Special Needs Tutors 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 Special Needs Tutor earns $42,000/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.
Special Needs Tutors face unique challenges: Every student works on different IEP goals at different paces, so lesson prep is individualized and progress has to be tracked per goal, not per grade. Sessions cluster in the after-school window (3-7pm), so a handful of hours carry most of the week's income and a no-show in that block is hard to backfill. Parents and sometimes schools want progress updates aligned to the IEP, so you're documenting growth, not just teaching. Billing varies wildly across families, school contracts, and the occasional scholarship or grant, making invoicing and rate-tracking a headache. On top of all that, FreshBooks charges $33/month ($396/year) — money that comes directly from your revenue. The median Special Needs Tutor earns $42,000/year. Software at $396/year is a meaningful percentage of that income, every year, forever. And you do not own anything.
Your multisensory reading kits (Orton-Gillingham letter tiles, sand trays) for dyslexia work 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 special needs tutors are fully switched before the weekend.
Go to Settings → Export Data. Download clients, invoices, expenses, and time entries.
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Run both for 1-2 weeks. Verify invoice history and recurring invoices.
Cancel subscription. Download a final data export for your records.
Mornings are prep and the occasional homeschool client. You pull each kid's folder and remind yourself where they are: the third-grader is on closed-syllable decoding, the middle-schooler is fighting math anxiety, the high-schooler needs executive-function scaffolding for a research paper he keeps avoiding. The real day starts at 3 when school lets out. First student is a dyslexia learner, so you're at the table with letter tiles and a sand tray, going slow, celebrating a blended word, watching for the frustration that means it's time to switch modes. Next is multiplication with base-ten blocks for a child who freezes at a worksheet but lights up with manipulatives. You keep notes as you go because his mom and his resource teacher both want to know if he's closing the gap toward his IEP goal. Between students you eat standing up and text a parent that her son nailed today's spelling. The 6 o'clock is the paper-avoider, and half the session is just breaking the assignment into a checklist he can stand to start. After the last family leaves you tally the week: who's billed at what rate, which session a school district covers, and you draft a short progress note for the parent meeting on Friday.
Real special needs tutors near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee. Are you a special needs tutor? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time. Or browse every special needs tutor 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 $3,000/year on software — and Special Needs Tutor face their own version of that math. CA state licensing requirements apply.
Numbers reflect typical solo operators in the Garden Grove metro. Your situation will vary.
Specific gaps Special Needs Tutors 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