What does a cliff do to my schedule?

A cliff is a waiting period before any vesting tokens unlock. With a 12-month cliff nothing vests for the first year, then the tokens that would have accrued during the cliff all unlock at once at month 12, after which vesting continues normally.

What is the difference between linear and monthly-batch vesting?

Linear vesting unlocks an equal slice every month across the vesting period. Monthly-batch is functionally the same monthly cadence here, releasing the remaining allocation in equal monthly tranches after the cliff. Both reach 100 percent at the end of the term.

How does a TGE unlock interact with the cliff?

The TGE percentage unlocks immediately at month zero and is separate from the cliff. The remaining tokens then follow the cliff and vesting schedule. So you can have, for example, 10 percent at TGE and the other 90 percent vesting after a 6-month cliff.

Does the schedule always reach 100 percent?

Yes. The TGE portion plus all monthly unlocks sum to the full allocation by the final month of the vesting term, accounting for rounding. The cumulative column ends at exactly your total allocation.

Is anything sent to a server?

No. The full schedule is generated in your browser from the numbers you type. Nothing about your grant is uploaded or stored anywhere. It is safe to model confidential offers.

What is the Token Vesting & Cliff Schedule Visualiser?

Enter total allocation, cliff period, vesting duration, and vesting type to generate a month-by-month unlock table and percentage breakdown. Useful for founders, investors, and employees reviewing a token grant agreement before signing or planning sells. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

Token Vesting & Cliff Schedule Visualiser

Name: Token Vesting & Cliff Schedule Visualiser
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Token grants hide a lot of nuance in their cliff and vesting terms. This tool turns total allocation, a cliff, a vesting period, and an optional TGE unlock into a clear month-by-month table so you can see exactly when your tokens become available.

How it works

The allocation splits into an immediate TGE portion and a vesting portion that unlocks after the cliff:

tge tokens     = total × (tge % / 100)         (unlocks at month 0)
vesting tokens = total − tge tokens
per-month      = vesting tokens / (vesting months − cliff months)

month < cliff      → 0 vesting unlock
month = cliff      → per-month × cliff months   (cliff catch-up)
cliff < month ≤ end → per-month each month

The cliff catch-up releases the months that accrued silently during the cliff, which is how standard cliff vesting behaves on-chain and in equity grants alike.

Worked example

A 100,000-token grant with 10% at TGE, a 6-month cliff, and 24-month total vesting works out as follows. At month zero you receive 10,000 tokens (the TGE portion). Months 1 through 5 produce no unlock — the cliff is in effect. At month 6, the cliff breaks and releases the six months of accrued vesting in a single catch-up tranche: 6 × (90,000 / 24) = 22,500 tokens. After that, each month from 7 through 24 releases an equal 3,750 tokens until the grant is fully vested at month 24.

This structure is common for employee and advisor token grants and mirrors how equity options vesting with a one-year cliff works in traditional startup compensation — the cliff filters for commitment before any large tranche releases.

Key terms to verify in your grant agreement

Before relying on this visualiser, confirm these terms against the actual document you received, as ambiguities in grant letters cause disputes:

Does the “vesting period” include or exclude the cliff? A 24-month vest with a 12-month cliff could mean 24 total months (vesting effectively over 12 post-cliff) or 36 total months (12 cliff + 24 vesting). This tool treats the cliff as part of the total term.
Is the TGE unlock a separate tranche or the first month of vesting? Some agreements count the TGE release as the start of vesting; others treat it as a separate allocation that does not affect the vesting schedule.
What triggers the cliff — calendar time or protocol events? Some grants cliff on the project’s mainnet launch rather than a fixed date.
Are unlocks monthly or daily on-chain? Smart contract vesting often releases tokens continuously rather than in monthly batches, even if the grant document describes monthly cadences.

Why founders and investors need separate schedules

Founders typically receive the largest allocations with the longest vesting periods, often 36 to 48 months. Early investors may have shorter schedules, sometimes 12 to 24 months, with higher TGE percentages. Advisors often receive small allocations with 12-month vesting and no cliff, or small TGE amounts and 6-month cliffs. Running each grant through this visualiser separately and overlaying the unlock tables in a spreadsheet gives a clear picture of how aggregate sell-side pressure builds month by month across all stakeholders.