Toggl Track vs Nexa
The Real Comparison for Concept Artists

Toggl Track
$12/mo ($144/yr)
VS
Nexa
$279 once — own forever
or 3 payments of $99
Break even: 23.3 months at Toggl Track's current price.

Does Toggl Track Fit Concept Artists? Our Read

What concept artists need from their software, from sources outside Toggl Track and outside Nexa:

Toggl Track does the time-and-billing part of the job well. It has project-based tracking, reports grouped by project or client, billable rates, invoicing, and estimated vs. actual time. That helps a concept artist who bills by the hour or wants to see how long a project really took. It also has a free tier and a 30-day trial. Toggl Track does not give you a place to record NDA status, expiry dates, what you may show publicly, or the signed work-for-hire or assignment terms for each job. It also has no bookkeeping features such as expenses, profit and loss, or cash flow. Those are what you would show to back up a business-not-hobby position, and the IRS fact sheet on that is archived from 2008, so check the current rules.

Nexa covers more of the money side. It has estimates and quotes that convert to invoices, which clients can sign and pay through your own Stripe account. It has jobs with costing and profit per job, and payment plans. For bookkeeping it has expenses, receipt scanning, profit and loss, a balance sheet and cash flow. That fits per-project invoicing and the feast-or-famine income swings. Its CRM has notes and tags per client, so you could record NDA status and portfolio permissions there. None of the listed features is a dedicated store for signed contracts or a rights log, so that gap remains. Nexa also has no QuickBooks or Xero sync and no integration library. It is software you own and run yourself, with no hosted support desk. If you use its automated emails, they send only while Nexa is open on one of your devices.

Over three years Toggl Track at $12 a month is $144 a year, or $432. Nexa is $279 once, or 3 payments of $99, and it runs on one device. Adding optional Cloud Sync at $4.99 a month brings the three-year total to $458.64, slightly more than Toggl Track. A solo artist who works from one machine and wants invoicing and books in one place should switch. If you mainly need hourly tracking, Toggl Track's reports and integrations, or hosted support, stay put. Either way, keep signed contracts and NDA terms in a dedicated document folder, since neither tool is built for that.

Our read for concept artists: Nexa fits a solo concept artist's invoicing, per-job profit and bookkeeping needs better and costs less on one device, but neither tool replaces a proper store for signed NDAs and rights terms.

Read on each linked page in October 2026. Check them again before you decide; vendors change plans often.

Bottom Line

Toggl Track costs concept artists $144/year at today's list price. Nexa is $279 once for invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking and accounting in one suite — so after 23.3 months it has cost less than Toggl Track, 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 Toggl Track 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 concept artists: Toggl Track is solid software, but at $12/month it costs $432 over 3 years. Nexa does most of what Toggl Track does for $279 once. For solo concept artists and small teams, Nexa is the better deal.

Choose Nexa if:

  • You're done paying monthly forever
  • You're a solo operator or small team (1-5)
  • You need time tracker, invoicing and connect crm in one tool
  • You're tired of price increases
  • You want to own your tools like you own your equipment

Choose Toggl Track if:

  • You have a large team (10+) needing enterprise features
  • You're deeply invested in Toggl Track's specific workflow
  • You need a feature Nexa doesn't have yet

Sound Familiar?

You start by rebuilding the reference board in PureRef, dragging in screenshots, photos of real machinery, and color studies for the alien marketplace the art director wants explored. The brief says 'environment, sci-fi, lived-in,' which means the first hour is silhouettes and value thumbnails in Photoshop, twenty tiny compositions to find the strong read. You send three thumbnails by midday and the art director circles one but asks to see it 'a little more golden hour.' That's a lighting pass, so you build a quick Blender basemesh of the main structure, render a flat clay pass, and paint over it to keep the perspective honest. Afternoon is the chosen keyframe: blocking color, then detail passes on the foreground stalls and hanging cables, then a final polish so the materials read. Around three the producer emails asking whether the design can also go on a poster, which is a licensing question nobody scoped, and you flag it to discuss. You finish by exporting layered PSDs and flats, naming them with the version and date, then update your tracker with the revision round you just completed so the flat fee doesn't quietly turn into unpaid overtime.

Time tracking, invoicing, client records and scheduling 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. Toggl Track solves some of it. So does Nexa. The difference is what you are left holding in three years.

What Toggl Track Actually Costs Concept Artists

Today's list price is $12/month — $144 a year, from Toggl Track's own pricing page. Every figure below is that price, multiplied. Nothing is projected.

Three years at today's price

Year 1$144
Year 2$144
Year 3$144
Three years of Toggl Track$432

Nexa: $279 once (or 3 × $99). Over the same three years, that is $153 less.

If Toggl Track 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

FeatureToggl TrackNexa
Invoicing✗✓
Scheduling✗✓
CRM✗✓
Time Tracking✓✓
Full Accounting✗✓ (SIMPL)
Task Management✗✓
Works offline—✓
Price$12/mo$279 once
or 3 × $99
3-Year Total$432$279
You own it?No — stop paying, lose accessYes — forever

✓ and ✗ for Toggl Track come from its own published feature list. — means the feature isn't in that list, which is not the same as Toggl Track lacking it: check with them. Three years is at today's price.

What "$279 Once" Does And Doesn't Buy

What Toggl Track Does Better

Straight from Toggl Track's own feature set. If one of these is the reason you pay them, that reason does not disappear because Nexa is cheaper.

Toggl Track is the better call if you need simple time tracking specifically, or if your team is large enough that per-seat pricing still beats buying software outright.

What Toggl Track Is Built For

Toggl Track's product page lists agencies and professional services teams, software and IT teams, law firms, and accounting and finance teams. It also names three sizes of customer: freelancers and solo users, growing teams, and large organizations. (toggl.com)

What people outside Toggl Track and outside Nexa say:

Read on each linked page in October 2026. Check them again before you decide; vendors change plans often.

Where business tools fit — for a concept artist

Software doesn't do the creative work — it automates the business around it. And that part is the same for every concept artist: 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 creative work. Tap a step to see what gets automated.

  1. 1
    Find the work

    Land the project

    ↓

    An inquiry becomes a proposal becomes a signed project — with the scope and the deposit locked in.

    • CRM / contacts
    • Estimates & proposals
    • Booking / scheduling
    then ↓
  2. 2

    The work itself — tracked against the project: hours, milestones, revisions, and expenses, so nothing bills late or goes uncounted.

    • Job / project tracking
    • Time tracking
    • Expenses, materials & add-ons
    then ↓
  3. 3

    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. 4

    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 creative work. (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 concept artist'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 Sci-fi marketplace environment concept
Service Value thumbnails, round of 20 1 × $300 $300
Service Final environment painting 1 × $900 $900
The invoice builds itself
Subtotal$1,350
Deposit credited−$600
Invoice total$750

You didn't write this invoice — the job did.

Calculate Your Full Stack

Toggl Track plus whatever else you're paying for:

Email yourself this comparison?

Switching from Toggl Track

1
Export your data — Go to Reports → Detailed → Export as CSV. Download your full time entry history.
2
Set up Nexa — 10-minute setup. Import your client list by CSV, then set up your projects.
3
Start tracking in Nexa — Use Nexa time tracker for new entries. Import historical data if needed.
4
Cancel Toggl — Cancel subscription. Download a final export for your records.
✓ 30-day money-back guarantee. Zero risk.

What This Means for Concept Artists

The median Concept Artist earns $45,000/year. At $144/year, Toggl Track 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 concept artists. You own it like you own your Photoshop with a Kyle brush set.

Is Nexa actually right for a concept artist?

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 25,000 concept artists 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 Photoshop with a Kyle brush set.

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 concept artists 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.

Concept Artists by the numbers — by place

Tax & registration where you operate

1-13.3%income tax

Register a business in California →

Noneincome tax

Register a business in Texas →

Noneincome tax

Register a business in Florida →

4-10.9%income tax

Register a business in New York →

Time tracking, invoicing, client records and scheduling 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 concept artists actually deal with

A day in the life of a concept artist

You start by rebuilding the reference board in PureRef, dragging in screenshots, photos of real machinery, and color studies for the alien marketplace the art director wants explored. The brief says 'environment, sci-fi, lived-in,' which means the first hour is silhouettes and value thumbnails in Photoshop, twenty tiny compositions to find the strong read. You send three thumbnails by midday and the art director circles one but asks to see it 'a little more golden hour.' That's a lighting pass, so you build a quick Blender basemesh of the main structure, render a flat clay pass, and paint over it to keep the perspective honest. Afternoon is the chosen keyframe: blocking color, then detail passes on the foreground stalls and hanging cables, then a final polish so the materials read. Around three the producer emails asking whether the design can also go on a poster, which is a licensing question nobody scoped, and you flag it to discuss. You finish by exporting layered PSDs and flats, naming them with the version and date, then update your tracker with the revision round you just completed so the flat fee doesn't quietly turn into unpaid overtime.

The tools a working concept artist actually owns

Local concept artists on Nexa

Real concept artists near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee. Are you a concept artist? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time. Or browse every concept artist on Nexa →

The kit a working concept artist owns

The tools of the trade — each a one-time buy that earns its keep for years.

Core kitEssential

Pen display or iPad Pro

$400–$2,500
Core kitEssential

Workstation or high-spec laptop

$1,500–$5,000
Core kitEssential

Colour-accurate monitor

$300–$1,200
Core kitEssential

Monitor calibrator

$150–$400
Core kitEssential

Reference and art book library

$100–$500
Core kitEssential

Ergonomic chair and desk

$300–$1,500
Core kitEssential

Fast storage and backup

$150–$600
Upgrade

3D blockout software licence

$400–$2,500
The core kit, bought once $2,900–$11,700

Here's the bar that matters: you spent $2,900–$11,700 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.

Where Nexa wins for a concept artist — and where it doesn't

The honest version. Nexa was built to beat the rented stack on the jobs that matter most to a concept artist — here's where it wins, where the integration wins it anyway, and the things it genuinely doesn't do, with who to use instead. (No tool is best at everything; a guide that pretends otherwise is just an ad.)

Compare the essential business tools for concept artists

The usual subscriptions vs. Nexa, side by side. Drag the time slider — every year you keep renting, the gap widens. Nexa is $279, one time.

The jobThe usual rentalThe verdict
The whole connected stack 4 subscriptions · ~$1,032/yr Nexa wins big One tool, $279 once — From the reference board to the keyframe deliverables to the revision rounds to the buyout invoice, each piece flows through one record, so every extra keyframe and licensing term is captured where it gets billed. without re-typing. That handoff is the part separate tools can't buy at any price.
Job & project tracking Jobber → Nexa wins When three exploration thumbnails balloon into ten finished keyframes, Nexa tracks each piece against the original brief on the job, so the scope creep that is invisible until delivery becomes a visible, billable record.
Invoicing FreshBooks → Nexa wins Paint-over rounds four and five that the client treats as free attach to the job and flow into the invoice, so the extra revisions eat into the line items instead of silently eating your flat project rate.
CRM & clients HubSpot → Nexa wins The art director, their lived-in sci-fi brief, and the unspoken buyout-for-merch expectation stay on that client's record, so the licensing conversation is grounded in what was actually agreed instead of remembered after the work is done.
Scheduling & booking Calendly → Nexa wins The overnight bake check and the blockout on the new prop sit on the same board as the job, so when a deadline shifts you are not re-entering it into a separate calendar.
If you run real payroll for a team — Not Nexa Use Gusto → — it's better at that, and we'd rather tell you than pretend.
If you run big email campaigns & automations — Not Nexa Use ConvertKit → — it's better at that, and we'd rather tell you than pretend.
If you design graphics & marketing assets — Not Nexa Use Canva → — it's better at that, and we'd rather tell you than pretend.

Prefer to own a piece outright instead of renting? Free and open-source tools (GnuCash, Invoice Ninja and the like) each handle one job if you'll self-host them — a real option, listed because it's true.

Competitor pricing verified 2026-06-12.

How To Read This Page

How we put this guide together

We build a concept artist'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 concept artist — 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

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 Toggl Track replacement?

For solo concept artists and small teams, yes. invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, task management, and full accounting — all for $279 once. Toggl Track may be better if you have a large team (10+) or need enterprise-specific features.

What does Toggl Track do that Nexa doesn't?

Toggl Track has features like Simple time tracking and Desktop and mobile apps that some businesses rely on. For most solo concept artists, these aren't dealbreakers.

How fast does Nexa pay for itself?

At $12/month, Nexa pays for itself in 23.3 months. After that: $144 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.

$432 Over 3 Years. Or $279 Once (or 3 × $99).

Own your tools. Stop renting your software.

Get Nexa — $279 Once
or 3 payments of $99
✓ 30-day money-back — save $500 or full refund

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