Craft Beer Brewers on FreshBooks pay $43/month — $516/year. Over three years, that's $1,548. Nexa is $279 once. Break-even runs about 6.5 months. The median craft beer brewer earns $35,000/year, so FreshBooks's annual cost is roughly 1.5% of typical revenue — every year, forever.
That's $1,548 gone. And you don't own anything. Stop paying, lose access.
You're not the only one who's had enough.
Craft Beer Brewers face unique challenges: Brewing is heavily regulated, so federal and state licensing, excise tax filings, and detailed production and tax records are mandatory, not optional. Fermentation ties up tanks for weeks, so limited fermenter capacity is the bottleneck that caps how many styles can run at once. Sanitation failures cause infections that ruin a whole batch, so one missed cleaning step costs weeks of tank time and ingredients. Distribution runs through three-tier rules and tap accounts, so getting beer onto shelves and lines means managing distributors, kegs, and reorders, not just brewing. On top of all that, FreshBooks charges $43/month ($516/year) — money that comes directly from your revenue. The median craft beer brewer earns $35,000/year. Software at $516/year is a meaningful percentage of that income, every year, forever. And you do not own anything.
Your mash tun and brew kettle 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 | — | ✓ |
| Works offline | — | ✓ |
| Price | $43/mo forever | $279 once or 3 × $99 |
| 3-Year Cost | $1,548 | $279 |
| Stop paying? | Lose everything | Keep everything forever |
Most craft beer brewers 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 expenses from CSV.
Run both for 1-2 weeks. Re-create unpaid and recurring invoices in Nexa; keep the FreshBooks export as your invoice history.
Cancel subscription. Download a final data export for your records.
Brew day starts hours before mash-in, with sanitation, because in a brewery cleanliness is the difference between a clean beer and an infected tank, and one shortcut can cost weeks. He mills grain, mashes in to hit his target temperatures, runs off the wort, and boils with hop additions timed to the minute for bitterness, flavor, and aroma. He chills the wort fast through the plate chiller to pitch yeast into a clean fermenter, then the waiting starts, because that tank is now committed for weeks and fermenter capacity is the real ceiling on how many beers he can have going at once. Gravity readings with the hydrometer tell him when fermentation is done and whether it hit target. Meanwhile there's the side of the business that isn't brewing: excise tax records, production logs, and licensing paperwork that the TTB and the state require down to the barrel. He kegs finished beer, schedules a mobile canning run, and fields a distributor reorder and a couple of tap accounts wanting kegs. The afternoon is cleaning kegs, tracking which tanks free up when, and logging volumes against the tax records he can't skip. Every batch is weeks of tank time, real ingredient cost, and paperwork, so a contamination or a scheduling miss isn't a small loss.
Real craft beer brewers near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee. Are you a craft beer brewer? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time. Or browse every craft beer brewer 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 $43/month — that's $1,548 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 $2,000/year on software — and craft beer brewer face their own version of that math. Chile requires SII electronic invoicing. IVA at 19%. Requirements vary by country and locality. Check local regulations.
Numbers reflect typical solo operators in the Iquique metro. Your situation will vary.
Specific gaps Craft Beer Brewers run into with FreshBooks, and what Nexa does instead.
$1,548 over 3 years. Or $279 once (or 3 × $99). Own your tools.
Get Nexa — $279 Once