Carta vs Juniper Square for fund administration
The short answer
Both sell software with an administration service attached, and both quote rather than publish. The difference is where each starts. Carta starts from the portfolio company's cap table. Juniper Square starts from the LP's experience. A fund whose problems are on the portfolio side leans Carta; a fund whose problems are on the LP side leans Juniper Square.
Carta and Juniper Square on delivery model, fund types, sweet spot, published price, LP portal and date verified.
| Platform | Delivery | Fund types | Sweet spot | Published price | LP portal | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carta | Software plus administration | VC funds, SPVs | Managers already on its cap table and SPV products | Quote-based | Yes | Oct 9, 2026 |
| Juniper Square | Software plus administration | VC, PE, credit, real estate | Multi-fund GPs with institutional LP bases | Quote-based | Yes | Oct 9, 2026 |
Feature comparison
| Carta | Juniper Square | |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery | Software plus administration | Software plus administration |
| Asset classes | VC, PE, private credit | PE, real estate, VC, funds of funds, private credit |
| Portfolio cap tables | Yes | No |
| Onboarding and KYC | In the fund admin product | Configurable flows with global watchlist and PEP screening; 300,000+ subscriptions completed |
| Stated scale | $220B+ fund assets under administration | 2,300+ GPs, 750,000+ LPs |
| Published price | No; add-ons sold separately | No |
| Verified | 2026-10-09 | 2026-10-09 |
What Carta does better
Portfolio integration. If your companies issue equity on Carta, their cap tables, 409A valuations and your fund's positions are already in one place. For a venture fund that is the reason to choose it.
SPV volume. Carta administers SPVs at scale on the same platform, which suits a manager running single-asset vehicles alongside the fund.
One vendor for the company and the fund. Founders already know the Carta login, and the fund's closings, KYC and signatures live inside the same administration product.
What Juniper Square does better
The LP experience. Juniper Square's investor portal is the product most LPs in real estate and PE already use, and the company states 750,000 LPs and 300,000 subscriptions completed on its onboarding flows, with global watchlist, sanctions and PEP screening built in and programs for US, Cayman and Luxembourg funds.
Asset class breadth. A GP running venture alongside real estate or credit gets one system; Carta's fund products are venture, PE and private credit.
Institutional reporting. Multi-fund, multi-vehicle reporting for institutional LP bases is where Juniper Square has spent a decade.
What neither publishes
A price. Carta's pricing page describes per-stakeholder pricing with a minimum annual fee and unpriced add-ons for tax, formations and management company administration. Juniper Square's pricing page carries no figures. Ask both for the same scope: one fund, your LP count, one parallel vehicle, tax included, and the portal under your brand.
What to ask in both demos
- Show your actual quarterly package produced end to end: capital account statement, notices, performance figures, ILPA template.
- Who runs quarter-end close for a fund of my size, and how many funds does that person carry?
- What happens to my data if I leave, and in what format?
- For Carta: what does the fund side look like for a firm whose portfolio is not on Carta? For Juniper Square: show me a venture fund client, not a real estate one.
Who should choose which
- Choose Carta for a venture fund with a Carta-native portfolio and SPVs.
- Choose Juniper Square for a multi-fund GP with institutional LPs and more than one asset class.
- Get both quotes with identical scope before deciding, because neither number is public.
What we did
We read both vendors' pages on October 9, 2026 and recorded only what was written there. Scale figures are the vendors' own.
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper, Carta or Juniper Square?
Which is better for a first-time venture fund?
Sources
- Carta fund administrationcarta.com/fund-management/fund-administration/
- Juniper Square for venture capitalwww.junipersquare.com/who-we-serve/venture-capital
Terms used in this article
- Fund administrator A fund administrator is the firm, or the software operated in-house, that maintains a private fund's books: partner capital accounts, capital call and distribution processing, fee and waterfall calculations, NAV, investor statements and audit support.
- LP portal (investor portal) An LP portal, or investor portal, is the secure website where a fund's limited partners log in to view their capital account statements, capital call and distribution notices, quarterly reports, tax documents and fund legal documents, replacing email and PDF distribution.
For people actually running a fund
One operating problem a week: capital calls, K-1s, LP reporting, waterfall math, onboarding. Every Tuesday. Free.
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