Lettering 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 Lettering 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.
Lettering Artists face unique challenges: Clients confuse hand lettering with a font and ask you to 'just type out' a new word in the same style, not understanding every piece is custom-drawn from scratch. A lettering piece sold for one use (an Instagram post) ends up on packaging, apparel, and billboards, and the licensing was never scoped for that reach. Revisions to drawn letterforms aren't 'edits,' they're redraws, but clients treat 'make the swash bigger' as a thirty-second fix rather than reworking the whole composition's balance. Vectorizing and prepping final art for print (outlines, color separations, clean paths) is a production phase clients assume is included free with 'the design'. On top of all that, FreshBooks charges $33/month ($396/year) — money that comes directly from your revenue. The median Lettering 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 Procreate on iPad Pro with brush pens 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 lettering 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 begin by reading the brief out loud, because lettering is about voice, and this one needs to feel 'warm, handmade, a little vintage.' First hour is thumbnails on layout paper, tiny compositions trying different word arrangements and weight contrasts, finding which words should dominate. You pick two directions and refine them larger with a brush pen, getting the rhythm of the strokes by hand because that energy is hard to fake digitally. Mid-morning you photograph the chosen rough, drop it into Procreate, and redraw it cleanly on a new layer, refining the curves and the connections between letters. The client loves it but wants the main word 'a bit bigger and more swashy,' which isn't a tweak, it's rebalancing the whole composition, so you redraw the layout. Afternoon is the most painstacking part: vectorizing in Illustrator, tracing the forms by hand with the pen tool because auto-trace ruins the curves, then cleaning every path so it's print-ready. Around three the client mentions the piece might go on tote bags too, which is a use the quote didn't cover, so you flag the licensing. Late day you prep the final files, outline the art, set up a transparent version, name everything by version and date, and log the redraw and the apparel-use question to the tracker.
Real lettering artists near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee. Are you a lettering artist? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time. Or browse every lettering 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 $2,352/year on software — and Lettering Artist face their own version of that math. NY state licensing requirements apply.
Numbers reflect typical solo operators in the Albany metro. Your situation will vary.
Specific gaps Lettering 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