Albany is home to about 99,000 people. The moderate cost of living means competitive pricing — and every dollar you keep from subscriptions matters.
Illustrators in New York need a Business License. Requirements vary — contact your city or county business licensing office for current details.
Insurance: $500K-$1M general liability
Continuing Education: Check with state licensing board
New York has a 4-10.9% income tax. Progressive income tax up to 10.9%. NYC adds 3.08-3.88% city income tax. Self-employment tax burden among highest in US. MTA payroll tax in metro area. High workers comp rates.
When evaluating software costs, factor in your effective tax rate. A $660/year software expense is partially deductible — but Nexa at $279 once is a one-time deduction that eliminates the recurring expense entirely.
Whether you call it payment tracking, a system for jobs, or a invoicing system — most illustrators in Albany patch together FreshBooks, Toggl Track, Harvest, Wave and other monthly services. That's $660/year paying for software subscriptions. Over 5 years at today's prices, that bill reaches $3,300.
Nexa gives you the ability to stop renting software. Your CRM, payment tracking, appointment management, jobs, time tracking, and financial tools — unified in one system. A single action books a client. A single action generates an invoice. No copying between apps. No third-party glue. No sync fees. It's a no subscription — save money immediately. For illustrators in Albany weighing the switch, the 30-day money-back guarantee covers the migration window — you can run Nexa in parallel with your existing subscriptions, verify the workflow handles your real client load, and only cancel the monthly tools once you are confident the data and processes have settled in.
A commission starts with a brief that's usually vague, so the first job is asking the right questions: where it will be used, what size, what the deadline really is, and which references the client loves. Then I sketch three thumbnail concepts, and once one is chosen I take it to a tighter sketch for approval before any final art, because changing a composition after I've rendered it costs days. Final art is the long part: line work, flats, colour, lighting and texture, then exporting at the right resolution and colour profile for print or screen. Every project comes down to usage rights. A book cover, a packaging label and a one-off personal gift are priced very differently, and I spell out in writing what the client can do with the image and for how long. I take a deposit before sketches and the balance before I release the high-resolution files. Between commissions I'm working on my portfolio, pitching publishers and art directors, and selling prints and stickers at a couple of conventions a year.
That is the work Nexa is built around: the job, the client, the hours and the invoice live in one place, so the paperwork side of the day doesn't need a second shift.
Every one of those was bought once and earns its keep for years. Nexa is priced the same way: $279 once, and it keeps working whether business is busy or slow.
Dated changes to the subscriptions an illustrator might rent. Each one links the announcement or report it comes from. Tap one for the numbers.
For renewals on or after February 1, 2026, Pro Plus and Mac Plus went from $999 to $1,149 a year for one user, and each extra seat from $200 to $230.
Source: SWK Technologies, Insightful Accountant (Dec 2, 2025)
From July 1, 2025: Simple Start $35 to $38, Essentials $65 to $75, Plus $99 to $115, Advanced $235 to $275 a month.
Source: Woodard Report (May 27, 2025)
From February 4, 2025: Starter $19 to $36 (89%), Essentials $39 to $59, Premium $79 to $125 a month.
Source: Fstoppers (Jan 24, 2025)
From October 27, 2024: Early $15 to $20, Growing $42 to $47, Established $78 to $80 a month.
Source: Insightful Accountant
Only changes we can link to a vendor announcement or a named publication are listed. Plans, add-ons and discounts vary, so check the vendor's current pricing page before you decide.
Biz Wiz creates a personalized business plan for illustrators in Albany — licensing requirements, local competition, startup costs, pricing strategy, and a 90-day action plan. $19.99 once.
Albany illustrators: stop renting software.
Get Nexa — $279 Once30-day money-back guarantee · no subscription · No internet required
Your people are already online — swapping real numbers, tool picks, and war stories. Here's where to find them.
Active community — tool picks, pricing, and day-to-day questions.
Open on Reddit →Active community — tool picks, pricing, and day-to-day questions.
Open on Reddit →Active community — tool picks, pricing, and day-to-day questions.
Open on Reddit →Active community — tool picks, pricing, and day-to-day questions.
Open on Reddit →We build an illustrator's guide the same way every time, and we'd rather you trust it than take it on faith. Nexa is our product, so the test we hold ourselves to is simple: a tool only "wins" a job here when it genuinely does that job better for an illustrator — and where something free, open-source, or buy-once does it better, we say so and link you to it. Where Nexa falls short (payroll is the honest example), we name the alternative outright.
Found something out of date? Prices change and we don't catch every move the day it happens. This guide is published and maintained by the Nexa team; if a figure here is wrong, tell us and we'll fix it — getting it right matters more to us than the sale.