What djs need from their software, from sources outside HoneyBook and outside Nexa:
HoneyBook covers the paperwork a self-employed DJ needs: proposals, contracts, invoices, payments, a client portal and templates. Its paid plans add a scheduler, SMS reminders, Google Calendar and QuickBooks Online. Those suit a trade whose bookings cluster on evenings and weekends and whose owners often have other jobs. Its listed features don't mention tracking, for each booking, whether the venue holds a music licence or whether the event is private or public. Nor do they mention tying a deposit to its event and date of receipt for tax. A DJ would have to keep that record in notes or a spreadsheet.
Nexa covers the invoicing and record-keeping side well. It has estimates and proposals that convert to invoices, payment plans for deposit and balance, a client pay portal on the DJ's own Stripe account, a public booking page with intake forms, and a CRM. Its bookkeeping tools include expenses, profit and loss, and 1099 summaries. Notes can be linked to a client, which could hold licence details. Nexa has no SMS or calls, no Google Calendar sync (calendar export is an .ics file), and no sync or import with QuickBooks or Xero. Its automated emails, including reminders, send only while Nexa is open on one of the DJ's devices. Without the optional $4.99/month Cloud Sync it runs on one device.
Over three years HoneyBook at $36/month costs $432 a year, or $1,296. Nexa is $279 once, or $458.64 with Cloud Sync for all 36 months. A solo DJ on one device with their own Stripe account, who is comfortable leaving Nexa open for reminders and doesn't need text reminders or calendar sync, can save money by switching. A DJ who relies on SMS reminders, Google Calendar or QuickBooks, or who wants vendor support, should stay with HoneyBook. Either tool leaves the per-gig licence check to the DJ.
Our read for djs: Either fits: Nexa is cheaper for a solo DJ who doesn't need SMS, Google Calendar or QuickBooks and keeps it open for reminder emails, while HoneyBook suits one who does.
Read on each linked page in October 2026. Check them again before you decide; vendors change plans often.
HoneyBook costs djs $432/year at today's list price. Nexa is $279 once for invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking and accounting in one suite — so after 7.8 months it has cost less than HoneyBook, and you own it after that. What it is not: hosted-for-you software with a support desk and a roadmap you can lobby. That is the trade, and the rest of this page is the detail behind it.
Nexa is $279 once, about $23 a month over its first year. Its Drain Guard reads your expenses (from a linked bank, an imported statement, or ones you type in), finds the charges that repeat, and adds them up by the month. Keep or Cut then walks you through them one at a time. Cancel $23 a month of charges you'd forgotten about and Nexa has paid for itself inside the first year, before you count the HoneyBook bill you'd stop paying.
It depends on what you find and what you cancel, so we don't promise a number. In our demo data, Drain Guard finds 5 subscriptions adding up to $110.13 a month. That is sample data, not a customer's.
The verdict for djs: Either can do the job, for the reasons in our read above. On price alone, that is $279 once against $1,296 for HoneyBook over three years.
Client records, scheduling and invoicing are the pieces of that day. Some tools rent you each piece separately. A few — Nexa among them — bundle the lot and carry their own booking link, with no per-appointment cut. The sections below price both routes honestly.
None of that is a software problem you can buy your way out of in one click — it is why the tool you pick matters more than what it costs. HoneyBook solves some of it. So does Nexa. The difference is what you are left holding in three years.
Today's list price is $36/month — $432 a year, from HoneyBook's own pricing page. Every figure below is that price, multiplied. Nothing is projected.
Nexa: $279 once (or 3 × $99). Over the same three years, that is $1,017 less.
If HoneyBook raises its price, the three-year cost goes up; if it cuts it, the cost comes down. We don't guess which. Add-ons, extra seats and card-processing fees are not included, on either side.
| Feature | HoneyBook | Nexa |
|---|---|---|
| Invoicing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Scheduling | ✓ | ✓ |
| CRM | ✓ | ✓ |
| Time Tracking | — | ✓ |
| Full Accounting | — | ✓ (SIMPL) |
| Task Management | — | ✓ |
| Works offline | — | ✓ |
| Price | $36/mo | $279 once or 3 × $99 |
| 3-Year Total | $1,296 | $279 |
| You own it? | No — stop paying, lose access | Yes — forever |
✓ and ✗ for HoneyBook come from its own published feature list. — means the feature isn't in that list, which is not the same as HoneyBook lacking it: check with them. Three years is at today's price.
Straight from HoneyBook's own feature set. If one of these is the reason you pay them, that reason does not disappear because Nexa is cheaper.
HoneyBook is the better call if you need beautiful proposals and contracts specifically, or if your team is large enough that per-seat pricing still beats buying software outright.
HoneyBook describes itself as built for anyone with clients, aimed at small businesses that work with clients. Its categories are event services, marketing, design and creative, professional services, personal services, and home and real estate. (honeybook.com)
Read on each linked page in October 2026. Check them again before you decide; vendors change plans often.
Software doesn't do the creative work — it automates the business around it. And that part is the same for every dj: find the work, manage it, bill for it, get paid. Each step has a tool — and the right single tool runs the whole loop, so the handoffs are automatic and you get back to the creative work. Tap a step to see what gets automated.
An inquiry becomes a proposal becomes a signed project — with the scope and the deposit locked in.
The work itself — tracked against the project: hours, milestones, revisions, and expenses, so nothing bills late or goes uncounted.
The work becomes the invoice — the hours, the add-ons, the materials, the deposit credited — totaled and sent, instead of re-typed at 9pm.
Paid by card or link, the deposit credited, and what's overdue chased — without you doing it by hand.
You can stitch four separate subscriptions across these four steps, or run one tool that does the whole flow so a booking becomes a job becomes an invoice becomes a payment without re-typing. Either way the goal is the same: less time on the business of the business, more on the creative work. (Nexa is built to be the one — but the honest options for each step are above and below.)
This is the connection that makes the rest worth it. A dj's job already holds the services, the hours, the add-ons, and the materials — so the invoice builds itself from the work instead of you re-typing it at 9pm. Toggle an add-on or nudge the hours and watch it recompute.
You didn't write this invoice — the job did.
HoneyBook plus whatever else you're paying for:
Email yourself this comparison?
The median DJ earns $35,000/year. At $432/year, HoneyBook is a recurring slice of that — paid again every year, whether the year was good or not. Owning the same jobs outright is $279 once, and the slice stops.
Nexa is $279 once. Invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, accounting — all connected, built for djs. You own it like you own your Controller/mixer (Pioneer DDJ, Numark).
An honest fit check — because the wrong tool is worse than no tool.
The honest fit: if you're a solo or small djs business that owns its tools and is sick of renting software, Nexa replaces your whole stack for $279 once. If you're scaling into a large team with dedicated admin staff, a bigger platform may fit better — and we'd rather tell you that now than sell you the wrong thing.
Local rates and saturation vary widely — price for the city you serve, not a national average.
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 →Client records, scheduling and invoicing are the pieces of that day. Some tools rent you each piece separately. A few — Nexa among them — bundle the lot and carry their own booking link, with no per-appointment cut. The sections below price both routes honestly.
A wedding is mostly done before I play a song. Weeks ahead I meet the couple to plan the timeline: grand entrance, first dance, speeches, cake cutting and the last song, plus the must-play and do-not-play lists and the pronunciation of every name I'll announce. I coordinate with the venue about load-in, power and sound limits, and with the planner and photographer so the timeline works for everyone. On the day I arrive two hours early to set up speakers, subwoofers, lighting and a microphone for the ceremony, test everything and run backups of my music. During the night I'm reading the dance floor constantly, changing direction when it thins out, and running the microphone for toasts and announcements, which is half of the job. Weddings are booked with a contract and a deposit, often a year ahead, and I carry liability insurance because venues ask for it. My equipment is a serious investment, and I keep spares of the things that fail. Weeknights are corporate events, school dances and bar residencies that fill the calendar.
Real djs near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee. Are you a dj? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time. Or browse every dj on Nexa →
The tools of the trade — each a one-time buy that earns its keep for years.
Here's the bar that matters: you spent $1,480–$5,050 on tools that last for years, and never thought twice. So why should the software cost more than your whole kit — every single year? Hold it to the same standard as a good tool: $279, once.
We build a dj'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 a dj — 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.
For solo djs and small teams, yes. invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, task management, and full accounting — all for $279 once. HoneyBook may be better if you have a large team (10+) or need enterprise-specific features.
HoneyBook has features like Beautiful proposals and contracts and Client portal that some businesses rely on. For most solo djs, these aren't dealbreakers.
At $36/month, Nexa pays for itself in 7.8 months. After that: $432 saved every year.
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.
Own your tools. Stop renting your software.
Get Nexa — $279 Once