Collar is a modern, capable UK pet business platform. It covers grooming, daycare, boarding, training and walking, it looks polished, and plenty of businesses use it happily. This comparison is written to be fair, so we will say that plainly. Then we will go through the three things that differ: how owners can pay you, what your plan caps, and who answers when you need help.
Where Collar is a solid option
A broad, modern platform spanning grooming, daycare, boarding, training and retail.
A polished pet owner app and booking experience.
A genuine UK product, not a US tool adapted for the UK.
In-app chat with owners on every plan, plus an SMS allowance that rises as you move up.
If you want one platform across grooming, daycare, boarding, training and retail, Collar is worth a look.
How owners pay you
Collar and Genera both pay card payments into your own Stripe account, so neither of us holds your money. The difference is Direct Debit. Collar's pricing page and help centre list card payments through Stripe and do not mention Direct Debit.
How Genera does it
You connect your own GoCardless and Stripe accounts, and you choose which ones to switch on. Owners on regular bookings can pay by Direct Debit, and the money goes straight to your bank. Genera takes no transaction fees, no percentage from your invoices and no fee per booking.
What your plan caps
This is the part worth working out on paper before you choose either of us, because the headline price is not the whole price.
Collar publishes three plans: Essential at £49 a month, Premium at £99 and Business at £199. Each carries caps. Essential allows up to three service listings, five team members, one site and 500 SMS. Premium raises that to six services, ten team members and 1,500 SMS. Business covers twelve services, fifteen team members, two sites and adds memberships and routing. Beyond the caps there are published add ons: £6.99 a month for an extra team member, £29.99 for an extra site, £3 for an extra service, £4.99 per 500 SMS, and £20 for the retail module.
Genera publishes three plans too: £50, £75 and £99 a month. What is capped is the number of people who hold a login, and nothing else. There is no limit on how many services you set up and no charge per service, so a daycare that adds a grooming slot, a swim, a puppy class and a bank holiday rate pays exactly what it paid before. Routing and the driver portal are in the £99 plan rather than the £199 one. Bookings, invoicing, pet records, the branded owner app and the rota are in every plan.
Both have messaging inside the owner's app. Collar includes in-app chat on every plan, and SMS reminders on Business. On Genera's Thrive plan, owners message you from their app, your whole team answers from one inbox with every reply signed by whoever sent it, read receipts and typing indicators show on both sides, drivers join the owner's thread on the days they drive, and a broadcast reaches every owner at once by push with email for anyone who has not opened it. There is no quota to buy and no cost per message.
Trying it properly
Collar offers a 14 day free trial with no payment method required. Genera gives you 30 days on the plan you choose, with no card to start. A fortnight is enough to click around. A month is enough to run a real month end, raise the invoices and see whether the Direct Debit run works the way you need it to.
Support that actually answers
The other thing that quietly makes or breaks software is what happens when you need help. Genera is a small, responsive UK team, and when you get in touch you reach people who understand pet care because Genera is built by people who run a daycare. Duncan has run Duncan's Dog Co in Surrey since 2011.
It also means the software keeps moving. If a customer suggests something genuinely useful, we can build it, and often do within weeks.
At a glance
Plans. Collar £49, £99 and £199. Genera £50, £75 and £99.
Services included. Collar allows 3, 6 or 12 and then charges £3 a month each. Genera does not limit them on any plan.
Team members. Collar allows 5, 10 or 15 and then charges £6.99 a month each. Genera gives you plus one, plus four, or unlimited.
Routing. Collar includes it in the £199 plan. Genera includes it at £99.
Messaging. Collar has in-app chat on every plan and an SMS allowance, then £4.99 per 500 texts. Genera has a two way inbox and broadcasts inside the owner's app, with no cost per message, on Thrive.
Free trial. Collar 14 days. Genera 30 days on the plan you choose.
Where payments land. Both pay card payments into your own Stripe account. Genera adds Direct Debit through your own GoCardless account.
Built by. Collar by a software company. Genera by a licensed daycare in Surrey.
Collar's plans, caps and add on prices above are taken from their public pricing page, checked on 28 September 2026. Check them yourself before you decide, because both of us can change them.
Honest summary
Collar is a capable platform and for some businesses it will be the right fit, particularly if you want the retail module or run several sites. But if it matters to you that owners can pay by Direct Debit, that adding a service does not add to the bill, and that support is a real person who gets your business, that is exactly how Genera is built.
Try it with your own data for 30 days and see how it feels.