Accounts receivable for small businesses
Spend less time chasing unpaid invoices
Collectly AI is accounts-receivable software for small businesses. It reads the replies customers send to its follow-ups, works out why each invoice is unpaid and when it is likely to be paid, and drafts the right follow-up, sent from your own address when you approve it, or automatically if you switch that on.
An aging report tells you an invoice is 45 days late. Collectly AI tells you why — that Sarah promised approval by Friday and Friday was nine days ago — then writes the follow-up that references it.
Connect the Gmail address you already invoice from, or paste replies in by hand. Nothing is sent without your approval by default.
Pay yearly and save over 16%.
A yearly plan saves over 16% compared with paying monthly, and monthly plans cancel whenever you like. No trial to forget about, no contract to get out of.
- Harbour Print Co.$4,280.00Needs your approvalINV-1042 · 38 days overdue
Third follow-up. Past 30 days, so Collectly AI will not send this one on its own.
- Ridgeway Interiors$1,150.00Payment promisedINV-1067 · 12 days overdue
Reply on Sep 2: paying Friday. Reminders paused until then.
- Northgate Studio$960.00Draft readyINV-1071 · 5 days overdue
First nudge. Friendly tone.
Why an invoice is unpaid matters more than how late it is
An unpaid invoice can be waiting on someone’s approval, sitting in the wrong inbox, disputed, or promised for Friday. A reminder that goes out on a schedule treats all of those the same way. Collectly AI reads the customer’s replies to its follow-ups first, so it can tell you what is actually holding the money up.
Why it is unpaid
Not “45 days overdue”. “Waiting on approval — Sarah said Friday, and Friday was nine days ago.” Every read comes with a confidence figure and the reasoning behind it.
When it will be paid
An expected date and a probability, worked out from how this customer has actually paid you before, how long the invoice has been outstanding, and anything they have committed to in writing.
What to fix first
When a customer disputes $2,000 of scope, chasing them is the wrong move. Collectly AI stops, says so, and tells you to resolve the disagreement instead.
More on where late payments come from: Why small businesses struggle with late payments.
How Collectly AI works
Collectly AI is not an email writer with a send button. Four steps take an unpaid invoice to a follow-up you have approved.
- Step 1
Your invoices arrive
Import a CSV, add them by hand, or connect QuickBooks and Xero in beta. Collectly AI tracks who owes what, and for how long.
- Step 2
Collectly AI decides and drafts
Each invoice gets a judgement call: is a follow-up due, and what should it say? Tone escalates with age — polite at five days, firm at forty.
- Step 3
You approve
Every draft lands in your queue with the reasoning behind it. Edit it, send it, or skip it. Automatic sending is opt-in and only for early, low-risk reminders.
- Step 4
Replies change the plan
When a customer answers one of its follow-ups, or you paste their reply in, Collectly AI reads it and updates the invoice: payment claimed, promised a date, or disputed. Payment claimed or disputed: follow-ups stop. A reply alone never marks an invoice paid. Promised: they wait until that date passes, if it is within 90 days.
Read the full walkthrough of how Collectly AI works, from importing your invoices to approving the first follow-up.
Everything Collectly AI does, and does not do · Plans and prices
What Collectly AI does with your Gmail
Collectly AI asks for one Gmail permission when you connect Gmail: permission to send (gmail.send). It uses it only to send the follow-ups you approve or set to send automatically, and invitations to your teammates, from your own address. Collectly AI cannot open your mailbox or see the mail in it, and never labels, archives, edits or deletes messages or creates Gmail drafts. Replies reach it another way, explained in the “Replies to your follow-ups” card.
Collectly AI’s use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Your email is never sold, never used for advertising, and never used to train generalised AI models.
You can disconnect your mailbox at any time from Settings, which revokes the token and stops all sending. Full detail is in the privacy policy.
- Send messages
gmail.sendOnce you approve a draft, it goes out from your own address, in the existing thread where there is one — so your customer hears from you, not from a stranger's domain. If an owner or admin of your workspace turns on automatic sending, routine low-risk reminders go out the same way without each one being approved, and an invitation to a teammate is emailed from the same address. Each message sent appears in your Sent folder, as any email you send does.
- Replies to your follow-ups
Each follow-up's reply-to lists your own address and a Collectly AI reply address, and your customer sees both when they reply. The reply reaches your inbox as usual and a copy reaches Collectly AI through its email provider, Resend, so it can tell a customer who has already paid from one who is ignoring you. Collectly AI only sees what arrives at its reply address; anything else stays in your inbox, and you can paste it into the invoice. A reply from an address not on file for that customer is set aside unread, though it still reaches your inbox.
Rules the AI cannot talk its way around
The model proposes; ordinary code decides. These limits are enforced in Collectly AI itself, so no phrasing in an email and no confidence score can override them.
- At least three days between reminders on the same invoice.
- Past thirty days overdue, a human must approve every message.
- A reply that promises payment pauses reminders until that date passes.
- A disputed invoice stops automated follow-up entirely.
- Tone is capped by how late the invoice actually is — no threats at day five.
- Every decision is written to an activity log you can read.
Start with a free tool or a guide
None of these needs an account.
Free tools
- Reply decoderPaste a reply you got about an unpaid invoice. Get back what it actually means and what to do next.
- Invoice reminder templatesReminder emails for each stage of overdue, with a note on when each one is the right thing to send.
- Late payment email generatorWho owes what, and how late. Get a payment reminder email you can send as it is.
- Invoice aging calculatorList what you're owed. See it by days past due, and which invoices to chase first.
- DSO calculatorDays sales outstanding from your own numbers, with the arithmetic shown rather than hidden.
Guides
- How to follow up on an unpaid invoiceA practical sequence for chasing an overdue invoice without damaging the relationship: what to say at each stage, and what to do when they reply.
- What to do when a client says they never received your invoiceResend it the same day, to the person who pays, in a form their system accepts, and confirm it arrived. What to write, and how to stop it happening again.
- Client says the check is in the mail? What to do nextThank them, ask for the date it was sent and the check number, and set a date to follow up. How to handle "it's in the mail" without calling anyone a liar.
- What to do when a client promises to pay but doesn'tGet a date and an amount in writing, wait until it passes, then follow up by quoting their promise back. A step-by-step plan, with emails to send.
- Invoice follow-up for agencies: getting retainers and project fees paidAgency invoices stall on approvers, POs and payment runs. How to follow up on retainers and milestones without straining the client relationship.
- Collectly AI vs Chaser vs Upflow: which fits a small business?Chaser and Upflow price by company revenue and suit finance teams. Collectly AI is for owner-run small businesses, priced by open invoices. How they compare.
Get the money in without the awkward emails
Connect a mailbox, import your invoices, and review the first batch of drafts in a few minutes.