None of the big UK packages collects money on its own. Xero, QuickBooks and Sage each connect you to payment providers, so the software that works best for getting paid is usually the one you already use, paired with a provider that takes every payment method, chases what's overdue and posts payments straight back. Adfin, for example, syncs both ways with Xero and QuickBooks.
In this article
The short version
- No accounting package collects money itself: payment providers do
- Xero connects to Stripe, GoCardless and App Store providers; QuickBooks to its own Payments and GoCardless; Sage to Stripe, PayPal and GoCardless
- QuickBooks can't offer online payments and direct debit on the same invoice
- Built-in reminders across all three are email only
- Changing payment provider is usually a smaller job than changing ledger
What accounting software does and doesn't do
Your accounting software raises the invoice, shows a pay now option once a provider is connected, records the payment and reconciles it. The money itself is taken by a regulated payment provider, which holds your customers' direct debit mandates, processes card payments and decides when you're paid.
So when you ask which accounting software is best for getting paid, you're really asking two things: which providers it connects to, and how cleanly payments come back into your books. The software's own reminder emails help at the margins, but they don't collect anything.
How cleanly payments come back varies a lot between providers. If a provider pays out a lump sum with its fees already taken off, someone has to split each payout into the invoices behind it and post the fees. If it pays out gross and marks each invoice as paid through a two-way sync, there's little left to do at month end. That difference comes from the provider, whichever ledger you use.
Xero, QuickBooks and Sage compared
| Xero | QuickBooks Online | Sage Accounting and Sage 50 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built-in pay now on invoices | Through Stripe or GoCardless, set up in Xero's payment settings | QuickBooks Payments: Pay by Bank and cards, provided by Adyen | Through Stripe or PayPal |
| Direct debit | Through GoCardless or Stripe, or an App Store provider | Through a separate GoCardless integration | Through GoCardless |
| Built-in reminders | |||
| Two-way sync with Adfin | Yes, and Adfin is an approved Xero payment partner | Yes | No |
Xero has a large payments section in its App Store and lets you choose which invoices go to which provider using branding themes. QuickBooks has its own payments product for one-off bank and card payments, but direct debit sits outside it, and you can't switch on both online payments and direct debit for the same invoice. Its GoCardless route also starts collection ahead of the due date: Intuit schedules it 10 working days before. Sage connects to the same big providers for its pay now button, with the providers' fees on top of your subscription.
Across all three, card payments and direct debit tend to come from different providers, and none of the built-in reminders follows up an unsigned mandate or a failed direct debit, or chases by SMS or WhatsApp.
What to check before you decide
Whatever ledger you're on, these questions tell you more than a feature grid:
- Which payment methods can one customer use on one invoice? A client who usually pays by direct debit may want to pay a one-off bill by card.
- When does the money arrive, and does it arrive in full? Providers that deduct fees before paying out leave you a net lump sum to break down.
- What happens when a direct debit fails? Some providers charge for failed attempts; others retry for free.
- Who chases? Built-in email reminders may be enough if most customers pay on time. If not, you need something that follows up by more than one channel.
- How do payments get back into the ledger? A two-way sync marks invoices as paid without anyone keying them in.
Should you switch accounting software?
Moving accounting software is a big job: historic data, your accountant's workflows, bank rules, reports. If your problem is getting paid, the fix usually lives with the payment provider, not the ledger.
On Xero or QuickBooks, Adfin connects both ways. It picks up your invoices, collects them by direct debit, card, digital wallet, pay by bank or bank transfer, pays out in full every weekday with its fee invoiced separately, and marks each invoice as paid in your ledger. Its Customer Agents chase overdue invoices and unsigned mandates by email, SMS or WhatsApp on a schedule you set, and retry failed direct debits for free before asking the customer to pay another way.
On Sage, there's no direct connection to Adfin, so you'd either use Sage's own providers or upload invoices to a separate platform and record payments in Sage yourself. If you're weighing a move off Sage for other reasons, how each ledger handles payments is worth adding to the list.
Common questions
Which accounting software is best for getting paid? Usually the one you already use, paired with a payment provider that collects every method, chases and syncs both ways with your ledger.
Does any accounting software collect payments itself? No. Xero, QuickBooks and Sage all hand collection to payment providers such as GoCardless, Stripe, PayPal, Adyen or Adfin.
Is Xero or QuickBooks better for direct debit? Both work through connected providers. In QuickBooks, direct debit sits outside QuickBooks Payments and can't be offered alongside online card payments on the same invoice.
Do built-in invoice reminders do the job? For customers who mostly pay on time, they can. They go by email only, and they don't follow up unsigned mandates or failed direct debits.
Does Adfin work with Sage? Not directly. Adfin syncs both ways with Xero and QuickBooks; with Sage, you'd upload invoices and record payments yourself.
Should I switch accounting software to get paid faster? Rarely. Changing your payment provider is a much smaller job than changing your ledger, and it's the provider that collects the money.
Sources
- Xero - Invoice payments: give your customers more ways to pay (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.xero.com/uk/campaign/invoice-payments/
- Intuit QuickBooks - QuickBooks Payments (accurate as of October 2026) https://quickbooks.intuit.com/uk/payments/
- Intuit QuickBooks - Get started with GoCardless in QuickBooks Online (accurate as of October 2026) https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-uk/help-article/recurring-payments/get-started-gocardless/L1cd2payL_GB_en_GB
- Sage - Integrated payment solutions (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.sage.com/en-gb/integrated-payment-solutions/
- Xero App Store - Adfin (accurate as of October 2026) https://apps.xero.com/uk/app/adfin
