Does Carta charge separately for a 409A valuation?

It depends on the plan. Carta sells 409A valuations alongside its cap table subscription, and some plans include or discount them while others price them separately. Ask Carta for the per-valuation price on your plan in writing, including whether a refresh after a financing round is included or billed as a new engagement.

Is a 409A renewal cheaper than the first valuation?

Often, yes. Many providers discount renewals because the company's history, cap table and model are already on file. Market guides commonly cite renewals at roughly 30% to 40% below a first engagement at firms that price per report. Annual-plan providers instead include refreshes within the plan year, subject to the plan's terms.

What fees are usually left out of a 409A quote?

The common extras are expedited delivery, refreshes after a material event, additional revision rounds, complex instruments such as multiple preferred series or warrants, ASC 718 expense reporting, and audit support beyond the first auditor inquiry. Ask each provider to confirm which of these are included before you compare headline prices.

Can I switch 409A providers between valuations?

Yes. Nothing in Section 409A ties a company to one appraiser. Give the new provider your prior reports, cap table history and board consents so it can reconcile its conclusion to the earlier ones. Large unexplained swings in common stock value between reports draw auditor questions, so continuity of documentation matters more than continuity of vendor.

Do I pay again for a 409A after a new financing round?

Usually. A priced round or signed term sheet is a material event, so grants made after it should rely on a new valuation. Per-report providers bill a new engagement, often at a renewal rate. Annual-plan providers may include the refresh within the plan year. Check the terms before you choose, because most startups need more than one 409A a year.

409A Valuation Cost Comparison by Provider (2026 Table)

How this page fits with our other cost guides: if you want to know what a 409A costs at each funding stage and why, read our 409A valuation cost guide for 2026. If you want a ranked list of firms with strengths and weaknesses, see the best 409A valuation providers in 2026. This page does one thing: it lines up 409A provider pricing side by side, provider by provider, so you can compare like with like.

The 2026 409A Provider Pricing Table

The table below is the core of this 409A valuation cost comparison. “Published” means the provider states the price on its own website. “Reported” means the provider quotes each engagement and the figure comes from its own guides, our provider reviews or common market quotes. Treat reported figures as a starting point for negotiation, not a price list.

Provider	Pricing Model	Price (2026)	Typical Turnaround	Notes
409A-Valuation.com	Per report, flat	Published: $0 draft; $499 signed; $749 Growth	Draft first; signed report in 3–7 business days	Review the full draft before paying; best fit seed to early Series B
Carta	Bundled with cap table plan or quoted	Reported: ~$1,200–$2,000 seed; ~$2,000–$4,000 Series A; $4,000–$8,000+ later	About 1–4 weeks	Price depends on plan; can be longer at quarter-end
Eqvista	Annual plan by stage	Published: $990 pre-revenue to $2,590 Series A; custom from Series B	5–10 working days; expedite from $490	Plan covers refreshes within the year, per plan terms
Aranca	Per report, scoped	Published: from $1,299	7–10 business days	Floor applies to simple structures; lifetime audit support
Scalar	Custom quote	Reported: low thousands early stage; well above $5,000 complex	Roughly 1–3 weeks	Set per engagement letter; strong on growth and pre-IPO work
Kruze Consulting	Bundled with accounting or quoted	Not published; reported in the boutique range	1–3 weeks; faster for existing clients	Most useful if Kruze already keeps your books
Burkland Associates	Quoted within finance services	Not published; its guide cites $1,500–$6,000 market range through Series B	1–3 weeks once data is complete	Fits companies using Burkland as outsourced finance
Big 4 and enterprise firms	Custom quote, often hourly-based	Reported: $8,000–$25,000+	4–8 weeks	Justified mainly for late-stage, pre-IPO or complex structures

Two former options are missing on purpose. Pulley, whose Growth plan at $3,500 a year included 409As, is shutting down on December 8, 2026 and no longer sells new plans; our Pulley 409A review covers what existing customers should download. AngelList no longer bundles 409As with its cap table product and refers companies to outside firms.

How much does a 409A valuation cost by provider?

In 2026, a 409A valuation costs $499 per signed report at 409A-Valuation.com, $990 to $2,590 a year on Eqvista's plans, and from $1,299 at Aranca. Carta is commonly reported at about $1,200 to $8,000 by stage. Scalar, Kruze and Burkland quote each engagement, and Big 4 firms usually charge $8,000 to $25,000 or more.

Within each provider, the price still moves with your capital structure. A seed company with common stock, an option pool and a few SAFEs sits at the bottom of every range. Each additional preferred series, convertible note, warrant or secondary sale adds modeling work, and providers that scope engagements price that work in. When two quotes differ by thousands of dollars, the first question is whether both providers saw the same cap table.

How We Built This 409A Valuation Cost Comparison

Provider pricing is hard to compare because providers disclose it in different ways. We grouped the sources into three tiers, and the table says which tier each figure comes from:

Published prices. Figures the provider states on its own pricing or product pages: our own plans, Eqvista's annual plans and expedite fee, and Aranca's starting price. These are the most reliable, but they are often floors, not quotes.
Provider-cited ranges. Ranges a provider publishes in its own guides without committing to a rate, such as Burkland's market ranges.
Reported ranges. Figures drawn from our individual provider reviews and common market quotes, for firms that quote every engagement, such as Carta, Scalar and the enterprise firms.

Each provider has a fuller write-up on our site: Carta, Eqvista, Aranca, Scalar, Kruze Consulting and Burkland. Prices change, and we are one of the providers in the table, so verify every figure with a written quote before you decide.

Pricing Models Compared: Per Report, Annual Plan, Bundled and Custom Quote

The pricing model often matters more than the headline number, because it decides what happens to your bill when you need a second valuation. There are four models in the market.

Flat per report. One price per signed valuation, known in advance. It is the easiest model to budget and compare. The trade-off is that every refresh is a new purchase, so ask about renewal pricing.
Annual plan. A yearly fee, usually tiered by stage, that covers a valuation and refreshes within the plan year. This model pays off if you expect a financing or another material event during the year. Read what “unlimited” covers before you assume every refresh is free.
Bundled with software or services. The 409A is included in, or discounted with, a cap table subscription or an accounting engagement. The effective price can be low, but the true 409A cost is hard to isolate, and switching vendors later can mean losing the discount.
Custom quote. The provider scopes each engagement after reviewing your structure. This is standard at boutique and enterprise firms and makes sense for complex companies. It also makes comparison harder, because each quote reflects different assumptions about scope.

When you compare 409A pricing by provider, put every quote on the same basis: the price for one valuation of your actual cap table, plus the price of one refresh within 12 months.

Which 409A provider is cheapest?

Among providers that deliver a report signed by an independent appraiser, 409A-Valuation.com has the lowest published price at $499 per report. Eqvista's $990 pre-revenue plan is the lowest annual plan. Free or software-only estimates cost less, but they do not come from a qualified independent appraiser, so they do not support the independent appraisal safe harbor.

The cheapest provider for one valuation is not always the cheapest for the year. A company that will raise a round six months after its first 409A pays twice under a per-report model and once under an annual plan that covers refreshes. The worked example below shows how that plays out. If the lowest price is your main criterion, our guide to the cheapest compliant 409A valuation covers the minimum requirements a low-cost report must still meet.

Turnaround vs Price: What Faster Delivery Costs

Searchers who compare 409A providers on cost and turnaround together are usually up against a hiring deadline. The relationship between the two is not what most founders expect: in 2026, the cheapest providers are often the fastest, because automation shortens both the analysis and the price.

Days: AI-assisted and software-led providers, including 409A-Valuation.com, typically deliver a signed report in 3 to 7 business days.
One to two weeks: Eqvista (5 to 10 working days) and Aranca (7 to 10 business days) publish standard timelines in this band.
One to four weeks: Carta, Scalar, Kruze and Burkland typically land here once data is complete, with longer waits at quarter-end and year-end.
Four to eight weeks: enterprise and Big 4 engagements, which involve more review layers.

Expedite fees are the hidden line item in 409A provider turnaround. Eqvista publishes expedited delivery from $490, and traditional firms commonly charge several hundred to a few thousand dollars to compress their timeline. Every quoted timeline also starts only when your data is complete, so a clean cap table and financials are the cheapest way to speed up any provider. For a provider-by-provider look at speed, see our guide to fast 409A valuation providers.

Comparing Total First-Year Cost: A Worked Example

Consider a seed-stage company with common stock, an option pool and two SAFEs. It needs a 409A now for its first grants and expects to close a priced round in about six months, which is a material event that calls for a new valuation before further grants. That is two valuations in 12 months.

Provider	First Valuation	Post-Round Refresh	Estimated 12-Month Total
409A-Valuation.com (Standard)	$499	$499	$998
Eqvista (seed plan)	$1,990 plan	Included per plan terms	$1,990
Aranca	From $1,299	Quoted (assume similar)	From about $2,600
Carta (not bundled)	~$1,200–$2,000	~$1,200–$2,000	~$2,400–$4,000
Boutique firm (custom quote)	~$1,500–$3,500	Often 30–40% less as a renewal	~$2,500–$5,600

The example is illustrative: the post-round refresh is valuing a Series A company, so per-report providers may quote it higher than the first report. The point is the method. Model the valuations you expect to need in the next 12 months, not just the next one, and the ranking of providers can change.

Is a more expensive 409A valuation more defensible?

Not by itself. Under Treasury Regulations Section 1.409A-1(b)(5)(iv)(B), the presumption of reasonableness depends on a qualified independent appraiser, a valuation date within 12 months of the grant and no unreflected material information. The fee is not a factor. What a higher price can buy is deeper analysis for complex structures and more audit support.

Defensibility comes from the report itself: reasonable methods applied to accurate inputs, a clear allocation of value across share classes, a supported discount for lack of marketability, and a conclusion that reconciles to your recent financings. An auditor reviewing a $499 report and a $15,000 report asks the same questions. Our article on 409A safe harbor explains the presumption in full.

Paying more is justified when the work genuinely is harder: several preferred series with different preferences, meaningful secondary sales, a tender offer, or an IPO within roughly 18 months, when auditors and the SEC look closely at grant pricing. Note one constraint at the top of the market: a company's own financial-statement auditor generally cannot also prepare the valuation it will audit, so a Big 4 firm usually values companies it does not audit. Our comparison of boutique and large 409A firms covers when the premium pays off.

How to Get Comparable Quotes: A Provider Checklist

Headline 409A provider pricing is only comparable once every provider has priced the same scope. Send each shortlisted provider the same package, your current cap table, financing documents for every SAFE, note and preferred round, and the last 12 months of financials, and ask the same questions:

What is the all-in price for my capital structure, in writing, including any complexity surcharges?
Who signs the report, and what are that appraiser's credentials and independence from the company?
What does a refresh cost after a priced round or other material event within the next 12 months?
What is the turnaround from complete data, and what does expedited delivery cost?
How many revision rounds are included, and is there a charge for answering auditor questions later?
Can I see a sample report or, better, my own draft before I commit?
Are add-ons priced separately, such as ASC 718 expense reporting or a valuation as of a past grant date?

Lay the answers out in a grid next to the table above and the real price differences become clear. Quotes that looked $3,000 apart often converge once refreshes and audit support are included, and quotes that looked similar can diverge.

The Bottom Line on 409A Valuation Cost Comparison

A useful 409A valuation cost comparison looks past the headline number to three things: the pricing model, the cost of a refresh within 12 months, and turnaround from complete data. On published prices, AI-assisted and software-led providers sit at the low end, annual plans suit companies expecting a financing during the year, and custom-quoted boutique and enterprise firms earn their premium on complex, late-stage and pre-IPO work.

Whatever you pay, the safe harbor test is the same: a qualified independent appraiser, a valuation date within 12 months of the grant, and a report that reflects all material information. Use the table to shortlist, get written quotes on the same scope, and choose the provider whose total cost for the year and timeline fit your grant schedule.

Provider prices and turnaround times in this article are based on published pricing pages, provider guides and reported market quotes as of October 2026. They change frequently and vary by capital structure, so confirm current pricing directly with each provider. 409A-Valuation.com is one of the providers compared. This article is general information about Section 409A and valuation practice, not legal, tax or accounting advice. Whether a valuation qualifies for a presumption of reasonableness under Treasury Regulations Section 1.409A-1(b)(5)(iv)(B) depends on the specific facts; consult your own counsel and tax advisor.

409A Valuation Cost Comparison by Provider: 2026 Pricing Table