Switch from Invoice Ninja: clients move, history stays

Guliel is accounting and finance-operations software that runs invoicing, expenses, purchasing, payroll, reporting and a double-entry general ledger on one engine. There is no Invoice Ninja importer or connector today; a direct connector is planned. Switching today means your client list comes across by spreadsheet, you issue new documents in Guliel from a start date, and your Invoice Ninja history (invoices, quotes, payments, expenses) stays in Invoice Ninja, on your server or in its cloud.

You don't have to switch it off to start. Run Guliel beside Invoice Ninja, let automations take over routine steps, and move fully when you're ready. People usually move because they'd rather not run a server, want the books in the same system as the invoices, or need Israeli tax documents in Hebrew or Singapore payroll.

What moves today

Invoice Ninja data	Into Guliel today	How
Clients	Yes (live)	Spreadsheet import on Guliel's template: Name, Tax ID, Email, Phone, Address, City. Only Name is required.
Invoices, quotes, credits, payments	Not imported	They stay in Invoice Ninja. Keep its exports and PDFs.
Recurring invoices	Not imported	No recurring-invoice setting. A monthly scheduled automation can create the invoice through the API.
Products	Not imported	Add them as items, by hand or through the REST API (live).
Vendors	Not imported	Add suppliers, or invite them by email (live).
Expenses	Not imported	New bills are captured by scan or from a connected inbox (live).
Projects, tasks, tracked time	No equivalent	No projects, and no hours-to-invoice timer. The employee time clock feeds payroll only.
Custom invoice designs	Not imported	Document design settings cover template, accent colour, logo and layout. No white-label.
Payment gateway settings	Not imported	Guliel records payments and doesn't process them. PayPal payment links are built, not switched on.

Guliel doesn't read Invoice Ninja's API, its backup file or a database dump. Its document importers today read Morning exports and the Israeli uniform file (מבנה אחיד); there is no importer for Invoice Ninja's own exports today (a direct connector is planned).

Moving the client list, step by step

1. Export your clients from Invoice Ninja to CSV. Hosted and self-hosted work the same. Self-hosters can also select the client rows from the database and save them as CSV with Guliel's headers.
2. Rename the headers. Name is the client's name; Tax ID its VAT or company number; Email and Phone from the primary contact; Address the street lines (add the postcode here if you want it on documents); City. A row with a tax ID becomes a business customer and a row without one a private customer, so fill Tax ID for every company.
3. Upload it. On the Customers page, a manager chooses Import, then Other / spreadsheet template. CSV or .xlsx, up to 10 MB or 50,000 rows.
4. Check, review, commit. Guliel shows which columns it recognised, which required ones are missing and which it will ignore, then marks each row new, already imported or invalid, with the reason. Nothing is saved until you commit, and a bad row is skipped on its own. Re-uploading the file skips rows already imported.
5. Issue your next invoice from Guliel. Numbers follow Guliel's sequence per document type and year, allocated at issue.

If you use Invoice Ninja's companies, each company becomes its own Guliel organisation under the same login, priced per organisation.

Your books after the move

In Guliel, issued invoices, recorded payments, approved expenses and approved payslips post to a double-entry general ledger on a fixed chart of accounts. Manual journal entries cover the rest and must balance before they save. Reports include a trial balance, balance sheet, general ledger, income statement and cash flow. A manager sets the books lock date, and the ledger exports as CSV. Custom accounts are planned.

Collect open Invoice Ninja invoices in Invoice Ninja. To start Guliel's balance sheet from your real position, your accountant posts opening balances as one journal entry dated the day before your start date. When an old invoice is paid, they record the cash with another journal entry. Your accountant gets their own login and role, and captured expenses wait for a person's approval before they reach the ledger. See Guliel for accountants.

What changes day to day

• Documents. Invoices, receipts, credit and debit memos as PDF in the formats of 39 countries, with Hebrew for Israel. See invoicing.
• Suppliers. A supplier's invoice links to the purchase order it bills. A supplier that accepts your invitation with its own Guliel organisation sees your orders and can invoice against them.
• Automations, API and AI. 14 triggers; actions are any API operation or a webhook. Any MCP client, such as Claude or ChatGPT, connects through OAuth 2.1 and acts within your role and scopes.

Check these before you switch

• Self-hosting. Guliel is hosted only and its source isn't public. If you must run the code yourself, stay with Invoice Ninja.
• Structured e-invoices. Guliel's documents are PDF. It doesn't emit Peppol, XRechnung or ZUGFeRD files today; its own Peppol access point is built, awaiting OpenPeppol certification and not yet connected to the app. If a customer needs a structured file, keep issuing to them from your current setup.
• Israeli allocation numbers. Requesting allocation numbers (מספר הקצאה) from the Israel Tax Authority through SHAAM is built and not switched on yet.
• Quotes. Guliel has no quote or estimate document.
• Tax filing. Guliel produces tax reports by period. It doesn't file tax returns.

Time and cost

The client import takes minutes. There's no cut-over weekend: the history doesn't move and Invoice Ninja keeps running.

Importing costs nothing on any plan. The Free plan is $0 per organisation, with 200 invoices, 100 expense scans and 10 reports a month, and 5 active automations. Standard ($20) and Premium ($99) per organisation per month are published prices; paid plans are not on sale yet. See pricing. Where Invoice Ninja still fits better is covered in Guliel vs Invoice Ninja.

FAQ

Can I migrate from a self-hosted Invoice Ninja instance?

Yes, the same way as hosted users: export your clients to CSV, rename the headers to Guliel's template and upload. Guliel doesn't read Invoice Ninja's API, its backup file or a database dump.

Does Guliel import my Invoice Ninja invoices and payments?

No, not today. There is no Invoice Ninja importer yet; a direct connector is planned. Invoices, quotes, credits and payments stay in Invoice Ninja. New documents you issue in Guliel post to Guliel's ledger.

Do my recurring invoices keep running?

Not from Guliel. Recurring invoices aren't imported, and Guliel has no recurring-invoice setting. Keep them in Invoice Ninja, or set up a monthly scheduled automation in Guliel that creates the invoice through the API.

Does Guliel keep the books, or only send invoices?

It keeps the books. Guliel has a double-entry general ledger with manual journal entries, a trial balance, a balance sheet, an income statement, cash flow and a books lock date, and the ledger exports as CSV.

Will my invoice numbers carry over?

No. Invoice Ninja invoices aren't imported, so they keep their numbers in Invoice Ninja. Guliel numbers new documents in its own sequence per document type and year.

Is Guliel open source?

No. Guliel is hosted, closed-source software and can't be self-hosted. Invoice Ninja's source code is public and it runs on your own server; if you need that, Invoice Ninja remains the right tool, and you can still run Guliel beside it.

Is migration free?

Yes. Importing costs nothing on any plan, including Free. Standard ($20) and Premium ($99) per organisation per month are published prices; paid plans are not on sale yet.

Start free, import your clients, and issue your next invoice from Guliel.