For Swiss SMEs and fiduciaries (Treuhänder), choosing accounting software is a strategic decision: it determines how much time accounting takes, how securely the financial data is stored and how well prepared you are for audits. This comparison shows what really matters in 2026, what the common solutions cost and how a local AI bookkeeping agent takes over the routine work, regardless of which software you choose.
Disclosure: This comparison comes from Bilanzo. Bilanzo is itself a provider and appears in this comparison. The information on other providers comes from their public pricing pages (for the date, see table) and may change.
It is not the range of functions on paper that decides, but how well a solution fits Swiss reality. These five criteria separate the wheat from the chaff:
| Criterion | Pure cloud software | Traditional local | Local software + Bilanzo agent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data location | depending on the provider, Switzerland, the EU or the USA | own infrastructure | AI analysis local; accounting data wherever your accounting software stores it |
| Document automation | partly | low | AI-supported document analysis |
| Offline capability | no | yes | document analysis yes; booking in cloud software only with a connection |
| CLOUD Act risk | depending on the provider and where it is headquartered | none | as with your accounting software; the AI analysis itself runs locally |
| Running costs | subscription by package or number of users | licence/maintenance | subscription; documents are not sent to any cloud AI service for the AI analysis |
Simplified comparison of the categories. Actual suitability depends on company size, number of clients and data protection requirements.
The entry price is only part of the costs: if users or modules such as payroll are added, the running costs rise. The following list prices of the providers give an orientation.
| Solution | Entry level | Typical SME plan | Data storage |
|---|---|---|---|
| bexio | CHF 35/month (annual plan, excl. VAT) | CHF 42 to 119/month (annual plan, excl. VAT) | Cloud (CH) |
| Klara | from CHF 48/month (Business Basic, excl. VAT) | from CHF 69 to from CHF 111/month (Business Plus, Premium, excl. VAT) | Cloud (CH) |
| Sage Start / Infoniqa | Price not publicly stated, see infoniqa.com | Price not publicly stated | depending on version, see provider |
| Abacus / AbaWeb | Price not publicly stated, see abacus.ch | Price not publicly stated | depending on version, see provider |
| Run my Accounts | Software for new customers only together with an accounting service | Price per package and entry, see runmyaccounts.ch | Cloud |
| Banana | CHF 89/year (incl. VAT) | CHF 179/year (Advanced, incl. VAT) | local |
| + Bilanzo (AI agent) | CHF 199/month incl. VAT (Standard); partner terms for fiduciaries per client mandate and month according to a tiered scale | CHF 299/month incl. VAT (Professional); founder offer for the first 150 fiduciaries: one-off CHF 299, no base fee. Complements your chosen software with local AI analysis | AI analysis local |
As at 1 November 2026, according to the providers’ pricing pages: bexio (bexio.com/de-CH/pakete-preise, annual plan, excl. VAT), Klara (klara.ch/preise, “from” prices, excl. VAT), Run my Accounts (runmyaccounts.ch/preis-buchhaltung: the software is only available to new customers together with accounting services), Banana (banana.ch/de/prices, incl. VAT); Sage Start/Infoniqa and Abacus do not state a public price. Infoniqa owns Sage Switzerland and Run my Accounts. Bilanzo prices incl. VAT. Subject to changes by the providers. Details of the cost calculation in the article Local vs. cloud.
For a long time, the rule was: anyone who wants automation has to hand their data over to the cloud. In 2026, that no longer has to be the case. Modern local AI models process documents directly on your infrastructure. You therefore get the productivity of automation without your documents being sent to a cloud AI service for the AI analysis. This is exactly where Bilanzo comes in, but as an agent, not as yet another piece of software: Bilanzo automates document processing and suggests entries directly in your existing software (for example bexio). The AI analysis runs locally; the entries end up in your accounting software and are stored wherever it stores your data. The VAT return and year-end closing continue to be created in your usual solution, just with considerably less manual work.
Fiduciaries are liable to their clients for the faithful and diligent performance of the mandate (Art. 398 para. 2 OR); this also includes the choice of suitable tools. The Federal Act on Data Protection (DSG) does not require data to be located in Switzerland, but it does regulate the disclosure of personal data abroad (Art. 16 DSG). The less client data goes to third parties, the simpler this assessment becomes. More on this on our page for fiduciaries.
Test Bilanzo free of charge with 100 documents and see for yourself how much time AI-supported, local accounting saves.
There is no solution that is best across the board; what matters is data location, degree of automation, Swiss compliance and total costs. For businesses sensitive to data protection and for fiduciaries, it is particularly attractive to complement the chosen software with a local AI agent such as Bilanzo, which takes over the routine work and analyses the documents locally.
That depends on the number of users, modules and term. Calculate the costs over several years with your actual number of users.
Swiss cloud hosting is fundamentally reputable, but with providers whose servers are in the EU or the USA there is a residual risk via the CLOUD Act. Local software or Swiss hosting reduces this risk; where the provider is headquartered is also decisive.
No. AI automates the routine (document capture, account assignment, checking). Advice, tax structuring and business decisions remain the task of the fiduciary, who thereby gains more time for valuable work.
Already using bexio? Then Bilanzo is the right AI complement: AI accounting for bexio, installed locally, the AI analysis stays on your computer, with automatic document capture and booking suggestions.
Already using bexio and wondering whether switching is worthwhile? Often the better answer is not new software but an AI complement: in our comparison bexio alternative or complement, we show when switching is really worthwhile and when you are better off keeping bexio and automating it.
Bilanzo uses bexio as its login provider. You do not need a second password.
You will be sent to auth.bexio.com. Bilanzo never sees your bexio password.
