Packaging Designers on Harvest pay $13/month — $156/year. Over three years, that's $523. Nexa is $279 once. Break-even runs about 21.5 months. The median Packaging Designer earns $45,000/year, so Harvest's annual cost is roughly 0.3% of typical revenue — every year, forever.
That's $523 gone. And you don't own anything. Stop paying, lose access.
You're not the only one who's had enough.
Packaging Designers face unique challenges: Clients approve a flat design without grasping that it has to fold into a 3D box, so panels, flaps, and the dieline constrain the art in ways the flat comp never reveals. Print specs (spot colors, varnish, foil, embossing, substrate) come from the printer late, and adjusting the art to those production realities is rework that wasn't quoted. Regulatory and barcode requirements (ingredient panels, net weight, legal text, scannable barcodes) eat real layout time and arrive piecemeal from the client's compliance side. A design for one SKU quietly becomes a whole product line with size and flavor variants, each needing its own dieline adaptation, with no per-variant pricing in place. On top of all that, Harvest charges $13/month ($156/year) — money that comes directly from your revenue. The median Packaging Designer earns $45,000/year. Software at $156/year is a meaningful percentage of that income, every year, forever. And you do not own anything.
Your Illustrator for dielines and structural layout 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.
Harvest is just one piece. What else are you losing money on?
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Your exact Harvest cost, full stack total, and what switching saves. 10 seconds.
| Feature | Harvest | Nexa |
|---|---|---|
| Invoicing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Scheduling | ✗ | ✓ |
| CRM | ✗ | ✓ |
| Time Tracking | ✗ | ✓ |
| Full Accounting | ✗ | ✓ (SIMPL) |
| Task Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Price | $13/mo forever | $279 once or 3 × $99 |
| 3-Year Cost | $523 | $279 |
| Stop paying? | Lose everything | Keep everything forever |
Most packaging designers are fully switched before the weekend.
Go to Settings → Manage → Export. Download time entries, invoices, and expenses.
10-minute setup. Import your client list and project structure.
Begin using Nexa time tracker. Import historical time data if needed.
Cancel subscription. Download a final export for your records.
You begin with the dieline, the unfolded blueprint of the box, because in packaging the structure comes before the pretty, and you confirm the panel dimensions against the printer's template so the art doesn't crash into a fold. Morning is laying the brand onto the unfolded box in Illustrator, constantly checking which panel becomes the front, which the side, and making sure nothing critical lands on a crease. You build a quick 3D mockup so the client can see it as an actual box, not a flat sheet. Around eleven the client's compliance person sends the legally required ingredient panel and net-weight text, longer than expected, so you carve out room on the back panel and adjust the layout. Lunch is folding a physical mockup, printing the flat, scoring it with a bone folder, and assembling it by hand to check that the art aligns across folded edges, which it doesn't quite, so you nudge it. Afternoon the printer specs land: two spot Pantones plus a soft-touch varnish and a foil logo, so you separate the art accordingly and mark the foil and varnish layers. The client mentions a second flavor is coming, which means a variant dieline, and you flag it. Late day you finalize the dieline and print files, label the spot and finish layers clearly, and update the tracker with the compliance revisions and the upcoming variant so the single-SKU quote reflects what's really happening.
Real packaging designers near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee. Are you a packaging designer? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time. Or browse every packaging designer on Nexa →
For solo operators and small teams (1-5), yes. Nexa includes invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, task management, and full accounting. Harvest may be better if you have a large team (10+) or need enterprise-specific features.
It's $7.75/month over 3 years. Harvest is $13/month — that's $523 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 Harvest as CSV, import into Nexa in about 5 minutes.
The average solo operator there spends about $1,968/year on software — and Packaging Designer face their own version of that math. TX state licensing requirements apply.
Numbers reflect typical solo operators in the Beaumont metro. Your situation will vary.
Specific gaps Packaging Designers run into with Harvest, and what Nexa does instead.
$523 over 3 years. Or $279 once (or 3 × $99). Own your tools.
Get Nexa — $279 Once