YouTube Creators on Wave pay $16/month — $192/year. Over three years, that's $644. Nexa is $279 once. Break-even runs about 17.4 months. The median YouTube Creator earns $32,000/year, so Wave's annual cost is roughly 0.6% of typical revenue — every year, forever.
That's $644 gone. And you don't own anything. Stop paying, lose access.
See the full history of Wave price changes in the SaaS Graveyard →
You're not the only one who's had enough.
YouTube Creators face unique challenges: Tracking income from AdSense, channel memberships, brand deals, and affiliate links that all pay on different cycles. Managing brand-deal pipelines, negotiating rates, hitting integration deliverables, and invoicing net-30 after the video posts. Reconciling AdSense's payout (net of YouTube's 45% ad cut) and the unpredictable RPM swings against budget. Balancing the publishing schedule and audience growth against the time each sponsored integration steals from organic uploads. On top of all that, Wave charges $16/month ($192/year) — money that comes directly from your revenue. The median YouTube Creator earns $32,000/year. Software at $192/year is a meaningful percentage of that income, every year, forever. And you do not own anything.
Your a camera and editing suite (Premiere / DaVinci / Final Cut) 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.
Wave is just one piece. What else are you losing money on?
Want this breakdown emailed to you?
Your exact Wave cost, full stack total, and what switching saves. 10 seconds.
| Feature | Wave | Nexa |
|---|---|---|
| Invoicing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Scheduling | ✗ | ✓ |
| CRM | ✗ | ✓ |
| Time Tracking | ✗ | ✓ |
| Full Accounting | ✗ | ✓ (SIMPL) |
| Task Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Price | $16/mo forever | $279 once or 3 × $99 |
| 3-Year Cost | $644 | $279 |
| Stop paying? | Lose everything | Keep everything forever |
Most youtube creators are fully switched before the weekend.
Go to Settings → Data Export. Download customers, invoices, transactions, and accounts.
15-minute setup. Import your client list and chart of accounts from CSV.
Run both for 1-2 weeks. Verify bank connections and recurring invoices work.
Cancel paid features. Your free account data stays accessible for records.
Making the video is maybe a third of the job. Morning is YouTube Studio: yesterday's upload's retention curve, the click-through on the thumbnail, and an RPM that swung lower than last month, which matters because AdSense income rides on it and it's wildly unpredictable. The creator notes whether the dip is the video or a seasonal ad-rate slump. Midday is the brand-deal pipeline, the real money for most channels, with one sponsor's contract to review, another negotiating rate for a 60-second integration, and a third whose integration deliverables, talking points, a pinned comment, a tracked link, have to be nailed in the next upload or the deal underpays. Then production: editing the next video, which is hours, plus a thumbnail iteration because the thumbnail decides whether the work is even seen. Afternoon mixes scripting the following video, answering an affiliate question, and confirming a merch drop's timing. The money side is a knot, AdSense pays monthly net of YouTube's 45% ad cut, memberships on their own cycle, brand deals net-30 by invoice after the video posts, affiliates whenever the network pays, so reconciling actual income against the channel's costs takes real effort. The day ends invoicing a sponsor whose integration went live last week, noting which brand deliverables still need proof, and updating the calendar so a sponsored video doesn't crowd out the organic upload the algorithm rewards.
Real youtube creators near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee. Are you a youtube creator? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time. Or browse every youtube creator on Nexa →
For solo operators and small teams (1-5), yes. Nexa includes invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, task management, and full accounting. Wave may be better if you have a large team (10+) or need enterprise-specific features.
It's $7.75/month over 3 years. Wave is $16/month — that's $644 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 Wave as CSV, import into Nexa in about 5 minutes.
The average solo operator there spends about $3,120/year on software — and YouTube Creator face their own version of that math. CA state licensing requirements apply.
Numbers reflect typical solo operators in the Anaheim metro. Your situation will vary.
Specific gaps YouTube Creators run into with Wave, and what Nexa does instead.
$644 over 3 years. Or $279 once (or 3 × $99). Own your tools.
Get Nexa — $279 Once