bexio Document Archive: Features, Costs — and the Alternative for Basic & Advanced
What the bexio Document Archive can do, what it costs — and when a mirror into your own Google Drive is the better choice.
By Roman Brüngger — Fiduciary with a Swiss federal diploma · Founder rombro ag
As of: July 2026
The short answer: The Document Archive is bexio’s GeBüV-compliant archive with full-text search, available since 1 March 2026 — but included only in the Optima (CHF 69/mo.) and Ultimate (CHF 119/mo.) plans; in the official package comparison Basic and Advanced simply show “–”, and there is no standalone add-on. Anyone on Basic (CHF 35) or Advanced (CHF 42) still has no archive, no full-text search and no bulk export. The alternatives: switch to the more expensive plan (+CHF 324/year from Advanced to Optima), subscribe to a third-party archive (swiDOC, Triboni, DocuWare) — or mirror your receipts automatically into your own Google Drive, where full-text search costs nothing extra.
Transparency up front: The last option, quintio, is our own product. We’re open about where it’s the best choice — and where the native archive or a third-party archive is a better fit.
What the Document Archive can do
With it, bexio addressed one of its oldest customer requests — the ideas-portal entry “Download all receipts for filing” from 2018 collected 220 votes (as of June 2021, archived). According to the product page, press release and help, the archive offers:
- GeBüV-compliant, audit-proof filing using the “OriginVault” time-stamp technology of the Swiss partner OriginStamp AG — what the GeBüV requires
- OCR full-text search (reliable up to about 20 pages per document, according to bexio Help) plus tags for organisation
- Permission management and automatic deletion suggestions once the retention period expires; activated by the Super Admin
- Fiduciaries assigned in bexio automatically get access to the archive
For companies on Optima/Ultimate with formal archiving requirements, that’s a real improvement. The service description names one important limitation itself: bexio guarantees GeBüV compliance “exclusively for documents stored directly in the Document Archive from 1 March 2026 onward” — for older holdings, the burden of proof remains with the customer.
What it can’t do — even on Optima/Ultimate
- The documents don’t leave bexio. No export to Google Drive or OneDrive, no sync into your own storage. Even with the archive: you download individual documents yourself; the full export costs a flat CHF 450 via bexio support (service description, “Data export” section). When you switch providers, you face the same problem as before (all export options).
- Not a backup in the real sense. Archive and accounting sit with the same provider, under the same contract. When the contract ends, access ends — for the Document Archive after a 30-day deadline with irreversible deletion.
- Outsiders stay locked out. Your fiduciary assigned in bexio does automatically get archive access — but sharing with the bank, the insurer or an external auditor still means: log in, search, download, email.
The maths for Basic and Advanced customers
If you’d upgrade solely for the archive, you pay noticeably for it (pricing page, annual billing; monthly billing CHF 10/mo. more each):
| From → To | Extra per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Basic (35) → Optima (69) | +CHF 34 | +CHF 408 |
| Advanced (42) → Optima (69) | +CHF 27 | +CHF 324 |
Optima does add further features on top — but if you don’t need them, you’re buying an expensive whole plan for a single feature.
The alternatives compared
| Solution | Full-text search | Storage location | Exit-safe? | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| quintio.ch (our product) | ✅ (Google OCR in Drive) | Your own Google Drive | ✅ the folder stays yours | Subscription per mandate (⚠️ enter price) |
| Upgrade to Optima | ✅ (in the archive, up to ~20 pages) | bexio | ❌ (full export CHF 450) | +CHF 324–408/year |
| swiDOC | ✅ (OCR) | Swiss data centre (ISO 27001) | partly (second provider) | CHF 18.90–99/mo. |
| Triboni Drive for bexio | ✅ (OCR) | Triboni cloud (50 GB incl.) | partly (second provider) | from CHF 39/mo. |
| DocuWare for bexio | ✅ | DocuWare cloud | partly (second provider) | CHF 49/mo. |
Two honest footnotes on the third-party archives: swiDOC is GeBüV-certified by the Swiss auditing body KRM, but by its own account it syncs “automatically once a week” and concedes that a fully automatic reconciliation of all documents “is not yet possible at present”, “because bexio cannot yet provide the corresponding interfaces” (swidoc.ch). And structurally, the same holds for all three: you replace dependence on bexio with dependence on a second archive provider.
quintio.ch instead puts the documents where no one can take them away again — in your own Google account, searchable via Google’s built-in OCR full-text search, shareable with a simple folder share (how the connection works).
In fairness: quintio is a mirror, not a “certified” archive system — though you don’t need such a certificate for GeBüV compliance (our assessment). If you additionally want a private certificate with a time stamp (internal policy, regulated industry), combine the native archive or a certified third-party archive with your own mirror as loss protection and an exit copy. Incidentally, bexio itself also recommends “additionally keeping the receipts outside of bexio in each case” (help article 000001647).
Which solution for whom?
- Choose the Optima upgrade if you need the other Optima features anyway — then the archive is an included bonus rather than a CHF 324 surcharge.
- Choose swiDOC or Triboni if an archive with a private certificate is your main requirement and a second provider subscription is acceptable.
- Choose DocuWare if you want to roll out a DMS with approval workflows across the company — that’s a different league (and a different budget).
- Choose quintio if you want full-text search and a cancellation-proof copy without switching plans or renting yet another archive: Try it free → Sign in with bexio, sync your first documents for free. No credit card required.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
In which bexio plans is the Document Archive included? Only in Optima (CHF 69/mo.) and Ultimate (CHF 119/mo.), with annual billing. Basic and Advanced have no Document Archive and no full-text search across receipts.
Is the Document Archive available as a standalone add-on for Basic/Advanced? No (as of July 2026). In the official package comparison it isn’t even listed as “optional” for Basic/Advanced — unlike, say, payroll.
Is the Document Archive included in the free 30-day trial? Yes — the trial covers the Ultimate feature set including the Document Archive (verified on a live account, as of July 2026).
What does bexio cost per month? With annual billing: Basic CHF 35, Advanced CHF 42, Optima CHF 69, Ultimate CHF 119 per month; with monthly billing, CHF 10 more each (pricing page, as of July 2026).
Does the Document Archive make it easier to get my receipts out of bexio? No. The archive improves search and audit-proof storage within bexio. For export, it stays with individual downloads — the full export is a support service for a flat CHF 450 (service description).
What’s the cheapest full-text search across all bexio receipts? Mirror the receipts automatically into your own Google Drive (quintio.ch) and use Google’s OCR search — works with every bexio plan, including Basic.
quintio.ch mirrors all documents from bexio continuously into your own Google Drive — searchable, with OCR, effortlessly. Works with every bexio plan. Try it free →
A note on independence: quintio.ch is the authors’ product. There are no affiliate relationships for any of the solutions mentioned; all prices come from the linked provider pages (as of July 2026).
Sources
- bexio: Document Archive (product page) · Pricing page · Package comparison (PDF)
- Service description, Document Archive (PDF, as of 1 March 2026) — CHF 450 full export, 30-day deadline, scope of the GeBüV guarantee
- bexio help 000002502 «Document Archive» — OCR up to ~20 pages, fiduciary access, export for a fee
- bexio press release, 10 March 2026 — launch, OriginStamp/“OriginVault”, Optima/Ultimate
- swidoc.ch/de/bexio · Triboni Drive (Marketplace)
- bexio ideas portal FIBU-I-183 (Wayback, June 2021)
quintio automatically mirrors your bexio documents into your own Google Drive.
Sign up free