What the Total Compensation Calculator does
This calculator adds up a whole pay package year by year: base salary with any expected raise, the bonus you expect to be paid, share grants as they actually vest - including cliffs, quarterly or monthly vesting and back-loaded schedules - refresh grants, retirement match, employer-paid benefits and a one-off sign-on bonus. The result is a four-year (or up to ten-year) table showing what arrives in each year, not an average that hides the dips.
Offer letters often quote a single 'total compensation' number. That figure usually assumes the full target bonus, divides the share grant evenly and folds in a sign-on bonus that is paid only once. Seeing the years separately shows when the money arrives and how much depends on staying past a vesting date.
How to use it
- Enter the base salary, a yearly raise if you want to model one, and the target bonus with the payout you realistically expect.
- Enter the initial share grant's value - the number of units times the price you assume - and its vesting rule: an even schedule with a cliff and a vesting frequency, or custom yearly percentages such as 5, 15, 40, 40.
- Add refresh grants if the employer normally gives them, and the retirement match, its yearly cap and the value of benefits the employer pays for.
- Read the table and chart. Check the lowest year: it is often year 2, when the sign-on bonus has gone and only part of the equity has vested.
Reading the results
Each year's total is cash plus what vests in that year. Unvested shares are not counted until their date arrives, because leaving earlier forfeits them.
Refreshes are modelled as a new grant at the start of each year from year 2, vesting on the same schedule as the first grant. That is why equity grows over time when refreshes are generous.
Cash is base, bonus, sign-on and other allowances - the part that is not tied to a share price or a benefit you might not use.
Worked example: a tech offer with RSUs and a sign-on bonus
Base 150,000 rising 3% a year, a 10% bonus paid at target, a 20,000 sign-on bonus, a 200,000 RSU grant over four years with a one-year cliff and monthly vesting, 40,000 refresh grants from year 2, a 4% retirement match and 8,000 of benefits.
Year 1: 150,000 + 15,000 bonus + 50,000 of RSUs (the cliff releases 12/48) + 6,000 match + 8,000 benefits + 20,000 sign-on = 249,000. Year 2: 154,500 + 15,450 + 50,000 + 10,000 from the first refresh + 6,180 + 8,000 = 244,130 - lower than year 1 despite the raise.
By year 4 two more refreshes are vesting and the total is 274,856. Over four years the package comes to about 1,027,400, of which 260,000 is equity whose value depends entirely on the share price you assumed.
Formulas and scoring rules
- Base in year y
base_y = base x (1 + raise)^(y - 1)- Bonus
bonus_y = base_y x target% x payout%- Even vesting with a cliff
vested(m) = 0 before the cliff; otherwise floor(m / step) x step / (years x 12)step is 1, 3 or 12 months. At the cliff everything accrued so far is released at once.- Equity in year y
grant x (vested(12y) - vested(12(y - 1)))Custom schedules use the yearly percentages directly.- Retirement match
match_y = min(base_y x match%, cap)- Total
base + bonus + equity + refreshes + match + benefits + other + sign-on (year 1 only)Shown to whole units; nothing is rounded during the calculation.
Cliffs, vesting frequency and back-loaded schedules
A one-year cliff means nothing vests for twelve months, then a quarter of a four-year grant vests at once. After that, shares vest monthly, quarterly or yearly depending on the plan. Some employers use back-loaded schedules - 5% in year 1, 15% in year 2 and 40% in each of years 3 and 4 - and pay large sign-on bonuses to fill the early gap. Choose 'Custom yearly percentages' to model those, and compare the lowest year with the headline.
Limitations: what the result does not prove
- It does not calculate tax. Share grants are usually taxed as income when they vest, and bonuses and sign-on payments may be taxed differently from salary.
- Share values are the figure you enter. Listed shares move with the market; unlisted shares may never be sellable.
- Refresh grants and raises are assumptions, not promises, unless your contract says otherwise.
- Benefits are valued at what the employer pays, which may be more or less than their value to you.
Privacy: where your data goes
Everything you paste, type or drop is processed in this browser tab. It is not uploaded, logged, stored or sent to analytics. Session recording and tag-manager scripts are switched off on this page.
Standards and sources
- US SEC Investor.gov - Employee stock options
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics - Employer Costs for Employee Compensation
Frequently asked questions
What counts as total compensation?
Everything the employer pays you or on your behalf in a year: base salary, bonus, the shares that vest that year, retirement contributions, employer-paid benefits and allowances. Some employers include perks such as meals; add those under benefits only if you would otherwise pay for them.
How is a one-year vesting cliff calculated?
No shares vest before the cliff date. On that date, everything that would have accrued up to it vests at once - for a four-year grant with a 12-month cliff, 25% on day 365. From then on, the rest vests on the plan's frequency until the grant is fully vested.
Why is my second year's compensation lower than my first?
Usually because the first year includes a sign-on bonus that is paid only once, and equity refreshes have not yet built up. The calculator shows every year separately so the drop is visible before you accept the offer, not after your first anniversary.
How do I value RSUs in a total compensation figure?
Multiply the number of units by the share price you consider realistic, and enter that as the grant value. For listed companies many people use a recent average price; for private companies consider a lower figure, since the shares may not be sellable for years.
Should I count the retirement match as salary?
It is part of your compensation, but it is paid into a retirement account rather than to you, and some plans take time to vest. Count it for comparing packages, and remember it only arrives if you contribute enough yourself to earn the full match.
What is a refresh grant?
A further share grant given after joining, often yearly, to keep total equity steady once the first grant is vesting. Refreshes are usually discretionary, so model them only if the employer has told you their typical size, and try the calculation without them as well.
Last reviewed by the A2Z.Tools team against the sources listed above.
