I would take High salary with No equity. Most of the time equity=stock. Most of the time those stocks are vested in certain years and mostly RSU(Restricted Stock Units). So that means it's a golden handcuff and you probably can't leave the company until the stock is vested otherwise you will lose lot of money. When you join a company you may or may not like the company after working there. I like the immediate cash in hand and don't like uncertain stock. Look at few companies which went IPO recently like TWLO, NTNX and see their stock history. Cash is always the king