Vesting Calculator

Before the cliff date, nothing is vested regardless of time elapsed. Once the cliff is reached, the amount vested is calculated as the grant size multiplied by the time elapsed since the vesting start date, divided by the total vesting period. Many schedules also vest monthly or quarterly after the cliff, rounding down to the most recently completed vesting interval rather than vesting continuously day by day, one of several details covered in vesting rules.

• Vesting start date: when the clock starts, often the employee's start date
• Cliff: the minimum period before any equity vests, commonly one year
• Total vesting period: the full time to vest the whole grant, commonly four years
• Vesting frequency: how often equity vests after the cliff, commonly monthly

An employee is granted 4,800 options with a four year vesting period, a one year cliff, and monthly vesting after the cliff. Before the first anniversary of the start date, zero options are vested. On the first anniversary, 25 percent vests at once, which is 1,200 options, representing the 12 months already worked. After that, 100 options vest each month, which is 4,800 divided by 48 months. At 30 months from the start date, the employee has 30 multiplied by 100, giving 3,000 vested options, the number that matters for exercising stock options.

Some schedules vest in exact daily fractions rather than monthly steps, and some include acceleration clauses that vest extra equity on an acquisition, both of which would change this result and should be checked against founder equity terms.

• The calculator assumes standard time based vesting with no performance conditions
• It does not include acceleration clauses that may apply on a sale of the company
• It assumes continuous employment, leaving early stops future vesting regardless of the calculated schedule