Eight tools in CurateSuite's catalog carry an accounts receivable tag, and most of them do not chase anyone for money. Only one, Chaser, runs a real collections workflow: reminders by email, SMS, and phone, plus a score that flags which customers are likely to pay late. Two more, Zoho Books and FreshBooks, bundle a basic automated reminder into their invoicing so an overdue bill nudges the customer without a person sending the email. The other five, BILL, QuickBooks Online, Xero, Melio, and Wave, do the first half of the job well: create the invoice, put a payment link on it, take the money. None of them describe an automated chase for the invoices that do not get paid on time.
That split matters more than a feature list because it changes what "AR automation" is actually buying. A firm whose real problem is a handful of clients paying 45 days late needs the collections half of the job automated, and only one catalog tool does that natively. A firm whose real problem is customers not having an easy way to pay at all just needs a working payment link, which the other five handle fine and mostly for free. Confusing the two means either overpaying for collections software to solve a payment-link problem, or buying invoicing software that never touches the invoices actually going stale. Getting the AP side of a client's books automated first is the more common starting point; the accounts payable automation comparison covers that half, including where the two sides overlap on a platform like BILL. The spend side of the ledger, what employees put on a card before it ever becomes a bill or an invoice, is a separate decision covered in the AI expense management software comparison.
The short answer
- Firms or businesses losing hours chasing late payers by hand: Chaser is the only catalog tool built specifically for collections, with automated email, SMS, and phone reminders plus a Late Payment Predictor that scores each customer by risk.
- Freelancers and service businesses invoicing clients directly: FreshBooks sends the invoice, adds an online payment link, and follows up automatically without a separate collections tool.
- Micro-businesses under $50,000 in annual revenue on a $0 budget: Zoho Books's free tier includes invoicing and adaptive smart payment reminders at no cost.
- Firms already running AP through BILL who want AR on the same login: BILL sends branded invoices with a payment link and applies incoming cash to the ledger automatically, though it has no automated reminder sequence of its own.
- Solo bookkeepers whose clients just need a payment link, nothing more: Melio's free Go tier and Wave Accounting's permanently free plan both cover basic invoicing with online payment acceptance.
- Larger businesses on NetSuite, Sage Intacct, or Microsoft Dynamics that need a self-service customer payment portal: Versapay (not in CurateSuite's catalog) is built as an ERP-native collaborative AR network rather than an add-on invoicing feature.
The rest of this guide breaks down what each tier of tool actually automates, compares all eight catalog options on a single table, and covers two dedicated AR specialists outside the catalog by name for firms that need more than what a general ledger bundles in.
What accounts receivable automation software actually does
The job has three parts: get the invoice out, get the customer to pay it, and chase the ones who do not pay on time. Every tool in this guide handles the first two. Invoice creation and delivery is close to a solved problem across the category: pull the client and line-item data from the ledger, format a branded invoice, email it, and attach a link the customer can click to pay by card or bank transfer. Cash application, matching the incoming payment back to the right invoice and posting it to the ledger, is nearly as standard now.
The third part, the chase, is where the category actually splits. An overdue invoice needs someone or something to send a reminder, escalate the tone as the due date slips further behind, and eventually flag the account as a real collections risk. That work is either a dedicated feature built into the software, a manual task a bookkeeper does by hand, or a job that gets outsourced to a specialist tool bolted on top of whatever software issued the invoice in the first place. Which of those three a given tool offers is the actual buying decision, and it does not track neatly with price or brand recognition.
Why the same "AR automation" tag covers three different products
Tier one: automated collections built for the chase
Chaser is the one catalog tool built around collections as the primary job rather than a feature bolted onto invoicing. It sends reminders by email, SMS, and automated phone call on rules your team sets per client, and its Late Payment Predictor scores each customer by likelihood of paying late so a bookkeeper knows where to spend attention instead of chasing everyone equally. It connects to QuickBooks, Xero, Sage, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, and NetSuite to pull invoice and contact data, and a Stripe integration handles the actual payment collection. Pricing starts around $259 a month for up to four users and GBP 4 million in managed revenue, rising to $779 and $1,169 a month at higher tiers, custom above that. It is genuinely the wrong purchase for a client with only a few overdue invoices a month; manual reminders are cheaper at that volume, and Chaser's own fit notes say as much.
Tier two: invoicing software with a reminder bolted on
Two general ledger platforms go a step past a plain payment link. Zoho Books includes smart payment reminders that adjust frequency based on how a client actually responds, alongside a natural-language assistant that can answer a query like "show me last month's top five overdue invoices." That is available from the permanently free tier for businesses under $50,000 in annual revenue, with paid tiers from $20 a month adding bank feeds, and multi-currency from the $50 Professional tier. FreshBooks does the same job from an invoicing-first angle built for freelancers and service businesses, sending automated payment reminders alongside the invoice itself, from $23 a month for up to five billable clients.
Neither tool escalates channel or tone the way Chaser does. A reminder is still an email; there is no SMS or phone step, and no risk score ranking which customer is actually likely to go delinquent. For a solo operator invoicing a handful of clients, that is plenty. For a firm managing collections across dozens of accounts, it is a nudge, not a workflow.
Tier three: invoice and get paid, no automated chase
The largest group of catalog tools stops at invoicing and payment collection, with no automated reminder step described anywhere in their published specs. BILL runs AR the same way it runs AP, in reverse: firms send branded invoices with a payment link, the customer pays online, and cash applies to the ledger without a manual journal entry, all from $49 per user a month alongside its AP tools. QuickBooks Online and Xero both cover invoicing and online payment acceptance as part of the core bookkeeping platform most clients already run, from $38 and $25 a month. Melio offers the same at no cost on its free Go tier (the five-free-ACH-payment cap on that tier applies to Melio's outgoing bill pay, not to invoicing or receiving customer payments), and Wave Accounting offers unlimited invoicing permanently free, funded by payment processing fees (roughly 1 percent on bank transfers, 2.9 percent plus 30 cents on card payments) rather than a subscription.
None of these five are bad at the job they do. They are simply a different job than collections. A client on any of them who starts accumulating overdue invoices needs either a person doing the chasing by hand or a specialist tool layered on top, which is exactly the gap tier one and tier two exist to fill.
Accounts receivable automation software comparison: pricing and fit at a glance
| Tool | Automated collections chase | Starting price | Best fit |
|---|
| Chaser | Yes: email, SMS, phone, plus late-payment risk scoring | $259/month | Firms losing real time chasing late-paying customers |
| Zoho Books | Yes: adaptive smart reminders | Free (under $50k revenue) | Micro-businesses that want reminders bundled into free bookkeeping |
| FreshBooks | Yes: automated payment reminders | $23/month | Freelancers and service businesses invoicing clients directly |
| BILL | No: invoice and payment link only | $49/user/month | Firms already on BILL for AP that want AR on one login |
| QuickBooks Online | No | $38/month | Clients already running QBO for the ledger who just need a payment link |
| Xero | No | $25/month | Same case as QuickBooks Online, on Xero |
| Melio | No | Free (Go tier) | Micro clients who need a payment link and nothing more |
| Wave Accounting | No | Free, permanently | Sole traders who want zero-cost invoicing with no add-ons |
Figures reflect what each vendor publishes as of this writing. Confirm the current number on the vendor's own pricing page before a client signs anything, since tiers and inclusions shift over time.
Two dedicated AR specialists outside CurateSuite's catalog
Chaser is not the only standalone collections tool on the market, and two names come up often enough in searches for AR automation that they are worth naming here even though CurateSuite has not yet added a full tool page for either.
Invoice Sherpa
Invoice Sherpa is a budget-tier AR automation tool priced by open invoice count rather than by user or revenue: $49 a month covers up to 100 open invoices, $99 covers up to 500, and $199 covers unlimited invoices, each with a lower annual rate. Every tier includes unlimited reminders, SMS reminders, a branded customer portal, autopay, and multi-currency support, plus a 1 percent fee on processed payments. It connects to QuickBooks Online, Xero, and Clio. The invoice-count pricing makes it a straightforward fit for a firm that wants dedicated collections without Chaser's higher entry price, provided the client's invoice volume stays under a few hundred a month.
Versapay payment portal
Versapay takes a different approach: a collaborative payment portal where the customer can view invoices, pay by card, ACH, or virtual card, schedule recurring payments, and settle multiple invoices at once, all inside a branded self-service page rather than clicking a one-off payment link. Behind that portal, Versapay uses machine learning to match incoming payments to open invoices automatically and runs risk-based collections outreach. It connects natively to NetSuite, Sage Intacct, and Microsoft Dynamics 365, which puts it in a different bracket than the small-business tools in this guide: pricing is custom-quoted rather than published, and it is built for a mid-market or enterprise AR team running real transaction volume across an ERP, not a solo bookkeeper's client roster.
Picking AR automation software for your client mix
If the client's real problem is unpaid invoices, not unsent ones
Start by counting how many invoices actually go past due each month, not how many get sent. If a client is issuing invoices fine but a meaningful share sit unpaid past 30 or 60 days, the fix is a collections tool, not a better invoicing platform. Chaser is the catalog option built for that; Invoice Sherpa is the lower-cost alternative for clients under a few hundred open invoices a month.
If the client just needs a working payment link
Most small clients do not have a collections problem. They have an invoicing problem: a PDF emailed with no way to pay online, which delays payment simply because the customer has to go find their checkbook. For that case, Melio or Wave Accounting solve it at no cost, and QuickBooks Online or Xero solve it as part of the ledger the client is already paying for.
A firm running vendor bill pay through BILL can turn on AR from the same account rather than adding a second vendor relationship. That trades a lighter reminder feature set for one login, one support relationship, and one invoice for the firm's own software spend. Firms still deciding which AP platform to standardize on before layering AR on top can see how the options actually compare in BILL vs Stampli vs Melio: Which AP Tool Fits Your Firm?.
If the client's invoicing volume is high enough to need reminders, but the budget is not enterprise
Zoho Books and FreshBooks sit in the middle: real automated reminders, not a dedicated collections workflow, priced as part of an invoicing platform rather than a standalone tool. That fits a client generating enough overdue invoices that a plain payment link is not enough, but not so many that a $259-a-month collections platform makes sense yet.
If the client runs on an ERP and needs a self-service customer portal
Once a business is on NetSuite, Sage Intacct, or Microsoft Dynamics with real transaction volume, the small-business tools in this guide stop being the right comparison set. Versapay's collaborative portal and native ERP connections are built for that scale, at custom-quoted pricing that reflects it.
How to decide without over-buying
The mistake worth avoiding is buying tier-one collections software to solve a tier-three problem, or the reverse. A client with a handful of clean, on-time-paying customers does not need Chaser's risk scoring; a free payment link on the existing ledger solves the whole problem. A client with real overdue balances piling up will not fix that with a nicer invoice template, no matter which platform sends it. Count the overdue invoices before comparing price tags. That single number decides which of the three tiers in this guide is worth paying for, and everything else, integrations, portal design, currency support, is a secondary filter once the tier is settled.
The CurateSuite AP, AR, and payments category covers the full set of catalog tools spanning both sides of the ledger, useful if a client's real bottleneck turns out to be paying vendors rather than collecting from customers.
Common questions
What is the difference between AR automation and just sending invoices online?
Sending invoices online with a payment link, which most accounting software already does, covers half the job. AR automation in the fuller sense adds the second half: automatically reminding customers who have not paid, escalating that reminder as the invoice ages, and applying the eventual payment back to the ledger without manual entry. Only Chaser among CurateSuite's catalog tools does the reminder-and-escalation half natively.
Does QuickBooks Online or Xero send payment reminders automatically?
Neither one's published specs describe an automated overdue-reminder sequence. Both handle invoice creation, online payment acceptance, and cash application well, but a client relying on either for the full receivables cycle still needs a person, or a bolted-on tool like Chaser, Zoho Books, or FreshBooks, to actually chase a late payer.
How much does dedicated AR collections software cost?
Chaser starts around $259 a month for up to four users and GBP 4 million in managed revenue, rising to $779 and $1,169 a month at higher tiers. Invoice Sherpa is priced by open invoice count instead, starting at $49 a month for up to 100 open invoices. Versapay does not publish pricing; it is quoted based on transaction volume and ERP scope.
Can a firm just use its existing accounting software for AR instead of buying a separate tool?
Yes, for clients whose invoices mostly get paid on time. QuickBooks Online, Xero, Melio, Wave, and BILL all handle invoicing and online payment collection well, and for a client without a real overdue-invoice problem, that is enough. The separate purchase only pays for itself once late payment becomes a recurring pattern rather than an occasional exception.
Is BILL a good fit for both AP and AR?
It works for firms that want one platform for both, particularly if the firm already runs vendor bill pay through BILL and wants AR on the same account. Its AR side covers branded invoices, a payment link, and automatic cash application, but it does not run the automated reminder sequence that Chaser, Zoho Books, or FreshBooks include, so a client with a real collections problem still needs a second tool layered on top.
If comparing collections tools against plain invoicing software is more than the decision is worth, the CurateSuite matchmaker takes a few questions about a firm's client mix and overdue-invoice volume and returns the AR tools that actually fit, results shown immediately with no email required.
