TL;DR: Pick KLARA if your business has a physical point of sale — POS system, online shop, website and appointment booking all come from one provider. Pick bexio if you want classic SME administration: double-entry accounting, fiduciary access and a direct e-banking connection to Swiss banks. And if you work alone, with no employees and no shop till? Then honestly neither is ideal — both are built for SMEs, not for solo self-employed people. More on that below.

The essentials at a glance

• KLARA positions itself as a "business operating system": invoicing, accounting, POS, shop, website and appointment booking — packages from CHF 55/mo. on the annual plan, plus add-on modules.
• bexio is the market leader with over 100'000 companies: four packages from CHF 35 to CHF 119/mo. (annual plan), double-entry accounting, payroll as an add-on.
• The biggest difference: KLARA wins at everything around the point of sale (POS, shop, website), bexio at accounting depth, e-banking and fiduciary access.
• Neither of them is tailored to sole proprietorships without employees — for that there are more focused (and cheaper) tools.

Here's what's interesting about searching for "KLARA vs bexio": neither provider publicly compares itself with the other. Understandable — but not very helpful when you're trying to decide between exactly these two Swiss solutions. So let's do the comparison.

Full transparency up front: Magic Heidi is our own product. We compete with KLARA and bexio only in one narrow segment — freelancers and sole proprietorships — so we have little reason to talk either tool down. All prices in this comparison come from the providers' official pricing pages and carry a verification date (see the footnote at the end). Where we're missing a figure, we say so instead of guessing.

KLARA and bexio: two different answers to the same question

Both tools want to cover the administration of Swiss SMEs — but they come at it from opposite directions.

bexio (Rapperswil) is the classic business software: invoicing, double-entry accounting, payroll, inventory and a large integrations marketplace. Over 100'000 Swiss companies use it, and many fiduciaries work directly inside their clients' systems. bexio is what most people mean when they say "Swiss SME software".

KLARA (Lucerne) thinks in terms of business models: a hair salon needs a POS system alongside its accounting, a restaurant needs appointment booking, a shop needs an online store. So KLARA offers all of that as modules from a single provider — including a website builder and payroll, with industry solutions for hospitality, retail, beauty and trades, in four languages.

The choice between the two is therefore less a feature question than a type question: do you sell at a physical location — or do you run a classic service SME? You'll find the comparison table with all the criteria further down this page.

Where KLARA wins

• Everything around the point of sale. POS system, online shop, website and appointment booking are part of KLARA's system — at bexio, none of that belongs to the core product. For a shop, a restaurant or a salon, that's the decisive difference: one provider instead of three.
• Industry solutions. KLARA thinks in industries (hospitality, retail, beauty, trades) and offers tailored packages for them — for local businesses, that feels closer to everyday reality than a generic accounting package.
• Modular expansion. On top of the Business package, you only activate the add-on modules your business really needs — POS, shop, payroll and co. can be switched on individually.
• Four languages. KLARA covers Switzerland's language regions broadly — a plus for businesses with a mixed-language customer base.

Where bexio wins

• Accounting depth. bexio offers full double-entry accounting with fiduciary access — your fiduciary can work directly in the system instead of shuttling receipts back and forth. For companies that work closely with a fiduciary, that's often the deciding argument.
• Direct e-banking connection. bexio connects directly to Swiss banks — reconcile payments without manual export/import. That's one of the product's genuine strengths.
• Ecosystem and market share. Over 100'000 companies, a large marketplace of integrations, many fiduciaries and partners who know the system. If you hire staff or switch fiduciaries: the odds that someone already knows bexio are high.
• Team and inventory features. Multi-user access (1 to 25 users depending on the package) and inventory management make bexio a solid choice for growing teams.
• Transparent package pricing. Four clearly defined packages instead of a module kit: you know in advance what the year will cost. You'll find the details in our breakdown bexio pricing 2026.

What does it actually cost? The price comparison

bexio has four packages (package line-up from March 2026; prices on the annual plan, monthly payment costs CHF 10/mo. more):

• Basic: CHF 35/mo. — 1 user, e-banking, but no AI receipt scanning and no payroll. CHF 420/year.
• Advanced: CHF 42/mo. — 2 users, 50 AI receipt scans/mo. CHF 504/year. Payroll as an add-on: +CHF 7/mo. (1 employee) or +CHF 25/mo. (5 employees).
• Optima: CHF 69/mo. — 5 users, 100 scans/mo. CHF 828/year; payroll add-on +CHF 25/mo.
• Ultimate: CHF 119/mo. — 25 users, unlimited scans (fair use), payroll for 25 employees and bexio Pay included. CHF 1'428/year.

There's no permanent free version, only a 30-day trial.

KLARA sells three Business packages (prices on the annual plan; monthly payment costs more, a 2-year plan less):

• Business Basic: CHF 55/mo. on the annual plan (CHF 69 monthly) — invoicing and accounting. CHF 660/year.
• Business Plus: CHF 79/mo. on the annual plan (CHF 99 monthly).
• Business Premium: CHF 127/mo. on the annual plan (CHF 159 monthly).

On top of that come add-on modules like POS, shop or payroll, depending on your business — so the total cost depends on your module selection. Work out your specific combination on the pricing page at klara.ch.

Sample calculation for a small SME (one owner, one employee, invoicing + accounting + payroll):

• bexio Advanced + payroll add-on (1 employee): CHF 42 + 7 = CHF 49/mo., so CHF 588/year.
• KLARA: Business Basic CHF 55/mo. = CHF 660/year, plus the payroll add-on module — the final price only becomes clear after your module selection.

Bottom line on price: bexio starts cheaper and is more predictable; with KLARA you pay for the breadth around the point of sale. Neither is cheap if you only really use a small part of the features — more on that in a moment.

The honest decision guide

Choose KLARA if your business has (or will have) a physical point of sale: POS, shop, website and appointments from one system are its genuine USP. It works with employees too — payroll is included as a module. You'll find the detailed head-to-head at KLARA compared.

Choose bexio if you run a classic SME with employees, work closely with a fiduciary or want the direct e-banking connection. Accounting depth and the ecosystem are stronger here. More details in the bexio comparison — and if the price is your main gripe, it's worth a look at bexio pricing 2026 in detail.

The third option: if you work alone

And now the part that neither KLARA nor bexio will tell you: both are built for SMEs — for businesses with employees, a till, inventory or a fiduciary mandate. If you work as a freelancer or sole proprietorship without employees, with both of them you pay for substance you'll never touch: payroll runs, multi-user permissions, POS systems, inventory management.

That's exactly the case we built Magic Heidi for: invoices with QR payment slip, expenses with AI receipt scanning (take a photo — date, amount, vendor and VAT are extracted automatically), both VAT accounting methods and native apps for iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and web. Cost: CHF 25/mo. on the annual plan (CHF 299/year), and the free version includes all features up to 3 invoices and 3 expenses — no credit card, no time limit. All the details on the pricing page, and we introduce the product itself at invoicing software for Swiss freelancers.

Just as honestly, the limits: Magic Heidi has no payroll, no POS and no double-entry accounting — we deliberately focus on simplified accounting for sole proprietorships (more on that at accounting software for the self-employed). As soon as you hire employees or open a shop, you're better off with KLARA or bexio. Until then, you probably need neither one nor the other.

Last updated: 13 July 2026. Prices verified: bexio on 13 July 2026 directly on the official pricing page (bexio.com, package line-up from March 2026), KLARA on 13 July 2026 on klara.ch. We review the figures quarterly. All prices without guarantee — the providers' current pricing pages are authoritative.