Aquarium Designers on Square pay $29/month — $348/year. Over three years, that's $1,168. Nexa is $279 once. Break-even runs about 9.6 months. The median Aquarium Designer earns $32,000/year, so Square's annual cost is roughly 1.1% of typical revenue — every year, forever.
That's $1,168 gone. And you don't own anything. Stop paying, lose access.
You're not the only one who's had enough.
Aquarium Designers face unique challenges: Designing a tank to fit a client's wall and floor load when a large aquarium weighs as much as a car. Cycling a brand-new system for weeks before a single fish can go in, while the client wants it stocked now. Building reliable life support so a pump failure on a $20,000 reef doesn't wipe it out overnight. Juggling install days against tank maintenance routes for clients who pay you to keep their systems alive. On top of all that, Square charges $29/month ($348/year) — money that comes directly from your revenue. The median Aquarium Designer earns $32,000/year. Software at $348/year is a meaningful percentage of that income, every year, forever. And you do not own anything.
Your Acrylic and glass fabrication tools for building and bonding custom tanks 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.
Square is just one piece. What else are you losing money on?
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Your exact Square cost, full stack total, and what switching saves. 10 seconds.
| Feature | Square | Nexa |
|---|---|---|
| Invoicing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Scheduling | ✗ | ✓ |
| CRM | ✗ | ✓ |
| Time Tracking | ✗ | ✓ |
| Full Accounting | ✗ | ✓ (SIMPL) |
| Task Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Price | $29/mo forever | $279 once or 3 × $99 |
| 3-Year Cost | $1,168 | $279 |
| Stop paying? | Lose everything | Keep everything forever |
Most aquarium designers are fully switched before the weekend.
Go to Square Dashboard → Customers → Export. Also export transactions and item library.
15-minute setup. Import your customer list and service/product catalog.
Run both for 1-2 weeks. Test invoicing and booking through Nexa.
Cancel paid subscriptions. Keep free account for records access.
Half the job is build and half is keeping things alive. A design day starts at a client's home or lobby, measuring the wall, checking whether the floor can carry a 300-gallon tank full of water and rock, and sketching how the sump and plumbing will hide in the cabinet below. Back at the shop you fabricate or fit the tank, rig the filtration, the skimmer, the return pumps, and the controller that'll text you if a parameter drifts. Install day is heavy and precise: leveling a tank that can't ever be moved once it's full, running RO water, aquascaping live rock and substrate into something that looks natural. Then comes the part clients hate, the wait, because a new system has to cycle for weeks before fish can survive in it, and you're the one explaining that no, we can't stock it tomorrow. The rest of the week is service routes: testing water, scraping algae, dosing, swapping filter media, and quietly catching the small failures before they become a tank crash. A dead pump overnight can kill a reef worth more than a used car, so the unglamorous maintenance is really the whole business.
Real aquarium designers near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee. Are you an aquarium designer? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time. Or browse every aquarium designer on Nexa →
For solo operators and small teams (1-5), yes. Nexa includes invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, task management, and full accounting. Square may be better if you have a large team (10+) or need enterprise-specific features.
It's $7.75/month over 3 years. Square is $29/month — that's $1,168 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 Square as CSV, import into Nexa in about 5 minutes.
The average solo operator there spends about $3,000/year on software — and Aquarium Designer 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 Aquarium Designers run into with Square, and what Nexa does instead.
$1,168 over 3 years. Or $279 once (or 3 × $99). Own your tools.
Get Nexa — $279 Once