Best accounts receivable software with payment plans (2026)

Accounts receivable software with payment plans splits one unpaid invoice into dated installments, follows up on each date and collects each payment automatically.

Six tools offer it: Paidnice, Chaser, ezyCollect, Adfin, Access Collect and Biller Genie. This guide compares them on the three things that decide whether a plan works: what happens to the due date, who can start a plan, and whether each installment charges a saved card or bank account. The tools are listed by fit, by revenue band first and then by published price.

Who needs software with payment plans?

You need it once you let more than a handful of customers pay one invoice in parts. At that point, tracking installments in a spreadsheet and editing due dates in the ledger stops scaling.

The pain is well documented. On Xero Product Ideas, setting up a payment plan on a sales invoice is an open request, and one user who tracks installments manually calls the work "cumbersome and time consuming". Another issues several invoices per period, edits each due date, and still sees the full balance shown as overdue.

Your annual revenue sets the shortlist, because most vendors gate their plans by it. The bands below come from each vendor's own published gates.

Payment plans, financing and subscriptions: which one are you buying?

A payment plan is a schedule you set on your own invoice: you carry the balance and collect each installment. Customer financing is different, because a third party pays you up front and the customer pays them, usually with a fee.

Search results for "payment plans for merchants" mix the two. Alternative Payments, for example, sells "Pay in Installments": the seller is paid the full invoice up front, and the customer pays in equal installments every 30 days over 30 to 150 days, for a fee of 3.0% to 7.0% that the customer pays. FlexPoint sells installment plans as financing too, with rates and terms not published.

Subscriptions are a third product. Recurring billing raises a new invoice each period, while a payment plan splits one invoice that already exists.

This guide covers the first row only. Every tool below lets you set and collect a plan on your own invoice.

What to check in any payment plan feature

Six questions separate a payment plan feature that runs itself from one you have to watch. Ask each vendor all six before a trial.

1. What happens to the due date? If the invoice keeps its original due date, reminders keep firing as if the whole balance is late. The better design moves the due date to the next installment.
2. Does the invoice total change? Check whether the plan edits the invoice, adds a fee line, or leaves the total alone. Your customer's payables team will match payments against that total.
3. Who can start a plan? Staff only, the customer in a portal, or a request by email. Self-serve plans save a phone call, but they need limits you set in advance.
4. Does each installment charge automatically? If the customer has to remember each payment, installments get missed. Look for card or bank debit charged on each date.
5. What happens when an installment is missed? The invoice should become overdue again so your normal reminders and late fees apply from that date.
6. Which plan includes the feature? Payment plans are often a higher tier or a paid add-on. Price the tier that has it, not the entry plan.

To work out the installment amounts before you pick a tool, use the payment plan calculator.

Paidnice: best for Xero and QuickBooks Online businesses that want plans to run themselves

Paidnice is accounts receivable automation for Xero and QuickBooks Online. Its payment plans move the invoice due date with each installment, let customers build their own plan in a portal, and charge each installment through Stripe.

• Fits: any business on Xero or QuickBooks Online, from its first invoice up to 50,000 invoices a year
• Entry cost: payment plans are on Pro, from $99 a month (£74). Priced by invoice volume, with unlimited users on Pro
• Rated: 5.0 from 83 reviews on the Xero App Store; 4.9 on Capterra
• Awards: 🏆 2025 Xero Global Small Business App of the Year; 2026 New Zealand Small Business App of the Year, Xero Global App Awards
• Runs on: Xero, QuickBooks Online, Stripe, Pinch Payments, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zapier
• Payment plan detail: weekly to quarterly; the due date moves to the next installment; a zero-value line lists the schedule on the ledger invoice, so the total changes only if you add a surcharge
• The one thing it does best: a missed installment makes the invoice overdue again, so your normal reminders, escalations and late fees apply from that date

Your team can build a plan from any approved invoice and edit each date and amount. Customers can build their own plan in the portal within limits you set per customer group: maximum payments, frequency, first payment date, an optional surcharge, and how many days overdue an invoice must be. A plan built in the portal needs no approval. A customer who asks for a plan by email gets one drafted by Paidnice AI, which waits for your approval.

With Stripe connected, each installment charges the customer's saved card or bank account on its date. A separate Payment Plan Reminder policy emails before, on or after each installment, with an optional calendar invite. See how payment plans in Paidnice work.

The honest limitation. Plans are on Pro and above, not on Essentials. An invoice can hold one plan at a time, and it must have no payments against it when the plan starts.

Best for: businesses on Xero or QuickBooks Online that want plans, reminders and late fees to work from the same due date.

Chaser: best for larger businesses past $5m that want plans inside a revenue-tiered suite

Chaser is one of the oldest names in accounts receivable automation, in the market since 2014 and priced on annual revenue. Payment plans split an invoice into even installments that you can edit.

• Fits: businesses with a named accounts receivable person; Compact covers revenue under $5m, Core under $13m, Complete under $120m
• Entry cost: $259 a month on Compact, $779 on Core, $1,169 on Complete
• Runs on: Xero, QuickBooks, NetSuite, Dynamics 365 and other ledgers
• Payment plan detail: weekly, every two weeks, monthly or yearly; amounts split evenly and editable; not available on the trial, Custom or Care plans
• The one thing it does best: payment plans and credit checks in one tool for a larger team

Chaser's help center states that plan schedules and reminder placeholders use the invoice due date, not the installment dates. It also states that "It's not possible to change the invoice total" through a plan.

The honest limitation. Follow-up runs on the original invoice due date, so check how reminders behave while a plan is active. Pricing is banded by revenue, and the plan feature is missing from Custom and Care.

Best for: businesses past $5m a year that already want Chaser's wider suite and can live with fixed invoice totals.

ezyCollect: best for Australian and New Zealand businesses that collect by direct debit

ezyCollect, owned by Sidetrade, is accounts receivable automation for Australia and New Zealand. Payment plans are a premium add-on, set at invoice or customer level against a direct debit authority.

• Fits: AU and NZ trade businesses, gated by active customers (200 to 3,000), not revenue
• Entry cost: last reported from A$275 a month on ezyStart; current prices are hidden, request a quote. Payment plans cost extra
• Runs on: Xero, MYOB, NetSuite, Dynamics 365, SAP Business One and other ERPs
• Payment plan detail: set up per invoice or per customer, collected by direct debit
• The one thing it does best: a wide ERP list for the Australian market

ezyCollect also offers a separate pay-by-installments option through a financing partner, Cloudfloat. That option is limited to Australian registered businesses in selected industries, and it falls under customer financing, not a plan you run.

The honest limitation. Plans are a paid add-on on top of a quoted subscription, so the true price only appears in a sales conversation.

Best for: AU and NZ businesses on MYOB or an ERP that want plans collected by direct debit.

Adfin: best for small UK businesses that want to pay per collection

Adfin is a UK payment collection platform with installment plans since October 2025 and partial payments with a minimum percentage. It charges per payment collected, with no monthly fee.

• Fits: small UK businesses that want no fixed subscription
• Entry cost: 20p plus 1.0% per collection, capped at £4 for direct debit and bank transfer; basic follow-up is free
• Runs on: Xero, QuickBooks
• Payment plan detail: installment plans and partial payments, with a minimum partial payment set as a percentage
• The one thing it does best: no monthly fee, so the cost tracks what you collect

Adfin collects by open banking, direct debit with card fallback, and card. Adfin was founded in 2024 and adds features often, so check the current plan options in a trial.

The honest limitation. Adfin is UK-focused and charges a percentage of each collection, which climbs as invoice values rise. Its help pages do not say what a plan does to the invoice due date.

Best for: small UK businesses on Xero that want plans without a subscription.

Access Collect is a module inside Access Financials and Access Dimensions, from The Access Group. Payment plans and a customer self-serve portal are on its Professional tier.

• Fits: UK and Irish businesses of £10m to £30m revenue that already run Access finance software
• Entry cost: Professional at £6,600 a year, unlimited users, no setup fee; Access Financials or Dimensions licensing is extra
• Runs on: Access Financials, Access Dimensions only
• Payment plan detail: listed as a Professional-tier feature, alongside the self-serve portal and payment prediction
• The one thing it does best: runs natively inside the ledger, so there is no sync to break

The entry Essential tier, at £3,600 a year, covers follow-up and dashboards only. Plans start at Professional.

The honest limitation. It works only if you already run Access finance software. It is not an option for a business on Xero or QuickBooks.

Best for: mid-market UK teams on Access Financials or Dimensions.

Biller Genie: best for US businesses on QuickBooks Online that want customers to request plans

Biller Genie is US accounts receivable and payments automation built around QuickBooks. Customers request a plan in its portal, you approve or reject it, and approval charges the down payment at once.

• Fits: US small businesses on QuickBooks Online that take card and ACH payments
• Entry cost: last reported from $19.95 a month plus 1.00% per invoice, up to $299.95 plus 0.25%; current prices are hidden, request a quote
• Runs on: QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero (one platform per account)
• Payment plan detail: the customer sets the total, down payment, frequency (daily, weekly or monthly) and number of payments; you approve or reject
• The one thing it does best: the down payment is charged to the stored payment method the moment you approve

The rest of the installments are scheduled on approval. The feature needs the Allow Payment Plans setting switched on.

The honest limitation. There is no built-in counter-offer, so a request you do not like can only be rejected. On Xero, deposits are matched to invoices manually.

Best for: US businesses on QuickBooks Online that want customers to propose the plan.

How do the six tools compare on payment plans?

Paidnice and Biller Genie let customers start a plan themselves, Paidnice and ezyCollect document automatic collection on each installment, and Chaser is the only tool here that documents follow-up on the original due date.

"Not documented" means the vendor's public help pages and pricing do not state it. Competitor prices were checked in October 2026; verify current pricing with each vendor before you buy.

How to set up a payment plan without a tool

You can run a plan in your ledger alone, but you track each installment and edit each due date yourself.

On Xero, the usual method is a part payment against the original invoice or a set of smaller invoices, each with its own date. Our step-by-step guide to setting up a payment plan in Xero covers both, and the matching QuickBooks Online payment plan guide does the same for QuickBooks. Either way, put the schedule in writing first with a payment plan agreement template.

The manual method works for two or three plans. Past that, editing dates and sending reminders takes real time every week. For the wider case for offering plans at all, read how to offer customer payment plans, and for plans as a recovery step, see payment plans for overdue invoices.

Frequently asked questions

What is accounts receivable software with payment plans?

It is software that connects to your ledger and splits one unpaid invoice into dated installments. It then follows up on each date and records each payment against the invoice. You keep the balance and the customer relationship, unlike customer financing.

Is a payment plan the same as customer financing?

No. With a payment plan you carry the balance and collect each installment yourself. With customer financing, a provider pays you up front and the customer repays the provider, often with a fee of a few percent that the customer pays.

Which tools charge each installment automatically?

Paidnice charges each installment through Stripe when Stripe is connected. ezyCollect collects plans by direct debit. Biller Genie charges the down payment on approval and schedules the rest. The other tools here do not document automatic charging for plans.

Do payment plans change the invoice total?

It depends on the tool. Paidnice writes a zero-value line listing the schedule, so the total changes only when you add a surcharge. Chaser states that a plan cannot change the invoice total.

How much does accounts receivable software with payment plans cost?

Published entry prices for the tier that includes plans run from $99 a month on Paidnice Pro and $259 a month on Chaser Compact to £6,600 a year on Access Collect Professional. Adfin charges 20p plus 1.0% per collection. ezyCollect and Biller Genie now hide their prices, so request a quote.

For more accounts receivable tools beyond payment plans, see the best accounts receivable software guide and the accounts receivable software buyer’s guide.

About the editorial team

Written byDenym BirdCo-founder & CEO of Paidnice

Denym started Paidnice in 2022 after customers paying late left his own business short on payroll. He has led it to $1 billion collected on time across more than 1 million invoices, and writes about credit control, late fees and getting paid on Xero and QuickBooks.

Reviewed byAshley SchroderCo-founder of Paidnice

Ashley is a co-founder and lead developer of Paidnice, and builds the Xero and QuickBooks connections that put reminders, late fees and payments on the ledger. Before Paidnice he co-founded A2X, ecommerce accounting software for Xero and QuickBooks.