Frequently asked questions

Quick answers to the questions accountants ask most often. Can't find what you need? Email us.

What does luca cost?

Luca starts free. The Free tier includes 2 clients and 30 receipts per month. Paid tiers start at £19/month (Starter, 10 clients) and scale to £69/month (Practice Plus, 75 clients). Bring Your Own AI is £19/month with unlimited clients and receipts. Self-hosted is a £999 one-off perpetual licence.

Do my clients need to install an app?

No. Clients open a unique link in their phone browser and take photos. They can also forward invoices by email to their unique luca address. No app, no account creation, no training required.

How does email-to-receipt ingest work?

Each client gets a unique email address like clientname.firmname@luca.mobi. They forward invoices and luca extracts attachments (PDF, image, DOCX, XLSX) and creates receipts automatically. See the email ingest guide for full details.

Is my data secure?

Yes. Data is stored in the EU, encrypted in transit and at rest. API keys are protected with AES-256-GCM and passwords with bcrypt. luca is GDPR compliant and never sells or shares your data. Read the privacy policy for full details.

Which AI provider does luca use?

By default luca uses Anthropic Claude for receipt extraction — chosen for accuracy and native PDF support. You can switch to OpenAI GPT-4o, Google Gemini, or a self-hosted Ollama instance from Settings.

Can I use my own AI provider?

Yes. The Bring Your Own AI plan (£19/month) lets you provide your own API key for Claude, GPT-4o, Gemini, or Ollama. You pay your provider directly and there are no receipt limits.

What accounting software can I export to?

Sage 50, Xero, QuickBooks Online, Surf Accounts, Big Red Book, and a generic CSV format compatible with anything else. Field mappings and tax codes are handled automatically.

Can I self-host luca?

Yes. The Self-Hosted plan is a £999 one-off perpetual licence. Receipt images and client data never leave your server. Quarterly updates are £99/quarter. We offer a managed setup service for £999 that handles deployment, configuration, and team training.

What happens if the AI gets something wrong?

Edit the field directly in the receipt view. luca learns from your corrections — change a vendor category once and the next receipt from that vendor will be categorised automatically. You can also reprocess a receipt to re-run AI extraction from scratch.

Does luca work offline?

The client capture page works offline. Photos are queued locally and sync automatically when the device reconnects. The accountant dashboard requires an internet connection.

How do I delete my account and data?

Go to Settings → Delete account. Your data is removed from our systems within 30 days, in line with the privacy policy. You can export your data before deleting.

What file formats does luca accept?

JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, TIFF, BMP for images. PDF for documents. DOCX, XLSX, ODS, ODT, CSV, HTML are converted to PDF automatically when sent by email ingest.

Still have a question?

Email hello@luca.mobi — we read every message and reply within one business day.