Album Cover Designers on HoneyBook pay $36/month — $432/year. Over three years, that's $1,296. Nexa is $279 once. Break-even runs about 7.8 months. The median Album Cover Designer earns $45,000/year, so HoneyBook's annual cost is roughly 1.0% of typical revenue — every year, forever.
That's $1,296 gone. And you don't own anything. Stop paying, lose access.
You're not the only one who's had enough.
Album Cover Designers face unique challenges: Designing for the 1:1 cover that has to read as a 60-pixel thumbnail in a streaming app and a 12-inch vinyl jacket at the same time. The band and the label A&R give conflicting direction, and there's no single point of approval before the release-date art deadline. Building the full vinyl package — jacket, inner sleeve, gatefold, label print area, spine text — to a pressing plant's exact die-line template. DSP delivery specs keep shifting (square art, no advertising text, minimum pixel dimensions) and a reject from the distributor stalls the whole release. On top of all that, HoneyBook charges $36/month ($432/year) — money that comes directly from your revenue. The median Album Cover Designer earns $45,000/year. Software at $432/year is a meaningful percentage of that income, every year, forever. And you do not own anything.
Your Adobe Photoshop 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.
HoneyBook is just one piece. What else are you losing money on?
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Your exact HoneyBook cost, full stack total, and what switching saves. 10 seconds.
| Feature | HoneyBook | Nexa |
|---|---|---|
| Invoicing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Scheduling | ✓ | ✓ |
| CRM | ✓ | ✓ |
| Time Tracking | — | ✓ |
| Full Accounting | — | ✓ (SIMPL) |
| Task Management | — | ✓ |
| Works offline | — | ✓ |
| Price | $36/mo forever | $279 once or 3 × $99 |
| 3-Year Cost | $1,296 | $279 |
| Stop paying? | Lose everything | Keep everything forever |
Most album cover designers are fully switched before the weekend.
Go to Company Settings → export contacts and projects. Download templates separately.
15-minute setup. Import your contacts and recreate your key templates.
Run both for 1-2 weeks. Transition active projects after they complete.
Cancel before renewal. Save any contract templates as PDFs.
First thing, I check the Spotify and Apple thumbnail crop of last night's comp — a cover can look incredible at full size and turn to mud at 60 pixels, and the thumbnail is where ninety percent of people will ever see it. The band's manager wants the logo bigger; the label's A&R wants it smaller and 'moodier.' I'm caught between two approvers with one release date, so I build two versions and send them up the chain. Midday is the vinyl package: I drop the front art into the pressing plant's die-line, lay out the gatefold interior with the lyric sheet, set the spine text so it's legible in a record-store bin, and keep the type out of the label's no-print margin. I run a soft proof against the Pantone matte stock because saturated art always shifts on uncoated paper. Afternoon brings a distributor reject — the cover has a tiny 'explicit' badge baked into the art, which most DSPs forbid. I strip it, re-export at the required minimum dimensions, and resubmit. Then a new EP kickoff: a three-piece wants something that nods to '70s soul without being a pastiche. I pull references, talk palette, and start shooting textures before the light goes.
Real album cover designers near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee. Are you an album cover designer? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time. Or browse every album cover designer on Nexa →
For solo operators and small teams (1-5), yes. Nexa includes invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, task management, and full accounting. HoneyBook may be better if you have a large team (10+) or need enterprise-specific features.
It's $7.75/month over 3 years. HoneyBook is $36/month — that's $1,296 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 HoneyBook as CSV, import into Nexa in about 5 minutes.
The average solo operator there spends about $2,160/year on software — and Album Cover Designer face their own version of that math. IL state licensing requirements apply.
Numbers reflect typical solo operators in the Champaign metro. Your situation will vary.
Specific gaps Album Cover Designers run into with HoneyBook, and what Nexa does instead.
$1,296 over 3 years. Or $279 once (or 3 × $99). Own your tools.
Get Nexa — $279 Once