Braze (BRZE) NSO Exercise Calculator
Calculator · free · no signup · BRZEPlan your Braze NSO exercise (federal, state, FICA) and compare sell-vs-hold for long-term capital gains.
Beta · invite-only · AlphaLatitude Inc. · Free Tools
Your grant
Tax inputs
Hold strategy
Best after-tax payout — at year 1
$199,080
Sell + invest wins by $20,783 over Hold 1 yr.
Estimates only. Not financial advice.
Sell + invest
Best payout| Bargain element (sale − strike) | $350,000 |
| Federal | |
| State | |
| Medicare | −$5,075 |
| Additional Medicare | −$3,150 |
| Market gain over 1 yr at 10.0% | $18,573 |
| LTCG on diversified gain (fed + state + NIIT) | −$5,219 |
| Net at year 1 | $199,080 |
Sell every share immediately; invest the after-tax cash at the market return for 1 yr, then liquidate. Diversified — no single-stock concentration risk.
Exercise + hold 1 yr
| Sale proceeds (year 1) | |
| LTCG tax (federal + state + NIIT) | $0 |
| Net at year 1 | $178,297 |
Sold 2,678 shares at exercise to cover strike + tax; 2,322 shares held 1 yr for LTCG.
Social Security + Medicare are payroll taxes (collectively called FICA) — they apply because you're exercising as a current employee.
Both columns are stated in year-1 dollars: sell-now proceeds compound at the market return and pay LTCG on the gain at year 1; any cash paid out of pocket on the hold side carries the same opportunity cost.
Net at year N — by hold period
Estimates only. Excludes AMT (NSOs do not trigger AMT), state-AMT, multi-state moves, and disqualifying-disposition edge cases. Not financial advice.
You calculated one NSO decision. The beta plans NSOs alongside RSUs and ISOs in a single multi-year tax plan.
Request beta access →About Braze
Braze (BRZE) is a public Marketing company, incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in New York, NY. IPO'd Nov 17, 2021.
Last close: $21.18 per share (as of 2026-06-16).
Equity grants at Braze typically include incentive stock options (ISOs), non-qualified stock options (NSOs), and restricted stock units (RSUs).
Bill Magnuson, Jon Hyman, and Mark Ghermezian met at a TechCrunch Disrupt hackathon in New York City in 2011 and founded Braze (originally Appboy) to help mobile app developers retain and re-engage users through push notifications and in-app messaging. Braze expanded into a multichannel customer engagement platform covering email, SMS, web push, and WhatsApp alongside mobile channels, selling to enterprises across retail, media, and financial services. The company IPO'd on Nasdaq as BRZE in November 2021, pricing at $65 per share and raising $520 million at a $5.9 billion valuation.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Equity comp at Braze
- RSUs use single-trigger vesting: shares become yours as each portion vests on schedule, and the value is taxed as ordinary income at that point. No IPO or acquisition is required.
Researched 2026-05-07.
OptionsAhoy is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Braze.
Use this calculator to estimate your Braze (BRZE) NSO exercise tax (federal, state, FICA), then compare selling now versus holding through the long-term capital gains threshold. Inputs are yours: grant terms, current price, your income, your state.
Example: at Braze (BRZE)'s last close of $21.18, exercising 5,000 NSOs with a $6.35 strike creates a $74,150 bargain element, taxed as ordinary income on the day you exercise. Combined federal + state + FICA on that bargain typically lands between $20,021 and $33,368 depending on your bracket and state. The calculator above computes the exact figure for your situation and compares selling now vs. holding through the long-term capital-gains threshold.
All Braze tools → · Use the generic NSO Exercise Calculator for any company.
Braze equity questions
- How is a Braze NSO exercise taxed?
- Exercising a non-qualified stock option (NSO) creates ordinary income on the bargain element (the price on the day you exercise minus your strike), subject to federal income tax, state income tax, and FICA. The calculator above computes that tax for your Braze grant and compares selling the shares now against holding past the one-year mark for long-term capital-gains treatment.
- Does Braze grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
- Equity compensation at Braze typically takes the form of incentive stock options (ISOs), non-qualified stock options (NSOs), and restricted stock units (RSUs). Incentive stock options can trigger the alternative minimum tax (AMT) when you exercise. Restricted stock units are taxed as ordinary income when they vest.
- Do Braze RSUs use double-trigger vesting?
- No. Braze restricted stock units (RSUs) use single-trigger vesting: each tranche becomes yours as it vests on schedule, taxed as ordinary income at that point, with no liquidity event required.
One piece of the puzzle.
OptionsAhoy plans your Braze equity alongside hedging, vesting, and de-concentration, across bullish, neutral, and bearish market scenarios. Free during beta.