Kitchen Exhaust Cleaners 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 Kitchen Exhaust Cleaner earns $55,000/year, so Square's annual cost is roughly 0.6% 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.
Kitchen Exhaust Cleaners face unique challenges: NFPA 96 sets the cleaning frequency by cooking volume, so a wok line is quarterly and a pizza shop is semi-annual, and I have to defend that schedule to owners who want to stretch it. The whole hood-to-fan run has to be bare-metal clean for the insurance sticker, but access panels in old ductwork are rusted shut or were never installed. I can only work overnight after the kitchen closes, so I'm running a hot pressure washer at 1 AM with the line cooks long gone and no one to unlock the roof. If a grease fire happens after I signed the sticker, my certification is on the line, so I won't cut a corner an owner is begging me to cut. On top of all that, Square charges $29/month ($348/year) — money that comes directly from your revenue. The median Kitchen Exhaust Cleaner earns $55,000/year. Software at $348/year is a meaningful percentage of that income, every year, forever. And you do not own anything.
Your Hot-water pressure washer with degreaser injection 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 kitchen exhaust cleaners 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.
This is a night trade. I show up after the last cover is fired, usually near midnight, because you can't pressure-wash a hood while a wok line is screaming. First thing is containment: plastic over the cookline, grease bags hung under the hood, because the degreaser and the runoff have to go somewhere that isn't the prep table. I scrape the hood baffles, then run the hot-water washer up through the duct to the rooftop fan, and the standard I'm cleaning to is bare metal, because that's what the NFPA 96 sticker certifies and what the owner's fire-insurance audit checks. The fights are always about frequency: a high-volume wok or charbroil line is on a quarterly cycle, and owners want to stretch it to save money, so I keep the cooking-volume rationale handy. Old buildings are the curse, with access panels rusted shut or never installed, so half the night is making an opening I can actually clean through. I service the fan belt while I'm on the roof. When it's clean I sign and date the sticker inside the hood, and that signature is my certification on the line, so if there's a grease fire that sticker had better be honest. I leave before the morning prep cook arrives, photos in hand for the insurance file.
Real kitchen exhaust cleaners near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee. Are you a kitchen exhaust cleaner? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time. Or browse every kitchen exhaust cleaner 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 $2,280/year on software — and Kitchen Exhaust Cleaner face their own version of that math. GA state licensing requirements apply.
Numbers reflect typical solo operators in the Savannah metro. Your situation will vary.
Specific gaps Kitchen Exhaust Cleaners 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