Register of comparison
Saral vs the spreadsheet.
The spreadsheet is the real incumbent, and it deserves an honest comparison — including the part where it wins.
| Dimension | The spreadsheet | Saral |
|---|---|---|
| Starting out — 2 founders, no investors | Genuinely fine. A sheet is fast, free and flexible. Use one. | Free plan is for the moment that stops being true. |
| Version truth | Whoever edited last wins. Three copies circulate; nobody knows which the CS filed from. | One append-only ledger. Every view replayed from it. History tamper-evident. |
| Point-in-time answers | "What was the cap table at the last AGM?" means archaeology through email attachments. | Pick a date. The ledger replays to it. |
| Compliance clocks | The sheet does not know PAS-3 is 15 days for your round, or that the money is locked till it’s filed. | Obligations generated from transactions the moment they happen, statutory basis shown. |
| CCPS math at exit | Someone rebuilds preference stacks in Excel during the most stressful week of your life. | The waterfall engine computes it continuously — try the free simulator. |
| ESOP tax | Per-employee perquisite math by hand, with the 2026 law change applied… hopefully. | Computed per exercise, with the valuation checks the law requires and statements citing the right Act. |
| Registers (MGT-1, SH-6…) | Hand-maintained, drifting from reality since the last funding round. | Generated live from the ledger. Cannot drift. |
| Cost of an error | Penalties, a blown diligence, or repricing an employee’s life-changing exercise. | Engine tested against hand-computed fixtures, reviewed by a practising CS. |
The checklist
Comparing platforms? Ask about capabilities, not logos.
We won't name competitors or talk anyone down. Instead, here is the India-specific checklist to put in front of any platform you evaluate — including us. Every line below is live in Saral today, not modelled after the fact.
The cap table above is a view, not a file — replayed from the ledger on every load.
| Compliance obligations | native —generated from equity events, not a to-do list you type in yourself |
| PAS-3 clock | native —15-vs-30-day branch, with the Sec 42(4) funds-lock surfaced |
| Stamp duty | native —current central rates, demat/physical distinction, disputed-state warnings |
| PAS-6 reconciliation | native —book-vs-demat with an actual diff engine |
| Indian instruments | native —CCPS terms, CCDs, iSAFEs, partly-paid shares as structured data |
| FEMA workflow | native —FC-GPR packs, per-tranche FC-TRS clocks, register gate on unacknowledged transfers |
| Distinctive numbers | native —certificates: assigned, split FIFO, retired, audited |
| ESOP Rule 12 | native —12-month cliff and eligibility exclusions enforced as blocks, not tooltips |
| Exercise-time FMV | native —Category I merchant banker gate, 180-day freshness |
| Data residency | native —India, stated plainly |
Bring your spreadsheet — the importer is the front door.
Saral parses it, shows a dry-run validation, and writes only after you approve.
Want the details module by module? Start with the compliance engine →