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Getting Started — SaaS

This guide walks you through setting up Gäld on the hosted platform at app.gaeld.ch. For the complete self-hosted Community Edition, see Getting Started (self-hosted).

1. Create your account​

  1. Go to app.gaeld.ch/signup.
  2. Choose Cloud Free for a permanent hosted account, or choose Solo or Team to start a 14-day trial without a payment method.
  3. Enter your name, email, and password, then accept the privacy and service terms.
  4. Cloud Free starts immediately. Solo and Team start immediately without a payment method. Payment details are requested only if you explicitly convert the trial to a paid plan later.

Cloud Free is limited to one organisation, one user, five invoices per month, five receipt OCR scans per month, and 250 MB of customer document storage. See Billing & Plans for the full feature boundary.

2. Set up your organisation​

After signing in, the setup wizard guides you through:

  1. Organisation name — your company or freelance business name.
  2. Business type — freelancer, SME, or fiduciary workflow.
  3. Fiscal year — most Swiss businesses use 1 Jan – 31 Dec.
  4. Currency — CHF by default.
  5. VAT settings — VAT number (if registered), reporting method, and rate.

The hosted subscription covers one organisation at launch. Cloud Free allows one named user; Solo allows up to three and Team allows up to five.

3. Import your chart of accounts​

Gäld ships with Swiss chart of accounts templates (KMU-Kontenrahmen). During setup:

  • Accept the default template, or
  • choose the migration workflow and import your existing opening data.

4. Use the dashboard​

Once setup is complete, you land on the Dashboard — your financial overview at a glance:

  • Revenue and expenses — current month and trend
  • Outstanding invoices — total receivables with aging
  • Cash position — bank account balances
  • Quick actions — create an invoice, record an expense, or scan a receipt

The Quick Receipt action sends a receipt to OCR. Cloud Free includes five accepted OCR scans per calendar month; paid-plan limits are shown in the app. An OCR attempt that is accepted for processing counts against the applicable quota even if processing later fails.

5. Create your first invoice​

  1. Navigate to Invoicing → New invoice.
  2. Add a customer or create one inline.
  3. Add line items with description, quantity, and price.
  4. Select the VAT rate for each line.
  5. Click Create — Gäld generates a Swiss QR-bill automatically.

Cloud Free allows five invoices per calendar month. Existing invoices remain available and exportable when the limit is reached.

6. Import or connect your bank​

All hosted plans support CAMT import. Cloud Free does not include live bank synchronization.

For Solo or Team, when your provider is supported:

  1. Go to Banking → Connect bank.
  2. Select your Swiss bank from the list.
  3. Authorise the connection through your bank's portal.
  4. Review imported transactions and reconcile them against open invoices.

Provider availability and any operational limits are shown in the application.

7. Record expenses​

  1. Go to Expenses → New expense.
  2. Enter the supplier, amount, date, and account.
  3. Attach a receipt as a PDF or image, or use the Quick Receipt result.
  4. Gäld books the journal entry automatically.

Customer documents count toward the storage limit of the selected plan. The application rejects an upload before persistence when it would exceed that limit, and existing documents can be exported or deleted according to your permissions.

8. Choose what happens after a paid-plan trial​

Open Settings → Billing before the 14-day Solo or Team trial ends:

  • Cloud Free — permanent hosted access with strict limits.
  • Solo — CHF 15/month, up to 3 named users and live bank synchronization where supported.
  • Team — CHF 39/month, up to 5 named users and the Team feature set.

Choosing a paid plan is explicit. If you do nothing, Gäld returns the organisation to Cloud Free without deleting data or creating a charge.

See Billing & Plans for the complete comparison, cancellation, export, and legacy-plan policy.

Next steps​