The verdict for embroidery artists: Wave is solid software, but at $16/month it costs $644 over 3 years. Nexa does most of what Wave does for $279 once. For solo embroidery artists and small teams, Nexa is the better deal.
Nexa: $279. Once. You keep $365. And you own it — no more "we're updating our pricing" emails.
| Feature | Wave | Nexa |
|---|---|---|
| Invoicing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Scheduling | ✗ | ✓ |
| CRM | ✗ | ✓ |
| Time Tracking | ✗ | ✓ |
| Full Accounting | ✗ | ✓ (SIMPL) |
| Task Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Price | $16/mo | $279 once or 3 × $99 |
| 3-Year Total | $644 | $279 |
| You own it? | No — stop paying, lose access | Yes — forever |
Wave plus whatever else you're paying for:
Email yourself this comparison?
The math doesn't lie.
Embroidery Artists deal with unique challenges that generic software was not built for: Hand embroidery takes hours and customers compare prices to machine work. Thread and fabric cost tracking per piece is tedious. Custom text and design changes add unpaid revision time. Machine embroidery operators face thread, stabilizer, and digitizing costs. Wave charges $16/month on top of these daily realities. The median embroidery artist earns $24,000/year — $192/year in software subscriptions is a significant percentage of that income, paid every year, forever.
Nexa is $279 once. Invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, accounting — all connected, built for embroidery artists. You own it like you own your Embroidery hoops and frames.
You're hand-embroidering a custom pet portrait — 10 hours of work. Materials are $8. You sell it for $95 on Etsy. After fees, you net $82 for 10 hours. Your machine embroidery hats sell for $22 each and take 15 minutes plus setup. A local business wants 50 embroidered polos and needs a quote by tomorrow. You have no system for tracking per-item costs across hand work, machine work, and bulk orders.
Real embroidery artists near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee. Are you an embroidery artist? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time. Or browse every embroidery artist on Nexa →
For solo embroidery artists and small teams, yes. invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, task management, and full accounting — all for $279 once. Wave may be better if you have a large team (10+) or need enterprise-specific features.
Wave has features like Free accounting software and Unlimited invoicing that some businesses rely on. For most solo embroidery artists, these aren't dealbreakers.
At $16/month, Nexa pays for itself in 17.4 months. After that: $192 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