Concept Artists on FreshBooks pay $33/month — $396/year. Over three years, that's $1,329. Nexa is $279 once. Break-even runs about 8.5 months. The median Concept Artist earns $45,000/year, so FreshBooks's annual cost is roughly 0.9% of typical revenue — every year, forever.
That's $1,329 gone. And you don't own anything. Stop paying, lose access.
You're not the only one who's had enough.
Concept Artists face unique challenges: Art directors request 'a few quick exploration thumbnails' that balloon into ten finished keyframes, and the scope creep is invisible until you compare the brief to what you actually delivered. Clients want full buyout of concept art for merch and marketing but only budgeted a single-use design fee, and the licensing conversation always happens after the work is done. Paint-overs and revision rounds are 'free' in the client's mind, so round four and round five eat into a flat project rate with no mechanism to bill them. Game and film studios sign you to NDAs that forbid showing the work, so your portfolio lags two years behind your actual output and new leads dry up. On top of all that, FreshBooks charges $33/month ($396/year) — money that comes directly from your revenue. The median Concept Artist earns $45,000/year. Software at $396/year is a meaningful percentage of that income, every year, forever. And you do not own anything.
Your Photoshop with a Kyle brush set is yours. You bought it once. Nexa works the same way — $279 once for invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, and full accounting. All connected. All offline-capable. You own it like you own your tools.
FreshBooks is just one piece. What else are you losing money on?
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Your exact FreshBooks cost, full stack total, and what switching saves. 10 seconds.
| Feature | FreshBooks | Nexa |
|---|---|---|
| Invoicing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Scheduling | ✗ | ✓ |
| CRM | ✗ | ✓ |
| Time Tracking | ✗ | ✓ |
| Full Accounting | ✗ | ✓ (SIMPL) |
| Task Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Price | $33/mo forever | $279 once or 3 × $99 |
| 3-Year Cost | $1,329 | $279 |
| Stop paying? | Lose everything | Keep everything forever |
Most concept artists are fully switched before the weekend.
Go to Settings → Export Data. Download clients, invoices, expenses, and time entries.
15-minute setup. Import your client list and expense categories from CSV.
Run both for 1-2 weeks. Verify invoice history and recurring invoices.
Cancel subscription. Download a final data export for your records.
You start by rebuilding the reference board in PureRef, dragging in screenshots, photos of real machinery, and color studies for the alien marketplace the art director wants explored. The brief says 'environment, sci-fi, lived-in,' which means the first hour is silhouettes and value thumbnails in Photoshop, twenty tiny compositions to find the strong read. You send three thumbnails by midday and the art director circles one but asks to see it 'a little more golden hour.' That's a lighting pass, so you build a quick Blender basemesh of the main structure, render a flat clay pass, and paint over it to keep the perspective honest. Afternoon is the chosen keyframe: blocking color, then detail passes on the foreground stalls and hanging cables, then a final polish so the materials read. Around three the producer emails asking whether the design can also go on a poster, which is a licensing question nobody scoped, and you flag it to discuss. You finish by exporting layered PSDs and flats, naming them with the version and date, then update your tracker with the revision round you just completed so the flat fee doesn't quietly turn into unpaid overtime.
Real concept artists near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee. Are you a concept artist? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time. Or browse every concept artist on Nexa →
For solo operators and small teams (1-5), yes. Nexa includes invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, task management, and full accounting. FreshBooks may be better if you have a large team (10+) or need enterprise-specific features.
It's $7.75/month over 3 years. FreshBooks is $33/month — that's $1,329 over 3 years. Which is more? And if you'd rather split it, Nexa is also available as 3 payments of $99.
Yes. Nexa is $279 as a one-time payment, or 3 payments of $99 ($297 total). Either way it's a one-time purchase — no subscription, no recurring fees ever.
30-day money-back guarantee. Full refund. If Nexa doesn't save you $500 in year one, you get every penny back.
Export your data from FreshBooks as CSV, import into Nexa in about 5 minutes.
The average solo operator there spends about $2,112/year on software — and Concept Artist face their own version of that math. WI state licensing requirements apply.
Numbers reflect typical solo operators in the Appleton metro. Your situation will vary.
Specific gaps Concept Artists run into with FreshBooks, and what Nexa does instead.
$1,329 over 3 years. Or $279 once (or 3 × $99). Own your tools.
Get Nexa — $279 Once