Best Dunning Software in 2026: Invoice Dunning vs Failed-Payment Recovery

Disclosure: Abivo is our product. Facts about other tools come from their own websites as of October 2026.

The short answer: Dunning software comes in two kinds. Subscription businesses need failed-payment recovery that retries declined cards and asks customers to update their payment method: Stripe Billing Smart Retries, Chargebee Smart Dunning, Recurly, Churn Buster, Baremetrics Recover, Churnkey and Butter Payments. B2B companies that invoice on terms need invoice dunning that follows up on unpaid invoices until they are paid: Abivo, Chaser, Upflow, Paidnice, Gaviti and Sidetrade. Abivo covers the gap between the two: when card retries fail, or when an invoice simply goes unpaid, its AI agent calls, texts and emails the customer.

Comparison table

Invoice dunning vs failed-payment dunning

Failed-payment dunning starts when an automatic charge is declined. The fix is usually technical (retry at a better time) or a nudge (update your card). Invoice dunning starts when a business customer does not pay an invoice by its due date. The fix is usually a conversation: the invoice went to the wrong person, a PO is missing, approval is stuck or there is a dispute. That is why invoice dunning tools add text, phone and dispute routing, while failed-payment tools focus on retries and card update pages.

Many B2B SaaS companies need both. Card retries recover a share of declined payments, and the rest become overdue invoices that someone has to chase. Our guides to failed payment retry strategy and dunning sequences that recover failed payments go deeper.

Invoice dunning software

Abivo

Abivo is AI collections software for B2B companies. Its AI agent, Kate, calls, texts and emails your customers about overdue invoices in your company's name, records promises to pay and disputes, and hands disputes and requests to speak with a person to your team with the full history. You set the cadence per account or segment, pause follow-up on any single invoice and flag key accounts so a named owner handles them. Reminders name invoice details such as job, site, PO or billing period, and one message can cover every open invoice on an account.

For subscription businesses, Abivo works with Chargebee and your accounting system together, and its follow-up cadence picks up after card retries, so customers whose payments keep failing hear from Kate instead of receiving another automated email. See the Chargebee integration.

It connects with QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, SAP and Chargebee, keeps each subsidiary separate for multi-entity teams, and works with customers in over 50 countries and in any currency. It does not replace your accounting system or payment processing. Read the OFS Group case study and how AI collections calls work.

Choose it when: reminder emails and card retries are not enough, and you want someone (or something) to actually call the customer.

Chaser

Chaser sends dunning reminders by email, SMS and automated phone calls, with in-app calling, an AI email generator, the Chaser Pay portal, payment plans and late fees. It lists Xero, QuickBooks Online, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Business Central and SAP. See our Chaser alternative page.

Choose it when: you want configurable reminder schedules and a payment portal.

Upflow

Upflow runs dunning workflows across email, SMS, calls and letters, with AI agents whose autonomy ranges from suggestion-only to fully autonomous. It lists billing integrations with Zuora, Chargebee and Stripe Billing alongside NetSuite, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks Online and Xero. See our Upflow alternative page.

Choose it when: several collectors share the work and want one place to run it.

Paidnice

Paidnice describes accounts receivable automation for Xero and QuickBooks, with reminders by email, SMS and WhatsApp before, on and after the due date, automatic late fees or interest, early-payment discounts, payment plans and AI reply handling. See our Paidnice alternative page.

Choose it when: you are on Xero or QuickBooks and want late fees and discounts applied automatically.

Gaviti

Gaviti positions itself as an AI-powered invoice-to-cash platform that works without changing your ERP, with automated reminder, escalation and follow-up workflows and an AI assistant that improves dunning emails. It also offers credit checks, cash application and a self-service portal. See our Gaviti alternative page.

Choose it when: you want email dunning plus credit and cash application in one platform.

Sidetrade

Sidetrade describes AI agents (Aimie) that handle collections, cash application and disputes across the order-to-cash cycle for large enterprises, with an agent builder for custom agents. See our Sidetrade alternative page.

Choose it when: you run collections for a large, multi-region business.

Failed-payment recovery software

Stripe Billing Smart Retries

Stripe's Smart Retries use AI to choose the best times to retry failed payments, using signals such as how many devices have recently used a card. Stripe recommends a default of 8 tries within 2 weeks, and hard declines are not retried until the customer adds a new payment method.

Chargebee Smart Dunning

Chargebee's Smart Dunning is a configurable engine for the dunning period, reminders and final actions. It reads gateway error codes to retry soft declines, offers an ML retry mode called Revive on supported gateways, and runs reminder emails separately from retries. Chargebee also offers Receivables for collections integrated with billing.

Recurly

Recurly's Intelligent Retries use machine learning to time retries of declined recurring card payments. It retries soft declines only, and customer emails run through a separate dunning feature.

Churn Buster

Churn Buster escalates failed-payment outreach from email sent from your own domain, to SMS, to an alert for your team, with no-login card update pages on Stripe and Braintree. It integrates with Stripe, Shopify, Recharge, Recurly and Braintree, among others.

Baremetrics Recover

Baremetrics Recover runs a default sequence of emails after a failed charge, plus SMS, in-app banners and paywalls after a grace period, with a branded card update form. Retries themselves are left to the payment processor.

Churnkey

Churnkey is retention software built for Stripe. Its Payment Recovery adds retries on top of Stripe's, plus dunning by email, SMS and in-app message and a payment wall. It also supports Chargebee, Braintree, Paddle, Maxio and Recurly.

Butter Payments

Butter Payments uses machine learning models to pick a retry strategy for each failed payment, for B2C, B2B, SaaS and ecommerce subscription businesses, and names Stripe and Recharge integrations.

How to choose dunning software

• Start with how you bill. Automatic card charges point to failed-payment recovery. Invoices on terms point to invoice dunning. Both point to a combination.

• Check where retries stop. Every retry tool has a limit. Decide who contacts the customer after the last retry fails.

• Count the channels. Email is the record, text gets noticed and a phone call gets an answer. Most dunning tools stop at email.

• Route disputes out of the sequence. A customer who disputes a charge should reach a person, not another reminder.

• Read from the system of record. Dunning should stop the moment an invoice or subscription is paid, which needs a live link to billing or accounting.

For sample cadences, see our past due invoice email sequence.

FAQ

What is dunning software?

Dunning software automates the process of reminding customers about payments they owe, from failed card payments in subscription billing to unpaid invoices in B2B accounts receivable.

What is the best dunning software for B2B companies?

For B2B companies that invoice on terms, invoice dunning tools such as Abivo, Chaser, Upflow, Paidnice and Gaviti fit better than card-retry tools. Abivo is the option that adds AI phone calls and texts on top of email.

Do I need dunning software if Stripe or Chargebee already retries payments?

Retries recover some declined payments, but not all. The remaining customers need follow-up from a person or an agent, which is where invoice dunning and collections software comes in.

If your dunning emails and card retries have stopped working, Get started with Abivo and see Kate follow up on your own open invoices.

Related guides: best debt collection software for B2B, best payment reminder software.