Technical Illustrators 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 technical illustrator 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.
Technical Illustrators face unique challenges: Engineers send updated CAD files mid-project and you have to redraw exploded views you'd already finished. Quoting a job is hard because a 'simple diagram' balloons once you see how many callouts and views the assembly actually needs. Clients want vague 'make it clearer' revisions on technical drawings where every line has to stay dimensionally honest. Scope creep: a parts diagram becomes a full illustrated manual without the contract ever being updated. On top of all that, Harvest charges $13/month ($156/year) — money that comes directly from your revenue. The median technical illustrator 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 A pen-display tablet and stylus for precision line 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.
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 technical illustrators 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 start by opening the source CAD a client sent and rotating the 3D model to figure out the cleanest angle for an exploded view, because a technical illustration lives or dies on whether someone can actually see how the parts fit together. Most of the morning is precise vector work, tracing geometry into clean line art, setting consistent line weights so the foreground reads against the background, placing leader lines and callout numbers that match the parts list exactly, because a mislabeled callout in an assembly manual is a real-world repair gone wrong. An engineer emails an updated CAD file, and your stomach drops a little because the bracket they moved means the exploded view you finished yesterday is now wrong and has to be redrawn. You handle a client revision that just says 'make it clearer,' which you translate into tightening line weights and re-spacing the callouts, all while keeping every dimension honest. Midday you scope a new quote, trying to count the views and callouts a 'simple' diagram will really need before it bites you. Afternoon is more illustration, syncing the part numbers against the latest BOM, exporting clean files in the formats the client's manual needs, and flagging that a parts diagram has quietly grown into something that needs a contract conversation before you keep going.
Real technical illustrators near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee. Are you a technical illustrator? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time. Or browse every technical illustrator 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 $2,760/year on software — and technical illustrator face their own version of that math. CA state licensing requirements apply.
Numbers reflect typical solo operators in the Salinas metro. Your situation will vary.
Specific gaps Technical Illustrators 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