Acuity Scheduling vs Nexa The Real Comparison for Hot Stone Massage 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 Hot Stone Massage Therapists? Our Read
What hot stone massage therapists need from their software, from sources outside Acuity Scheduling and outside Nexa:
Massage therapists need scheduling that handles appointment-based, uneven work. The BLS says part-time work is common, schedules are set by appointment and vary considerably from week to week, and many therapists cannot work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week because the work is physically demanding. About 36% of the roughly 155,400 massage therapist jobs are self-employed. (bls.gov)
Mobile and event work needs mileage tracking. The BLS notes some therapists travel to local events, clients' homes or other sites. MASSAGE Magazine says the standard mileage method was 54 cents per business mile plus tolls and parking, and that a written mileage log is mandatory. (massagemag.com)
Expense tracking should cover trade-specific deductible items: massage table, linens, lotions, oils, bolsters and hot stones. It should also cover licensing fees, association dues and continuing education costs. MASSAGE Magazine lists all of these as deductible. A therapist who wears work clothing only for work can deduct it. (massagemag.com)
Licensing needs continuing education (CE) tracking and certificate storage. Connecticut requires 24 CE hours every 4 years, with at most 18 hours online or distance and at most 12 hours from programs not approved by the NCBTMB. Licensees must keep each certificate of completion for at least 6 years and can face discipline if they cannot show proof. (portal.ct.gov)
Self-employed therapists need quarterly tax and income tracking. ABMP's Massage & Bodywork magazine says taxes are not withheld, advises setting aside 20-30 percent of income for taxes, and says to deduct half of the self-employment tax. It says a business bank account is separate and that sales tax on services, retail products (oils, lotions) and gift certificates may apply depending on state and locality. (www-b.abmp.com)
Acuity Scheduling covers the booking side of this trade well. Therapists work by appointment and their weeks vary a lot, and Acuity gives clients online self-scheduling, intake forms, packages, subscriptions, gift certificates, deposits and cancelation policies. It also has a mobile app and syncs with Google Calendar and Apple Calendar. Its higher plans add text reminders, a waitlist and a Business Associate Agreement for HIPAA compliance. Acuity is a scheduler, though. It doesn't track mileage for mobile and event work, log deductible costs such as oils, linens and hot stones, store continuing-education certificates, or help with quarterly taxes. It connects to QuickBooks, so the bookkeeping would have to happen there.
Nexa covers more of the business side. It has expense tracking with receipt scanning, profit and loss, sales tax tracking, and invoices that clients pay by card through your own Stripe account. It also has a public booking page with intake forms and reschedule and cancel links, and it sends the day's stops to Google Maps in time order. It works offline. Nexa has no text messages, no waitlist, no Google Calendar sync (calendar export is an .ics file), and no QuickBooks sync. Its automated emails, including booking 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 at $34 a month costs $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 the three-year total to $458.64. Without sync, Nexa runs on one device. If clients rely on text reminders, a waitlist, or your calendar syncing with Google Calendar, stay with Acuity. Keep your expenses and taxes in a separate bookkeeping tool. If you take few online bookings and mostly need expense and sales tax records and invoicing, Nexa costs much less. Run it on one device that you keep open.
Our read for hot stone massage therapists: Stay with Acuity Scheduling if clients depend on text reminders, a waitlist or Google Calendar sync, which Nexa lacks; consider Nexa only if you mainly need bookkeeping and invoicing at a lower cost.
Read on each linked page in October 2026. Check them again before you decide; vendors change plans often.
Bottom Line
Acuity Scheduling costs hot stone massage 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 hot stone massage therapists: 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?
She gets in before the first appointment to fill the warmer, drop the stones in, and switch it on, because basalt takes the better part of an hour to reach a safe working temperature. While it heats she flips the room from the last day, lays fresh linens, sets the table warmer, and lines up oil and bolsters. First client arrives; she walks the intake and contraindication check, asking about pregnancy, circulation issues, blood thinners, recent injuries, anything that rules stones out or changes pressure. Then ninety minutes of work: placement stones resting along the spine while she works the limbs, palm stones gliding through warm oil, checking temperature against her own wrist and reading the client constantly so nothing burns. After, she helps the client up, talks aftercare and hydration, and tries to rebook before they drift out the door. Now the unglamorous part: stones go back in the warmer or into disinfectant, used linens to the wash, table wiped, room reset, water topped off. By the time it's turned over the next client is checking in. Lunch is whenever a slot opens. Between treatments she's answering booking texts, nudging a no-show, and reminding a regular about the three-session package she meant to mention last time.
The 30-45 minute pre-heat: stones have to reach temperature before the first client, and there is no shortcut if the warmer wasn't filled and switched on early enough
Hot stone sessions run 90 minutes plus setup and sanitizing, so a full day is realistically 4-5 treatments, not the 6-8 a Swedish therapist can fit
Every client needs an intake and contraindication screen (pregnancy, diabetes/neuropathy, blood thinners, heart conditions, recent surgery) before any stone touches skin
No-shows and late cancels sting far more on a premium-priced 90-minute slot, and rebooking clients into packages or memberships gets lost between sessions
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 Hot Stone Massage 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 hot stone massage therapist
Software doesn't do your clients — it automates the business around it. And that part is the same for every hot stone massage 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 hot stone massage 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.
The job 90-minute hot stone massage
ServiceHot stone massage (90 min)1 × $140$140
→
The invoice builds itself
Subtotal$155
Invoice total$155
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 Hot Stone Massage Therapists
The median hot stone massage 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 hot stone massage therapists. You own it like you own your Basalt stone set (large placement stones, palm-sized working stones, small toe/facial stones).
Is Nexa actually right for a hot stone massage 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 hot stone massage 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 Basalt stone set (large placement stones, palm-sized working stones, small toe/facial stones).
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 hot stone massage 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.
Hot Stone Massage Therapists by the numbers — by place
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 hot stone massage therapists actually deal with
The 30-45 minute pre-heat: stones have to reach temperature before the first client, and there is no shortcut if the warmer wasn't filled and switched on early enough
Hot stone sessions run 90 minutes plus setup and sanitizing, so a full day is realistically 4-5 treatments, not the 6-8 a Swedish therapist can fit
Every client needs an intake and contraindication screen (pregnancy, diabetes/neuropathy, blood thinners, heart conditions, recent surgery) before any stone touches skin
No-shows and late cancels sting far more on a premium-priced 90-minute slot, and rebooking clients into packages or memberships gets lost between sessions
A day in the life of a hot stone massage therapist
She gets in before the first appointment to fill the warmer, drop the stones in, and switch it on, because basalt takes the better part of an hour to reach a safe working temperature. While it heats she flips the room from the last day, lays fresh linens, sets the table warmer, and lines up oil and bolsters. First client arrives; she walks the intake and contraindication check, asking about pregnancy, circulation issues, blood thinners, recent injuries, anything that rules stones out or changes pressure. Then ninety minutes of work: placement stones resting along the spine while she works the limbs, palm stones gliding through warm oil, checking temperature against her own wrist and reading the client constantly so nothing burns. After, she helps the client up, talks aftercare and hydration, and tries to rebook before they drift out the door. Now the unglamorous part: stones go back in the warmer or into disinfectant, used linens to the wash, table wiped, room reset, water topped off. By the time it's turned over the next client is checking in. Lunch is whenever a slot opens. Between treatments she's answering booking texts, nudging a no-show, and reminding a regular about the three-session package she meant to mention last time.
The tools a working hot stone massage therapist actually owns
Basalt stone set (large placement stones, palm-sized working stones, small toe/facial stones)
Thermostatic stone heater/warmer with digital temperature readout (held around 120-135F)
Hydraulic or electric-lift massage table with bolsters and a face cradle
Layered linens, table-warmer pad, and pillowcase set for quick room turnover
Warming carrier oils and unscented lotion so stones glide without dragging skin
Sanitation supplies: hospital-grade stone disinfectant, fresh water for the warmer, towels, and disposable wipes
The kit a working hot stone massage therapist owns
The tools of the trade — each a one-time buy that earns its keep for years.
Basalt stone set (large placement stones, palm-sized working stones, small toe/facial stones)
Thermostatic stone heater/warmer with digital temperature readout (held around 120-135F)
Hydraulic or electric-lift massage table with bolsters and a face cradle
Layered linens, table-warmer pad, and pillowcase set for quick room turnover
Warming carrier oils and unscented lotion so stones glide without dragging skin
Sanitation supplies: hospital-grade stone disinfectant, fresh water for the warmer, towels, and disposable wipes
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 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 hot stone massage 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 hot stone massage 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 hot stone massage 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 hot stone massage 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.
The field's own bodiesWe anchor what hot stone massage therapists actually need to the people who set the standards — MCAA. 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 hot stone massage 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 hot stone massage 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.