CollBox and ti3 both work on overdue invoices without taking a cut of what comes back, but they’re different kinds of product. CollBox is a done-for-you service built mainly for law firms: a dedicated US-based AR specialist follows up on your past-due accounts, including by phone, and you pay a flat monthly fee tiered by how many clients you invoice ($599/mo for up to 50, $729/mo for 51 to 100, plus a $999 setup fee). ti3 is software for small businesses across most industries, at $49/mo Self-Serve or from $499/mo Managed, and it runs a 5-week recovery sequence by email and SMS with no phone calls. If you’re a law firm, evaluate both. Almost everyone else will find ti3 the closer fit.
Disclosure: ti3 is our product. We’ve tried to be fair to CollBox, including where it’s the better choice, and every CollBox fact below comes from CollBox’s own pricing page as of October 2026 unless we say otherwise.
Side-by-side comparison
| ti3 | CollBox | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $49/mo Self-Serve, from $499/mo Managed | $599/mo (1 to 50 clients), $729/mo (51 to 100), custom above that |
| Setup fee | None | $999 one-time |
| Target customer | Owner-operators across industries (1 to 50 employees) | Law firms, especially smaller practices |
| Pricing model | Flat monthly fee, with a cap on invoices in active recovery | Flat monthly fee, tiered by number of clients invoiced |
| Who does the work | You (Self-Serve) or our team (Managed), through the software | A dedicated CollBox AR specialist |
| Phone calls | None (by design) | Yes, made by the AR specialist |
| Recovery model | First-party 5-week structured sequence | Ongoing human follow-up on past-due accounts |
| You keep 100% of recovery | Yes | Yes (no contingency fee) |
| Recovery analysis | Free estimate of recoverable balance from your aging report | Not a published feature |
| Data in | QuickBooks 1-click, Stripe, Excel, CSV | Legal practice management tools such as Clio, MyCase and Smokeball |
| Where the money goes | Straight to your merchant account or wallet; ti3 never holds funds | Straight to the firm |
| Free trial | Yes (Self-Serve, up to 10 invoices for one full 5-week cycle) | Not offered on the pricing page |
| Escalation | Case Resolution logs the handoff to a lawyer, agency or write-off | CollBox Collect hands accounts to vetted collection agencies for a flat project fee |
| Best for | Small businesses outside legal that want structured recovery | Law firms that want the follow-up done for them |
Sources: CollBox pricing, Lawyerist CollBox review, ti3 pricing.
Where CollBox wins
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Built for how law firms bill. CollBox connects to the practice management tools law firms already run, and its follow-up is shaped around client matters and retainers rather than generic trade invoices. If you’re a law firm, that fit is real and ti3 doesn’t try to match it.
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Someone else does the chasing. Every CollBox plan includes a dedicated AR specialist who handles the follow-up, phone calls included. ti3 Managed also runs the program for you, but through the software and without phone calls. If you want a person on the phone with your clients and none of it on your desk, CollBox is the more complete handoff.
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Flat fee, no contingency. Like ti3, CollBox charges a monthly subscription and you keep every dollar collected. That’s the meaningful difference from a traditional agency, which typically keeps a share of what it recovers. Our breakdown of what collection agencies charge has the comparison.
Where ti3 wins
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Fit outside legal. ti3 isn’t built for one profession. MSPs, contractors, agencies, consultants and other service businesses use the same sequence, and it starts from a QuickBooks connection or a spreadsheet rather than a legal practice management system.
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Much lower cost of entry. Self-Serve is $49/mo with no setup fee and a free trial. Even Managed, from $499/mo, comes in below CollBox’s first tier before you count CollBox’s $999 setup fee. For a small business with a handful of overdue accounts, that difference is most of the decision.
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A structured sequence with a clear end. ti3 sends five reminders over five weeks, each firmer than the last, by email and SMS in your business name. Every reminder links to a self-serve page where your customer can pay in full, pay part, set up a payment plan within your rules, take a settlement discount you’ve offered, or propose a counter-offer you approve in one click. A formal Final Demand Notice can follow as a sixth step. When the sequence ends without full payment, Case Resolution records the next step for that account, so nothing is left in an open-ended follow-up loop.
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No phone calls by design. CollBox’s specialist calls your clients. ti3 never does. For owner-operators whose customers are also their pipeline, a call from someone they’ve never heard of can do more damage to the relationship than the invoice is worth. If a call is right for one account, it’s yours to make personally. Our guide on chasing invoices without losing the client explains the reasoning.
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Free recovery analysis before you pay. Send your aging report to /analysis/ and we’ll come back within 48 hours with an estimate of what’s recoverable and which accounts are likely write-offs. It’s useful triage even if you end up choosing CollBox.
Buyer-specific verdict
If you’re a law firm and want the follow-up off your desk entirely: Evaluate CollBox. The practice management integration and the dedicated specialist are what you’d be paying for, and they’re genuine.
If you’re a law firm that would rather keep the client conversation in-house: ti3 is cheaper to try and doesn’t put a third party on the phone with your clients. Run the free trial on a few accounts first.
If you’re an accounting or bookkeeping firm: CollBox’s current pricing page is written for law firms, though earlier listings described accounting firms too. Ask CollBox directly whether your billing system is supported. ti3 works from a QuickBooks connection or a CSV export.
If you’re any other small business (MSP, contractor, agency, consultancy): ti3. CollBox isn’t built or priced for you.
If you’re an MSP: ti3. The MSP collections guide covers retainer non-payment without suspending service, which is the specific problem CollBox doesn’t address.
Frequently asked questions
Is CollBox a collection agency?
Not in the traditional sense. CollBox describes its core product as ongoing follow-up on past-due accounts for a flat fee, with no contingency and payments going straight to the firm. Accounts that need more go to vetted collection agencies through a separate service, CollBox Collect. ti3 is also first-party: the sequence goes out in your business name, and ti3 never holds the money.
Why does CollBox cost more than ti3?
Because a person is doing the work. CollBox assigns a dedicated AR specialist to every firm, and the price reflects that labor plus the setup. ti3 is software with strong defaults, run by you on Self-Serve or by our team on Managed. Pick the model that matches how much of the work you want to hand off.
Does ti3 work for law firms?
Yes, for the invoices themselves, but ti3 doesn’t integrate with legal practice management tools, so you’d work from an export. Law firms should also check their state bar’s rules on fee collection before using any outside service. If you’re comparing the two, ask both for a walkthrough on your own billing data.
Does CollBox work for MSPs?
It isn’t built for them. MSP retainer non-payment has its own dynamics (recurring invoices, the pull toward suspending service, the value of keeping the client), and ti3’s MSP guidance addresses those directly.
Which is more cost-effective per recovered account?
It depends on your client count and how many accounts are overdue at once. For a business with a few dozen clients and two or three overdue accounts, ti3 Self-Serve is far cheaper. For a law firm with a steady stream of past-due matters and no one in-house to chase them, CollBox’s flat fee can make sense once the setup cost is spread over a year.
What happens if my client disputes the invoice?
In ti3 the customer can raise a dispute from their self-serve page, and it’s logged against the account. The sequence keeps running while you answer the dispute in writing. It only pauses if you agree the dispute is valid and pause it yourself. That stops a vague complaint from becoming an easy way to stall payment.
Is there a long-term contract?
ti3 is month to month, and Managed carries a 30-day money-back guarantee. CollBox’s monthly service is also billed monthly, and its discounted annual option is a 12-month commitment that auto-renews, so read the terms before you pick that one.
What happens after week 5 if the invoice still isn’t paid?
You choose the next step in Case Resolution: send the Final Demand Notice if you haven’t already, hand the account to a lawyer or a collection agency, or write it off. ti3 records the decision and the handoff, but it doesn’t practise law or collect on your behalf. If you’re weighing the agency route, read when to send an unpaid invoice to collections first.
Where to go next
If you’re not a law firm, run your overdue accounts through ti3’s free analysis, or see ti3 pricing for what each plan includes.
If you are a law firm, get a walkthrough from both. CollBox’s done-for-you model is genuine; so are ti3’s lower price and no-calls approach. The right answer depends on your volume and how much of the conversation you want to keep.
The small business AR recovery complete guide explains how collectability drops with age, which matters more than which tool you pick.
Sources
- CollBox pricing (tiers, setup fee, dedicated AR specialist, integrations, CollBox Collect), checked October 2026
- Lawyerist CollBox review
- ti3 pricing (plans, free trial, Final Demand Notice)
Where we stand: ti3 is our product, so weigh the “where ti3 wins” section with that in mind. We build first-party recovery software. We are not a collection agency, we don’t practise law, and nothing here is legal advice. CollBox’s plans and prices change; check their site before you buy.