Banana Accounting: the alternatives compared

Banana is solid accounting on your own machine. What it costs today, when it stays the right choice, and which alternative fits when.

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What Banana is today

Prices and the free limit as of 28 October 2026, from banana.ch

Banana Accounting Plus is a desktop program for Windows, macOS and Linux, with apps for iOS and Android and a web app. Each set of books is a file on your device, and you post in tables, much like a spreadsheet.

There is no one-off purchase any more. Banana is sold as an annual subscription, personal to each user, on up to five of your own devices.

Free: CHF 0. Up to 70 transaction rows per file. Above that the file can no longer be saved, copied or printed.
Professional: CHF 89 a year, including VAT.
Advanced: CHF 179 a year, including VAT. Only this tier produces the VAT return form and the XML file for the Federal Tax Administration's ePortal.

TILL and Banana Accounting Plus side by side

TILL and Banana Accounting Plus, as of 28 October 2026. Every cell links its source.
What is compared	TILL	Banana Accounting Plus
The basics
Licence	MIT Source	Proprietary, yearly subscription Source
Where it runs	Your Mac or Linux computer, or a server you run Note There is no Windows app and no mobile app; TILL is not tested on Windows. On the capabilities page	Desktop program for Windows, macOS and Linux, plus apps read 23 September 2026 Source
Where the data is stored, as the vendor states it	One SQLite file on your computer On the capabilities page	Files on your device Source
Price
Free tier and its limit	YesFree, no limit Note MIT licence: no limit on users, companies or bookings, and no subscription. Source	YesFree plan up to 70 transaction rows per file Note Above that, the file can no longer be saved, copied or printed. Source
Cheapest plan with the MWST returnList price, as the vendor states the VAT basis and billing period	CHF 0, no plan Note There is no subscription. TILL prepares the return from the postings and writes the eCH-0217 file; you upload it in the ESTV ePortal yourself. On the capabilities page	Advanced, CHF 179 a year incl. MWST Note The VAT report and the ESTV XML file need the Advanced plan. Source
Swiss obligations
Issues QR-bills	YesWith structured addresses On the capabilities page	Yes Source
MWST return as an eCH-0217 fileThe format the ESTV ePortal accepts for upload	YesEffective and Saldo Note Version 2.0.0. The beta computes on agreed consideration (vereinbarte Entgelte) only, and you upload and file the return in the ESTV ePortal yourself. On the capabilities page	YesEffective and Saldo Plan: Advanced Note eCH-0217 2.0.0 for 2025 periods, through an extension that needs the Advanced plan. Source
Swissdec-certified payroll	NoA hand-off Note TILL exports your employee data for your payroll provider and books the wage journal you bring back. Pay slips, AHV and Swissdec filings stay with the provider. On the capabilities page	Not confirmed
Bank and payments
Imports camt.053/054 statements	Partlycamt.053 Note camt.054 notifications are not read; import the day-end camt.053. On the capabilities page	Yescamt.052, .053, .054 Source
Writes pain.001 payment files	Yes On the capabilities page	PartlyBeta extension Plan: Advanced Note The Payment Orders extension writes pain.001 (version 2019). Banana marks it beta, and it needs the Advanced plan. Source
Direct bank connection	NoNot in the beta Note The EBICS client is built, but the module that connects it to your bank ships later. Until then you import camt.053 files from your eBanking. On the capabilities page	No Note Banana's documentation: it is not possible to connect directly to the bank. Source
Sends eBills	NoNot in the beta Note TILL packages an invoice as an eBill, but sending it is not in the beta. On the capabilities page	No Note Banana's invoice documentation lists sending eBills among the features not available yet. Source
Openness and agents
Public API	YesMCP, and a local REST twin of every verb On the capabilities page	PartlyLocal and read-only Plan: Advanced Source
Official MCP server for AI agentsMade by the vendor itself, not a community project	YesRead and write Note By default, your agent waits for your OK before it books anything, moves your money, grants access or deletes your data for good. On the capabilities page	None found Note A community server reads Banana's local API; we found none published by Banana. Source
Full data export without a subscription	YesThere is no subscription Note A whole company exports in an open, documented format, and the books are a file you hold. On the capabilities page	Not confirmed
Beyond the books
Inventory, projects and time, CRM, fixed assets, multi-currency	YesAll five Note Inventory with lots, projects and time, a sales pipeline, fixed assets with depreciation, and multi-currency. On the capabilities page	PartlyInventory, fixed assets, multi-currency, time sheet Note Multi-currency from the Professional plan. We found no CRM. Source

Key:YesPartlyNoNone found(we looked in what the vendor publishes, on the date read, and found none)Not confirmed(we could not confirm it from a vendor source)

When Banana stays the right choice

As of 28 October 2026

If you want your books as a file on your own machine, like working in tables and are happy with an annual subscription, Banana is a good choice. It is finished, maintained and handles the QR-bill.

An alternative is worth it mainly for three reasons. You need more than 70 postings and do not want to pay. You are registered for VAT and do not want the Advanced tier for it. Or you want a cloud product where the vendor runs the service and takes the backups.

The alternatives

Details as of September 2026, from the vendors' own websites

They are sorted by the reason you would switch.

Free and with VAT: CashCtrl FREE: Cloud on Swiss servers, for 1 user and 1 organisation. General ledger, QR invoices and VAT booking with a tax report. The free tier is limited by users and organisations.
In the cloud: bexio: Accounting and invoicing in one cloud product, with a public REST API. From CHF 35 a month billed yearly, excluding VAT, with a 30-day trial.
Free, without VAT: AbaNinja Starter: Free for 1 user and 1'000 documents a year, gross amounts only, without VAT.
Local and open source: GnuCash: Free, GPL, double-entry with local files. A Swiss VAT return is not built in.
Local, open source and Swiss: TILL: MIT licensed, the books in one SQLite file on your own machine, with the QR-bill, the VAT return and the Swiss SME chart of accounts. Public beta, see below.

TILL as an alternative, honestly

TILL shares the property that matters most with Banana: the books are a file that belongs to you. The difference is that TILL is open source, costs no licence fee and can be driven by an AI agent through an MCP server.

But TILL is a public beta. If you move from Banana, keep Banana running until the figures in both programs match. What the beta does not do yet is listed below.

What TILL does not do yet

TILL is a public beta. These are its limits today, in the same words on every page:

No payroll of its own. TILL exports your employee data for your payroll provider and books the wage journal you bring back.
No MWST filing from TILL. It writes the eCH-0217 file, and you upload it in the ESTV ePortal.
No MWST on received consideration (vereinnahmte Entgelte): TILL computes the return on agreed consideration only.
No email sending yet. TILL makes the PDF of an invoice, quote or reminder, and you send it from your own mail program.
German (de-CH) and English only. No French or Italian yet.
Runs on macOS and Linux; Windows is not supported (we do not test on it), and there is no mobile app.
No direct bank connection in the beta. You import camt.053 statements from your eBanking.
On your own computer, backups run when you start them, not on a schedule.
Several people in one book only on a server you host yourself. The local app is for one computer.
No eBill sending, no e-signature and no online customer portal.

TILL is an independent project. It is not derived from Banana Accounting Plus, and it is not affiliated with its vendor.

Try it

TILL is free, with no account and no subscription. Keep your current program running until the figures match.

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About this comparison

Every statement about another product on this page rests on what its vendor publishes (website, price list, documentation or source code), read on the date shown with it. Where we could not confirm a point from such a source, the table says “Not confirmed”. Prices are published list prices, with the VAT basis and billing period the vendor states, and without promotions. Products and prices change, so check with the vendor before you decide.

If something here is wrong or out of date, write to hello@tillbooks.ch with the subject “Comparison correction”. We check every report and correct confirmed errors within 5 working days, with the date of the change.

This page is published by Nomadik GmbH, which builds TILL, so it is not neutral. TILL is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any vendor named here.

bexio, Banana, CashCtrl, AbaNinja, Abacus, Klara, Infinity, Run my Accounts, Odoo, ERPNext, Frappe, erpnextswiss, GnuCash, Manager.io, Gäld, Infoniqa, Swiss21.org, DeepCloud, 21.AbaSalary, libracore, Swissdec, bLink, QuickBooks, Intuit, Lexoffice, sevDesk and DATEV are trademarks or registered trademarks of their owners and are used here only to name their products.