AccountsReceivable.ai
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AR software AR automation software Collections automation Dunning management Payment reminders Invoice collection B2B collections Outsourced AR AR for small business AR for QuickBooks AR for Xero AR for NetSuite Best AR automation AI collections agent AI AR software AR for SaaS AR management software AR for Sage AR for Sage Intacct Credit management software Order to cash Deduction management AR for construction AR for staffing AR for manufacturing AR for distribution AR for logistics AR for accountants AR for agencies AR for law firms Cash application software Integrated receivables Invoice to cash software Online & cloud AR See all →
Bill.com alternative Quadient alternative YayPay alternative Chaser alternative Upflow alternative Versapay alternative HighRadius alternative Billtrust alternative Tesorio alternative Invoiced alternative Sidetrade alternative Gaviti alternative Growfin alternative Paystand alternative Corcentric alternative Emagia alternative Kolleno alternative Serrala alternative
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By system & fit

Accounts payable and receivable software compared: which software for accounts payable and receivable does both, and when AP and AR automation software should stay two systems

Accounts payable and receivable software is one search term covering two products that behave nothing alike. AP is an approval problem: an invoice arrives from outside, somebody has to code it, somebody has to approve it, and then money leaves on a date you choose. AR is a persuasion problem: you already sent the invoice, the amount is not in dispute, and the money arrives on a date your customer chooses. Buyers who miss that distinction end up with a suite that is strong on one side and a checkbox on the other.

Here is the short version, and it is the part most vendor roundups leave out. Four names genuinely run both sides in one subscription: BILL, Melio, Centime and, at enterprise scale, Esker and Corcentric. Of those, only BILL and Melio publish a price. BILL runs 49, 65 and 89 dollars per user per month across Essentials, Team and Corporate, with AP and AR both included in every direct plan. Melio runs a free Go tier, then 25, 55 and 80 dollars a month for Core, Boost and Unlimited, discounted to 20, 44 and 64 on annual billing. Centime prices on invoice volume rather than headcount and publishes no rate card. Esker and Corcentric quote enterprise contracts.

The honest catch is depth. BILL publishes invoicing, ACH and card acceptance, automated reminders, invoice status tracking and auto-charge on its AR side. It does not publish escalating dunning sequences, a dispute and query workflow, cash application, credit limits, risk scoring or outbound calls. That is the whole gap, and for a company under about 200 invoices a month it usually does not matter. Past that volume, the AR half of a combined suite tends to run out of road before the AP half does, because AP work scales with invoice count while AR work scales with the number of awkward conversations.

We build the AR half only, an AI accounts receivable agent that chases invoices by email, SMS and live phone call, so read our own row as a position rather than a verdict. Every price below was taken from the vendor published pages and checked in August 2026. Vendors change pricing without notice, so confirm before you sign.

Works inside QuickBooks, Xero & NetSuite Flat monthly fee · no cut of collections

Connect · chase · apply cash · DSO down

Collections Desk

Your books

Collected / wk

Outstanding

AR aging

Current · 30 · 60 · 60+ · paid

Open invoices

Agent worklog

Live

Put this AR on autopilot to watch the agent chase, collect and reconcile.

Dunning sequence

1 Email
2 SMS
3 Call
4 Promise
Paid

Live, interactive · no card, no connection needed

DSO → collected invoices cleared

Flat monthly fee · we never take a cut of what we collect · works inside your accounting system

QUICKBOOKS XERO NETSUITE

Flat fee no cut of collections

Bank-grade security

Why it works

What your team gets with AP and AR software

AP and AR are not the same job, which is why one tool rarely wins both

Accounts payable is a controlled internal workflow. An invoice arrives, it gets captured and coded, it routes to whoever has authority to approve it, and then a payment runs on a date you pick. Every variable is inside your building. Automating it well means good OCR, a sane approval matrix, duplicate and fraud detection, and a payment rail that reconciles cleanly. Accounts receivable inverts every one of those. You already issued the invoice and you already know it is correct. What you do not control is whether a stranger in someone else accounts department decides to pay it this week. Automating AR well means escalating cadences, promise-to-pay tracking, dispute capture, cash application against messy remittances, and eventually a human or an agent on the phone. A vendor that is excellent at approval routing has built almost nothing you need for the second job. That is not a criticism of the AP vendors, it is just a different product, and it explains why the AR module inside a combined suite is usually a reminder scheduler rather than a collections system.

The four vendors that actually do both, and where each one stops

BILL is the default answer for US mid-market and it is a reasonable one: AP and AR are both included in every direct plan at 49, 65 or 89 dollars per user per month, and it publishes connectors for QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct and Microsoft Dynamics. Melio is the small-business version, cheaper and simpler, with a free tier and paid plans from 25 dollars a month, covering bill pay plus straightforward invoicing and online payment collection. Centime is the most interesting of the four because it bundles AP, AR, cash flow forecasting and business banking, and prices on invoice volume rather than per user, which is the right shape for a growing team. Esker and Corcentric sit at the enterprise end, both structured as a Source-to-Pay suite on the AP side and an Order-to-Cash suite on the AR side, with Esker adding e-invoicing compliance across 60 plus countries and Corcentric adding a managed AR service where people, not just software, work your aging. Neither publishes pricing.

What a receiver-side fee does to the maths, and why nobody mentions it

Comparing accounts payable and receivable software on subscription price alone is how finance teams get surprised in month four. On the AR side you are the receiver, and the receiver pays. BILL publishes 0.59 dollars for an ACH payment received, 2.9 percent for a credit or debit card received, 1 to 1.49 percent with a 1 dollar minimum for an instant transfer, and 19.99 dollars for an international wire received in USD. The subscription might be 89 dollars a month and feel cheap. A single 40,000 dollar invoice that your customer chooses to pay by card costs you 1,160 dollars in one transaction. Multiply by however many customers prefer cards for the points. Before you compare any two products in this category, take last quarter payment mix, apply each vendor receiver schedule to it, and add that to the subscription. The ranking changes more often than not, and it is the single most useful hour you will spend on the evaluation.

When one suite is right, and the volume line where it stops being right

Buy one combined system when your finance team is small enough that a second login is a real cost, when your invoice volume on both sides is modest, and when your late invoices are late because nobody followed up rather than because something is wrong with them. Under roughly 200 outbound invoices a month, a suite AR module that sends a polite reminder on day 7, day 21 and day 35 will recover most of what a dedicated collections platform would, and you will have saved a purchase, an implementation and a monthly bill. The line moves when the AR side starts needing judgment. If your aging report is full of short pays, deductions, PO mismatches and disputed line items, or if you have customers who simply do not respond to email and need a phone call, the reminder scheduler inside an AP-first suite has nothing for you. The same is true in reverse: if your AP side is fifteen bills a month, do not buy an enterprise Source-to-Pay suite because the AR half looked good.

The best-of-breed pairing most mid-market teams end up with

The common landing spot for a US company between about 200 and 5,000 invoices a month is two tools that each do one thing properly and both sync to the same ledger. On the AP side that is usually Ramp, which is free at the base tier and 15 dollars per user per month for Plus, or Stampli, Tipalti or AvidXchange depending on complexity. Note that Ramp is AP and spend only, with no receivables function at all, which is exactly why it is good at what it does. On the AR side that is a collections platform: Versapay, Quadient AR, HighRadius, Billtrust or an AI agent like ours. The objection to this shape is always integration, and it is weaker than it sounds, because both tools talk to your accounting system rather than to each other. Your general ledger is already the integration layer. What you should check is that both vendors publish a real connector for your specific system, not just a CSV import, and be aware that several large AR names publish no QuickBooks or Xero connector at all.

What your ERP already does for free, before you buy anything

QuickBooks Online, Xero, NetSuite and Sage Intacct all track bills and invoices natively, and a surprising number of companies buy AP and AR software to solve problems their ledger already handles. All four will record a bill, record an invoice, age both, and send a basic reminder. NetSuite goes considerably further with Automated Cash Application and Cash 360, importing BAI2, MT940 and CAMT.053 bank formats and matching on rules you configure. What none of them do is the awkward part. They will not read a remittance PDF, split an unexplained consolidated deposit across the right invoices, explain a short pay, run an escalating cadence that changes tone as an invoice ages, or phone a customer who has stopped replying. Write down the three specific tasks eating your team hours, then check each against your existing ledger before you shortlist anything. If all three are already possible, you have a configuration project, not a purchase.

What it handles

Chased, collected and reconciled on autopilot

The agent syncs your invoices, chases each one across email, SMS and phone, applies incoming payments to the right invoice, reconciles your ledger, and predicts when every customer will pay.

  • Runs the AR half only, so it pairs cleanly with whatever AP tool you already bought
  • Two-way sync with QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite and Sage, so the ledger stays the source of truth
  • Escalates from email to SMS to a live AI phone call instead of stopping at a reminder
  • Applies incoming payments to open invoices, including split payments, short pays and consolidated deposits
  • Logs every promise-to-pay and follows it up on the date the customer named
  • Captures disputes and deductions as structured items rather than lost email threads
  • Flat monthly fee with no per-seat pricing and no percentage of what it collects
ON EVERY INVOICE In order
  1. 01 Sync Reads the open invoice, its terms and the billing contact from your ledger.
  2. 02 Chase Escalates from email to SMS to a live AI call as the invoice ages.
  3. 03 Track Logs replies, disputes and promise-to-pay dates against the invoice.
  4. 04 Apply Matches the incoming payment, reconciles the ledger and closes the invoice.
Nothing sent without your approved tone

How it compares

Accounts payable and receivable software compared on real coverage and published 2026 pricing

Every price and feature below was taken from the vendor own published pages and checked in August 2026. Blank pricing means the vendor publishes none. Vendor performance claims are attributed, never endorsed. Confirm current pricing directly before you buy.

Vendor AP coverage AR coverage Published US pricing Best fit
BILL Full AP: invoice capture, approval workflows, ACH, card, check and virtual card payment Invoicing with templates, ACH and card acceptance, automated reminders, status tracking, auto-charge. No escalating dunning, disputes, cash application, credit scoring or calls published Essentials 49, Team 65, Corporate 89 USD per user per month, plus custom Enterprise. Receiver fees: ACH 0.59, card 2.9 percent, instant 1 to 1.49 percent, international wire 19.99 US mid-market wanting one vendor, where AR is mostly reminders
Melio Bill pay by ACH, check, card and wire, with approval workflows on paid tiers Send invoices and receive payments online. Basic by design, no collections cadence Go free, Core 25, Boost 55, Unlimited 80 USD per month. Annual billing 20, 44 and 64. Additional users 10 USD per month on Core and Boost Small businesses on QuickBooks Online or Xero with low volume on both sides
Centime AI invoice capture and coding, approval workflows, payment execution AR automation priced on invoice volume, plus cash flow forecasting that spans both sides None published. Prices on invoice and payment volume rather than users. Integrates QuickBooks, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Dynamics 365 Business Central Growing teams that want one cash view and dislike per-seat pricing
Esker Source-to-Pay suite: sourcing, procurement, supplier onboarding, AP processing Order-to-Cash suite: order automation, credit risk control, collections, cash application None published. Adds global e-invoicing compliance across 60 plus countries Enterprises needing both sides plus multi-country e-invoicing compliance
Corcentric Source-to-Pay including AP automation and intelligent AP Order-to-Cash including AR automation, e-invoice presentment, payment portal and a managed AR service None published Enterprises that want software and an outsourced AR team from one vendor
Ramp Bill pay with AI invoice capture, ACH, check, card and wire, batch payments, approvals None. Ramp is spend and payables only Free at 0 USD per user per month, Plus 15 USD per user per month plus a platform fee, Enterprise custom The AP half of a best-of-breed pair, for teams that buy AR separately
QuickBooks Online, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct Native bill entry, basic approval, payment recording Native invoicing, aging and basic reminders. NetSuite adds Automated Cash Application and Cash 360 with BAI2, MT940 and CAMT.053 import Included in your existing ledger subscription Check this first. Many teams buy software their ledger already covers
AccountsReceivable.ai None. We do not build AP and do not pretend to Full AR: escalating email, SMS and live AI phone chase, promise-to-pay tracking, disputes, cash application, DSO forecasting, QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite and Sage sync Flat monthly fee, no per seat charge, no percentage of collections. Not yet open for purchase, waitlist only Teams whose AP is already solved and whose AR needs more than a reminder

Why AccountsReceivable.ai

One agent that runs the whole receivables job

Not a reminder tool, not a six-figure suite, and not an agency that takes a cut. Chase, collect, apply cash and forecast in one place, on top of the accounting system you already use.

Chases every invoice

The full dunning sequence runs on autopilot across email, SMS and live AI phone calls, polite and on-brand, so no overdue invoice slips through.

Applies the cash

Incoming wires and ACH batches are matched to the right invoices automatically, so your ledger reconciles and you never chase an invoice that already paid.

Cuts your DSO

A predicted pay date for every open invoice and steady follow-up bring DSO down week over week, so more cash lands when you need it.

Good questions

Questions about AP and AR software

Last updated August 2026

There is no single best, because the answer turns on which side is your bottleneck. BILL is the most common US mid-market choice and includes AP and AR in every plan at 49 to 89 dollars per user per month. Melio suits very small businesses from a free tier. Centime fits teams that want volume-based pricing. Esker and Corcentric serve enterprises. If your AR work needs escalation and phone calls, pair a dedicated AR platform with a specialist AP tool instead.
Only two of the main combined vendors publish prices. BILL charges 49, 65 or 89 dollars per user per month across Essentials, Team and Corporate. Melio offers a free Go tier, then 25, 55 and 80 dollars per month, or 20, 44 and 64 on annual billing. Centime, Esker and Corcentric quote instead. Budget separately for receiver fees, which are often larger than the subscription.
Yes. BILL, Melio, Centime, Esker and Corcentric all run both sides in one subscription. The practical question is depth rather than coverage. Combined suites are usually strong on AP approval workflow and thinner on AR, offering reminder scheduling rather than escalating collections, dispute handling or cash application. Under roughly 200 invoices a month that gap rarely matters.
AP software automates an internal approval workflow: capturing a supplier invoice, coding it, routing it for approval and paying it on a date you choose. AR software automates an external persuasion workflow: chasing an invoice you already issued until a customer you do not control pays it. AP tools optimize for OCR, approval matrices and fraud detection. AR tools optimize for escalation cadences, disputes and cash application.
Buy one suite if your team is small, your volume is modest on both sides, and your late invoices are simply unchased. Buy two specialists once either side needs depth: a real collections cadence with phone escalation, dispute and deduction workflows, or complex cash application. Integration is rarely the deciding factor, because both tools sync to your accounting system rather than to each other.
QuickBooks Online records bills and invoices, ages both, and sends basic reminders, which covers a genuine share of what small businesses buy software for. What it does not do is run an escalating cadence, read a remittance advice, split a consolidated deposit across invoices, or manage disputes. List the three tasks costing your team the most hours and check each against QuickBooks before you shortlist anything.
BILL publishes connectors for QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct and Microsoft Dynamics. Melio publishes QuickBooks Online on all paid plans, QuickBooks Desktop on Boost and above, Xero on Core and above, and NetSuite on Unlimited only. Centime publishes QuickBooks, NetSuite, Sage Intacct and Dynamics 365 Business Central. Check this early, because several large AR platforms publish no QuickBooks or Xero connector at all.
AP and AR automation means software takes over the repetitive parts of both ledgers: capturing and coding supplier invoices and routing them for approval on the payables side, and issuing invoices, chasing them on a schedule and matching incoming payments on the receivables side. The value is not the software doing the work faster, it is the work happening on every invoice rather than only the loud ones.
Melio is the usual starting point, with a free single-user Go tier and paid plans from 20 dollars a month on annual billing, integrating with QuickBooks Online and Xero. BILL suits small businesses that have outgrown that but is priced per user, so it gets expensive as the finance team grows. Centime volume-based pricing can work out cheaper for a small team handling high invoice counts.
Frequently, and on the AR side you pay them. BILL publishes receiver fees of 0.59 dollars per ACH payment received, 2.9 percent on card payments received, 1 to 1.49 percent on instant transfers and 19.99 dollars on an international wire received in USD. On a 40,000 dollar invoice paid by card, that 2.9 percent is 1,160 dollars. Apply each vendor fee schedule to last quarter payment mix before comparing subscriptions.
Ask which specific AR functions are published rather than promised: escalating cadences, dispute capture, cash application, credit limits and phone escalation. Ask for the full receiver fee schedule in writing. Ask whether your exact ledger has a native two-way connector or a CSV import. Ask what happens at three times your current volume. Vendors answer the first question with a demo and the second with silence, which tells you plenty.
It improves the timing rather than the amount. AP automation lets you hold cash to the last sensible day and capture early payment discounts deliberately instead of by accident. AR automation shortens the gap between issuing an invoice and being paid, largely by making follow-up consistent on the small and quiet invoices a person would skip. Centime is the one combined vendor that models both sides together in a cash forecast.
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Go deeper

Work out which half of the ledger is actually your bottleneck

Accounts receivable software

The AR half on its own, for teams whose payables are already handled.

Read the comparison

Accounts receivable software for small business

What changes below roughly 200 invoices a month, where a combined suite usually wins.

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Accounts receivable software for QuickBooks

What QuickBooks already does for receivables, and the three tasks it never will.

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Bill.com competitors

The receivables-side shortlist, since almost every BILL alternatives roundup covers payables only.

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AR automation ERP connectors

Which platforms publish a real two-way connector for your ledger rather than a CSV import.

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Cash application software

The AR function combined suites consistently leave out, and the one that eats the most hours.

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Collections automation software

What an escalating cadence does that a reminder scheduler inside an AP suite cannot.

Read the comparison

Order to cash software

The full receivables cycle, which is how Esker and Corcentric structure their AR side.

Read the comparison

Best accounts receivable software

The dedicated AR shortlist, with the ERP filter that removes several big names early.

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Accounts receivable management software

Managing the whole receivables function rather than automating one step of it.

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Stop chasing invoices. Put your receivables on autopilot.

Connect your accounting system and the agent chases every invoice, applies the cash and cuts your DSO. Flat monthly fee, and we never take a cut of what we collect.

See pricing

Works with QuickBooks, Xero and NetSuite · bank-grade security · no percentage of collections