ESOP Vesting Calculator

About the ESOP Vesting Calculator

See exactly when a grant of stock options or RSUs vests. Enter the number granted, the grant date, the vesting period and the cliff, and how often units vest after it — monthly, quarterly, every six months or yearly — evenly or by yearly percentages for a back-loaded schedule such as 10 / 20 / 30 / 40. The calculator lists every vesting date with the units that vest and the running total, and shows on a chart and in figures what has vested on any date you choose.

For options it adds the cost to exercise at the exercise (strike) price and the paper value and gain at a share price you assume; for RSUs, their value. Model an acceleration (a share of the unvested units vesting at once, for example on a change of control), or a last day of employment, after which unvested units lapse and the window to exercise starts. A check flags any vesting less than a year after the grant, the minimum Indian companies must keep.

Without a pass, the free preview shows the units vested on your date in full, with the first rows of the schedule, the first step of the working and the chart marked as a preview; the other figures, the summary copy and the CSV and calendar downloads need a Pro pass. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.

Common uses

• Checking how many options have vested before deciding whether to leave a job.
• Comparing an even schedule with a back-loaded offer.
• Working out how much money exercising vested options needs.
• Putting every vesting date into your calendar.

How vesting is worked out

• Units vested by a date = the grant × the share vested by then, rounded down to whole units; the last vest takes whatever is left, so the units always add up to the grant.
• Even schedule: the share vested is the months since the vesting start ÷ the months in the schedule.
• Yearly percentages: each year’s percentage vests over that year at the chosen frequency; 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 vests 10% in the first year and 40% in the last.
• The cliff: nothing vests before it; on that day everything accrued so far vests at once (a quarter of a four-year grant at a one-year cliff).
• Dates fall on the vesting start’s day of the month, or on the last day of a shorter month.

Acceleration and leaving

An acceleration vests a share of the units still unvested on its date. Single-trigger acceleration happens on one event, such as a sale of the company; double-trigger needs a second, usually losing the job soon after it — enter the date the acceleration takes effect. After it, the rest either keeps vesting on the remaining dates, each tranche reduced in proportion, or lapses if the job ends then.

On a last day of employment, vesting stops: the vested units stay yours (options still have to be exercised within the window the plan gives), and the unvested ones lapse. Plans differ — read your grant letter and plan rules for what yours say.

India: at least one year between grant and vesting

Indian companies must keep a minimum vesting period of one year: for listed companies under regulation 18(1) of the SEBI (Share Based Employee Benefits and Sweat Equity) Regulations, 2021, and for unlisted companies under rule 12(6)(a) of the Companies (Share Capital and Debentures) Rules, 2014, which requires at least one year between the grant of options and their vesting. The check counts from the grant date, so a vesting start before the grant (credit for earlier service) does not shorten it. The SEBI regulations exempt vesting on an employee’s death or permanent incapacity, and adjust the period for options granted in place of a merged company’s options. Turn the check on under More options; the minimum is editable.

Exercise cost and paper value

For options, the cost to exercise is the vested options × the exercise price: the money you pay to turn them into shares. The paper value is the vested units × the share price you assume, and the paper gain the value less the exercise cost — before any tax, and only worth something if the shares can be sold. In many countries the gain at exercise (options) or the value at vesting (RSUs) is taxed as pay; check the rules where you are taxed.

Limitations

• Plans differ in rounding, dates and what happens on leaving: the calculator follows the rules described here, not your plan’s text.
• Paper values use the share price you type; shares of an unlisted company may be hard to sell at any price.
• Tax is not worked out.
• Performance conditions, milestones and the treatment of options in a merger are not modelled.

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