Unpaid covers the same automated-reminder workflow as InvoiceSherpa, in AUD, with AI-personalised emails and Australian-specific features InvoiceSherpa doesn't offer.
No credit card required. Set up in under 10 minutes.
InvoiceSherpa is a well-established US-based accounts receivable tool with strong fundamentals — automated reminders, a payment portal, and auto-charge for businesses with stored card details. It's a solid choice for US-based companies, or for any business that needs auto-charge on file as a core requirement.
For Australian small businesses, the trade-offs are real. You pay US$49/month — about A$76 at current exchange rates — to receive a US-currency invoice plus your bank's foreign-conversion fees. The reminder emails are template-based. And nothing in InvoiceSherpa is tuned to Australian compliance: no PTRS lookups, no ABN verification, no Security of Payment workflows for construction.
Unpaid was built in Australia, for Australian small businesses. It starts at A$29/month, uses AI to write each reminder uniquely rather than from a template, and includes the AU-specific risk and compliance features the imported tools don't ship with.
InvoiceSherpa publishes pricing in US dollars only. At US$49/month for the entry plan, you're paying roughly A$76/month at today's exchange rate — and that's before your bank's international transaction fees (typically 2-3% on each charge). Over a year, the AUD equivalent landing on your statement can be A$900-1,000 for the cheapest plan. Currency volatility means the price you pay isn't the price you budgeted for. For Australian operators running tight margins, predictable AUD pricing matters.
InvoiceSherpa uses configurable email templates. You write (or pick) the wording, the system inserts the customer name and invoice number, and it sends the same skeleton over and over. That's the same model Xero's built-in reminders use, and clients learn to recognise it. Once they recognise the template, they start ignoring it.
Unpaid takes a different approach. Every email is composed at send-time by Claude AI, drawing on the customer's payment history, the invoice context, and the current escalation stage. The result is an email that reads like you wrote it personally for that client — even though you didn't write it at all. Clients respond to it differently because they read it differently.
InvoiceSherpa is a US product. It doesn't know what an ABN is, doesn't check the Australian Government's Payment Times Reports Register, and doesn't have the wording requirements baked in for NSW, Victorian, or Queensland Security of Payment Act payment claims. That's not a knock on InvoiceSherpa — it's not their market. But if you're a tradie chasing a major builder, a consultant billing a Commonwealth department, or a small business wanting to risk-check a new client before extending terms, those features aren't optional. They change which jobs you take.
Honest comparisons cut both ways. There are workflows where InvoiceSherpa fits better than Unpaid, and a few are worth naming.
| Feature | Unpaid | InvoiceSherpa |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | A$29/mo | US$49/mo (≈ A$76) |
| Currency | AUD | USD |
| Xero integration | ||
| QuickBooks integration | ||
| AI-personalised emails | ||
| Smart reply handling | ||
| 5-stage escalation | Template-based | |
| Dispute detection | ||
| Customer payment portal | ||
| Auto-charge on file | ||
| PTRS risk checking | ||
| ABN / GST verification | ||
| Security of Payment (SOPA) tools | ||
| Australian-built and supported | US-based |
Feature information gathered from public sources and may change. Verify current details on each provider's website. USD/AUD conversion uses an indicative exchange rate and your card issuer may apply additional fees.
The change is straightforward because both tools read from your accounting system rather than holding their own copy of your invoices. There's no data export, no migration, no risk of losing history.
Most operators are fully switched over in well under a week, with zero impact on outstanding receivables.
Both Unpaid and InvoiceSherpa automate invoice reminders, integrate with Xero and QuickBooks, and provide a customer payment portal. The differences are the email composition (Unpaid uses AI to write each email; InvoiceSherpa uses templates), the geographic focus (Unpaid is Australian-built with AUD pricing; InvoiceSherpa is US-based with USD-only pricing), and Australia-specific features (PTRS risk checking, ABN verification, and Security of Payment workflows are unique to Unpaid). For Australian small businesses, Unpaid covers the same core workflow at a lower price in local currency.
InvoiceSherpa's entry plan is US$49/month, which works out to roughly A$76/month at current exchange rates — and that's before your bank's international transaction fees (typically 2-3% on each charge). Unpaid's Starter plan is A$29/month, billed directly in AUD. Over a year, you're looking at A$348 with Unpaid versus around A$912 with InvoiceSherpa at today's exchange rate. That's a ~62% saving for a feature set that covers the same automated-reminder workflow.
Not directly. InvoiceSherpa's auto-charge feature pulls stored card details to settle invoices automatically — useful for subscription-style businesses. Unpaid takes a different approach: each reminder email includes a one-click payment link that takes the customer through their accounting provider's existing payment integration (Stripe via Xero, GoCardless, etc.). If auto-charge on a stored card is a non-negotiable for your business model, InvoiceSherpa or your payment processor's native recurring billing is the better fit.
Yes, technically — the AI email composition, reply handling, and accounting integrations work anywhere Xero or QuickBooks operate. The pricing is in AUD, and the Australian-specific features (PTRS, SOPA, ABN/GST) won't apply to non-AU clients. If you're a New Zealand, UK, or US business with no Australian customers, the value proposition is narrower — but the core automation still works.
Setup is typically under 10 minutes. Connect your Xero or QuickBooks account, Unpaid imports your customers and outstanding invoices, you choose your reminder schedule, and you're live. There's no data migration step — Unpaid reads directly from your accounting provider, so there's nothing to export from InvoiceSherpa. You can run both tools in parallel during the changeover by pausing reminders in one and activating them in the other.
Unpaid never stores invoice data outside its connection to your accounting provider — everything is read on-demand from Xero or QuickBooks. If you cancel, the OAuth connection is revoked, and Unpaid retains only the minimum account record needed for compliance. You can request full account deletion at any time via support@getunpaid.io.
AUD pricing. AI-personalised emails. PTRS and ABN checks built in. No credit card required, and you can keep InvoiceSherpa running in parallel while you evaluate.