Best credit control software for recruitment agencies

What do recruitment agencies need from credit control software?

Recruitment agencies need credit control software that sits on the ledger, because the ATS and pay-and-bill layer (Bullhorn, JobAdder, ETZ, FastTrack360) raises the invoice and Xero or QuickBooks holds it, and nothing in that chain follows it up. The sharper requirements are weekly invoice volume, self-billed client accounts, and late fees that stay inside the UK statutory rate.

The industry starts from behind. REC's 2024/25 UK Recruitment Industry Status Report found 35% of member firms experienced bad debt in the past year, against a 29% average across other sectors. The Atradius Payment Practices Barometer UK 2025 found 51% of UK B2B invoices are overdue.

The mismatch is structural: temp desks pay contractors weekly while clients settle on 30 to 60 day terms, so the person chasing the invoice is often the same person who made the placement.

Software will not fix weak terms, but it enforces them without anyone drafting an email. See accounts receivable software for recruitment agencies for how it runs. Creative and marketing agencies have their own guide to credit control software for agencies.

Bullhorn's invoicing product covers billing profiles and invoice formats, with no follow-up features at all. Credit control software fills that gap, sitting on the ledger.

The full process is in our guide to credit control for recruitment agencies. The category goes by several names, credit control software, invoice chasing software, accounts receivable automation; they describe the same job: getting the invoices in your ledger paid.

Five criteria matter more for recruitment than for a generic buyer:

• Pricing that survives invoice volume. A temp desk raises hundreds of invoices a month. Per-user and revenue-tiered pricing punishes the agencies that need automation most.
• Sequences that differ per client group. Firm reminders for SME accounts, a softer touch for enterprise, and self-billed accounts excluded entirely.
• Statements that match weekly billing. A weekly-billed client can hold six open invoices at once, so a monthly statement on that account is structurally late. Weekly consolidated statements are the recruitment default.
• Late fees that stay inside the law. In the UK that means 8% a year over the Bank of England base rate plus fixed compensation per invoice under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. Auto-indexing to the base rate beats a hard-coded percentage that goes stale.
• A route to money as well as reminders. Payment portals, payment plans, and escalation workflows turn an overdue balance into a payment.

See the current payment times for administrative and support services, the sector that includes recruitment, before picking a tool.

Which credit control apps work with Xero for a recruitment agency?

For a recruitment agency on Xero, the shortlist is Paidnice, Chaser and Satago, all listed on the Xero App Store. Xero's own reminders stop at five emails per invoice with no per-client-group control, no SMS and no scheduled statements.

Xero's native reminders are worth switching on and worth knowing the edges of: up to five reminders, three on by default, set in days before or after due, with one minimum-amount threshold. They cannot vary by contact group, so self-billed clients and direct clients get the same emails, and Xero cannot schedule statements (1,178 votes on Xero's ideas board), so weekly-billed accounts get no scheduled statement run.

Xero App Store ratings: Paidnice 5.0 from 85 reviews, Chaser 4.98 from 374, Satago 4.93 from 92, ezyCollect 4.9 from 35, Kolleno 5.0 from 18. Paidnice is the volume-priced option with per-group late fees, weekly statements and native credit checks; Chaser is the established choice with bureau credit checks built in; Satago adds invoice finance. Prices are in the comparison table below.

How do the six tools compare?

Paidnice serves agencies of any size up to $50m a year on Xero or QuickBooks, Chaser agencies up to £100m with a credit control team, Satago small UK agencies that also want funding, ezyCollect the AU and NZ mid-market, Kolleno groups that want cash application on enterprise ERPs, and Access Financials agencies already on the Access finance and pay-and-bill stack.

Scroll sideways for more columns

"Not documented" means the vendor's public materials do not list the feature. Prices are each vendor's published from-prices and move often, so verify current pricing on the vendor's site; Access Financials does not publish pricing, so confirm by quote; ezyCollect now hides its prices on ezycollect.io. ezyCollect's last published prices were A$275 a month for ezyStart, with a setup fee from A$900 (Wayback Machine). Current prices are hidden and must be requested.

How we ranked these recruitment credit control tools

We scored the six tools on five criteria. Each covers one or more columns of the comparison table above, and the weights add up to 100%.

• Late fees and per-group sequences (25%): each vendor's help docs, covering the "Late fees" and "Per-group sequences" columns. "Not documented" means the vendor's public materials do not list the feature.
• Statements, payment plans, portal and credit checks (25%): each vendor's help docs and product pages, covering four columns of the table. We count shipped features only.
• Ledger and size fit (20%): each vendor's integration pages and plan limits, covering the "Ledger" and "Size fit" columns.
• Price (15%): each vendor's own pricing page, covering the "Price from (monthly)" column. Prices a vendor does not publish are given as last reported, with the year, or as quote only.
• Reviews (15%): the "Rating" column, from the Xero App Store first, then G2, with the review count beside each score: Paidnice, Chaser, Satago, ezyCollect and Kolleno.

Every entry, Paidnice included, lists its limit. The weights are our editorial judgment.

1. Paidnice, best for agencies up to $50m

Paidnice is credit control software for recruitment agencies on Xero or QuickBooks Online: reminders, late fees, statements and payment plans per client group, priced by invoice volume from £49 a month with no per-seat fees.

Fits

any agency on Xero or QuickBooks Online, from its first invoice up to $50m a year or 50,000 invoices a year, with or without a dedicated credit controller

Regions

strongest anywhere Xero is strong: the UK, Australia, and New Zealand; also the US, Canada, and South Africa

Entry cost

£49/mo (US$69), 150 invoices; Pro from £74/mo. No per-seat fees

Rated

5.0/5 from 84 Xero App Store reviews

Awards

Xero Global Small Business App of the Year 2025 and NZ Small Business App of the Year 2026; Innovation App of the Year finalist 🏆

Runs on

Xero and QuickBooks Online on every plan; newer ledgers such as Rillet, Campfire, Digits, DualEntry, Puzzle, Accounting Seed and Odoo on every plan through Paidnice's closed testing program; Sage Accounting and other ERPs on the Custom plan; Stripe, Pinch Payments, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zapier

Statutory late fees

in the UK, auto-indexed to the Bank of England base rate; everywhere else, set your own flat, percentage, or compounding rates. Applied automatically, waived with a documented audit trail

The one thing it does best

the whole policy runs itself: sequences per client group, statements on your schedule, fees applied and waivers recorded

Paidnice is built for the agency where the policy has to run itself: reminder sequences per client group with self-billed accounts excluded, separate late fee policies per group, statements on the schedule you choose including consolidated accounts, payment plans, and a customer payment portal. Payment plans and sending from your own domain start on Pro. Customers see half as many late invoices in the first 30 days. Sign-up is free with no card.

Best suited for: any agency on Xero or QuickBooks Online, from its first invoice up to $50m a year or 50,000 invoices a year, with or without a dedicated credit controller.

The limit: Not an enterprise cash-application platform (Paidnice matches payments through Xero and QuickBooks Online and Stripe; bank-file matching is not documented), bureau credit checks only through Creditsafe on Custom (native credit checks from payment behavior run on every plan), and some features vary between Xero and QuickBooks.

2. Chaser, best for established agencies

Chaser was incorporated in 2013 (Companies House) and offers email and SMS reminders plus credit checks, for agencies with a finance function and serious invoice volume, priced by company turnover from £199 a month.

Fits

established agencies, £4m to £100m revenue, with a named credit controller

Regions

UK-based; sells worldwide

Entry cost

£199/mo for Compact, which is for revenue under £4m; above £4m a team is on Core from £599

Rated

4.98/5 from 374 Xero App Store reviews

Runs on

Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, NetSuite, Business Central, Gmail, Outlook

Statutory late fees

one set of late-fee rules, across the account or for selected debtors, not tied to schedules; no documented way to run different rules per group

The one thing it does best

credit checks and monitoring in the same tool as email and SMS chasing; credit checks need Chaser billing, not Xero App Store billing, and monitoring is not offered in Australia

Chaser is one of the most established names in UK credit control: reminders send from your own Gmail or Outlook inbox, with payment plans, a payer portal, and built-in credit monitoring.

Customers named on Chaser's website include Bright Network, Mindful Education and Pact Coffee.

Best suited for: established agencies, £4m to £100m revenue, with a named credit controller.

The limit: One set of late-fee rules, across the account or for selected debtors, with no documented way to run different rules per group, and statements send monthly only on a fixed day, an awkward fit for weekly temp billing.

3. Satago, best for chasing plus invoice finance

Satago is a credit control and invoice finance hybrid for small UK agencies: the same login that reminds your clients can fund the invoice while you wait, from £45 a month standalone or £25 embedded in Sage 50.

Fits

small UK agencies that want reminders and invoice finance in one login

Regions

UK only

Entry cost

£45 a month standalone, £80 and £200 above; £25 Standard and £45 Plus embedded in Sage 50

Rated

4.93/5 from 92 Xero App Store reviews

Runs on

Xero, Sage, QuickBooks, KashFlow, FreeAgent

Statutory late fees

optional, calculated in line with statutory limits and added to payment reminders once an invoice is overdue

The one thing it does best

single-invoice or whole-ledger finance inside the same product; Satago is owned by TruFin (about 97.7%, last seen) and Lloyds holds a minority stake

For a small agency funding weekly payroll out of 30-to-60-day receipts, the follow-up need and the borrowing need arrive together, and Satago serves both, with customer risk insights and credit control as a service on top. If the funding gap is the bigger problem, start with the guide to recruitment agency cash flow.

Best suited for: small UK agencies that want reminders and invoice finance in one login.

The limit: Per-group sequences are not verifiable from public materials, statements are monthly, and the platform is finance-first, so the credit-control layer runs thinner than the dedicated tools here.

4. ezyCollect, best for MYOB agencies

ezyCollect is the AU and NZ receivables specialist: Sidetrade-owned automation with the deepest MYOB and local ERP coverage in this list, from about A$275 a month plus setup.

Fits

AU and NZ mid-market agencies with 200-plus active client accounts on MYOB or local ERPs

Regions

Australia and New Zealand, with US payment support

Entry cost

last published A$275/mo plus setup on a 12-month plan; next tier A$950/mo. Current prices are hidden, so request a quote

Rated

4.9/5 from 35 Xero App Store (AU) reviews; 4.7/5 on G2

Runs on

MYOB AccountRight, Exo and Essentials, Xero, NetSuite, SAP Business One, Pronto Xi; QuickBooks logo on homepage, no connector page

Statutory late fees

none; interest is handled manually in your ledger

The one thing it does best

AU-native credit insights on Experian data plus the SimplyPaid payment portal

Sydney-founded and acquired by Sidetrade in October 2025, ezyCollect is the strongest fit where the ledger is MYOB or a local ERP the UK tools ignore, with consolidated reminders, monthly statements, and payment plans.

Customers named on ezyCollect's website include Skillinvest, Feral Brewing and Hampers with Bite. ezyCollect's case study with Skillinvest reports average days overdue cut by 91.63%.

Best suited for: AU and NZ mid-market agencies with 200-plus active client accounts on MYOB or local ERPs.

The limit: No late-fee or interest automation at all, so interest is handled manually in your ledger, and setup fees plus annual contracts raise the true entry cost.

5. Kolleno, best for large groups

Kolleno is an AI order-to-cash platform for enterprise finance teams: cash application and reconciliation at a scale the SMB tools in this list do not attempt, from $650 per user a month; auto-reconciliation starts on Enterprise.

Fits

multi-entity groups from £10m upward on enterprise ERPs with a finance team

Regions

London-based with global enterprise customers

Entry cost

$650 USD per user/mo (BusinessPay, which does not include cash application); next tier $1,245 per user/mo; Kolleno matches payments to invoices (auto-reconciliation) on Enterprise only, by quote

Rated

5/5 from 18 Xero App Store reviews; 4.9/5 from 117 on G2

Runs on

Xero, QuickBooks and Sage Intacct (BusinessPay and Business Plus); NetSuite, SAP and Business Central (from Enterprise)

Statutory late fees

none found

The one thing it does best

cash application: remittance parsing, bank-file matching (BAI2, NACHA, ISO 20022), and foreign-exchange postings into NetSuite

London-founded Kolleno is AI-led order-to-cash for the problem the other four do not solve: matching thousands of client payments to invoices across entities and currencies, alongside reminder workflows, payment plans, a branded portal, and credit risk scoring.

Customers named on Kolleno's website include Wise, Marshmallow and Laundryheap.

Best suited for: multi-entity groups from £10m upward on enterprise ERPs with a finance team.

The limit: Per-user pricing is a different budget class from everything else here, and no late-fee or interest feature was found, ruling out the statutory-interest pattern for UK agencies.

6. Access Financials, best for Access users

Access Financials is the recruitment accounting suite from The Access Group with in-built credit control: risk scoring, credit-limit alerts and collection workflows, quote only, plus the Access Collect module from £3,600 a year.

Fits

UK agencies that run Access Pay & Bill and want the ledger, payroll billing and credit control from one vendor

Regions

UK led

Entry cost

quote only for Access Financials; Access Collect, the automated chasing module, publishes £3,600 a year on its entry tier with unlimited users

Rated

no product-level review base found

Runs on

Access Financials and Access Dimensions only; no connector to Xero, QuickBooks or Sage

Statutory late fees

no evidence found in vendor documentation

The one thing it does best

credit risk data and credit-limit alerts inside the same ledger the pay-and-bill run posts into

Customers named on Access Collect's website include Betfred, Countrywide and Friends of the Elderly.

Best suited for: UK agencies that run Access Pay & Bill and want the ledger, payroll billing and credit control from one vendor.

The limit: It is only an option for an agency already on the Access finance stack, and payment plans sit on the Access Collect Professional tier at £6,600 a year.

Does Xero track debtor days for recruitment agencies natively?

Xero does not track debtor days per client natively: its aged receivables report shows who owes what for one organisation on the day you run it. Credit control software adds the tracking a temp desk needs: ageing per client, a credit score, and an alert when a client's total balance crosses a limit.

Xero's report does not rank clients by how they usually pay, and it does not tell anyone when a client's open balance passes the credit limit agreed in the terms of business.

Paidnice adds an Aged Receivables by Contact view with 1-30, 31-60, 61-90 and 90+ day buckets across every connected organisation, exportable, plus a credit score from 0 to 100 against each contact and an opt-in weekly summary email. Escalations can fire on a client's total overdue balance or a credit-limit breach rather than on a single invoice.

Chaser and Satago carry their own debtor dashboards; Satago adds credit-risk data on each debtor. For all ten tools by size and ledger, see the wider credit control software comparison.

Which credit control software fits which agency size?

Pick credit control software by agency size and ledger platform first, features second: Paidnice for any agency on Xero or QuickBooks up to $50m a year, Chaser where a credit control team wants built-in bureau credit checks, ezyCollect on MYOB, Kolleno for multi-entity groups.

• Under £4m on Xero or QuickBooks. Paidnice: the £49 tier and per-group automation fit an agency with no dedicated credit controller, sitting on top of Xero. Satago is the UK alternative if invoice finance matters more than fee automation.
• £4m to £10m. The genuine head-to-head. Paidnice for per-group late fees, statements on any schedule, and pricing by invoice volume; Chaser if built-in bureau credit checks justify Core from £599 a month. At every size, pause sequences on genuinely disputed perm fees, covered in our guide to rebate clauses and disputed fees.
• £10m and up, or multi-entity. Paidnice carries to $50m a year or 50,000 invoices a year on Xero or QuickBooks; Chaser's upper tiers carry to £100m turnover; Kolleno adds cash application at volume for groups on NetSuite or SAP.
• AU or NZ on Xero. Paidnice: the same invoice-volume pricing, with contractual late fees you set per client group. Australia and New Zealand have no statutory fallback, so the contract does the work; the country-by-country rules are in late payment fees for recruitment agencies.
• AU or NZ on MYOB or local ERPs. ezyCollect. Put late-payment terms in the contract, because the software will not apply interest for you.
• Funding the gap as well as collecting. Satago combines both at the small end; or pair a recruitment-specialist funder with any tool here.

Frequently asked questions

About the editorial team

Written by Denym Bird Co-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 by Jack Daffron Co-founder of Paidnice

Jack is a co-founder of Paidnice and has built accounting software for more than 10 years. He builds the product that sends reminders, adds late fees and takes payments for businesses on Xero, QuickBooks and ERPs such as NetSuite and Business Central.