The market for trade business software is huge, and the brochures all sound the same. For a small Swiss business, though, the choice comes down to a handful of hard criteria. Here’s the checklist you can use to make a well-founded decision in an hour. If you are just starting your business, the guide Starting a Trade Business in Switzerland walks through the necessary steps.
If you already know the criteria and want to see numbers straight away: the provider comparison lines up eight programmes by price and feature set, and if you still work with Excel and Word, the honest comparison is under Excel and Word.
Providers compared directly: bexio, Baunex, BRIXX, Werkli, SORBA, smallinvoice and Meisterwerk.
The dealbreaker criteria for Switzerland
These four points are not negotiable. If even one is missing, the product doesn’t fit a Swiss trade business:
- QR invoice natively: the software must generate the payment slip of the QR invoice to standard, including the QR reference and automatic payment reconciliation. “Available via an add-on module” usually means “available, painfully.”
- Swiss VAT: the standard rate of 8.1%, net tax rate method logic, and a statement that holds up with the Federal Tax Administration (ESTV), see VAT for Swiss trades. Software from Germany happily calculates with 19% VAT and German formats.
- Accountant export: your accountant needs to be able to take over the data without rework. Ask directly: “What do I export for you at year-end?” Details in the guide Bookkeeping for trade businesses.
- Swiss conventions throughout: quote instead of “offer”, CHF 1’234.50 instead of 1.234,50 EUR, formal address, German-language support. Sounds cosmetic, but it decides daily whether your customers trust you.
The practical criteria
- Mobile time tracking: your team works on the job site, not in the office. Clocking in and out has to take seconds on a phone (why it’s mandatory).
- One system from measurement to payment reminder: quote, job, invoice, payment reminder, and bookkeeping belong in one data flow. Every standalone tool means double entry.
- Onboarding effort: a small business doesn’t have project weeks to spare for onboarding. If you can’t send your first quote by the first afternoon, the tool is too heavy.
- Data location and data protection: customer data, wages, and turnover belong on servers in Switzerland, compliant with the revised Data Protection Act (revDSG).
- Pricing model: transparent monthly prices per user, cancellable monthly, no setup fees. Be wary of licensing models that only get a number attached during the sales call.
- AI with control: newer tools generate quote and reminder drafts with AI. That’s fine, but only if you have the final say before every send.
How to test it properly
Take a real case from last week and run it through the trial account in full: enquiry, quote, job, two hours of time-and-materials work, invoice with QR payment slip, payment received. Whatever feels sluggish here becomes unbearable in daily use. Testing two candidates this way tells you more than twenty feature lists.
Where MeisterOffice stands
We’re a party to this comparison, so keep it short and verifiable: MeisterOffice is built for Swiss trade businesses with 1 to 15 employees and fully meets the checklist above, from AI-assisted quotes through QR invoicing with payment reconciliation and mobile time tracking to accountant export, hosted in Switzerland. The fastest way to check this is the free trial with your own real-world case; pricing is here, transparent and online. What it looks like for your trade is shown on the trade pages, for example for painters, electricians, or plumbers.
Frequently asked questions
Do I even need software as a one-person business? Once more than a handful of quotes and invoices go out per month, yes. Evenings at the kitchen table cost more than any monthly subscription; work it out with your own hourly rate.
What about Word and Excel? That’s how you got started, and that was the right call. The limits show up with the QR reference, payment reconciliation, payment reminders, and bookkeeping: all manual, all error-prone, none of it scales.
How do I switch from my current solution? Export your customer list and outstanding items, import them into the new system, set a cut-off date (typically the start of a quarter), and run everything new only in the new system from then on. Old cases run out in the old system.