# Equity, bonuses, and total compensation for developers, explained

> Base salary is the visible number. The real offer is everything else, and it can be worth more than the difference you are haggling over.

_Category: Pay and negotiation · Updated: 2026-10-15 · 2 min read_

Base salary is the visible number. The real offer is everything else, and it can be worth more than the difference you are haggling over.

## The four parts

- **Base**, the salary. The part you budget with.
- **Bonus**, annual or performance. Ask: *guaranteed, target, or discretionary?* "Target" is a hope; "guaranteed" is money.
- **Equity**, stock or options. Ask about the strike price, vesting schedule, and what the shares are worth today, a real, recent 409A-style valuation, not a founder's dream.
- **Benefits**, health, pension, equipment, learning budget, leave. Individually small; collectively thousands.

## A simple way to compare offers

Convert everything to a yearly number and add it up. Two offers at the same base can differ by a third once equity and benefits are counted.

## Questions that save you later

- "What percentage of last year's bonus was actually paid?"
- "What's the cliff on the equity, and the total time to vest?"
- "How has the valuation changed in the last year?"

## Read the fine print

Equity in an early startup is a lottery ticket with a story attached. Treat it as upside, never as base. Use [researching your worth](/guides/what-are-you-worth-researching-developer-salaries) to protect the part you can actually spend, and take the whole package to [negotiation](/guides/negotiating-your-first-developer-offer).