Automated invoice reminders for FreshBooks & FreeAgent
Both are live integrations. Grace Period connects in one click, reads the client's reply, and holds them to the date they promised — drafting your follow-up in their own words if it slips.
The short answer
If you run your books in FreshBooks or FreeAgent, Grace Period connects by one-click OAuth and watches your overdue invoices. It drafts human reminders on a schedule you set, and it reads what your client writes back. A promise to pay is held to the exact date they gave; if that date slips, it drafts your follow-up in their own words. Disputes pause everything and get a drafted answer. Nothing sends without your approval, and it never touches or lends your money.
FreshBooks and FreeAgent both include reminders of their own, and for a few invoices with reliable clients those may be all you need — start there. But a fixed schedule can’t react to a reply. It fires on the cadence you set and stops when the invoice is marked paid. That’s fine until chasing turns into real work.
Why chasing quietly becomes real work
Around half of all US B2B invoices are paid late, turning into cash on average 20 days past the due date (Atradius, Payment Practices Barometer – United States 2024). In the US, 56% of small businesses said they were owed money on unpaid invoices, averaging $17,500 each (Intuit QuickBooks, 2025 US Small Business Late Payments Report). In the UK, late payments are estimated to close 38 businesses every single day (GOV.UK, 2026). For a freelancer or agency running on project cash flow, a quiet invoice is the one that hurts, and it’s usually the follow-up you keep putting off that would clear it.
How Grace Period works with FreshBooks and FreeAgent
You authorize the connection from inside FreshBooks or FreeAgent with one-click OAuth — no credentials to copy, no importing, no spreadsheet to keep in sync. Grace Period reads your overdue invoices and, on the schedule you set, drafts a human reminder for each. You approve it and it sends.
The difference shows up the moment a client replies. Grace Period reads the message and acts: a “we’ll pay Friday” is logged as a promise and the schedule is auto-held to that exact date, so nothing nags the client in between. If Friday passes without payment, it drafts your follow-up quoting the client’s own words. A dispute pauses the schedule and hands you a drafted answer; a question gets a drafted reply. You see every message before it goes out; the tool does the reading, remembering and drafting.
FreshBooks and FreeAgent are both live today, alongside QuickBooks and Xero, with Sage in beta. Running both, or something else? A plain CSV works with any setup.
Built-in reminders vs a dedicated tool
You don’t need to turn off the reminders FreshBooks or FreeAgent already send. This is about knowing where the line falls.
The reminders in your accounting tool are the right call when: you have a small number of open invoices, your clients generally pay on time, and a polite nudge on a fixed schedule covers it. It’s already there and it works.
A dedicated tool earns its place when: chasing becomes a recurring time cost — clients reply and those replies need handling, promises need holding to a date, escalations need to read as human, and disputes need to pause the sequence rather than draw another reminder. A fixed schedule can’t hear the reply. Grace Period is built around it. Other tools do detect replies, but we haven’t found one that documents holding the schedule to the date inside the promise.
Setting it up
Setup is short by design. Connect FreshBooks or FreeAgent with one-click OAuth. Choose the schedule you want reminders to follow. Review the first drafts and approve them. From there, Grace Period watches your overdue invoices and brings you a draft whenever there’s something to send — a first reminder, a follow-up on a slipped promise, or a reply to a client who got in touch. You approve; it sends. Nothing leaves on its own.
A fair test before you commit: connect a test account, send yourself a reminder, then reply as the client with “sorry, cash is tight — we’ll pay Friday.” Watch whether the tool keeps firing on schedule, or records the promise, holds to Friday, and has your follow-up written if it slips.
Frequently asked questions
Does Grace Period integrate with both FreshBooks and FreeAgent?+
Yes. FreshBooks and FreeAgent are both live integrations today, alongside QuickBooks and Xero, with Sage in beta. You connect either one by one-click OAuth and Grace Period reads your overdue invoices directly — no importing and no data entry. If you run both, or something else entirely, a plain CSV works with any setup.
FreshBooks and FreeAgent can already send reminders — why add a tool?+
For a few invoices and clients who pay on time, the reminders your accounting tool already sends may be all you need. A dedicated tool earns its place once chasing becomes real work: when a client replies "we'll pay Friday" and you want the schedule to hold to Friday, when a slipped promise needs a follow-up written in the client's own words, or when a dispute should pause the sequence and get a drafted answer. A fixed schedule can't react to any of that, because it can't read the reply.
How does the one-click connection work?+
You authorize Grace Period from inside FreshBooks or FreeAgent using OAuth — one click, no credentials to copy, no spreadsheet to maintain. From then on Grace Period watches your overdue invoices and knows when one is paid, so it stops chasing the moment payment lands.
Does Grace Period send anything to clients on its own?+
No. Grace Period drafts every reminder and every reply, but nothing sends without your approval. You review each draft, edit if you'd like, and send. That applies to first reminders, follow-ups on broken promises, and drafted answers to disputes alike.
Does Grace Period handle the money or take a percentage?+
No. Grace Period only chases — it never touches or lends money and takes no cut of what you collect. Payment reaches you exactly as it does now. It reads your FreshBooks or FreeAgent invoices to know what's overdue and what's been paid; nothing more.
What makes Grace Period different from a normal reminder schedule?+
It reads the client's reply and acts on it. A promise to pay is held to the exact date given, and if that date passes it drafts your follow-up quoting the client's own words. A dispute pauses the schedule and gets a drafted answer; a question gets a drafted reply. Other tools detect replies too, but holding the schedule to the date inside the promise is the piece a fixed cadence, in any accounting tool, cannot do.
Related reading: invoice reminders for QuickBooks · invoice reminders for Xero · best invoice-chasing software for agencies.