Acuity Scheduling vs Nexa The Real Comparison for Agility Trainers
Acuity Scheduling
$34/mo ($408/yr)
VS
Nexa
$279 once — own forever
or 3 payments of $99
Break even: 8.2 months at Acuity Scheduling's current price.
Does Acuity Scheduling Fit Agility Trainers? Our Read
What agility trainers need from their software, from sources outside Acuity Scheduling and outside Nexa:
Track whether sales tax applies to training fees, because the rule differs by state. Rhode Island added pet training, boarding, grooming and sitting to its 7 percent sales tax from October 1, 2012. Software has to be able to add tax to class and lesson invoices in states that tax training and leave it off in states that don't. (veterinarypracticenews.com)
Carry liability insurance and keep the policy matched to what you actually run. The AKC (via a club-insurance webinar summary) strongly encourages clubs to carry general commercial liability coverage of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate. It says clubs should tell their broker about every activity, including agility trials, because each event type carries different risks. Records should hold the policy details and renewal dates. They should also hold the signed waivers that go with the coverage. (caninechronicle.com)
There is no trainer license, but local zoning and permit approvals are needed and are tracked per location. In Norfolk, a dog trainer reported that 'there are no licenses for dog trainers' and that she carries insurance. The planning and zoning commission still had to decide that her business qualified under the town's home-professional-use regulation before it could be approved for a zoning permit. A business record should store those local approvals and any conditions on them. (nornow.org)
Acuity Scheduling covers the booking side of an agility business well. It offers class scheduling, packages, memberships, subscriptions, deposits, coupons, gift certificates, custom intake forms and cancelation policies. The Standard plan adds text reminders and an appointment waitlist, which matter when classes fill. Google Calendar sync and payments through Stripe, Square, PayPal or Venmo come on every plan. Its feature list does not mention sales tax handling, insurance policy and renewal records, signed-waiver storage, or a place to keep local zoning and permit approvals. Check how it handles tax on training fees in your state, such as Rhode Island's 7 percent. Keep your insurance and permit records somewhere else.
Nexa has a public booking page with intake forms, group-class capacity, and reschedule and cancel links. It has packages-style payment plans, a client pay portal through your own Stripe account, and a CRM with notes linked to a client. Its bookkeeping includes sales tax tracking, expenses and profit and loss, which fits the state-by-state tax question. It does not have a waitlist, text messages, Google Calendar sync (calendar export is an .ics file), or recurring booking series. Those gaps hurt a class-based trade. Its automated emails, including reminders, send only while Nexa is open on one of your devices. It is software you own and run yourself, with no hosted support desk. It is not a dedicated store for insurance policies or zoning approvals either.
Over three years Acuity's $34/month plan costs $1,224 ($408 a year). Nexa costs $279 once, or $458.64 with optional Cloud Sync at $4.99/month. Nexa is clearly cheaper, but price is not the deciding factor here. If you rely on a waitlist, text reminders or Google Calendar, stay with Acuity Scheduling and track tax, insurance and permits separately. Consider Nexa only if you want to own your software, can run it on one device, and don't need those features.
Our read for agility trainers: Stay with Acuity Scheduling if your classes depend on a waitlist, text reminders or Google Calendar, since Nexa lacks all three, even though Nexa costs less over three years.
Read on each linked page in October 2026. Check them again before you decide; vendors change plans often.
Bottom Line
Acuity Scheduling costs agility trainers $408/year at today's list price. Nexa is $279 once for invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking and accounting in one suite — so after 8.2 months it has cost less than Acuity Scheduling, 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 Acuity Scheduling 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 agility trainers: Stay with Acuity Scheduling 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 $1,224 for Acuity Scheduling over three years.
Choose Nexa if:
You're done paying monthly forever
You're a solo operator or small team (1-5)
You need scheduler, connect crm and invoicing in one tool
You're tired of price increases
You want to own your tools like you own your equipment
Choose Acuity Scheduling if:
You have a large team (10+) needing enterprise features
You're deeply invested in Acuity Scheduling's specific workflow
You need a feature Nexa doesn't have yet
Sound Familiar?
The morning starts with dragging equipment, resetting an A-frame and dogwalk to regulation, hammering jump bars to height, and laying out a numbered course because today's intermediate class is running a sequence with a tricky front cross. The trainer's real job is the handler: where the feet point, when the shoulder turns, the timing of the cue that tells a dog flying at full speed which obstacle is next. They run a green team through weave entries, rewarding the dog and coaching the human to stop babysitting the poles. Mid-day is a private with a competitor chasing a title, drilling contacts and a reliable two-on-two-off, stopwatch out, shaving fractions. The afternoon class is foundation puppies on flat planks and a low tunnel, all confidence and fun, no heights yet. Weather is always lurking: a wet field means a scramble for the shared building and a text blast to everyone. Between classes the trainer plans the next leveled progression, fields questions about which trial to enter, and helps students with entry deadlines. Evenings are spent setting next week's courses, tracking who's ready to move up, and managing a calendar that lives and dies by the trial season.
Course equipment is bulky and weather-dependent, so a rained-out field or a crowded shared building scrambles the whole class schedule
Students get hooked on competing and need leveled classes plus trial entries, so tracking who's foundation versus masters is a moving target
Handlers blame the dog for missed weaves and dropped bars when it's their own late cues and footwork, and reteaching humans is slow
Trial season swings demand wildly, packed in spring and fall, dead in the heat and the holidays
Scheduling, client records 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. Acuity Scheduling solves some of it. So does Nexa. The difference is what you are left holding in three years.
What Acuity Scheduling Actually Costs Agility Trainers
Today's list price is $34/month — $408 a year, from Acuity Scheduling's own pricing page. Every figure below is that price, multiplied. Nothing is projected.
Three years at today's price
Year 1$408
Year 2$408
Year 3$408
Three years of Acuity Scheduling$1,224
Nexa: $279 once (or 3 × $99). Over the same three years, that is $945 less.
If Acuity Scheduling 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
Acuity Scheduling
Nexa
Invoicing
✗
✓
Scheduling
✓
✓
CRM
✗
✓
Time Tracking
✗
✓
Full Accounting
✗
✓ (SIMPL)
Task Management
✗
✓
Works offline
—
✓
Price
$34/mo
$279 once or 3 × $99
3-Year Total
$1,224
$279
You own it?
No — stop paying, lose access
Yes — forever
✓ and ✗ for Acuity Scheduling come from its own published feature list. — means the feature isn't in that list, which is not the same as Acuity Scheduling 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.
Acuity Scheduling'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 Acuity Scheduling Does Better
Straight from Acuity Scheduling's own feature set. If one of these is the reason you pay them, that reason does not disappear because Nexa is cheaper.
Intake forms
Package and subscription billing
Gift certificates
HIPAA compliance (Powerhouse)
Squarespace integration
A smaller bill up front: plans start at $20/month, against $279 paid once for Nexa.
Acuity Scheduling is the better call if you need intake forms specifically, or if your team is large enough that per-seat pricing still beats buying software outright.
What Acuity Scheduling Is Built For
Acuity says it is for "anyone in the business of time," from solo practitioners to multi-location teams. It lists beauty, business services (consulting, coaching), wellness, fitness, visual and performing arts, and education. (acuityscheduling.com)
The Starter plan costs $16/month billed annually ($20 monthly) and includes 1 calendar, client self-scheduling, email reminders, custom client forms and automatic time zone conversion. (acuityscheduling.com)
Payments run through Stripe, Square, PayPal or Venmo on all plans. The Standard plan ($27/month annual, up to 6 calendars) adds text reminders, an appointment waitlist, memberships and packages, and gift certificates. (acuityscheduling.com)
The Premium plan ($49/month annual, up to 36 calendars) adds an AI Booking Assistant, a Business Associate Agreement for HIPAA compliance, removal of the Acuity logo, multiple time zones for staff or locations, and custom API and CSS access. Unlimited calendars require the Enterprise team. (acuityscheduling.com)
All plans have a 7-day free trial with no credit card required. There is no free plan beyond the trial. (acuityscheduling.com)
The site lists 15 integrations, including Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Stripe, Square, PayPal, QuickBooks, Zoom, Google Meet, Zapier, Mailchimp and Squarespace. (acuityscheduling.com)
Named features include online booking, class scheduling, packages, subscriptions, gift certificates, coupons, deposits, custom intake forms, cancelation policies, a mobile app and a website builder. The site is offered in 6 languages. (acuityscheduling.com)
What people outside Acuity Scheduling and outside Nexa say:
Software Finder shows a 4.5 rating from 25 reviews, with category scores of 9/10 for ease of use, value for money, customer support and functionality. The most-cited strengths are ease of use, integrations, automated email and text reminders that reviewers credit with reducing no-shows, and customizable emails and calendar views. (softwarefinder.com)
Software Finder reviewers also raise drawbacks. Some small businesses find it expensive, and one reported unresolved booking issues and slow support replies. Booking form appearance is limited, and add-ons are checkboxes only, so customers can't choose quantities. Stripe refunds need a separate login to Stripe. One business said it lacked features as its staff and resources grew, and a healthcare reviewer said it isn't suited to HIPAA-regulated practices. (softwarefinder.com)
Secret's page has no user reviews. Its editorial text calls the product user-friendly, customizable and affordable. It also lists as cons that pricing may be expensive for tight budgets, advanced features are limited, and some third-party integrations may be lacking. (joinsecret.com)
Read on each linked page in October 2026. Check them again before you decide; vendors change plans often.
Where business tools fit — for an agility trainer
Software doesn't do your clients — it automates the business around it. And that part is the same for every agility trainer: 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 your clients. Tap a step to see what gets automated.
1
Find the work
Get booked
↓
A new client finds you and books a time — no phone tag, no double-booking.
CRM / contacts
Estimates & proposals
Booking / scheduling
then ↓
2
Manage the work
Deliver the service
↓
The session itself — with the client history, notes, packages, and add-ons right there instead of in three different places.
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 your clients. (Nexa is built to be the one — but the honest options for each step are above and below.)
Watch a job become an invoice
This is the connection that makes the rest worth it. A agility trainer'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.
The job 6-week intermediate agility class plus private
ServiceIntermediate agility class (6 weeks)1 × $180$180
ServicePrivate handling lesson (45 min)1 × $65$65
→
The invoice builds itself
Subtotal$265
Deposit credited−$90
Invoice total$175
You didn't write this invoice — the job did.
Calculate Your Full Stack
Acuity Scheduling plus whatever else you're paying for:
Email yourself this comparison?
Switching from Acuity Scheduling
1
Export your data — Go to Settings → Export. Download your client list and appointment history.
2
Set up Nexa Scheduler — 15-minute setup. Import clients and recreate your appointment types.
3
Update your links — Replace your Acuity booking link everywhere — website, email, social.
4
Cancel Acuity — Cancel Squarespace subscription. Download a final backup of your data.
✓ 30-day money-back guarantee. Zero risk.
What This Means for Agility Trainers
The median Agility Trainer earns $32,000/year. At $408/year, Acuity Scheduling 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 agility trainers. You own it like you own your Regulation weave poles, A-frame, dogwalk, and teeter.
Is Nexa actually right for an agility trainer?
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 15,000 agility trainers in the US who do, and you wear every hat.
You're tired of paying every month for a monthly subscription stack 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 Regulation weave poles, A-frame, dogwalk, and teeter.
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 agility trainers 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.
Scheduling, client records 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.
What agility trainers actually deal with
Course equipment is bulky and weather-dependent, so a rained-out field or a crowded shared building scrambles the whole class schedule
Students get hooked on competing and need leveled classes plus trial entries, so tracking who's foundation versus masters is a moving target
Handlers blame the dog for missed weaves and dropped bars when it's their own late cues and footwork, and reteaching humans is slow
Trial season swings demand wildly, packed in spring and fall, dead in the heat and the holidays
A day in the life of a agility trainer
The morning starts with dragging equipment, resetting an A-frame and dogwalk to regulation, hammering jump bars to height, and laying out a numbered course because today's intermediate class is running a sequence with a tricky front cross. The trainer's real job is the handler: where the feet point, when the shoulder turns, the timing of the cue that tells a dog flying at full speed which obstacle is next. They run a green team through weave entries, rewarding the dog and coaching the human to stop babysitting the poles. Mid-day is a private with a competitor chasing a title, drilling contacts and a reliable two-on-two-off, stopwatch out, shaving fractions. The afternoon class is foundation puppies on flat planks and a low tunnel, all confidence and fun, no heights yet. Weather is always lurking: a wet field means a scramble for the shared building and a text blast to everyone. Between classes the trainer plans the next leveled progression, fields questions about which trial to enter, and helps students with entry deadlines. Evenings are spent setting next week's courses, tracking who's ready to move up, and managing a calendar that lives and dies by the trial season.
The tools a working agility trainer actually owns
Regulation weave poles, A-frame, dogwalk, and teeter
Adjustable jump standards, bars, and a tire jump
Collapsible tunnel and a chute with sandbags
Contact-trainer planks and a target plate for two-on-two-off
Stopwatch, course-builder app, and numbered cone markers
Treat pouch, tug, and a clicker for fast marker timing
Local agility trainers on Nexa
Real agility trainers near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee.
Are you an agility trainer? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time.
Or browse every agility trainer on Nexa →
The kit a working agility trainer owns
The tools of the trade — each a one-time buy that earns its keep for years.
Core kitEssential
Regulation weave poles
$100–$500
Core kitEssential
Adjustable jump standards and bars
$100–$400
Core kitEssential
Collapsible tunnel and sandbags
$80–$350
Core kitEssential
Tire jump
$80–$300
Core kitEssential
Contact trainer planks and target plate
$80–$350
Core kitEssential
Stopwatch and numbered cone markers
$25–$100
Core kitEssential
Treat pouch, tug and clicker
$20–$80
Upgrade
A-frame
$400–$1,500
Upgrade
Dogwalk and teeter
$600–$2,500
The core kit, bought once$485–$2,080
Here's the bar that matters: you spent $485–$2,080 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.
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 Acuity Scheduling'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 Acuity Scheduling'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 agility trainers we can verify. For user testimony, read the independent reviews — Acuity Scheduling on G2 and on Capterra — where the reviewers are not selling you anything.
Check the price yourself:Acuity Scheduling'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 agility trainer'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 agility trainer — 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 pricingAcuity Scheduling $408/yr, Square, Vagaro $600/yr, Wave $228/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 $32,000 median we cite for the typical agility trainer 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.
The field's own bodiesWe anchor what agility trainers actually need to the people who set the standards — HFA. We don't speak for them; we point you to them so you can weigh this guide against the profession's own.
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 Acuity Scheduling replacement?
For solo agility trainers and small teams, yes. invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, task management, and full accounting — all for $279 once. Acuity Scheduling may be better if you have a large team (10+) or need enterprise-specific features.
What does Acuity Scheduling do that Nexa doesn't?
Acuity Scheduling has features like Intake forms and Package and subscription billing that some businesses rely on. For most solo agility trainers, these aren't dealbreakers.
How fast does Nexa pay for itself?
At $34/month, Nexa pays for itself in 8.2 months. After that: $408 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.