Walk-away cost is the unvested equity value you forfeit by leaving before a vesting date. If you hold $120,000 unvested and leave today, that's your walk-away cost — money you lose by not staying. The calculator plots every vest event on your timeline, flags cliffs, and shows the cheapest exit windows where your walk-away cost drops to its minimum. Most people don't realize when staying two more months unlocks $60,000.

Why this number matters

An offer that looks better on paper might cost you money once you factor in what you're walking away from. A $180,000 offer beats your $160,000 current role — until you account for the $40,000 vesting next month. Now you need $200,000 just to break even over the next year.

What the calculator shows

Money map — every vest event plotted with exact dates and amounts
Cliffs flagged — large vesting events worth waiting for
Golden exit windows — periods when walk-away cost is at its minimum
Your number — minimum offer total that beats staying, accounting for walk-away cost

How it handles your grants

Enter your RSUs, ISOs, NSOs, or share grants with their vesting schedules. The engine calculates walk-away cost per grant type: underwater options contribute zero, vested ISOs with short exercise windows add their spread to walk-away cost if you'd forfeit them by leaving. The math adapts to cliffs, monthly vesting, refreshers, and sign-on grants with clawback windows.

Private by default, honest about the rest

This is a client-side calculator — no server, no accounts. Your comp data stays in your browser to compute the numbers above. Completing a comparison sends one anonymous signal (that a verdict was computed, no comp data) so we can tell the calculator's being used; see the privacy page for the specifics on that, on share links, and on local storage. If you activate the optional AI advisor, that choice is explicit and disclosed before anything is sent.

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