Terms of service
2026-09-21
This English version of the terms of service is provided for convenience. In case of discrepancies between the English and the German version, the German version prevails.
1. Scope
1.1 These terms of service (“terms”) apply to all contracts between Suisse IT GmbH, Kesslernmattstrasse 20, 8965 Berikon, Switzerland (“Suisse IT”), and its customers (“customer”) for the use of Suisse Speech. Suisse Speech comprises the application programming interface for speech recognition (speech-to-text) and speech synthesis (text-to-speech) at api.suisse-speech.ch (“API”), the customer console at console.suisse-speech.ch (“console”) and the documentation (together the “services”).
1.2 The services are intended for companies, organisations and developers who use them for business or professional purposes.
1.3 Deviating, conflicting or supplementary terms and conditions of the customer do not become part of the contract unless Suisse IT expressly agrees to them in writing.
1.4 Individual agreements, in particular enterprise agreements, quotes and a data processing agreement, take precedence over these terms to the extent that they deviate from them.
2. Services
2.1 Through the API, Suisse IT provides speech recognition and speech synthesis, each in realtime (streaming) and in batch mode (single requests and jobs). The console is used to manage the account, users, API keys, usage and credit. The current scope of the services, in particular the available languages, dialects, voices, audio formats and limits, is set out in the documentation and in the information the API itself provides about its capabilities.
2.2 The results of the services are generated automatically using artificial intelligence. Transcripts may contain recognition errors; synthetic speech may contain errors in pronunciation, intonation or dialect. Suisse IT gives no warranty that the results are correct, complete or fit for a particular purpose. The customer checks the results appropriately before using them, in particular where errors could have significant consequences.
2.3 Languages, dialects and varieties that Suisse IT offers on a best-effort basis, and for which it publishes no quality figures, are provided without any assurance of a particular quality.
2.4 Suisse IT continuously develops the services and may change them as far as this is reasonable for the customer. Suisse IT does not change the names and the sound of the voices, the error codes, the message types of the realtime interface or the meaning of the billing unit without prior notice.
2.5 Suisse IT may engage subcontractors and specialised processing partners to provide the services. Section 12 applies to the processing of personal data.
3. Conclusion of contract and account
3.1 The contract is concluded when Suisse IT sets up an account following the customer’s request or registration and activates access. By using the services for the first time at the latest, the customer accepts these terms. Suisse IT may decline requests without giving reasons.
3.2 Only natural persons with full legal capacity and legal entities may open an account. Anyone opening an account for a legal entity or another organisation must be authorised to represent it.
3.3 The customer provides true and complete information and promptly reports any changes or updates them in the console.
3.4 The customer may invite further users to its account and assign roles to them. It ensures that its users comply with these terms and is responsible for their actions as for its own.
4. API keys
4.1 Access to the API is by API key. The customer keeps its API keys and its console sign-in credentials confidential, protects them against unauthorised access and shares them only with persons and systems acting on its behalf.
4.2 The customer is responsible for all use of its API keys and bears the cost of all requests made with them, including requests made by third parties. This does not apply to the extent that misuse results from a breach of duty by Suisse IT.
4.3 If there is reason to believe that an API key or sign-in credentials have become known to unauthorised persons, the customer revokes the key in the console without delay or asks Suisse IT to block it immediately.
5. Free trial and sandbox
5.1 New customers receive a one-time allowance of 60 minutes of audio free of charge, for speech-to-text and text-to-speech combined (“free minutes”). The free minutes are valid for 30 days from the opening of the account. Free minutes not used by then expire without compensation.
5.2 Free minutes are granted only once per organisation, even if it opens several accounts. Suisse IT may refuse or withdraw free minutes if there are indications of abuse.
5.3 When the free minutes are used up or have expired, the API refuses further requests (HTTP status 429) until the customer purchases credit.
5.4 Sandbox keys (recognisable by the prefix sv_test_) are free of charge and never billed. They return synthetic test audio and test transcripts in the same formats as the live service, but no real speech recognition or speech synthesis. They are intended for testing integrations and are subject to limits of their own.
6. Prices and metering
6.1 The prices published on the pricing page apply unless otherwise agreed. All prices are in Swiss francs (CHF) and exclude VAT. VAT is charged in addition as required by law, for customers in Switzerland and Liechtenstein at the applicable rate.
6.2 Usage is metered to the second by length of audio: for speech-to-text, the length of the recording submitted; for text-to-speech, the length of the speech produced. There is no minimum charge per request and no rounding up to minutes. Realtime (streaming) and batch have different rates.
6.3 Failed requests are not billed; only audio that was actually transcribed or produced is billed. A job that completed successfully is billed even if the customer does not collect the result.
6.4 Suisse IT’s usage records are authoritative for billing unless the customer proves them to be incorrect. The customer can view its usage to the second at any time in the console and through the usage endpoint of the API.
6.5 Suisse IT may change its prices. It announces price changes at least 30 days before they take effect, by e-mail or in the console. Price changes do not apply retroactively: credit already purchased is consumed at no more than the prices that applied when it was purchased.
6.6 Different prices may be agreed for committed volumes.
7. Prepaid credit and payment
7.1 The services are billed against prepaid credit. All services draw on the same credit, each at its own rate.
7.2 The customer tops up credit online with TWINT or card through the payment service provider Payrexx or, as a company, by invoice. Online payments are credited once confirmed, payments by invoice when the payment is received, unless otherwise agreed. Invoices are payable within 30 days net.
7.3 When the credit is used up, the API refuses new requests (HTTP status 429) until credit is topped up; requests already in progress are completed and billed. Suisse IT notifies the users of the account by e-mail when 80 % and when 95 % of the credit has been used. These notifications are a courtesy; the customer remains responsible for topping up credit in good time.
7.4 Purchased credit is valid for twelve months from the date of purchase. Older credit is used first. Credit not used by the end of its validity expires without compensation.
7.5 Used credit is not refunded. Unused credit is refunded only if Suisse IT terminates the contract for reasons for which the customer is not responsible, for example by ordinary termination under section 16.2 or on discontinuation of the services. In that case, Suisse IT refunds the purchased credit that is still valid and unused. Free minutes are not refunded.
7.6 If the customer is in default of payment, Suisse IT may block access to the services after an unsuccessful reminder.
8. Availability, limits and support
8.1 Self-service accounts have no guaranteed availability (no service level agreement). Suisse IT operates the services with care and on a best-effort basis but does not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation. Where possible, Suisse IT carries out maintenance at times of low usage.
8.2 Commitments on availability and latency, dedicated capacity and higher limits may be set out in individual (enterprise) agreements.
8.3 The limits described in the documentation apply, for example to requests per unit of time, simultaneous requests, file sizes and daily budgets. The API itself reports the current values. They are not assured properties and may be adjusted. The API refuses requests beyond these limits or when capacity is exhausted, usually with HTTP status 429, rather than queueing them. The customer ensures that its applications handle such refusals appropriately.
8.4 Results of jobs remain available until collected, for 48 hours at most, and are deleted afterwards. There is no entitlement to have them provided again.
8.5 Suisse IT provides support by e-mail to info@suisse-it.ch on a best-effort basis and without guaranteed response times, unless otherwise agreed.
9. Acceptable use
9.1 The customer uses the services for lawful purposes only and complies with all applicable laws, in particular data protection, telecommunications, unfair competition, copyright and criminal law.
9.2 In particular, it is prohibited:
- to imitate real persons with synthetic voices, or to pose as such a person, without their consent;
- to deceive people with synthetic voices or by other means, for example about the identity of the speaker or the origin of a statement, or to engage in fraud, phishing or other misleading practices;
- to generate or support unsolicited automated calls (robocalls), unsolicited advertising calls or other forms of spam;
- to generate or distribute unlawful, hateful, discriminatory, violence-glorifying, harassing or otherwise harmful content;
- to infringe the rights of third parties, in particular copyright, trademark, personality and data protection rights;
- to circumvent, or attempt to circumvent, limits, security measures or access restrictions, for example by using several accounts or keys;
- to reverse-engineer, decompile or replicate the services, their models or voices, except where mandatory law permits this;
- to carry out load, capacity or security tests, including penetration tests, without prior agreement with Suisse IT;
- to distribute malware or to use the services in a way that impairs their operation or other customers.
9.3 The customer discloses that a voice is synthetic wherever the law requires this.
9.4 The customer is responsible for having the right to process the audio and text it submits to the services, and to have them processed by Suisse IT. In particular, it ensures that, where required, recorded persons have given their consent or have been informed, that the rules of telecommunications and criminal law on the recording of conversations are complied with, and that the special requirements for sensitive personal data and for data subject to professional secrecy are met.
9.5 The customer indemnifies Suisse IT against all third-party claims arising from a breach of this section 9 or from the content submitted by the customer, including reasonable costs of legal defence.
10. Suspension
10.1 Suisse IT may block API keys, individual functions or the account in whole or in part if:
- there is reasonable suspicion of a breach of section 9;
- there is a security risk, for example because an API key has apparently become known to unauthorised persons or the use endangers the services or other customers;
- the customer is in default of payment (section 7.6);
- an order of an authority or a court so requires.
10.2 Suisse IT informs the customer of the suspension, in advance where possible, and lifts it as soon as the reason for it no longer applies.
10.3 The right to terminate for good cause (section 16.3) remains reserved.
11. Rights to content and to the service
11.1 The customer retains all rights to the content it submits to the services, in particular audio, text and vocabulary (“input”).
11.2 The transcripts and audio files that the services generate for the customer (“output”) belong to the customer. To the extent that Suisse IT holds any rights to the output, it assigns them to the customer. The customer may use the output without time limit, including after the end of the contract.
11.3 The customer grants Suisse IT the right to process the input solely for the purpose of providing the services. Input and output are not used to train AI models.
11.4 All rights to the services, including software, interfaces, documentation and voices, and to the Suisse Speech brand remain with Suisse IT GmbH or its licensors. For the term of the contract, the customer receives the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the services in accordance with these terms and to integrate them into its own products and services.
12. Data protection
12.1 Suisse IT processes personal data in accordance with its privacy policy and applicable data protection law, in particular the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and, where applicable, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
12.2 Suisse IT processes personal data contained in the input and output as a processor on behalf of the customer; the customer is the controller. Details are governed by the data processing agreement (DPA), which Suisse IT concludes with the customer on request.
12.3 Where no DPA has been concluded, the following applies: Suisse IT processes such personal data only to provide the services and on the customer’s instructions, as they result from the contract and from the customer’s requests to the API. It obliges the persons entrusted with the processing to confidentiality, takes appropriate technical and organisational data security measures, supports the customer in dealing with requests from data subjects and reports data security breaches affecting the customer’s data to the customer as soon as possible. The customer approves the engagement of the sub-processors that Suisse IT uses for this purpose; their list is available on request. Suisse IT safeguards disclosures to countries without adequate data protection with appropriate safeguards, in particular standard contractual clauses.
12.4 Suisse IT is itself the controller for account, billing and usage data, including the metadata of requests.
13. Confidentiality
13.1 The parties treat all confidential information of the other party that they receive in the course of the business relationship as confidential and do not disclose it to third parties. Suisse IT may disclose confidential information to subcontractors and processing partners where this is necessary to provide the services and they are bound by confidentiality.
13.2 This obligation does not apply to information that:
- is publicly known or becomes publicly known through no fault of the receiving party;
- was already known to the receiving party;
- the receiving party lawfully obtained from third parties without an obligation of confidentiality;
- must be disclosed by law or by order of an authority.
13.3 The obligation of confidentiality continues after the end of the contract.
14. Warranty and liability
14.1 Suisse IT provides the services with due care. Unless otherwise agreed, Suisse IT gives no further warranty, in particular for the correctness of the output (section 2.2) or for any particular availability (section 8.1).
14.2 Suisse IT is liable without limitation for damage caused intentionally or through gross negligence, and for personal injury. Mandatory statutory liability, for example under the Swiss Product Liability Act, remains reserved.
14.3 To the extent permitted by law (art. 100 of the Swiss Code of Obligations), Suisse IT’s liability for slight negligence is excluded.
14.4 Otherwise, to the extent permitted by law, Suisse IT’s liability is limited to the amount the customer paid to Suisse IT in the twelve months before the event causing the damage.
14.5 To the extent permitted by law, liability for indirect and consequential damage is excluded, in particular for loss of profit, loss of data, business interruption and third-party claims.
14.6 Suisse IT is not liable for damage resulting from disruptions outside its sphere of influence, for example in public communication networks or in the customer’s systems. Section 14.2 remains reserved.
15. Force majeure
15.1 Neither party is liable for non-performance or delayed performance of its obligations to the extent that this is due to circumstances beyond its reasonable control (force majeure).
15.2 Force majeure includes in particular natural events, war, terrorist attacks, epidemics, strikes, measures by authorities, failures of public communication networks or of the power supply, and cyber attacks that occur despite appropriate protective measures.
15.3 The affected party informs the other party without delay of the event and its expected duration.
16. Term and termination
16.1 The contract is concluded for an indefinite period.
16.2 The customer may terminate the contract at any time by e-mail to info@suisse-it.ch. Suisse IT may terminate the contract with 30 days’ notice to the end of a calendar month.
16.3 Either party may terminate the contract without notice for good cause. For Suisse IT, good cause exists in particular in the event of a serious or repeated breach of section 9, default of payment despite a reminder, insolvency of the customer, or where legal or regulatory requirements prohibit the further provision of the services.
16.4 When the contract ends, the API keys are deactivated. Unused credit expires unless it is refunded under section 7.5. Suisse IT deletes account data in accordance with the privacy policy, subject to statutory retention obligations.
17. Changes to these terms
17.1 Suisse IT may change these terms. It notifies the customer of changes by e-mail or in the console at least 30 days before they take effect.
17.2 If the customer does not object before the changes take effect, they are deemed accepted. Suisse IT points out this consequence in the notice. If the customer objects, either party may terminate the contract as of the date on which the changes take effect.
17.3 Price changes are governed by section 6.5.
18. Miscellaneous
18.1 Notices are given by e-mail to the address stored in the account or to info@suisse-it.ch, or in the console. Individual agreements and amendments to the contract must be made in writing or in another form that allows them to be evidenced by text; section 17 remains reserved.
18.2 The customer may assign or transfer rights and obligations under the contract only with the prior written consent of Suisse IT. Suisse IT may transfer the contract to affiliated companies in the course of a corporate restructuring.
18.3 The customer complies with applicable export control and sanctions regulations and with the rules against corruption and money laundering. It warrants that its use of the services does not violate such regulations.
18.4 Should individual provisions of these terms be or become invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, the validity of the remaining provisions is not affected. The invalid provision is replaced by a valid provision that comes closest to its economic purpose.
18.5 These terms are available in German and English. In case of discrepancies, the German version prevails.
19. Governing law and place of jurisdiction
19.1 The contract is governed exclusively by Swiss law, excluding the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the conflict-of-law rules.
19.2 The exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising out of or in connection with this contract is Zurich, Switzerland. Suisse IT is, however, entitled to bring proceedings against the customer at the customer’s general place of jurisdiction. Mandatory statutory places of jurisdiction remain reserved.