Centime is solid AP software. It's still software.
Centime offers real AP capabilities. Their platform includes AI-powered OCR for invoice capture, predictive GL coding that learns your chart of accounts, 2-way and 3-way PO matching, multi-tier approval workflows, and payment processing including check printing. They integrate with NetSuite, Sage Intacct, and QuickBooks. They even earn 2.25% APY on funds held in their system. And they have a cannabis-specific industry page.
For a general business — or even a cannabis business with a dedicated AP team — Centime is a viable option. The software handles the workflow. Your team runs the software.
That's the distinction. Centime gives you tools. ShelfSpace gives you a system that does the work.
Centime
Real OCR, PO matching, and approval workflows for a team that wants to do AP itself. But no Metrc, so it can't tell that a vendor invoiced 50 units when 47 were received. It matches invoices to POs; it can't verify the delivery.
ShelfSpace
Built around Metrc from day one. Every line item matched to delivery data, credits surfaced into monthly memos, consignment settled weekly. The platform does the work; you approve.
The cannabis gaps
The same structural gaps that affect every general AP tool apply to Centime:
- No Metrc integration. Centime can match invoices to POs. But in cannabis, the source of truth for deliveries is Metrc — the state-mandated seed-to-sale tracking system. Without Metrc data, you can't verify that what a vendor invoiced matches what was actually delivered and manifested. You're trusting the invoice, which is exactly how dispensaries end up overpaying vendors by tens of thousands per year. We recently caught a $4,873 duplicate invoice — the kind of cross-entity billing error that's invisible without Metrc cross-referencing. Learn more about delivery verification.
- No credit recovery. Centime processes invoices and payments. It doesn't identify credits you're owed from vendors — returns, expirations, co-marketing commitments that were fulfilled but never claimed. That's a separate workflow that requires pulling POS and Metrc data, building credit memos, and negotiating with vendors. We routinely find $8,000 to $25,000 per month in recoverable credits during our first evaluation of a new client. Read our credit recovery case study to see what that looks like in practice.
- No consignment settlements. Cannabis consignment requires weekly settlement calculations based on POS sell-through data, profit splits, and aging discounts. It's not an invoice workflow — it's a settlement workflow. Centime has no concept of it because consignment barely exists outside cannabis and a few other niche industries.
- Generic AP, not cannabis AP. The most fundamental difference: Centime is built for general businesses with a cannabis page. ShelfSpace is built around Metrc and cannabis-specific workflows (consignment, credit recovery, Check 21) from the ground up.
What a cannabis-specific AP system does
Here's what happens when AP runs on a cannabis-specific platform instead of generic AP software:
- Vendors email the platform, not you. Every invoice, every question, every credit dispute lands in your dedicated ShelfSpace inbox. ShelfiQ handles 95% of routine vendor email; the 5% that need judgment route to your AP person.
- Every invoice verified against Metrc before payment. The platform matches line items to Metrc delivery data. If the invoice says 50 units and Metrc says 47 were received, it gets flagged before you pay.
- Credit memos built monthly. Returns processed in Metrc but never invoiced back. Expirations with credit terms. Promotional commitments that were fulfilled but never claimed. The platform surfaces every one into a monthly credit memo and deducts approved credits from the next payment.
- Consignment settled weekly. Settlement reports calculated to the penny, with profit splits, aging discounts, and sell-through data pulled directly from your POS and Metrc.
- Payments prepared, you approve, you sign and send. The platform generates the Check 21 payments; you review, approve, sign, and send. One workflow.
- Everything synced to QuickBooks. Real-time sync — no double entry, no reconciliation headaches.
Your AP workload: approve payments. 15 minutes per week.
$8K–$25K
a month in recoverable credits found at our first evaluation
95%
of routine vendor email handled by ShelfiQ
15 min
your AP workload per week: approve payments
Who should use what
Not in cannabis? Centime is worth evaluating. The AI-powered invoice capture, predictive coding, and multi-tier approvals are genuinely useful for teams that want to do AP themselves, better.
Running cannabis and don't want to babysit AP? ShelfSpace does the heavy lifting. The platform handles invoice intake, Metrc verification, credit memos, settlements, and ShelfiQ-driven vendor email. You drive on one dashboard.
Running cannabis and need Metrc verification, credit recovery, and consignment? ShelfSpace is purpose-built for this. No general AP platform — Centime included — offers Metrc integration, consignment settlements, or credit recovery. Those aren't add-ons bolted on. They're the foundation.
The real question: generic AP or cannabis AP?
Most dispensary operators don't want more generic software. They want a system that understands their workflow. Centime is good generic AP. ShelfSpace is cannabis AP — built around Metrc, consignment, credit recovery, and Check 21 from day one.
Centime gives you a dashboard. ShelfSpace gives you a dashboard plus a system that knows cannabis, knows Metrc, knows your vendors, and does the heavy lifting so you can focus on running your stores.
Metrc verification, credit recovery, and consignment settlement aren't add-ons bolted onto cannabis AP. They're the foundation, and generic AP software doesn't have them.
We'll run a free evaluation — show you the credits Centime can't find, the Metrc discrepancies it can't check, and exactly how much a cannabis-specific AP system would save you.