A bexio Alternative? Secure Your Documents First (2026)

As of: July 2026 · This article is not legal advice.

The short answer: there are serious Swiss alternatives to bexio — Abacus/AbaNinja, Klara, Sage, Run my Accounts, swiss21, Banana or CashCtrl — and a switch is justified when bexio is genuinely missing a feature you need. But whatever you decide: get your documents out of bexio first. After you cancel, AGB clause 5.7 gives you one month, after which “all of the customer’s data” is “irreversibly” deleted; there is no self-service full export, and a new system won’t automatically bring your old bexio inbox along with it. And if your issue isn’t a missing feature at all, but the fact that your receipts sit inside someone else’s software: you don’t have to leave bexio for that — you can keep bexio and still mirror every receipt continuously into your own Google Drive.

Transparency up front: quintio is our own product — and not a bexio replacement, but a mirror that copies your documents into your own Google Drive. We list it here because for one specific case it’s the best choice — keeping your bexio documents in your own possession, whether you switch or stay — and we’re open about when a different solution fits better (jump straight there).

The order is what matters: secure first, and you decide afterwards without time pressure — switch or stay.

How we compared: all statements about bexio come from the official terms and conditions, the service description and the help articles (linked at the end of the article). Prices in CHF, as of July 2026. We name the alternatives; we have no affiliate relationship with any of them.

What are the alternatives to bexio?

As the most widely used accounting and ERP software for small Swiss companies, bexio still isn’t the right fit for everyone. If you’re looking for an alternative, you’ll find a well-stocked market, each with a different focus depending on your needs:

• Abacus / AbaNinja — the established Swiss provider, strong with growing SMEs and in working with your fiduciary.
• Klara — free to start, a broad ecosystem from payroll to insurance.
• Sage — an international provider with a Swiss edition, for somewhat more complex accounting.
• Run my Accounts — accounting as a managed service rather than pure software.
• swiss21 — a free basic suite (including AbaNinja) for micro-businesses.
• Banana / CashCtrl — lean, low-cost tools for anyone who likes it simple.

Which of these fits is a question of your features, your budget and your industry — and worth an honest feature comparison of its own. This article answers the question that comes before it, the one that stays the same with every switch: what happens to the documents already sitting in bexio?

Cancelling bexio: what happens to your documents

A switch rarely fails on the new tool — it fails on the ten years of receipts stuck in the old one. Three facts you should know before you cancel:

1. Cancelling means deletion. After the contract ends, AGB clause 5.7 lets you request the release of your data for one more month; after that, bexio irreversibly deletes all customer data. For the Document Archive the deadline is 30 days.
2. There is no full export at the push of a button. The journal and contacts come out as Excel, sales documents as a multi-PDF — but for the inbox, bexio’s own help says the uploaded files “can only be downloaded individually” (help article 000001647). The full export is a support service — for the Document Archive a flat CHF 450 per run. All the routes in detail: bexio backup & export compared.
3. The new system won’t fetch the old receipts. No accounting tool automatically pulls in your bexio inbox from the past few years — you have to get the documents out of bexio first, or they’ll be left behind and deleted once the deadline passes.

bexio actually recommends this itself: “We generally recommend keeping the receipts additionally outside of bexio in each case” (help article 000001647). That’s exactly why the first step is fixed before you even pick an alternative.

Secure, review, decide — in that order the switch stays reversible at any time.

Do you even need to switch? Features or ownership

Before you evaluate a new tool, it’s worth an honest question: why exactly do you want to leave? The answer points to two very different solutions.

The most important question first: are you missing a feature — or do you just want to own your documents?

If it’s about a missing feature — a different payroll module, an industry-specific solution, a lower price — then a switch is justified. Look at the alternatives above, choose at your own pace, and take your documents with you when you move (step one above).

But if it’s about ownership of the receipts — the fact that ten years of accounting sit inside someone else’s software and you have one month after cancelling — then a new accounting tool doesn’t solve the problem. You’d only be swapping one provider for the next, with the documents then stuck inside that software just the same. For this problem, you don’t have to leave bexio.

Keep bexio and own the documents anyway

If the only thing that bothers you about bexio is that the documents don’t belong to you, there’s a way that keeps the software and still hands ownership back: a mirror into your own Google Drive. quintio connects to your bexio login, loads the full history (newest receipts first) and then keeps the Drive folder continuously up to date — inbox receipts, invoice PDFs, all searchable via Google’s built-in OCR search (how the connection works).

The difference is structural: the folder is yours. Cancel quintio, and every receipt stays in your Google account. Cancel bexio one day, and your archive is long since out — and the switch to an alternative becomes a calm decision rather than a race against the deletion deadline.

And the retention obligation? Google Drive meets the technical requirements for keeping digital receipts in an audit-proof way, compliant with the CO, GeBüV and tax law. One important note: there is no state-issued GeBüV certification, and audit-proofness isn’t a product feature — it results from the system plus orderly use. What that means in practice is something our fiduciary sets out: audit-proof records from a fiduciary’s view.

The options compared

What happens to your documents depends on the route you take — here are the common options side by side, with their limits (including ours):

Solution	Best for	Document ownership afterwards	Price (as of July 2026)	Limits
quintio.ch (our product)	Keeping all bexio documents continuously in your own Drive — whether you switch or stay	Your Google Drive	CHF 19 / mandate (Beta) · backfill included, no limit	Doesn’t replace bexio (a mirror, not an accounting tool); not a certified GeBüV archive; today Google Drive only
bexio support export	A one-off final export at cancellation	ZIP on your computer	Document Archive: flat CHF 450; inbox: no published price	One-off snapshot; unsecured again afterwards
Switch to another tool	Anyone who genuinely misses bexio features	Depends on the new provider	Subscription to the new tool	Doesn’t bring the old bexio inbox along; set up accounting anew
Third-party archive (swiDOC, Triboni)	A formal archive with a private certificate	Provider cloud	Subscription with the third party (check the price)	A second provider instead of ownership; sync limits

For the pure question of “which plan, which full-text search,” it’s worth a look at the native bexio Document Archive and its alternatives — which also explains why Basic and Advanced customers are left without any archive at all.

When quintio isn’t the right choice

An honest self-assessment — in these cases you’re better served elsewhere:

• You genuinely miss an accounting feature. Then you need a different tool, not a mirror. quintio doesn’t replace bexio — it only makes sure your documents survive the switch and belong to you. Choose the alternative on its features, not on its filing.
• You only want a one-off export (say, at the moment of cancellation): then the support export or an export service provider is cheaper than an ongoing subscription — quintio pays off through continuous operation.
• You need a private archive certificate (internal policy, regulated industry): take swiDOC or the native Document Archive — happily with quintio as an exit-safe second copy, but the certificate comes from the others.
• Your company lives in Microsoft 365 / SharePoint: OneDrive support is planned but not yet available — setting up a Google account just for the mirror is a detour.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

What is the best alternative to bexio? That depends on your features — Abacus/AbaNinja, Klara, Sage, Run my Accounts, swiss21, Banana and CashCtrl are the most common Swiss options. There is no generally “best” one. Whatever you choose: secure your bexio documents before the switch, or they’ll be left behind.

How do I cancel bexio? Through your contract in the settings, observing the agreed notice period. What matters is the timing afterwards: from the end of the contract you have one month under AGB clause 5.7 to request the release of your data — so get the documents out beforehand.

What happens to my documents if I cancel bexio? You have one month to request their release; after that, bexio irreversibly deletes all customer data (for the Document Archive after 30 days). There is no automatic backup that you keep — securing the data is on you.

Do I have to switch from bexio to own my own documents? No. If it’s about ownership and not about a feature, you can keep bexio and mirror every receipt continuously into your own Google Drive — then the copy belongs to you without you switching software.

Does the new system bring my old bexio receipts along automatically? No. No accounting tool pulls in your bexio inbox from the past few years on its own. You export the documents from bexio first (or mirror them out continuously) and then make them available in the new system.

Does a Google Drive mirror meet the retention obligation? Google Drive meets the technical requirements for keeping digital receipts in an audit-proof way, compliant with the CO, GeBüV and tax law; the organizational remainder — orderly filing, an annual legibility check — you handle yourself. There is no state-issued GeBüV certification. Our fiduciary’s assessment: audit-proof records from a fiduciary’s view.

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quintio.ch continuously mirrors every document from bexio into your own Google Drive — searchable, with OCR, effortlessly. Works with every bexio plan, whether you stay or switch. Try it free → Sign in with bexio, sync your first documents for free. No credit card required.

Sources

• bexio terms and conditions (PDF, Nov. 2024) — clauses 5.6/5.7 (data release, deletion after one month)
• bexio help 000001647 “Backing up data / exporting documents” — individual download, recommendation to keep copies externally
• Service description, Document Archive (PDF, as of 1 March 2026) — CHF 450 full export, 30-day deadline
• bexio plans & pricing (as of July 2026)
• Google Drive: automatic indexing

A note on independence: quintio.ch is the authors’ product. There are no affiliate relationships for any of the alternatives mentioned; all prices come from the linked provider pages (as of July 2026).