# Auto-Charge Vs. Auto-Pay

**Auto-Charge & Auto-Pay are important features that will help improve collections on Alternative Payments. Here's what differentiates these two features.**

***

While Auto-Charge and Auto-Pay do similar things, there are some differences that you should be aware of.

[**Auto-Charge** ](/automations/using-auto-charge.md)is an action you take to charge a customer invoice as long as payment information has been put into the system.

[**Auto-Pay**](/automations/setting-up-auto-pay.md) is a set of rules you define to charge invoices, to all your customers or to specific customers, as long as the invoice meets the criteria of the rule set. You can set rules based on the amount, the past due date, or the customer.

**Love our platform?** Rate us on [Channel Program](https://channelprogram.com/v/alternativepayments) and check out our [Referral Program page](https://www.alternativepayments.io/referral-partners/)!<br>


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://help.alternativepayments.io/automations/using-auto-charge/auto-charge-vs.-auto-pay.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.