What etsy sellers need from their software, from sources outside Wave and outside Nexa:
Etsy sellers need to track gross payments and transaction counts by payment channel for Form 1099-K. For third-party settlement organizations such as online marketplaces, the IRS says a 1099-K is required only when a payee's gross reportable payments exceed $20,000 and the number of transactions exceeds 200. This is the threshold the One, Big, Beautiful Bill restored. The income is taxable and must be reported whether or not a form is issued. (irs.gov)
Makers need books that show their activity is a business, not a hobby. The IRS says businesses operate to make a profit while hobbies are for pleasure or recreation. Its factors include whether the activity is run in a businesslike manner with complete and accurate books and records, whether it makes a profit in some years, and whether the owner relies on it for income. It adds that good recordkeeping is key at filing time. (irs.gov)
Sellers need to separate marketplace sales from direct sales (craft fairs, their own website) for sales tax. In Wisconsin, a marketplace seller must still register for and collect sales or use tax on taxable sales that are not made through a marketplace provider. Rules differ by state. (revenue.wi.gov)
Sellers need to estimate self-employment tax on net shop profit. The IRS sets the rate at 15.3% (12.4% Social Security plus 2.9% Medicare). It applies when net earnings from self-employment are $400 or more. (irs.gov)
Wave covers the bookkeeping side of an Etsy shop well. The free Starter plan includes unlimited bookkeeping records. Pro at $19 a month adds automatic bank transaction import, automatic categorizing of bank transactions, and receipt capture. For a seller with many small orders, that automation keeps clean books, which the IRS looks for when it asks whether a shop is a business or a hobby. Wave's feature list doesn't mention sales tax tracking, a way to separate marketplace sales from craft-fair or own-website sales, or a self-employment tax estimate. Sellers would need to handle those outside Wave.
Nexa covers more of the tax-side checklist in one place. It has expenses, bank reconciliation, profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow, 1099 summaries, sales tax tracking, and receipt scanning. Those fit the profit records and direct-sales tax needs. It also has no integration library, no QuickBooks or Xero import, and no stated automatic bank import. A seller who relies on bank feeds to categorize every transaction would lose that. Nexa is software you own and run yourself, with no hosted support desk or vendor-run onboarding, and it runs on one device unless you add optional Cloud Sync.
Over three years Wave Pro costs $684 ($228 a year). Nexa costs $279 once, or 3 payments of $99, and $458.64 with Cloud Sync at $4.99 a month. Sellers who want automatic bank import and categorizing should stay on Wave, and sellers who only need simple bookkeeping can stay on its free plan. Sellers who work from one device, enter or reconcile transactions themselves, and want built-in sales tax tracking and 1099 summaries could save money by moving to Nexa.
Our read for etsy sellers: Stay with Wave if you rely on automatic bank import and categorizing, because Nexa has no stated equivalent. Consider Nexa only if you work from one device and want built-in sales tax tracking.
Read on each linked page in October 2026. Check them again before you decide; vendors change plans often.
Bottom Line
Wave costs etsy sellers $228/year at today's list price. Nexa is $279 once for invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking and accounting in one suite — so after 14.7 months it has cost less than Wave, 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.
Can it pay for itself?
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 Wave 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 etsy sellers: Stay with Wave if the needs in our read above apply to you. If they don't, Nexa covers the core invoicing, scheduling and books for $279 once against $684 for Wave over three years.
Choose Nexa if:
You're done paying monthly forever
You're a solo operator or small team (1-5)
You need financial suite and task manager in one tool
You're tired of price increases
You want to own your tools like you own your equipment
Choose Wave if:
You have a large team (10+) needing enterprise features
You're deeply invested in Wave's specific workflow
You need a feature Nexa doesn't have yet
Sound Familiar?
I make everything I sell, so my week is split between making and running the shop. Production days are batches, because making one item at a time never pays; I'm prepping materials, working through a run of the best-sellers, and photographing new pieces in natural light. The listings matter as much as the products: titles and tags people actually search for, photos that show scale and detail, and descriptions that answer questions before buyers ask. Every morning I'm answering messages, customising orders, and printing labels for the day's shipments. Packing is its own job: protective packaging, a thank-you card, and getting to the post office before the cut-off. Fees add up quickly between listing, transaction and payment processing, and ads if I run them, so I watch my margins on every product and raise prices when materials go up. The busy season starts in October and I build stock months ahead. I also sell at a couple of local markets, which means a card reader, a table setup and inventory I have to track across both places.
Tax nightmare — Etsy fees, shipping costs, material costs, and income from multiple shops
Tracking material costs per product when you buy supplies in bulk
Quarterly estimated tax payments with wildly inconsistent monthly income
Separating business and personal expenses without a $55/month QuickBooks subscription
Etsy takes 6.5% transaction fee + 3% payment processing + $0.20 listing fee — knowing actual profit is impossible without tracking
The books and job tracking are the pieces of that day. Some tools rent you each piece separately. A few — Nexa among them — bundle the lot into something you buy once. 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. Wave solves some of it. So does Nexa. The difference is what you are left holding in three years.
What Wave Actually Costs Etsy Sellers
Today's list price is $19/month — $228 a year, from Wave's own pricing page. Every figure below is that price, multiplied. Nothing is projected.
Three years at today's price
Year 1$228
Year 2$228
Year 3$228
Three years of Wave$684
Nexa: $279 once (or 3 × $99). Over the same three years, that is $405 less.
If Wave 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-by-Feature
Feature
Wave
Nexa
Invoicing
✓
✓
Scheduling
✗
✓
CRM
✗
✓
Time Tracking
✗
✓
Full Accounting
✓
✓ (SIMPL)
Task Management
✗
✓
Works offline
✗
✓
Price
$19/mo
$279 once or 3 × $99
3-Year Total
$684
$279
You own it?
No — stop paying, lose access
Yes — forever
✓ and ✗ for Wave come from its own published feature list. — means the feature isn't in that list, which is not the same as Wave lacking it: check with them. Three years is at today's price.
What "$279 Once" Does And Doesn't Buy
It buys the software, not a service contract. You install Nexa and it runs on your machine. There is no seat count, and nothing stops working if you stop paying, because there is nothing to stop paying.
Wave's monthly fee is not only rent. It pays for their hosting, their support desk, and their engineers shipping changes every week. If those matter to how you work, that is a real thing you would be giving up.
Cross-device sync is the one optional extra — $4.99/month if you want your data mirrored between machines. Skip it and Nexa still works; you just sync manually.
The honest risk of buying once: you are betting on us still being here to improve it. The honest risk of renting: the price is theirs to raise, and the graveyard section below is a record of tools that did exactly that.
What Wave Does Better
Straight from Wave's own feature set. If one of these is the reason you pay them, that reason does not disappear because Nexa is cheaper.
Free plan covering unlimited invoices and bookkeeping
Bank transaction import on Pro
Receipt capture
Late payment reminders
Simple enough to run without an accountant
A free plan to start on (with limits), so you can use Wave before paying anything.
Wave is the better call if you need free plan covering unlimited invoices and bookkeeping specifically, or if your team is large enough that per-seat pricing still beats buying software outright.
What Wave Is Built For
Wave says it is built for small business owners and solopreneurs at every stage, not accountants. Its page names freelancers, contractors and consultants. (waveapps.com)
The Starter plan costs $0 and includes unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records. (waveapps.com)
Pro costs $19 USD a month or $190 USD a year. It adds automatic bank transaction import (for banks Plaid supports), automatic merging and categorizing of bank transactions, and automated late-payment reminders at 3, 7 and 14 days after the due date. (waveapps.com)
Pro lets you put your logo and brand colors on invoices, remove Wave branding from footers, and attach files to invoices and estimates. It also adds user roles (admin, editor, viewer), and the payroll manager and Block Advisors tax pro roles are free. (waveapps.com)
Online card payments on Starter cost 2.9% + $0.60 (Amex 3.4% + $0.60). On Pro the first 10 transactions each month are 2.9% + $0, then 2.9% + $0.60. (waveapps.com)
Wave Advisors starts at $149 a month and includes a dedicated bookkeeper and monthly financial statements. Payroll is an add-on starting at $25 a month in one region and $40 in the other; the page does not say which price applies where. (waveapps.com)
Wave lists a mobile app for invoices, expenses and receipts, and 256-bit SSL encryption with PCI-DSS Level 1 certification. Live chat and email support runs Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 4:45 PM Eastern, and is tied to optional add-ons. (waveapps.com)
What people outside Wave and outside Nexa say:
NerdWallet lists a free plan and straightforward invoicing as pros. Its cons are no built-in third-party integrations, no advanced features such as mileage, time tracking or inventory, no live support unless you pay, and no audit trails. (nerdwallet.com)
NerdWallet says "An overwhelming number of Wave reviewers criticize its customer support." It adds that the paid plan "doesn't address Wave users' biggest complaint: customer service." (nerdwallet.com)
Tech.co praises the free tier, affordable add-ons and the way Wave "does the basics well." It concludes "Wave is definitely worth it" for side businesses that don't need specialist accounting features. (tech.co)
Tech.co criticizes Wave for lacking advanced features such as budgeting, cash flow projections, stock handling and project accounting, and for struggling to scale with growing businesses. It also says phone and live chat support come at a premium. (tech.co)
Read on each linked page in October 2026. Check them again before you decide; vendors change plans often.
Where business tools fit — for an etsy seller
Software doesn't do the actual work — it automates the business around it. And that part is the same for every etsy seller: 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 actual work. Tap a step to see what gets automated.
1
Find the work
Win the job
↓
A lead, a call, a referral — and a quote or estimate that turns it into a booked job.
CRM / contacts
Estimates & proposals
Booking / scheduling
then ↓
2
Manage the work
Do the job
↓
The part you actually get paid for — with the time, materials, add-ons, and tasks tracked as you go, not guessed at later.
Job / project tracking
Time tracking
Expenses, materials & add-ons
then ↓
3
Bill for it
Send the bill
↓
The work becomes the invoice — the hours, the add-ons, the materials, the deposit credited — totaled and sent, instead of re-typed at 9pm.
Invoicing
Deposits & credits
then ↓
4
Get paid
Collect payment
↓
Paid by card or link, the deposit credited, and what's overdue chased — without you doing it by hand.
Card / online payments
Automatic reminders
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 actual work. (Nexa is built to be the one — but the honest options for each step are above and below.)
Calculate Your Full Stack
Wave plus whatever else you're paying for:
Email yourself this comparison?
Switching from Wave
1
Export your data — Go to Settings → Data Export. Download customers, invoices, transactions, and accounts.
2
Set up Nexa — 15-minute setup. Import your client list and bank transactions from CSV.
3
Parallel run — Run both for 1-2 weeks. Re-create recurring invoices in Nexa and check your bank imports.
4
Cancel Wave — Cancel paid features. Your free account data stays accessible for records.
✓ 30-day money-back guarantee. Zero risk.
What This Means for Etsy Sellers
The median Etsy seller earns $28,000/year. At $228/year, Wave 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 etsy sellers. You own it like you own your Craft supplies and raw materials (fabric, resin, wood, beads).
Is Nexa actually right for an etsy seller?
An honest fit check — because the wrong tool is worse than no tool.
Right for you if
You run solo or a small team — like the 500,000 etsy sellers in the US who do, and you wear every hat.
You're tired of paying every month for quickbooks and a pile of apps that don't talk to each other.
You want invoicing, scheduling, and client tracking in one place — not scattered across five apps.
You'd rather own your software once, the way you own your Craft supplies and raw materials (fabric, resin, wood, beads).
Look elsewhere if
You have a large team that needs enterprise seats, granular roles, and dedicated admin staff — Nexa is built for solo and small operators (1–5), and a bigger platform will serve you better.
You need full payroll for a large team or deep, SKU-level inventory — that's not what Nexa is for.
You're genuinely happy paying monthly and don't mind stitching tools together. No tool fixes a workflow you already like.
The honest fit: if you're a solo or small etsy sellers 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.
🎧 Etsy Conversations Podcast🎧 Arts & Crafts Business Institute🎧 The Handmade CEO
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The books and job tracking are the pieces of that day. Some tools rent you each piece separately. A few — Nexa among them — bundle the lot into something you buy once. The sections below price both routes honestly.
What etsy sellers actually deal with
Tax nightmare — Etsy fees, shipping costs, material costs, and income from multiple shops
Tracking material costs per product when you buy supplies in bulk
Quarterly estimated tax payments with wildly inconsistent monthly income
Separating business and personal expenses without a $55/month QuickBooks subscription
Etsy takes 6.5% transaction fee + 3% payment processing + $0.20 listing fee — knowing actual profit is impossible without tracking
A day in the life of a etsy seller
I make everything I sell, so my week is split between making and running the shop. Production days are batches, because making one item at a time never pays; I'm prepping materials, working through a run of the best-sellers, and photographing new pieces in natural light. The listings matter as much as the products: titles and tags people actually search for, photos that show scale and detail, and descriptions that answer questions before buyers ask. Every morning I'm answering messages, customising orders, and printing labels for the day's shipments. Packing is its own job: protective packaging, a thank-you card, and getting to the post office before the cut-off. Fees add up quickly between listing, transaction and payment processing, and ads if I run them, so I watch my margins on every product and raise prices when materials go up. The busy season starts in October and I build stock months ahead. I also sell at a couple of local markets, which means a card reader, a table setup and inventory I have to track across both places.
The tools a working etsy seller actually owns
Craft supplies and raw materials (fabric, resin, wood, beads)
Cutting machines (Cricut, Silhouette)
Heat press or sublimation printer
Packaging supplies and shipping station
Photography setup for product photos
Label printer (Dymo, Rollo)
Inventory storage (shelving, bins, organizers)
Why etsy sellers leave the big platforms
quickbooks: $55/month for 'Plus' just to track expenses and categorize Etsy deposits. That's $660/year on top of Etsy's fees. You're paying to figure out how little you're making.
wave: Free is great until you realize the reports are confusing and it can't import Etsy CSV statements properly. Hours wasted on manual entry.
freshbooks: Built for service businesses, not product sellers. No inventory tracking, no COGS calculation, no integration with Etsy. Wrong tool entirely.
Where etsy sellers actually talk shop
r/Etsy (Reddit)
r/EtsySellers (Reddit)
r/EtsyShop (Reddit)
r/smallbusiness (Reddit)
Etsy Community Forums (Forum)
EtsyRank Community (Forum)
Starla Moore (YouTube)
Hannah Ebeling (YouTube)
Local etsy sellers on Nexa
Real etsy sellers near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee.
Are you an etsy seller? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time.
Or browse every etsy seller on Nexa →
The kit a working etsy seller owns
The tools of the trade — each a one-time buy that earns its keep for years.
Craft supplies and raw materials (fabric, resin, wood, beads)
Cutting machines (Cricut, Silhouette)
Heat press or sublimation printer
Packaging supplies and shipping station
Photography setup for product photos
Label printer (Dymo, Rollo)
Inventory storage (shelving, bins, organizers)
You paid for these once because good tools last. That's the bar your software should clear too — priced like a tool you own, $279 once, not a subscription that costs more than your kit every year.
How To Read This Page
We make Nexa. It is one of the two options compared here, so read this with that in mind. We have tried to make Wave's case the way we would want ours made — their strengths above are their own published feature list, not our summary of it.
The prices are Wave's published list prices, checked on the date shown in the sources below. Plans change; check theirs before you decide.
No customer quotes appear on this page because we do not have any from etsy sellers we can verify. For user testimony, read the independent reviews — Wave on G2 and on Capterra — where the reviewers are not selling you anything.
Check the price yourself:Wave's own pricing page is the source for every figure above, read on the date shown in the sources section below.
We are not neutral about subscriptions, and that is the argument, not a hidden assumption: software you pay for once is cheaper over three years than software you rent, unless you need something only the rented one does.
How we put this guide together
We build an etsy seller'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 etsy seller — 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.
Where the numbers come from
Vendor pricingQuickBooks $456/yr, Wave $228/yr, FreshBooks $516/yr — taken from each company's published plans, last verified September 2026. Pricing moves; each name above links straight to that vendor’s own pricing page so you can confirm it before you decide.
Income contextThe $28,000 median we cite for the typical etsy seller is occupational median annual pay from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics), compiled April 2026. We use it only to show software spend as a share of real income — your own numbers will differ.
Three-year mathMulti-year totals are today's list price multiplied by the number of years. No price rise is projected, so the figure can be checked against the vendor's own pricing page; if they raise it, the real cost is higher.
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.
FAQ
Is Nexa really a Wave replacement?
For solo etsy sellers 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.
What does Wave do that Nexa doesn't?
Wave has features like Free plan covering unlimited invoices and bookkeeping and Bank transaction import on Pro that some businesses rely on. For most solo etsy sellers, these aren't dealbreakers.
How fast does Nexa pay for itself?
At $19/month, Nexa pays for itself in 14.7 months. After that: $228 saved every year.
Can I pay in installments?
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.