SeedLegals vs Carta: which platform to choose for cap table, SEIS/EIS, funding and options

The days of painstakingly tracking equity allocation on a series of spreadsheets are over – thanks to intuitive online platforms that can do it all for you.

In this post, we explore how UK startup founders can use the services offered by SeedLegals and Carta to:

• Build and manage your cap table
• Complete the SEIS/EIS process, including Advance Assurance, confirming with HMRC and sending final certificates to investors
• Create the legal agreements you need to take equity investment
• Incentivise employees through share options and growth shares

There’s obviously no point hiding our bias😉

Here’s why we think SeedLegals is the better choice for UK startups – especially at an early stage:

• Costs are clear upfront
• Startups get personal unlimited support from a team of experts with an unmatched understanding of what’s happening in the UK early-stage funding market
• We launch you into a supportive community of switched-on founders and investors for all the less formal support you need

Price: clear, capped costs with SeedLegals

Every pound you spend as an early-stage startup shapes your future. At SeedLegals, we design our pricing so that it’s clear upfront what you’ll be paying. We also separate our pricing by specific services such as funding rounds and option schemes, so it’s adaptable for early-stage startups who are watching their costs.

With SeedLegals, you pay for different levels of membership and a percentage of the amount you raise. For a full breakdown of the membership plans and services, head over to our pricing page.

Carta’s starting plan only caters for 5 shareholders, with pricing then increasing with the number of stakeholders and additional features​ you need. Unlike SeedLegals, Carta does not list a flat fee for unlimited option schemes. Instead, the pricing for managing options is embedded in their broader equity management plans.

To sum up, SeedLegals has more tailored pricing based on specific services such as funding rounds and option schemes. Carta’s tiered pricing escalates as your business grows, which could lead to higher overall costs for startups.

🔍 To compare the services and functionalities SeedLegals and Carta offer for cap tables, fundraising and options, stay with us – we explain it all below.

SeedLegals or Carta: ratings and reviews

SeedLegals has earned 100s of 5-star ratings from successful founders. Explore the table below to see verified glowing reviews posted across independent sites.

Cap table: Map, manage and model with SeedLegals or Carta

It all starts with your cap table. As the nerve centre of your business, a well-managed cap table keeps track of every stakeholder’s ownership, from your earliest investors to your expanding team. It also reflects the growth of your business, including capital injections and the creation of an option pool to incentivise your team with equity.

Investors will look closely at your cap table – it needs to be clear, without any inconsistencies or red flags. Software solutions, like those offered by SeedLegals and Carta, make it easy to maintain a clean, up-to-date cap table, ensuring transparency and confidence as you scale your business.

Funding: SEIS/EIS, SAFEs and ASAs, investment agreements

Both SeedLegals and Carta help founders streamline the process of obtaining SEIS/EIS HMRC approval, allowing companies to offer investors tax relief in exchange for their support. This tax incentive makes investing in startups more attractive and can significantly boost fundraising efforts.

In addition to SEIS/EIS, SeedLegals and Carta both offer ways for founders to take capital through investment agreements, but only SeedLegals lets you complete a full funding round. While Carta offers SAFE templates, with SeedLegals you can complete the full fundraising process – for example, raising before a round with a SeedFAST (our version of an ASA, Advanced Subscription Agreement) or SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity), completing the formal funding round and topping up after with Instant Investment.

Raising through SAFEs and ASAs are great for speed and flexibility, but they’re only part of the picture. To close the loop, you need the formal legal agreements that make everything official, including the Articles of Association and Shareholders Agreement. These documents protect your investors and ensure you maintain control as your business grows. Completing the full round also makes it easier to manage future funding and avoid messy legal or financial issues down the line.

SeedLegals gives you the option of multiple ways to raise through customisable documents vetted by lawyers – all with 1:1 support at every step.

Below, we’ll break down how each platform supports your fundraising journey and which might be the best fit for your business needs.

SeedLegals is fully tuned in to the UK early-stage startup scene

When it comes to the UK early-stage startup scene, SeedLegals is completely in tune with the needs of founders.

No one handles more SEIS applications, pre-seed or seed-stage rounds in the UK than SeedLegals, making it the go-to platform for early-stage companies. While Carta brings incredible insights into later-stage funding and larger rounds, our deep knowledge of SEIS/EIS tax relief schemes and early-stage fundraising sets us apart.

SeedLegals is specifically designed for UK founders, with expert guidance and automated tools that simplify the process, helping startups secure investment and grow from the ground up.

SeedLegals Plus – the complete fundraising package from £999/year + VAT

The SeedLegals Plus plan is designed to give you maximum value when you raise funding. With it, you get:

• A dedicated Account Manager
• Quarterly strategy review
• 1 free SEIS/EIS Advance Assurance or Compliance each year
• No engagement fee to start a funding round
• Free share transfers and share issues
• No engagement fee to unlock SeedNOTE (CLN)
• No engagement fee for R&D Tax Credits
• £100 in Flex credits – your first £10,000 raised is on us
• Perks – get discounts from our partners on startup essentials

Cap your fundraising costs with SeedLegals Flex funding

With Flex you can pay upfront to raise your target amount. Then you have 18 months to use a combination of any fundraising tool you want: SeedFASTs (the SeedLegals version of a SAFE), a traditional funding round, Instant Investment and Convertible Loan Notes (CLN).

Flex not only gives you the flexibility to take in funds whenever the opportunity comes up. It also saves you money by locking in a low price, because the total fee you pay upfront is based on the lowest cost regardless of which documents you choose to use.

Share option schemes: EMI, Unapproved and growth shares

Option schemes reward employees with equity, giving them a stake in the business’s success. It’s a powerful way to align the team’s long-term incentives and attract top talent without upfront cash outlays.

Using platforms like SeedLegals or Carta makes this process seamless. These platforms handle all the complex legal documents, valuations, and compliance, allowing founders to focus on building their business while ensuring their team is motivated and invested in its future.

Companies have a few choices when it comes to option scheme types.

• EMI (Enterprise Management Incentives): A tax-advantaged option scheme designed for UK startups with fewer than 250 employees, offering significant tax benefits to both the company and employees.
• Unapproved Options: Flexible options for companies that don’t qualify for EMI or need to grant options to international employees or advisors, though without the same tax advantages.
• CSOP (Company Share Option Plan): A scheme aimed at larger companies (typically beyond the startup phase), offering tax advantages but with stricter eligibility criteria and higher limits on grant sizes.
• Growth Shares: These are typically used to reward employees for growth above a set valuation, aligning incentives with company performance, often in later-stage companies.

The SeedLegals Options plan covers all your employee equity requirements for just £2,490/ year + VAT, including unlimited EMI and unapproved option schemes, EMI valuations, and all the required legal documents​.

With Carta, options services are only available in the larger Grow or Scale plans.

Talk to the startup experts

Fast and affordable access to top-quality legal documents and unlimited legal support – we make it simple to get SEIS/EIS Advance Assurance, all funding deal legals and option schemes done.

✅ Live platform chat support, plus unlimited task-specific support
✅ Fundraising strategy support from your dedicated account manager (with Plus membership)
✅ Data insights from the 60,000 companies using SeedLegals – see how we use our data to help you make the right decisions for your business on the Termometer
✅ Guided workflow with built-in tutorials
✅ An invite to our exclusive Founder WhatsApp group (with Plus membership)
✅ A full programme of free webinars and events, plus networking opportunities and discounts on ticket prices
✅ Access to 500+ articles and guides, packed with expert insights from investors and successful entrepreneurs
✅ Exclusive offers and perks worth over £8,000 (with Plus membership)

We’ve supported over 60,000 companies to raise over £2B to date. Book a demo to find out how we can help you too.