Accountancy practices tend to want credit control software for one of two jobs: collecting their own fees, or running credit control on clients' ledgers. For your own fees, Adfin collects by direct debit, card or pay by bank and chases whatever's unpaid, with the mandate signed when the client accepts your proposal. For clients' ledgers, Adfin can be set up for each client and managed from one login, Chaser, Satago and Paidnice run partner programmes, and Credit Hound fits clients on Sage.
In this article
The short version
- Practices buy credit control software for two jobs: collecting their own fees, or chasing on clients' ledgers.
- For your own fees, Adfin collects by direct debit, card or pay by bank, with the mandate signed when the client accepts your proposal.
- With 10 or more GoCardless mandates, Adfin moves them through the Bacs bulk change process and clients don't re-sign.
- For clients' ledgers, Chaser, Satago and Paidnice run partner programmes with pricing on request, and Credit Hound suits Sage clients.
- Before a rollout, get the per-client price, who invoices whom and who handles replies in writing.
Two jobs with different needs
Most practices come to this search with one of two problems. Your own debtor book may be the issue: fee notes paid late, monthly fees on standing orders that don't change when your fees do, and partners spending evenings on chasing instead of client work. Or you want to offer credit control to clients, as advice or as a paid service, and you need software that works across lots of client ledgers.
The two jobs ask different things of a tool. For your own fees, the bigger gain usually comes from collecting automatically, by direct debit or a payment link, so only the exceptions need chasing. For clients' ledgers, you'll want multi-entity support, a per-client cost you can budget for and coverage of the accounting systems your clients actually use.
Your own fees
Adfin is built for collecting fees. Through Adfin's integration with the proposal tool Socket, your client signs a direct debit mandate as part of accepting your proposal, so the price, the engagement letter and the mandate are agreed in one step. Adfin also connects to the practice tools Engager.app and Sodium. Fees can change from month to month under the same mandate as long as you give advance notice, so a fee review doesn't mean a new form. Clients who'd rather pay by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or pay by bank get a payment link by email, SMS or WhatsApp, and anything unpaid is chased on your schedule from your own email domain. Payments match back to fee notes through a two-way sync with Xero and QuickBooks.
It costs 1% + 20p per successful payment, with the percentage capped at £4 on direct debit and bank payments. A £150 monthly fee costs £1.70 to collect and a £400 one £4.20, and there's no monthly fee, no contract and no limit on users.
If your clients already pay by direct debit through GoCardless or another provider, moving them is simpler than it sounds. With 10 or more mandates, Adfin moves them across through the Bacs bulk change process, your clients don't sign anything and collections carry on; with fewer than 10, clients sign a new Adfin mandate. If you're weighing the move, GoCardless doesn't chase unpaid fees or take card payments, and it charges its fee on every payment you submit, including ones that fail.
Credit control on your clients' ledgers
Adfin can run your clients' collections as well as your own. Each client is set up as its own business with its own payout account, several businesses can sit under one login, and each client gets the same direct debit, payment links and chasing, priced per payment with no per-client licence. It works for clients on Xero or QuickBooks.
Chaser runs a partner programme for practices, with a hub for managing client licences and reporting across all your clients, plus Care plans in which Chaser's own team does the chasing. It connects to Xero, QuickBooks and several Sage products. Plans are priced monthly according to each client's annual revenue, there's no published sterling price, and partner discounts are quoted on request.
Satago gives you a portfolio view of your clients' debtor books, credit scores and suggested credit limits on every plan, and invoice finance if a client needs funding. Its published plans run from £45 to £200 a month per organisation, and its accountant subscription is priced on request. The £45 Basic plan caps email reminders at 100 per rolling 30 days. It connects to Xero, QuickBooks, Sage and FreeAgent.
Paidnice works on top of Xero or QuickBooks and runs several entities on one Pro plan, with extra entities at £19 a month each, so 20 client entities add £380 a month to the plan underneath. Pro starts at £74 a month for 300 invoices, and accountant plans are available on request. It sends reminders, applies late fees and runs payment plans, but it doesn't collect the payment, and Sage needs its Custom tier.
Credit Hound, from Draycir, suits clients on Sage. It's built around the Sage ledger, connects to Xero too, and gives your team automated collection paths and call lists. Prices start at £20 per user a month and vary with the client's accounting system, so the same software can cost different amounts across your client base. QuickBooks isn't among the systems it lists.
Kolleno fits the occasional larger client with an in-house finance team: receivables, payables and reconciliation in one system, with AI agents on its higher tiers. It's priced per user per month with seat minimums and turnover thresholds, which is likely to rule it out for most small clients.
What to check before a client rollout
| Product | Xero | QuickBooks | Sage | Collects payment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adfin | Two-way sync | Two-way sync | No | Yes: direct debit, card, pay by bank |
| Chaser | Yes | Yes | Several Sage products | Through connected providers |
| Satago | Yes | Yes | Yes | Card payments on higher plans |
| Paidnice | Yes | Yes | Custom tier only | No |
| Credit Hound | Yes | Not listed | Yes, built for Sage | Through its PayThem add-on |
| Kolleno | Yes | Yes | Sage Intacct | Through GoCardless |
Before you commit your client base, get answers to these in writing:
- What each client costs: published plans are mostly per organisation or per user, so ask for a per-client price and how it changes as you add clients.
- Who invoices whom: decide whether the vendor bills you or your client, and who keeps the licence if the client leaves you.
- Whose name is on the chase: reminders go out from whichever mailbox is connected, and your client's customers will reply to it. Agree who handles replies and disputes.
- Practice software: if your workflow runs through practice management software, ask each vendor what connects to it.
- Whether it collects: a tool that only chases still leaves your clients waiting on bank transfers.
Common questions
What's the best credit control software for an accountancy practice? It depends on the job. For collecting your own fees, a tool that collects and chases, like Adfin, saves the most time; for running credit control across clients' ledgers, Adfin can be set up for each client on Xero or QuickBooks, and Chaser, Satago, Paidnice or, for Sage clients, Credit Hound are the other options.
Can clients sign a direct debit mandate with the engagement letter? Yes. Through Adfin's proposal software integration, the client signs the mandate when they accept your proposal and collection is set up from then on.
Do credit control vendors offer accountant pricing? Chaser, Satago and Paidnice all run partner programmes, with pricing quoted on request. Paidnice publishes £19 a month for each extra entity on its Pro plan.
Which credit control software works with Sage? Credit Hound is built for Sage, and Chaser and Satago connect to it too. Paidnice needs its Custom tier for Sage, and Adfin works with Xero and QuickBooks.
Can I move my fee direct debits from GoCardless without clients re-signing? Yes, if you have 10 or more mandates: Adfin moves them through the Bacs bulk change process and clients don't sign anything. With fewer than 10, clients sign a new Adfin mandate.
Does Adfin charge per client? No. Adfin charges 1% + 20p per successful payment, with the percentage capped at £4 on direct debit and bank payments, and there's no monthly fee or per-client licence.
Sources
- Adfin - Pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.adfin.com/pricing
- Adfin - Socket integration (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.adfin.com/integrations/socket
- Chaser - Outsourced credit control partners (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.chaserhq.com/features/outsourced-credit-control-partners
- Satago - Pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.satago.com/pricing/
- Paidnice - Pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://paidnice.com/pricing
- Credit Hound Cloud - Credit control software packages and pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.credithoundcloud.com/credit-control-software-packages-pricing/
