Wine software for Switzerland compared — Vinosoft, VinX, CH-Vinarius and Excel

If you produce or trade wine in Switzerland, you need cellar books for the Swiss wine trade control (SWK), plus invoices, stock and often a shop or webshop. Only a few programs specialise in the Swiss market. This page compares the three that come up most often in Swiss searches — VinX, CH-Vinarius and Vinosoft — and the tool many businesses start with: Excel.

Information about other vendors comes from their websites, as of 28 October 2026, with sources at the end of the page. Where a vendor doesn't publish something, we leave it open. Vinosoft is our own product, so we also say where it doesn't fit.

What matters when choosing

SWK report. Every registered business reports its inventory and litres sold by 31 January. The software should produce the detailed inventory and Formular A and B from the bookings you record, rather than you compiling them by hand.
How it runs. Desktop software on your own PC, an installation hosted by the vendor, or a cloud application in the browser: this decides who looks after servers, updates and backups, and whether you can work on a Mac or on the road.
Cost over time. Licence plus maintenance, subscription, or a quote: compare over at least five years and include the rollout.
Accounting. Built-in financial accounting in the wine software, or an interface to your fiduciary's program (Abacus, Sage, Bexio)?
Sales channels. Shop, webshop, restaurants on account, marketplaces: one shared inventory saves entering everything twice.
Rollout. Can you try it yourself, or does everything start with a project?

Overview

	Vinosoft	VinX	CH-Vinarius	Excel
Vendor	SparkDynamic GmbH	I-AG Software, Lucerne	Computer Help AG, Volketswil	—
How it runs	Cloud in the browser, Mac included	Desktop software, Windows recommended	On the vendor's server, accessed over the internet	A file on your PC
Public prices	Yes, subscription from CHF 79 per month	Yes, licence from CHF 4,000 plus maintenance	No	—
Self-serve trial	Trial account, no credit card	Demo version on request	Not stated	—
SWK: Formular A and B	Yes	Yes	Yes, largely automatic according to the vendor	By hand
Built-in financial accounting	Yes, with VAT return (Professional and up)	Receivables and payables; general ledger via Abacus, Infoniqa, SelectLine	Financial and payroll accounting, VAT return	No
Payroll	No	Not stated	Yes	No
Webshop	Built-in webshop (Enterprise)	Connection via REST API, or the VinX shop	Connection, according to the vendor	No
Till	POS app for iPad	Till program as an option	Till connection, according to the vendor	No
AI assistant, MCP	Yes	Not stated	Not stated	No

VinX

VinX is I-AG Software's ERP for the wine and beverage trade, in use at more than 200 businesses by its own account. It is bought as a licence (Basis CHF 4,000 for the first licence, modules priced separately), updates come with an optional maintenance contract of 12–20% of the licence total per year, and the rollout takes three to six months according to VinX. VinX is strong on features for larger beverage distributors: route planning, containers, a bonded warehouse, harvest settlement, en-primeur sales and interfaces to Abacus and logistics providers. Over five years, Vinosoft costs about half as much as VinX in the worked example, around CHF 4,740 against CHF 10,050 for three users. The detailed comparison is at Vinosoft vs VinX.

CH-Vinarius

CH-Vinarius is a product of Computer Help AG in Volketswil, which says it has existed since 1986. The software doesn't run at the customer's premises but on a server in the vendor's data centre, accessed over the internet. According to its website it covers addresses, quotes and invoices, price lists and label printing, cellar bookkeeping and inventory, the wine trade control forms, statistics, mail merges and newsletters, webshop and till connections, financial and payroll accounting with a VAT return, and interfaces to Excel, Word, Abacus, Sage and other accounting programs. There is an entry-level and a full version; the vendor doesn't publish prices. The introduction is done in person, and the vendor says you work productively after one morning. Five wine merchants are named as references on the website.

CH-Vinarius describes itself as recommended by the Swiss wine trade control. The SWK doesn't publish a certification or a list of recommended software: its cellar bookkeeping guideline (section 2.3) allows any wine or accounting program that shows every field of the stock card clearly. That applies to every solution on this page. CH-Vinarius is a good fit if you want payroll in the same program and personal on-site support.

Excel

Many small businesses keep their cellar books in the SWK's Excel templates. That is allowed and costs nothing, as long as every field of the stock card is there. The work is in reconciling: every sale, invoice and stock count has to be copied into the stock cards by hand, and mistakes often only show up at the inventory report or the inspection. Once you run invoices, stock and a shop separately, software that pulls these numbers from one source pays off. How the annual report works: Inventory report by 31 January.

Vinosoft

Vinosoft is cloud software for wineries, wine merchants and wine distributors. It runs in the browser on Microsoft Azure in the EU, with a separate database per customer. The editions cost CHF 79, 99 or 119 per month billed yearly, with three users; updates are included. Orders, stock across several locations, price groups, QR bills, dunning, deposits, the SWK detailed inventory with Formular A and B, built-in financial accounting, a webshop and an iPad till all work from the same inventory. For producers who make their own wine there is the cellar bookkeeping module, enabled per account. It is the only solution in this comparison with an AI assistant that answers questions about sales, stock and open invoices from your data, and an MCP connection that links Claude, ChatGPT or your own agent to your account. If you switch from VinX, data migration is free.

Vinosoft is not the right fit if you need payroll, route planning, a bonded warehouse, harvest settlement with payouts to grape growers, or a direct interface to Abacus, Bexio or Banana. More by type of business: winery, wine merchant, wine distributor.

Sources

VinX: vinx.ch, 2025 price list (PDF), FAQ, retrieved 28 October 2026
CH-Vinarius: ch-vinarius.ch, retrieved 28 October 2026
SWK: cellar bookkeeping guideline for production and trade, version 4, 03/2025
Vinosoft: pricing

Frequently asked questions

Which wine software is approved by the SWK?

The SWK doesn't certify software or keep a list of approved programs. Under its guideline, any wine or accounting program may replace the stock cards if it shows every field clearly and the wine ordinance is followed. It is checked when your business is inspected.

What does wine software cost in Switzerland?

Vinosoft costs from CHF 79 per month billed yearly. VinX costs from CHF 4,000 for the first licence, plus an optional 12–20% maintenance per year and project costs. CH-Vinarius doesn't publish prices. Over five years with three users, Vinosoft costs about half as much as VinX with maintenance; the worked example is in Vinosoft vs VinX.

Is Excel enough for cellar bookkeeping?

For small businesses with few wines, yes, as long as the stock cards are complete. Once invoices, stock and sales are kept separately, you do the work twice and risk mistakes in the inventory report.

Which wine software runs on a Mac?

Vinosoft runs in the browser, so it works on a Mac. VinX recommends Windows PCs. CH-Vinarius runs on the vendor's server; its website doesn't say which devices can access it.

Which solution includes payroll?

Of the programs compared here, only CH-Vinarius lists payroll. Vinosoft doesn't have it; you run payroll in a separate program or through your fiduciary.