Acuity Scheduling vs Nexa The Real Comparison for Craniosacral Therapists
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 Craniosacral Therapists? Our Read
What craniosacral therapists need from their software, from sources outside Acuity Scheduling and outside Nexa:
Craniosacral therapists need to track which licence or exemption covers their work in each state. Licensing varies by state. Some states impose no licensing requirement, and others regulate craniosacral therapy like massage therapy. Florida treats it as massage therapy, so practitioners there need a massage licence. The article lists education, registration and continuing-education requirements for that licence. It advises checking state law or asking an attorney. Records of licence numbers, renewal dates and continuing-education hours therefore matter. (wellnesslaw.com)
Biodynamic craniosacral practitioners may be self-regulated through an association instead of a state licence. The Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Association of North America (BCTA/NA) says Biodynamic craniosacral therapy is exempted from massage therapy and/or bodywork licensure requirements in statute in 4 states. It says practitioners are accountable to the association through Standards of Practice, with 700 training hours for practitioners and 1,400 for approved teachers. This is the association's own advocacy position. Such practitioners need to keep association-membership and training records alongside, or instead of, state licence records. (craniosacraltherapy.org)
Practitioners who are self-employed receive income with no tax withheld. ABMP's guide for massage and bodywork solopreneurs says they will likely need to make quarterly estimated tax payments to the IRS. It suggests setting aside 20-30 percent of income for taxes. It also advises a separate business bank account and credit card, and a log of all business expenses. Listed deductions include continuing education, insurance, mileage, home office and software. The article also notes that Venmo and PayPal issue a Form 1099-K for over $600 in gross payments (2024 tax year). This is a bodywork trade association's general guidance, not craniosacral-specific, and it is not tax advice. (abmp.com)
Practitioners who accept payment in kind or bill insurers need records of when money is received and of any trades. The AMTA Massage Therapy Journal article (written in 2016) says income is taxed in the year payment is received, not the year the service was given, and that this matters when billing insurance. It says trading massage for goods or services is taxable income. It advises keeping a datebook or calendar of business trips. It also advises photographing any home-office space that will be claimed, because audits can happen years later. Gifts to clients are deductible only up to $25 per person per calendar year, and meals are 50 percent deductible. The source is about massage therapists, not craniosacral specifically. (amtamassage.org)
Acuity Scheduling covers the booking side of a craniosacral practice well. It offers online booking, custom intake forms, packages, subscriptions, gift certificates, deposits and cancelation policies. Payments run through Stripe, Square, PayPal or Venmo. It also has text reminders on higher plans, Google Calendar and QuickBooks integrations, and a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement on its Premium plan. It does not appear to cover what sets this trade apart. Its feature list has nothing for tracking licence numbers, renewal dates and continuing-education hours, or for keeping association-membership and training records. Those matter because licensing varies by state: Florida treats the work as massage therapy, and some Biodynamic practitioners answer to an association instead of a state licence. It also has no tax or expense tracking for self-employed practitioners who set money aside for quarterly estimated payments.
Nexa covers more of the money side. It has a public booking page with intake forms and reschedule and cancel links, invoices and a client pay portal through your own Stripe account, and a CRM. It also has expenses, profit and loss, bank reconciliation, 1099 summaries and receipt scanning. That suits the log of business expenses and the records of when payment was received that this trade's tax guidance calls for. Notes can be linked to a client or contact, but Nexa is not a licence or renewal tracker. It does not have text messages, Google Calendar sync (calendar export is an .ics file), or a QuickBooks or Xero connection. It also has no waitlist or recurring booking series. Its automated emails and 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 or vendor-run onboarding.
Over three years, Acuity Scheduling at $34 a month is $408 a year, or $1,224. Nexa is $279 once (or 3 payments of $99). Adding optional Cloud Sync at $4.99 a month brings it to $458.64, and without Cloud Sync it runs on one device. Keep Acuity if you rely on text reminders, Google Calendar sync, QuickBooks or a HIPAA agreement. Consider Nexa if you want booking and bookkeeping in one tool, can work from one device or pay for sync, and don't need those. With either one, keep your licence, exemption and association records in a separate credential-tracking tool.
Our read for craniosacral therapists: Neither tool tracks the state licence or association records this trade needs, so pair whichever you pick with a credential-and-renewal tracker: keep Acuity for text reminders, Google Calendar or HIPAA, or use Nexa if you want bookkeeping built in.
Read on each linked page in October 2026. Check them again before you decide; vendors change plans often.
Bottom Line
Acuity Scheduling costs craniosacral therapists $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 craniosacral therapists: Neither Acuity Scheduling nor Nexa is the main system for this work; start with software built for it. Nexa only makes sense beside it, at $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?
He dims the room, sets the temperature warm, and softens the lighting, because craniosacral therapy needs stillness; the work is a light, listening touch that follows the body's subtle rhythm, and it can't be hurried or stacked tightly. He reviews his notes on the first client, a woman working through chronic migraines over a course of sessions, and recalls the restriction he felt at the base of her skull last time. She settles on the table and he places his hands gently, sensing the craniosacral rhythm, waiting for the tissue to release rather than forcing anything. He notes what shifts. The pace is deliberate, so he leaves real buffer between clients, both to reset the room and because the nervous-system work lingers and people get up slowly. Next is a post-concussion client on a treatment plan, then someone with TMJ and jaw tension. Part of his job is patiently explaining that this gentle modality works over a course of visits, not in one dramatic session, so clients don't judge it too soon and disappear. Between sessions he writes detailed notes on the rhythm and restrictions he felt, books the next appointment in the course, and resets the quiet room. He ends the day updating treatment plans so each client's next session continues the arc.
Selling and scheduling the multi-session treatment courses chronic clients (migraines, TMJ, post-concussion, anxiety) need rather than one-offs
Documenting detailed session notes and the subtle rhythm/restriction findings that guide the next visit
Educating clients on why this very gentle, slow modality takes a course of sessions to show change, so they don't quit after one
Keeping a calm, unhurried schedule with enough buffer between sessions since the work can't be rushed or stacked tightly
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 Craniosacral Therapists
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 a craniosacral therapist
Software doesn't do your clients — it automates the business around it. And that part is the same for every craniosacral therapist: 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 craniosacral therapist'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.
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 Craniosacral Therapists
The median Craniosacral Therapist earns $35,000/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 craniosacral therapists. You own it like you own your Quiet, padded treatment table with cranial bolsters.
Is Nexa actually right for a craniosacral therapist?
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 20,000 craniosacral therapists 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 Quiet, padded treatment table with cranial bolsters.
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 craniosacral therapists 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 craniosacral therapists actually deal with
Selling and scheduling the multi-session treatment courses chronic clients (migraines, TMJ, post-concussion, anxiety) need rather than one-offs
Documenting detailed session notes and the subtle rhythm/restriction findings that guide the next visit
Educating clients on why this very gentle, slow modality takes a course of sessions to show change, so they don't quit after one
Keeping a calm, unhurried schedule with enough buffer between sessions since the work can't be rushed or stacked tightly
A day in the life of a craniosacral therapist
He dims the room, sets the temperature warm, and softens the lighting, because craniosacral therapy needs stillness; the work is a light, listening touch that follows the body's subtle rhythm, and it can't be hurried or stacked tightly. He reviews his notes on the first client, a woman working through chronic migraines over a course of sessions, and recalls the restriction he felt at the base of her skull last time. She settles on the table and he places his hands gently, sensing the craniosacral rhythm, waiting for the tissue to release rather than forcing anything. He notes what shifts. The pace is deliberate, so he leaves real buffer between clients, both to reset the room and because the nervous-system work lingers and people get up slowly. Next is a post-concussion client on a treatment plan, then someone with TMJ and jaw tension. Part of his job is patiently explaining that this gentle modality works over a course of visits, not in one dramatic session, so clients don't judge it too soon and disappear. Between sessions he writes detailed notes on the rhythm and restrictions he felt, books the next appointment in the course, and resets the quiet room. He ends the day updating treatment plans so each client's next session continues the arc.
The tools a working craniosacral therapist actually owns
Quiet, padded treatment table with cranial bolsters
Trained light-touch hands sensing the craniosacral rhythm
Cervical and sacral support cushions
Calm-room sound, lighting, and temperature control
The tools of the trade — each a one-time buy that earns its keep for years.
Core kitEssential
Padded treatment table with cranial bolsters
$300–$1,200
Core kitEssential
Cranial bolsters and neck rolls
$50–$180
Core kitEssential
Hydraulic stool
$60–$200
Core kitEssential
Table warmer and blankets
$50–$150
Core kitEssential
Sound system for quiet ambience
$50–$250
Core kitEssential
Anatomy references and charts
$30–$120
The core kit, bought once$540–$2,100
Here's the bar that matters: you spent $540–$2,100 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 craniosacral therapists 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 a craniosacral therapist'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 craniosacral therapist — 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 pricingVagaro $600/yr, Acuity Scheduling $408/yr, Square, HoneyBook $432/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 $35,000 median we cite for the typical craniosacral therapist 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 Acuity Scheduling replacement?
For solo craniosacral therapists 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 craniosacral therapists, 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.