup with a standard cap table pays $3,000–$6,000/yr. By Series B, $15,000+. This is the Carta tax — a recurring charge on the privilege of accessing your own equity data.

TheCorporation is free and open source. Self-host unlimited corporations. Cloud is $299/yr flat — no per-stakeholder fees, no surprise invoices, no "call us for pricing."

  Year 1    Carta: $3,000     TheCorporation: $0–$299
  Year 2    Carta: $5,000     TheCorporation: $0–$299
  Year 3    Carta: $8,000     TheCorporation: $0–$299
  ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Total     Carta: $16,000    TheCorporation: $0–$897

When Carta Makes Sense

Carta is the right tool if you're Series B+ and your investors contractually require it, you need 409A valuations from an established marketplace, or you have a full-time CFO who prefers web dashboards to CLIs. CartaX for secondary transactions is also something we don't offer.

For early-stage founders, technical teams, solo incorporators, and anyone building with AI agents — TheCorporation covers the full corporate lifecycle at a fraction of the cost, with full data ownership, and it's open source.

Give your agent a corporation

$ npx -y @thecorporation/mcp-server

GitHub Pricing Docs

CORP-VS-CARTA-001