Cap table platform or appraisal firm: which 409A to buy

Two different products

The platform bundle

The appraisal engagement

What actually decides it

• Cap table complexity. Standard common and preferred is a solved problem. Participating preferred with multiple liquidation preferences, stacked SAFEs at different caps, warrants and secondaries are not. 409A.io says this itself: it is built for pre-seed through Series A, and tells you to graduate to full-service MELD when the cap table goes beyond standard common and preferred.
• Who your auditor is. Ask them before you buy. Auditors see hundreds of these reports and have views about which providers generate follow-up questions. This one conversation is worth more than any comparison page.
• Whether you are near an exit. Diligence teams read 409A history. A thin report from three years ago is a due diligence question you answer under time pressure during a deal.
• How many you will buy. A subscription that includes unlimited refreshes is a different value proposition for a company raising twice in eighteen months than for one that grants options once a year and never changes.

The signature question

Eton's published compliance guidance makes a specific claim worth putting to any provider: that cap table providers which double as valuation providers automate the process and do not sign their reports, and that an unsigned report could be enough to forfeit safe harbor status. Eton is an appraisal firm and therefore not a neutral party, and the regulation itself does not use the word signature: it requires an independent appraisal meeting the section 401(a)(28)(C) requirements, or for the start-up route a written report by a qualified person. But the underlying question is a good one and it costs nothing to ask: who is the appraiser, what are their credentials, and does their name appear on the report?

A reasonable default

For a pre-seed or seed company with a straightforward cap table, granting options to employees, no imminent liquidity event and an auditor who has no objection, the platform bundle is a sensible purchase and the money saved is better spent elsewhere. For a Series B and beyond, a complex capital structure, a recent secondary or tender offer, or an exit on the horizon, buy the engagement. The mistake is not choosing either one: it is choosing on price without noticing that they are different products.

Nothing on this page is tax, legal or accounting advice, and it does not address state law or your specific facts. Provider claims are what each provider states on its own pages on 15 August 2026.