# OptionsAhoy alternatives: equity planning tools and services compared | OptionsAhoy

> Secfi’s calculators, Carta’s and ESO Fund’s AMT estimators, Equity Simplified, advisor software, wealth managers: this page compares products that share OptionsAhoy’s objective, planning your equity. Products with different objectives (financing an exercise, pooling shares, managing wealth at large) are out of scope no matter who sells them. Head-on tables, when each alternative is the better choice, and every factual claim linked to its source.

Markdown twin of https://optionsahoy.com/learn/optionsahoy-alternatives (canonical). More for agents: https://optionsahoy.com/llms.txt

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# OptionsAhoy alternatives: equity planning tools and services compared

Secfi’s calculators, Carta’s and ESO Fund’s AMT estimators, Equity Simplified, advisor software, wealth managers: this page compares products that share OptionsAhoy’s objective, *planning* your equity. Products with different objectives (financing an exercise, pooling shares, managing wealth at large) are out of scope no matter who sells them. Head-on tables, when each alternative is the better choice, and every factual claim linked to its source.

By Andrew Korytko , Founder & CEO , AlphaLatitude Inc. · Published August 13, 2026 · [AMT calculators, ISO planners, and others →](https://optionsahoy.com/learn)

A rule before any comparison: **products compare when they share an objective**. OptionsAhoy's objective is planning: computing what to do with your equity before you commit to anything. So this page compares planning products, whoever sells them. Companies whose main business is something else (financing an exercise, pooling shares for diversification, managing wealth at large) appear here only for their planning tools; their other products have different objectives and belong in their own comparisons. That is not a knock on those products: a plan and the products that execute it combine naturally, and you could well use both. Get the best plan you can here, then finance the exercise, buy the hedge, or hire the manager wherever the terms are best.

The table below is the planning landscape, one row per kind of planning; the last column is the OptionsAhoy answer on that row.

| Kind of planning | Who else sells it | How they charge | The OptionsAhoy answer |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| One decision: an exercise, a sale, a hedge, a lot order | [Secfi](https://secfi.com/tools/stock-option-tax-calculator)'s calculators, [Carta](https://carta.com/amt-calculator/)'s and [ESO Fund](https://www.esofund.com/amt-calculator)'s AMT estimators, [Equity Simplified](https://equitysimplified.com/) | Free (lead generation) | [Eight free calculators](https://optionsahoy.com/tools); schedules and sell orders **[optimized](https://optionsahoy.com/methodology)**, comparisons and pricing computed exactly, **[verified to the cent](https://optionsahoy.com/verification)** |
| The whole portfolio, planned jointly | Wealth managers as a service: [Compound](https://compoundplanning.com/), [Harness](https://www.harnesswealth.com/), [Range](https://www.range.com/) | % of assets or flat annual fee | The [OptionsAhoy Beta](https://optionsahoy.com/?_=learn-alternatives-glance#request-access) **[optimizes](https://optionsahoy.com/methodology)** every position jointly; free during beta |
| A concentrated position's exit | Bundled with advisory relationships; [StockOpter](https://stockopter.com/) for the advisor side | Advisory fees or firm subscription | [Concentration](https://optionsahoy.com/tools/concentration), [hedge pricing](https://optionsahoy.com/tools/protective-put), and [lot order](https://optionsahoy.com/tools/rsu-lot-order), free and self-serve |
| Planning at advisor scale, for client books | Advisor software: [Grantd](https://www.grantdequity.com/), [Holistiplan](https://www.holistiplan.com/), [Gemifi](https://www.gemifi.co/) | Firm subscription | Same class of math, free and **[verified to the cent](https://optionsahoy.com/verification)** |

One objective per comparison. Here, it is planning: the best plan makes every other product cheaper to choose.

## If your problem is the plan: exercise planning tools

This is OptionsAhoy's home ground, so the comparison is direct. The table lists every notable planning tool and calculator and what each one computes; everything was last verified on August 13, 2026 .

| Tool | What it computes |
| --- | --- |
| [Secfi's planning tools](https://secfi.com/tools/stock-option-tax-calculator) | Tax calculator (the cost of an exercise, taxes included), Equity Planner and Exercise Timing Planner (compare scenarios you choose: exercise now vs. later, different exit assumptions). Estimates and comparisons, not a computed optimum |
| [Carta's AMT calculator](https://carta.com/amt-calculator/) | Single-year AMT estimate (2025 & 2026) |
| [ESO Fund's AMT calculator](https://www.esofund.com/amt-calculator) | Single-year AMT estimate |
| [Equity Simplified](https://equitysimplified.com/) | AMT calculator, ISO exercise planner, RSU calculator |
| [myStockOptions](https://www.mystockoptions.com/) / [Kitces](https://www.kitces.com/) | Education, courses, basic tools |
| **[OptionsAhoy AMT + ISO Exercise Calculator](https://optionsahoy.com/tools/amt-iso)** (free) | Not a comparison of scenarios you pick: it searches the space of multi-year schedules and **[returns the optimum](https://optionsahoy.com/why-deterministic)** (which years, how many shares) for your income, state, and horizon. AMT credit recovery, all 50 states + DC, state AMT (CA, CO, CT, MN), expiration and holding-period timing, plus the single-year number. **[Verified to the cent](https://optionsahoy.com/verification)** |
| **[OptionsAhoy Beta](https://optionsahoy.com/?_=learn-alternatives-calculators#request-access)** (invite-only, free during beta) | Beyond any single calculator: plans every grant and position jointly with your *whole* tax situation, across years and market scenarios, into one month-by-month plan |

A single-year estimator is enough for a sanity check, and several are good at it. It is not a plan. The expensive mistakes in equity comp are **multi-year** mistakes: exercising everything at once when splitting across years would have saved six figures, stranding AMT credit you never recover, ignoring the state layer entirely.

The one-year trap, concretely

The plan also prices every decision that follows it: [the schedule](https://optionsahoy.com/tools/amt-iso) plus [the funding plan](https://optionsahoy.com/tools/equity-funding) give the year-by-year cash need, and the [Beta](https://optionsahoy.com/?_=learn-alternatives-portfolio#request-access) computes it inside your whole portfolio and tax situation, so the answer reflects everything you hold rather than one grant in isolation.

Prefer to ask an AI assistant this question? The OptionsAhoy MCP server runs the same math from inside ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, or VS Code. [See install options →](https://optionsahoy.com/for-agents?_=mcp-hint-learn#install)

## If you want the planning done for you: wealth managers

Planning as a service is the same objective delivered by humans, so it belongs in the comparison; the question is who does the work and what that costs. (What else these firms sell, from investment management to estate work, is outside this page's scope.)

| Firm | What it is | Cost structure |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Compound Planning](https://compoundplanning.com/clients/technology) | A dedicated human advisor plus a planning platform; equity compensation, tax, estate, and investment planning in one relationship, built for founders and tech employees | See their published pricing |
| [Harness](https://www.harnesswealth.com/) | Not an advisor itself: an intake on your situation, then a match with tax and financial advisory firms that handle equity-comp cases; the firm you pick does the planning | The matched firm sets its own fees |
| [Range](https://www.range.com/) | A team of CFPs, CPAs, and equity-comp specialists behind a software dashboard; covers equity, tax withholding and AMT questions, and estate planning, aimed at high earners | Published flat annual tiers, not a % of assets |
| **[OptionsAhoy's eight free calculators](https://optionsahoy.com/tools)** | The equity math an advisor would model, self-serve: [ISO/AMT schedules](https://optionsahoy.com/tools/amt-iso), [RSU sell-vs-hold](https://optionsahoy.com/tools/rsu-sell-vs-hold), [lot ordering](https://optionsahoy.com/tools/rsu-lot-order), [concentration](https://optionsahoy.com/tools/concentration), [hedge pricing](https://optionsahoy.com/tools/protective-put), [QSBS](https://optionsahoy.com/tools/qsbs). Schedules and sell orders **[optimized](https://optionsahoy.com/methodology)** for your income, state, and goals; comparisons and pricing computed exactly | Free; **[independently verified](https://optionsahoy.com/verification)** |
| **[OptionsAhoy Beta](https://optionsahoy.com/?_=learn-alternatives-wealth#request-access)** (the main product) | The closest head-to-head in this table: every ISO, NSO, RSU vest, concentrated position, and hedge planned *jointly*, **[optimized](https://optionsahoy.com/methodology)** for total after-tax wealth across multiple years and bullish, neutral, and bearish market scenarios, output as a month-by-month action plan | Free during beta; invite-only |

**An advisor wins** when your situation is bigger than your equity (multiple income streams, estate, charitable planning), or when you know you will not execute a plan without someone accountable for it; a good advisor's value is mostly follow-through. **The free tools win** when what you want is the equity answer: an advisor engaged for a full relationship is an expensive way to learn which lots to sell, and many advisors use planning software of their own to compute exactly that. When what you want is the *whole portfolio* optimized, not answers one question at a time, that is the [Beta's](https://optionsahoy.com/?_=learn-alternatives-verdict#request-access) job: the same head-to-head, without the fee. The combination is legitimate too: bring your computed plan to the first meeting and the conversation starts from the math.

## If your problem is concentration: planning the exit

Concentration planning is deciding how much of one stock to keep, and how to unwind the rest: sell on what schedule, hedge at what cost, in what order of lots. Products that *implement* a diversification decision (exchange funds, direct indexing, collars) have a different objective and their own trade-offs; we compare those in dedicated deep dives on [exchange funds](https://optionsahoy.com/learn/exchange-funds) and [collars](https://optionsahoy.com/learn/zero-cost-collars). The planning itself is what this table covers; note how thin the self-serve column is: elsewhere, concentration planning typically comes bundled with an advisory relationship or advisor software.

| Tool | What it computes |
| --- | --- |
| [StockOpter by Grantd](https://stockopter.com/) | Equity-award risk analysis and strategy modeling, used by advisory firms since 1999; now part of Grantd |
| Wealth managers | Concentration planning as part of the service; see the wealth-managers section above |
| [Cache's Companion guides](https://usecache.com/companion) | Education from an exchange-fund seller comparing implementation options (exchange funds vs. direct indexing); guides, not a planner |
| **OptionsAhoy's free trio:** [Stock Concentration Calculator](https://optionsahoy.com/tools/concentration), [Protect Your Stock Calculator](https://optionsahoy.com/tools/protective-put), [RSU Lot Order Calculator](https://optionsahoy.com/tools/rsu-lot-order) | Drawdown cost of staying concentrated, collar and put pricing, and the sell order **[optimized](https://optionsahoy.com/methodology)** for the lowest computed tax. Free; it computes, you decide |
| **[OptionsAhoy Beta](https://optionsahoy.com/?_=learn-alternatives-concentration#request-access)** (invite-only, free during beta) | Selling, hedging, and exit pacing are not separate decisions; they trade off across tax years. The Beta **[optimizes](https://optionsahoy.com/methodology)** the mix jointly, taxes included, and tells you which combination wins |

(Figure: Stock Concentration Calculator cost-of-fully-de-concentrating cards: Sell over 1 year costs $161K tax leaving $800K wealth, Sell over 2 years costs $178K leaving $953K, Sell over 3 years costs $241K leaving $1.1M (+$381K vs lump-sum). Sensitivity note flags that lump-sum beats every spread plan if the position's expected return drops below 8.1%/year)

What the free analysis looks like before any product pitch: lump-sum vs. 2-year vs. 3-year sell-downs for a concentrated position, with the sensitivity threshold where the answer flips. This is the computation an exchange fund or direct-indexing pitch should be measured against. [Open this scenario in the Stock Concentration Calculator →](https://optionsahoy.com/tools/concentration)

## If you advise clients: advisor software

Same objective, different buyer: these tools do equity planning for a book of clients, so the comparison is about practice features as much as math. If you are an equity holder, this category matters as context: when an advisor shows you an equity analysis, software like this often produced it.

| Tool | What it does for a practice |
| --- | --- |
| [Grantd](https://www.grantdequity.com/) | AI-driven equity-comp platform for advisors: document reader for grant paperwork, strategy builder, client reports. It [acquired StockOpter](https://ffnews.com/newsarticle/fintech/grantd-acquires-stockopter/), the risk-analysis and strategy-modeling tool advisory firms have used since 1999 |
| [Holistiplan](https://www.holistiplan.com/) | Tax-planning software (tax-return reading, scenario analysis) with equity-comp features; planning is tax-first rather than equity-first |
| [Gemifi](https://www.gemifi.co/) | Collects, analyzes, and tracks client equity awards and generates trading plans; built by advisors for equity-comp practices |
| **[OptionsAhoy](https://optionsahoy.com/tools)** (free) | The same class of math, aimed at the equity holder: no client intake, document parsing, or practice reporting, but the schedules are **[optimized](https://optionsahoy.com/methodology)** and **[verified to the cent](https://optionsahoy.com/verification)**, and advisors are welcome to run client scenarios or hand a computed schedule to a client directly |

About this page: sources, trademarks, corrections

Educational content for general information, not personalized tax, legal, or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional for your specific situation. See [Terms](https://optionsahoy.com/terms).

Related questions

**Is OptionsAhoy a Secfi alternative?**

They solve different problems. Secfi sells non-recourse financing for option exercises alongside planning tools and an advisory arm; OptionsAhoy is free, self-serve optimization software. If you cannot afford to exercise, financing providers like Secfi, ESO Fund, or EquityBee are the relevant category, and the financing is paid for with fees and a share of your upside. If you want the exercise plan itself (which years, how many shares, at what AMT cost), OptionsAhoy computes it and you keep 100% of the upside; the invite-only OptionsAhoy Beta goes further and plans the exercise inside your whole portfolio and tax situation. Many people use both: run the math first, then decide whether financing is worth its price.

**How does OptionsAhoy compare to Carta?**

Carta is cap-table software sold to companies; employees mostly encounter it because their employer uses it. Its free AMT calculator produces a single-year estimate. OptionsAhoy is built for the equity holder directly: multi-year exercise schedules, AMT credit recovery, all 50 states plus DC (with state AMT where it exists), and results verified to the cent against independent calculators. Free, with no login.

**Does OptionsAhoy offer exercise financing or financial advice?**

No. OptionsAhoy is software: deterministic calculators, not an advisory firm, a lender, or a broker. It does not provide personalized financial, tax, or legal advice, and it never takes a share of your equity. That makes it a natural first step before engaging a financing provider or an advisor: the math tells you what the decision is worth before you pay anyone for help executing it.

**Is OptionsAhoy really free? What is the catch?**

The eight calculators are free, run entirely in your browser, and require no account. The company’s commercial product is an invite-only beta for integrated multi-position, multi-year planning; the free tools are how it earns trust. Every published tax constant matches its IRS source and the math is independently verified; see optionsahoy.com/verification.

**When is a wealth manager better than OptionsAhoy?**

When you want a fiduciary managing your whole financial life (investments, estate, tax filing, insurance) rather than answers to specific equity questions. Firms serving tech employees charge either a percentage of assets or flat annual fees. OptionsAhoy is the better fit when you want the equity math itself: reproducible, verifiable, free, and yours to act on with or without an advisor. The invite-only OptionsAhoy Beta is the direct head-to-head, optimizing every position jointly across years and market scenarios into a month-by-month plan. The two combine well: bring the computed plan to the advisor and the conversation starts from the math.

**What makes OptionsAhoy’s AMT calculator different from other free AMT calculators?**

Most free AMT calculators (Carta’s, ESO Fund’s, and others) estimate one year’s AMT for one exercise. OptionsAhoy’s optimizer answers the harder question: the multi-year exercise schedule (which years, how many shares each year) that minimizes lifetime tax, including AMT credit recovery, state AMT for CA, CO, CT and MN, and expiration and holding-period timing. Same inputs always produce the same answer, and the tax math is verified to the cent against independent open-source calculators.

[All equity-comp questions →](https://optionsahoy.com/tools-faq)

Run the numbers

## Plan your ISO exercise with your own grant

The article lays out the framework. The multi-year iso exercise schedule calculator runs it for your specific numbers in seconds. Free, no signup.

[Open the Multi-Year ISO Exercise Schedule Calculator →](https://optionsahoy.com/tools/amt-iso)

Read next

- [Compare Free AMT calculators compared: estimating a year vs. optimizing the schedule Carta, ESO Fund, Equity Simplified, Secfi, and OptionsAhoy all publish free AMT calculators. The real difference is not accuracy, it is *scope*: most estimate one year of alternative minimum tax for one exercise, and one computes the multi-year exercise schedule that minimizes it. Here is what each tool does, when a single-year estimate is enough, and what it cannot see.](https://optionsahoy.com/learn/amt-calculators-compared)
- [Compare ISO exercise planners compared: scenarios you pick vs. a computed optimum Every ISO exercise planner answers "what if I exercise now vs. later?" The dividing line is what gets searched. Scenario tools (Secfi’s Equity Planner) evaluate the plans *you* think to try; single-position planners (Equity Simplified) compute exercise amounts against AMT for one year; OptionsAhoy’s optimizers search the space of multi-year plans and return the best one they can prove. Here is who makes what, and when each approach is the right one.](https://optionsahoy.com/learn/iso-exercise-planners-compared)
- [Compare RSU calculators compared: vest math, sell-vs-hold, and lot order Most RSU calculators answer one question: what is this vest worth after taxes? That is the easy third of the problem. The decisions that move real money are whether to hold after vest (the sell-vs-hold cliff at 12 months) and which lots to sell first when unwinding a position. Here is what each free tool computes, and which decisions each one can and cannot answer.](https://optionsahoy.com/learn/rsu-calculators-compared)

## You read the framework. Beta runs it on every grant you own.

OptionsAhoy plans every ISO, NSO exercise, RSU vest, hedge, and sale jointly across years and across bullish, neutral, and bearish scenarios. Free during beta.