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Equity vs Salary Job Offer Calculator

A $200,000 RSU grant sounds bigger than a $30,000 higher base salary — until vesting, stock growth, and your actual stay length get their say. Enter both offers to see the totals over your real timeline, and how the verdict swings with the stock.

Does the equity offer actually pay more?

Offer A pairs a lower base salary with an equity grant (RSUs or options valued as shares). Offer B pays a higher base and no equity. The calculator totals both over your planned stay — raises, the 401(k) match on base pay, vesting, your stock-growth guess, and an uncertainty discount — then stress-tests the answer against a bear and bull stock path.

Base salary — equity offer ($)

Annual base pay on the offer that includes the equity grant.

Equity grant value ($)

The headline grant value — for RSUs, shares × price; for options, the Black-Scholes-style value or just the spread you expect.

Vesting period (years)

Straight-line vesting is assumed (a quarter each year over 4). Only what vests counts.

Assumed stock growth (%/yr)

Your expected annual stock growth. The scenarios below move it ±10 points.

Uncertainty discount (%)

Haircut for forfeiture, dilution, illiquidity, and volatility. Small for stable public RSUs; big for pre-IPO paper.

Base salary — salary offer ($)

Annual base pay on the higher-salary offer (no equity).

Expected annual raise (%)

Average yearly raise — raises compound on base salary only.

Planned years at the job

How long you realistically expect to stay. Shorter than vesting = forfeited equity.

401(k) match (%)

Employer match on base salary. Equity never earns a match.

The equity offer pulls ahead$15,380Over 5 years: Offer A totals $1,009,250 · Offer B totals $993,870 (expected 5% stock growth, 20% uncertainty discount).

Offer A · equity offer$1,009,250$150,000 base + $200,000 grant · 5 yrs

+$15,380over 5 years

Offer B · salary offer$993,870$180,000 base, no equity · 5 yrs

Enter both offers above to run the comparison.

How it works: each offer's salary total = base salary × ((1 + r)^Y − 1) ÷ r × (1 + 401(k) match), where r is the annual raise rate and Y is your planned stay (with 0% raises it's simply base × Y). Offer A adds the equity value: the grant spread evenly over the vesting period, each year's tranche grown by the stock-growth assumption, summed over the years you actually stay — then discounted by the uncertainty haircut. Only vested shares count: leave before the grant vests and that slice is worth $0. Both sides are compared at gross — RSUs are taxed as ordinary income when they vest, just like salary — so this is a gross-comparison, not tax advice. For the after-tax picture, see the take-home pay calculator.

How the equity-vs-salary math works

An equity grant is a promise about the future; a base salary is a paycheck. The whole comparison hinges on four things: how much of the grant actually vests while you're there, what the stock does in that time, how risky that stock is, and how long you stay. Salary is guaranteed and compounds through raises and the 401(k) match — both apply to base pay only, never to equity. Equity can beat it, but only in the worlds where you vest it and the stock cooperates.

The formulas

salary total (Y years) = base × ((1 + r)^Y − 1) ÷ r × (1 + 401k match) · equity value = Σ of each vested year's tranche × (1 + growth)^year, then × (1 − uncertainty discount) · tranches = grant ÷ vesting years · only years ≤ your stay vest · scenarios: growth − 10 pts (bear), your growth (expected), growth + 10 pts (bull)

The grant is sliced into equal yearly tranches, each grown forward by the stock assumption from year one — earlier tranches get more growth, which is why longer vesting with good growth stacks up. The uncertainty discount is your honest haircut for forfeiture risk, dilution, illiquidity (private stock you can't sell), and volatility. The three scenarios exist because a single growth guess is a lie: they show how wide the answer is before you bet on it.

Worked example: $150,000 + $200,000 grant over 4 years vs $180,000

Offer A pays $150,000 base plus a $200,000 RSU grant vesting over 4 years. Offer B pays $180,000 base, no equity. Assume a 5-year stay, 3% annual raises, a 4% 401(k) match, 5% stock growth, and a 20% uncertainty discount.

1. Salary totals: Offer A: $150,000 × 5.3091 (5 years of 3% raises) × 1.04 = $828,225. Offer B: $180,000 × 5.3091 × 1.04 = $993,870. On salary alone, Offer B leads by $165,645.

2. The equity: $50,000 vests each year, growing at 5%: $52,500 + $55,125 + $57,881 + $60,775 = $226,281. Discount 20% for uncertainty → $181,025.

3. The verdict: Offer A totals $1,009,250; Offer B totals $993,870 — the equity offer wins by $15,380 at expected growth. But the bear path (−5% stock) flips it: Offer A trails by $24,670. The bull path (+15%) stretches the win to $64,050. That swing — from minus $25k to plus $64k — is what the $30,000 of extra salary never has to worry about.

Where this comes in handy

Comparing two real offers: when one leads with equity and the other with base pay, run both with your honest stay length — not the optimistic one. The stay decides how much vests.
Pricing the cliff: most grants vest nothing until the one-year mark. If your plan has you leaving in year one, enter a 1-year stay and watch the equity column collapse.
Discounting private-company paper: stock you cannot sell until an IPO or acquisition deserves a much bigger uncertainty discount — and the range chart shows why the same grant can be worth anywhere from life-changing to $0.
Asking for more equity instead of salary: when the base is capped by the pay band, the calculator shows the grant size that closes the gap — compare a signing bonus vs a higher salary alongside this one.
Seeing the after-tax picture: RSUs vest as ordinary income, so the take-home pay calculator shows what each base salary actually deposits.
Valuing the whole offer: the 1099 vs W-2 calculator breaks down benefits and self-employment tax when the equity offer is really a contractor deal.

Equity vs salary offer — frequently asked questions

How do I value RSUs in a job offer?

Take the grant's dollar value, divide it by the vesting years, and grow each year's tranche by your expected stock growth — then keep only the tranches that vest while you actually stay, and discount the total for risk. A $200,000 grant over 4 years is not $200,000 in your pocket; it's roughly $50,000 a year of stock, worth more or less depending on the share price each year, and worth nothing in the years after you leave.

What does a one-year cliff mean for my offer?

With the standard four-year vest and one-year cliff, none of your equity vests until your first work anniversary — at which point the first year's tranche vests all at once and the rest vests gradually. Leave before the cliff and you forfeit the entire grant. When comparing offers, ask whether a cliff applies and set your planned stay honestly.

What happens to unvested equity if I leave?

In almost every standard agreement, unvested shares are forfeited on your last day — no grace period, no exercise window. That makes unvested equity worth $0 in any honest offer comparison. If you're leaving a current job with unvested equity, factor that loss into the decision, and ask the new employer for a sign-on or make-whole grant to cover it.

How much should I discount private-company equity?

More than you think. Pre-IPO stock has no market: you can't sell it, the 409A valuation can drop between rounds, dilution eats your percentage, and most startups never reach a liquidity event. A 30–50%+ uncertainty discount is a reasonable starting frame for private paper — and you should still treat the bull case as a bonus, not the budget. Public-company RSUs at a stable firm deserve a much smaller haircut.

RSUs or stock options — which is better in a job offer?

RSUs are lower risk: they vest into actual shares with guaranteed value equal to the share price. Stock options only pay off if the price rises above your strike price — more leveraged upside, but worthless if the stock stays flat or falls, plus you usually get a short post-departure window to exercise vested options or lose them. When an offer is options-heavy, value them at the spread you realistically expect, not the grant's headline number.

Should I sell my RSUs when they vest?

Many advisors say yes, and the logic is simple: you've already paid ordinary income tax on the vested value, and holding concentrates both your career and your portfolio in one company's stock. Selling on vest and diversifying turns the grant into real wealth instead of a concentrated bet. Your risk tolerance and conviction in the company decide the rest.

Is a lower salary with equity ever worth it?

Yes — when you stay through vesting, the stock performs, and you can afford the risk. Young, low-expense, long-horizon employees can rationally take the equity swing; employees with mortgages and kids often can't, because you can't pay bills with unvested shares. The honest test is the scenario range: if the bear case would wreck your finances, the salary was the right pick.

How do raises and the 401(k) match change the comparison?

Both favor the higher-salary offer. Raises are percentages of base pay, so the larger base compounds faster every year; the 401(k) match applies to base salary (never to equity), so the salary offer earns more free retirement money too. Over a long stay, these two effects quietly widen the salary's lead — the calculator includes both.

Learn the method: the free how to compare a job offer with equity to a higher salary guide walks through the comparison step by step — the four numbers that decide it, RSUs vs options, the one-year cliff, how to discount private-company paper, taxes at vest, and a negotiation checklist — with a fully worked example.