Comparison · Credit control

Chaser vs Kolleno vs Upflow: credit control software compared

Three credit control and accounts receivable tools on one page: what each one prints as a price, what it charges by, what it does to an overdue invoice, and which business each one fits.

Chaser, Kolleno and Upflow automate the chasing of unpaid invoices, and they fit different businesses. Chaser fits a UK SME that wants email, SMS, letter and call chasing plus a statutory late fee, from £199 a month. Kolleno fits an order-to-cash team that needs cash application, from €650 per user a month. Upflow fits a finance team that wants collections analytics and accepts a quote-only price.

In short

  • Chaser: priced by company turnover, from £199 a month on Compact (turnover under £4m, 4 users). It is the only one of the three that raises a late fee itself.
  • Kolleno: priced per user and gated by turnover, from €650 per user a month on BusinessPay (turnover above €1m). Its strongest area is cash application.
  • Upflow: priced by quote only, in five bands by revenue and invoice volume. Its strongest area is collections analytics. The last published figures were $440 and $880 a month.

Chaser, Kolleno and Upflow side by side

Each row below comes from the vendor’s own pricing page, help documentation or App Store listing. "Not published" means the vendor prints no figure. "None found" means the vendor’s own materials do not document the capability.

ChaserKollenoUpflow
Entry price£199 a month (Compact)€650 per user a month (BusinessPay)Quote only
Pricing meterCompany turnover: under £4m, £10m, £100m, then CustomPer user, with turnover floors of €1m, €10m, €100m and €1bnRevenue and invoice volume: bands to $10m, $25m, $50m, $100m and above
Annual billingAbout 10% less (Compact £179 a month billed annually)€545 per user a month on BusinessPayNot published
Users included4 on Compact, unlimited on Core and aboveBilled per user, minimum 1, 2 or 4 by tierUnlimited on every tier
Chasing channelsEmail, SMS, letter and automated calls, with SMS and call creditsEmail and SMS, with SMS and call allowances by tierEmail, SMS and letter automatically; calls as manual steps
Late fees and interestYes, one account-wide rule with four calculation types, including the Bank of England base rateNone foundNo; Upflow documents applying fees in the ERP
Cash applicationCard and bank payments through Chaser Pay; no automated matching documentedYes, AI payment matching, including partial payments, credit notes, currency differences and bank feesYes, auto-matching and an agent that reconciles from a bank CSV
Credit riskCreditsafe credit checks and monitoringAI credit scores and bureau integrationsLight scoring, no bureau data
AnalyticsCustomer insights and DSO; forecast on CompleteDSO reporting and cash-flow forecastingDSO against best possible DSO, collection effectiveness index
Free optionFree trialFree trial on BusinessPayDiscover: free analytics only, no chasing
Xero App Store rating4.98 from 374 reviews5.0 from 18 reviews5.0 from 1 review

Chaser also publishes US dollar prices ($259 a month on Compact). Kolleno shows its prices in the visitor’s currency; the figures above are the euro figures on its pricing page. Upflow’s $440 and $880 are the last published monthly prices for its Grow and Scale tiers; its current page prints no figure. Check current pricing with the vendor.

Which one fits your business?

The three tools overlap on reminders and a customer portal. They separate on the price meter, on late fees and on what each one does best.

Which one fits

  • Choose Chaser if you are a UK business under £10m turnover, you want a credit controller’s full set of channels in one tool, and you want statutory interest added to overdue invoices automatically.
  • Choose Kolleno if unapplied cash is your main problem, you run NetSuite, SAP or Sage Intacct, and you have a small AR team that can justify a per-seat price.
  • Choose Upflow if you want to measure DSO and collection effectiveness before you automate, you bill through Stripe Billing, Chargebee or Zuora, and you are prepared to negotiate a quoted price.

How much do Chaser, Kolleno and Upflow cost?

Chaser costs £199 a month on Compact for turnover under £4m, £599 on Core under £10m and £899 on Complete under £100m. Kolleno costs €650 per user a month on BusinessPay and €1,245 per user on Business Plus, which needs two users. Upflow prints no price on any tier.

The meter matters more than the entry price. The same business pays very different amounts in each tool because each one counts something different.

BusinessChaserKollenoUpflow
£3m turnover, 1 credit controller£199 a month (Compact)€650 a month (1 user, BusinessPay)Quote (Starter band)
£6m turnover, 3 people on the AR team£599 a month (Core)€1,950 a month (3 users, BusinessPay)Quote (Starter band)
£15m turnover, 3 people on the AR team£899 a month (Complete)€3,735 a month (3 users, Business Plus)Quote (Grow band)

Monthly billing, before add-ons, SMS or call credits and tax. Kolleno notes that integrations, customisations and add-ons may carry extra charges. Upflow Payments, its optional payments add-on, has a published platform fee of $390 a month plus transaction fees.

What happens to an overdue invoice in each tool?

Chaser follows the invoice with a schedule of emails, SMS, letters and calls, and it can add a late payment charge. The charge follows one rule for the whole account, and it posts to Xero as a line on the invoice. Kolleno and Upflow chase the invoice but raise no charge. Kolleno escalates through its collections agent. Upflow sends the fee back to the ERP.

For a UK supplier this matters because the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives a statutory right to interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate, plus a fixed sum of £40, £70 or £100 per invoice by size of debt. With the base rate at 3.75%, the statutory rate is 11.75% a year. In Kolleno or Upflow, someone must calculate and post that charge outside the tool.

Which tool is strongest on cash application and analytics?

Kolleno is the strongest on cash application. Its AI matches payments to invoices and handles partial payments, credit notes, currency differences and bank fees. Upflow is the strongest on analytics, with DSO against best possible DSO and a collection effectiveness index. Chaser’s reporting centres on customer insights and DSO, with a receivables forecast on Complete.

Which accounting systems do they connect to?

All three connect to Xero, QuickBooks, NetSuite and Sage Intacct.

  • Chaser and Kolleno: Microsoft Dynamics and SAP (on Kolleno’s Enterprise plan).
  • Chaser: also the Sage range (Sage 50, Sage 200, Sage Business Central) and AccountsIQ.
  • Kolleno: also Oracle, on the Enterprise plan.
  • Upflow: also billing systems, including Stripe Billing, Chargebee and Zuora.

Common questions

Which is better, Chaser, Kolleno or Upflow?

None of the three is better for every business. Chaser fits a UK SME that wants multi-channel chasing and statutory interest at a published price. Kolleno fits a larger AR team whose main problem is cash application. Upflow fits a finance team that wants collections analytics and will negotiate a quoted price.

Is Chaser cheaper than Kolleno?

For a team of one or more users, yes. Chaser’s Compact plan is £199 a month for the whole business, with 4 users, for turnover under £4m. Kolleno’s BusinessPay plan is €650 per user a month, so one user costs more than Chaser’s Compact plan and each extra user adds €650.

Does Upflow publish its pricing?

No. Every paid Upflow tier says "Ask for a quote". The tiers are set by annual revenue and invoice volume, from Starter (up to $10m and 40,000 invoices a year) to Enterprise. The last published monthly prices were $440 for Grow and $880 for Scale. The free Discover tier gives analytics only.

Which of the three adds late payment interest?

Only Chaser. It has four calculation types, including one that follows the Bank of England base rate, and it recalculates daily. It applies one rule to the whole account. Kolleno documents no late fee function, and Upflow tells customers to apply late fees in their ERP.

Do Chaser, Kolleno and Upflow work with Xero?

Yes. All three list on the Xero App Store. Chaser has 4.98 stars from 374 reviews, Kolleno 5.0 from 18 and Upflow 5.0 from 1. All three also connect to QuickBooks Online, NetSuite and Sage Intacct.

Sources

No vendor paid to appear on this page, and none has a commercial relationship with Accounting.Events. The tools appear in alphabetical order.

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