Invoicing Software Switzerland: Create Invoices the Easy Way

Magic Heidi is invoicing software from Switzerland, built for freelancers, sole proprietorships, and small businesses. You create QR-invoices in about 60 seconds, the software calculates VAT automatically, you capture receipts with a photo, and payment reminders stay on your radar. Everything runs on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows, and the web, from CHF 0 per month.

On this page, you'll learn what a good invoicing solution needs to do, how Magic Heidi compares with bexio, smallinvoice, KLARA, and other Swiss solutions, and which invoicing tool fits your profile.

The short version

• Magic Heidi fits best for solo freelancers and sole proprietorships who want fast invoicing and simple handling, without ERP complexity.
• bexio (from CHF 35/month) and KLARA (from CHF 55/month) are strong for teams of five or more, but usually overkill for freelancers.
• smallinvoice is the right choice if CRM, projects, and time tracking matter alongside invoicing.
• Non-negotiable in Switzerland: QR-invoices, automatic VAT (8.1%, 2.6%, 3.8%), mandatory VAT registration from CHF 100,000 in revenue, a ten-year retention requirement for records.
• Magic Heidi is free to try, no credit card needed: 3 invoices and 3 receipts, every feature included, no time limit.

What is invoicing software?

Invoicing software is a program that lets businesses create, send, and track invoices. It handles everything from the quote to the payment reminder: amounts, VAT, and due dates are calculated automatically, and unpaid invoices stay visible. In Switzerland, that includes the QR-bill payment slip as a mandatory part of every invoice.

"Invoicing" simply means creating and sending invoices. Whether a provider calls its product invoicing software or billing software, it's the same thing. What matters isn't the name, but whether the software fits how your business actually works and genuinely takes invoice management off your plate.

The specification behind the Swiss QR-bill payment slip is the Swiss QR-bill standard from SIX; see creating a QR-invoice for how that works in two minutes. The VAT details are covered in the VAT for Freelancers guide, and payment reconciliation in camt.053 bank import. For how quotes and client data work together, see creating quotes and estimates and client management.

If a piece of software only weakly covers two or three of these points, you won't notice it in the demo. You'll notice it in May, when the quarterly VAT statement is due.

From opening the app to sending the PDF, that's about 60 seconds. With the bigger SME solutions, it's more like three to five minutes, because there are more fields, accounts, and mandatory details to click through. That efficiency adds up: if you send 10 invoices a month, you save hours every year.

You still get to personalize things: your own logo, your own colors, your own payment terms. If you'd rather start out manually, you'll find a free invoice template, and the how to write a Swiss invoice guide covers every mandatory detail.

The best invoicing software is the one that fits your volume and your business, and the table above helps you make an informed choice. In practice, what counts isn't the longest feature list, it's how fast an invoice lands with your client and how little you can get wrong along the way. KLARA relies on modules you add one by one, bexio on tiered plans. Magic Heidi deliberately ships one single feature set for everyone.

Billify (free plan, paid tiers) and swiss21 (free model with its own ecosystem) are other Swiss options for budget-conscious starters. For a detailed comparison with ratings, see the article on Swiss accounting software.

Which invoicing software fits your business?

Most comparison tables sort by features. It's more useful to sort by your own profile instead.

Invoicing software, billing software, or Rechnungsprogramm: what's the difference?

Short answer: there isn't one. Invoicing software, billing software, invoice generator, and the German term Rechnungsprogramm all describe the same tool. If you're searching in German-speaking Switzerland, Rechnungsprogramm and Fakturierungssoftware are the terms people actually type into Google, while fiduciaries and job listings tend to say Faktura or Fakturierungslösung instead.

What matters more than the label is the line between invoicing software and accounting software. A pure invoicing tool creates and manages invoices and quotes. Accounting software also runs your accounts, balance sheet, and profit and loss statement. If you're a sole proprietorship or partnership under CHF 500,000 in revenue, simplified bookkeeping is enough, and that usually means lean software like Magic Heidi with a clean export for your fiduciary.

Invoicing in Switzerland: the rules that apply

Before you commit to a piece of software, it's worth looking at what Swiss practice actually requires from businesses. Three points get overlooked most often:

1. The QR-invoice is the standard. Since October 2022, the old red and orange payment slips have been discontinued. For domestic CHF payments, banks and clients expect the QR-bill payment slip. Invoices you create without one still work, but they're inconvenient for the recipient and tend to get paid more slowly.

2. VAT becomes mandatory from CHF 100,000 in annual revenue. As long as your business stays under that threshold, you can invoice without VAT. Once you're over it, or clearly heading there, you need to register with the ESTV and start showing VAT on your invoices. Good software applies the correct rates automatically.

3. A ten-year retention requirement. Under the Swiss Code of Obligations, Art. 958f, you need to keep invoices, receipts, and business records for ten years, in a form that stays readable the whole time. Cloud software with export handles that more easily than a stack of paper in the basement.

Every Swiss invoicing software should cover these three points cleanly. If a provider doesn't clearly mention them, that's often a sign the software was built for the German or Austrian market instead.

A low price isn't a goal in itself, though. If cheap software means you end up tracking reminders manually or calculating VAT elsewhere, those savings end up costing you more than software that just gets the workflow right. The biggest simplification is the one you stop noticing, because invoicing just works and outstanding invoices get managed in the background. For most solo freelancers and small businesses, that's the right order of priorities. See the pricing overview for all the details.