Both companies use the phrase startup operating system, which is why people compare them. Firstbase's homepage calls itself the all-in-one startup operating system, then defines that in the next line: incorporation, compliance, bookkeeping and taxes in one place. This page is about Firstbase.io, the company formation service, and not the separate IT hardware company with a similar name.
When Nautis uses the same phrase, it means something else: a place where the founder and team do their everyday work. So Firstbase looks after your company's standing with the government and your accountant, and Nautis looks after what the company does between filings. Everything below on Firstbase comes from its homepage, pricing page, formation page and payroll page, read in October 2026.
Do you already have a legal entity?
If you don't, and you want a US one, Nautis can't help with that step. The help guides don't describe incorporation, registered agent services or EIN applications. Nautis has fields where you record your country and date of incorporation, and that's about it. Firstbase handles the actual paperwork, in Delaware or Wyoming, and its service is built to work for founders outside the US, and it reports 30,000+ companies incorporated, representing 191 countries.
If you do have an entity, you may still want some of Firstbase's ongoing services, and you can onboard an existing company. But then the choice between it and an accountant or a different compliance provider is the real comparison. Nautis sits alongside whichever you choose.
What Firstbase sells, and what it costs
Firstbase publishes unusually complete pricing for this category. These are the figures as of October 2026. State fees and taxes owed are extra.
| Product | What it covers | Listed price |
|---|---|---|
| Start | Formation in Delaware or Wyoming, EIN setup, post-incorporation documents, bank account through partners, VC discovery opt-in | $99 one time, with $399 struck through. A site banner reads: formation is on us, pay only your state fee |
| Agent | Registered agent, compliance reminders, annual report and franchise tax filings, foreign qualification | $299 a year per state |
| Mailroom | US physical address, mail scanning | $35 a month or $315 a year. Premium address in NYC, San Francisco or Florida: $50 a month or $350 a year |
| Accounting | AI-powered, human-managed bookkeeping with live bookkeeper chat | Scales with monthly expenses. $599 a month or $5,990 a year at the $50-75k level shown |
| Tax Filing | Corporate return, state returns, 5472, 1099s, extension | $1,799 a year per package for a C-Corp or multi-member LLC. $899 a year for a single-member LLC owned by a non-US citizen or resident |
| Firstbase One | Mailroom Premium, Agent, Accounting and Tax Filing together | $199 a month, billed yearly at $2,388 |
| Sales Tax | Nexus monitoring, registrations, filings | Custom pricing, shown monthly, on both the startup and scale-up tiers |
Separate pages add a limited-time offer of Firstbase Accounting when you incorporate, and a payroll tax registration plan starting at $599. Offers change, so check the checkout. The Firstbase One bundle values its Accounting at $1,890, and the page doesn't say which expense level that covers. The site reports up to $350,000 in partner perks too, including up to $6,000 in legal credits.
Nautis vs Firstbase: which layer does each cover?
| Need | Firstbase | Nautis |
|---|---|---|
| Form the company | Yes, LLC or C-Corp | Not covered in the guides |
| Stay in good standing | Registered agent, reminders and filings | Not covered in the guides |
| Bookkeeping | Yes, with human-managed service | No. Nautis isn't an accounting system |
| File tax returns | Yes | No |
| Runway and burn view | Accounting dashboard and financial insights | Startup Health monthly check-in, with investor snapshots |
| Projections | Not listed. A headcount planning calculator is offered | Multi-year Financial Planner, exported to Excel or PDF |
| Issue customer invoices | Not listed | Invoices with PDF, payment tracking and recurring billing |
| Cap table | Create one in Carta in one click after assigning equity. 83(b) filing | A cap table and equity calculator, for Voyage and Fleet customers |
| Find investors | Opt-in VC discovery and a VC database | Find Investors directory, with a fundraising CRM and deal stages |
| Tasks, sales, team | Not listed | Task boards, Leads CRM, team chat, employee management, recruitment |
| AI agents | AI in bookkeeping. A daily AI assistant isn't listed | Chief of Staff, Commodore, advisors, Approval Center |
Only a few rows overlap, and even those are at different depths. Where one says yes and the other no, it's because they do different work, and no amount of feature additions at Nautis would make a monthly plan into your tax preparer. It doesn't replace an accountant.
A founder in Bengaluru forming a Delaware company
Say you are based in India, have a two-person team, and an investor has asked you to set up a Delaware C-Corp. Here is how the two could fit together, based on published details.
- Weeks 1 to 2, Firstbase. Start the application, get the EIN, the post-incorporation documents and the required registered agent. Firstbase notes that you don't need to be a US resident for an EIN.
- Weeks 2 to 4, Firstbase and a bank. Open an account through a banking partner such as Mercury, subject to approval. Assign equity, file an 83(b) election and consider setting up Carta.
- Week 3 onward, Nautis. Start the trial and run Liftoff with your deck. Put the raise in the fundraising CRM and work out who does what on task boards.
- Monthly. Bookkeepers close the books in Firstbase Accounting or wherever you keep them. You take cash, MRR and burn from those books and enter them in Startup Health. The guides don't describe a direct link between the two, so this is a manual step.
- At tax time. Firstbase Tax Filing or your own preparer handles returns. Nautis's Expenses module can export a CSV of what you logged, for your accountant.
A rough first-year software bill on list prices: Firstbase One at $2,388, plus Start at $99 or the current offer, plus state fees, plus Nautis Voyage at $990 for the year. Nautis also has rupee pricing for Indian customers, shown on its pricing page, so check which currency applies.
Where Firstbase is plainly ahead
- It does government paperwork for you. Nautis doesn't touch a filing.
- Human service. Bookkeepers on live chat and what the site calls global support from real humans. Nautis's AI drafts things, and your people do the rest.
- Scale and history. 30,000+ companies is a very different footing from a product that only went public in July 2026 and has hardly any independent reviews.
- Connections to the next step. Banking partners, a one-click route to a Carta cap table, and opt-in VC discovery are all on its pages.
Where Nautis helps instead
Forming a company doesn't tell you what to do on Monday. Each morning at seven, the Chief of Staff looks over open work, deals, cash, unpaid invoices and investor activity, and it holds actions for approval. Data rooms, DocSign, a leads pipeline, team chat and pay-cycle tracking sit in one place. Firstbase's pages don't describe these.
Be realistic about the limits. Nautis's breadth means a specialist will go deeper in any function, the Launch plan excludes the cap table, and pay runs marked as paid don't move money or file anything. You still need a payroll provider. If your only worry this quarter is getting compliant, Firstbase may be all you need right now, and Nautis can wait until you have people to coordinate.
FAQ
Are they really rivals in Nautis vs Firstbase?
Barely. Firstbase handles US incorporation, filings, bookkeeping and tax, and Nautis handles daily startup operations such as tasks, fundraising and sales. They share the phrase startup operating system, but a founder could use both without much overlap.
How much does Firstbase cost?
Its October 2026 pricing page has Start at $99 one time, with a banner offering formation for only your state fee. Firstbase One is $199 a month billed yearly at $2,388. Standalone options include Agent at $299 a year per state and Tax Filing at $1,799 a year.
Can Nautis incorporate my company or file my taxes?
No. Its help guides don't cover incorporation, and it does no bookkeeping or tax filing. Its finance side stops at runway, planning, customer billing and expense logs, so keep a formation service and an accountant.
Does Firstbase help with cap tables?
Its homepage says you can create a cap table in Carta in one click after assigning equity with its post-formation toolkit, and file an 83(b) election. Nautis has its own cap table on Voyage and Fleet plans. For formal equity administration, Carta goes further than either.
Disclosure: We make Nautis, so we have a stake in this comparison. It's based on published information, not a scored hands-on test. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.
Sources
- Firstbase: homepage (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Firstbase: pricing (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Firstbase: Start, company formation (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Firstbase: payroll tax registration (checked Oct 31, 2026)