How to Search Swiss Companies: Zefix, UID & Register Lookup

Every company registered in Switzerland appears in at least one public database. The question is not whether the information exists, but which tool gives you what you need. A quick name check requires a different approach from a full due diligence investigation, and using the wrong source wastes time or, worse, returns incomplete data.

Switzerland’s federated register system means there is no single “Companies House” equivalent. Instead, several official and commercial platforms serve different purposes. This guide covers all of them, compares them directly, and provides a step-by-step process for conducting a thorough company check.

For a broader understanding of how the Swiss commercial register works, including legal basis, registration requirements, and cantonal register offices, see our pillar guide.

What Are the Swiss Company Search Methods?

Five main tools exist for searching Swiss company data. Each draws from different sources and serves a different purpose:

1. Zefix (zefix.ch) — the federal search index, aggregating basic data from all 26 cantonal registers
2. Cantonal register portals — the 26 individual cantonal commercial register websites, holding full company records
3. UID Register (uid.admin.ch) — the federal enterprise identification database, covering all UID-holding entities
4. SOGC/SHAB (shab.ch) — the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce, publishing every register entry and amendment
5. Commercial aggregators — private platforms such as Moneyhouse and Handelsregister.ch that combine register data with financial and credit information

The official tools (Zefix, cantonal registers, UID register, SOGC) are free. Commercial aggregators offer free basic searches but charge for detailed reports, monitoring, and bulk access.

Which tool you choose depends on what you are trying to find. The comparison table later in this article maps each use case to the right tool. For a practical walkthrough focused on verifying a specific business, see our company lookup guide. First, here is each search method in detail.

How Does Zefix Work as a Federal Search Tool?

Zefix (Zentraler Firmenindex) is the starting point for most Swiss company searches. Operated by the Federal Commercial Registry Office (EHRA), it aggregates data from all 26 cantonal commercial registers into a single searchable index at zefix.ch.

What Zefix shows

• Company name (current and historical names)
• Legal form (AG, GmbH, sole proprietorship, etc.)
• Registered office (canton and municipality)
• UID number (CHE-xxx.xxx.xxx)
• Status: active, in liquidation, or deleted
• Date of first registration and date of deletion
• SOGC publication references
• Direct link to the full cantonal register entry

What Zefix does not show

• Directors, board members, or their signing authority
• Full purpose clause (only a truncated version, if any)
• Share capital or capital structure
• GmbH quota holders (owners)
• Articles of association
• Historical amendments in detail

When to use Zefix

Zefix is the right tool when you need to:

• Confirm a company exists and is currently active
• Find a company’s UID number for invoicing, contracts, or VAT verification
• Check name availability before registering a new company
• Identify the canton of registration so you can access the full cantonal record
• Search across all 26 cantons simultaneously, which no individual cantonal portal can do

Zefix is available in German, French, Italian, and English. No registration or account is required. The database contains over 800,000 entries, including historically deleted entities.

For a full walkthrough of the Zefix interface, search tips, and API access, see our dedicated Zefix guide.

What Do Cantonal Register Websites Show?

Switzerland’s 26 cantonal commercial registers are the authoritative source for company data. While Zefix provides the index, the cantonal register holds the full file.

What cantonal registers show

Every cantonal register portal provides free online access to the complete registered record:

• Directors and board members — full names, roles (Geschäftsführer, Verwaltungsrat), and domicile
• Signing authority — sole signature (Einzelunterschrift), joint signature (Kollektivunterschrift zu zweien), or procuration (Prokura)
• Full purpose clause — the registered description of the company’s business activities
• Share capital — nominal capital, number and type of shares (AG), or quota holders with individual contributions (GmbH)
• Auditor — name of the audit firm or a declaration that the company has opted out of auditing
• Complete change history — every amendment since the company’s registration, with dates and SOGC publication references

How to access a cantonal register

There are two routes:

1. Via Zefix. Search for the company on zefix.ch, then click the cantonal register link in the results. This is the fastest method when you do not know which canton the company is registered in.
2. Directly. Go to the cantonal register website and search there. This is useful when you already know the canton or want to browse the register.

The full list of all 26 cantonal commercial register websites is available in our commercial register guide.

Differences between cantons

Not all cantonal portals are equal in terms of user experience and digital maturity:

• Zurich, Zug, Bern, Geneva offer fully digital portals with online extract ordering, downloadable records, and modern interfaces
• Smaller cantons (Uri, Obwalden, Appenzell Innerrhoden) may have simpler portals with fewer online features
• French-speaking cantons (Vaud, Neuchatel, Geneva, Fribourg) use the term registre du commerce rather than Handelsregister
• Ticino uses registro di commercio in Italian

Regardless of digital maturity, all 26 cantonal registers contain the same legally mandated data fields. The information depth is identical; only the presentation differs.

How Does the UID Register Work?

The UID Register at uid.admin.ch is operated by the Federal Statistical Office (BFS) and serves as Switzerland’s enterprise identification lookup. It is a separate system from the commercial register, though the two are closely linked.

What the UID register covers

The UID register contains every entity in Switzerland that holds a Unique Identification Number (Unternehmens-Identifikationsnummer). This is a broader set than the commercial register because it includes:

• All commercially registered companies (GmbH, AG, partnerships, cooperatives, etc.)
• Sole proprietorships below CHF 100,000 annual revenue that have voluntarily obtained a UID for VAT purposes
• Associations and foundations not engaged in commercial activity but registered for VAT or social insurance
• Branch offices and establishments of Swiss and foreign companies

Data available on uid.admin.ch

• Company name
• UID number (CHE-xxx.xxx.xxx)
• Registered address (street, postcode, city)
• Legal form
• Status (active or not active)
• VAT registration status (registered for MWST/TVA/IVA or not)
• NOGA code (industry classification)
• Canton and municipality

What the UID register does not show

• Directors, board members, or signing authority
• Purpose clause
• Share capital
• Ownership information
• Historical changes

When to use the UID register

The UID register is the right tool when you need to:

• Verify a UID number — confirm that CHE-xxx.xxx.xxx corresponds to the company you expect
• Check VAT status — determine whether a company is registered for Swiss VAT
• Look up entities not in the commercial register — sole proprietorships below the CHF 100,000 threshold, small associations, or entities registered only for tax purposes
• Find a company’s address — the UID register shows the full street address, which Zefix does not always display

For a deeper explanation of the UID system, format, and practical applications, see our guide on UID numbers.

What Does the SOGC/SHAB Publish?

The Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (Schweizerisches Handelsamtsblatt, SHAB) is the official publication platform for all commercial register entries. Every new registration, amendment, and deletion across all 26 cantons is published here. The online portal is available at shab.ch.

What SOGC/SHAB publishes

• New company registrations (formations)
• Changes to directors, board members, and signing authority
• Capital increases, reductions, and share structure changes
• Address and purpose clause amendments
• Mergers, demergers, and legal form conversions
• Liquidation proceedings and company deletions
• Debt restructuring moratoriums and bankruptcy openings
• Calls to creditors (required for capital reductions and liquidations)

How to search SOGC/SHAB

At shab.ch, you can search by:

• Company name — partial or full
• Publication date — filter by date range
• Publication type — new entry, mutation, deletion
• Canton — narrow results to a specific canton

The digital archive goes back to 2003. Publications appear daily on business days, typically one to three days after the EHRA clears the cantonal register entry.

When SOGC/SHAB is the right tool

SOGC/SHAB is particularly useful for:

• Monitoring corporate changes — tracking when a company changes directors, increases capital, or enters liquidation
• Legal evidence — SOGC publications have legal effect under OR Art. 932. From the date of publication, registered facts are deemed known to the public.
• Detecting red flags — a pattern of rapid director changes, capital reductions, or liquidation filings can signal trouble
• Historical research — tracing the timeline of a company’s corporate actions

Most users will not use SOGC/SHAB as their primary search tool. It is specialised: best for monitoring changes over time rather than for one-off company lookups.

What Do Moneyhouse and Commercial Aggregators Offer?

Beyond the official government databases, several private platforms aggregate Swiss company data and enhance it with financial, credit, and network information.

Moneyhouse (moneyhouse.ch)

Moneyhouse is the largest Swiss commercial data aggregator. It combines data from the commercial register, the debt collection register, and published financial statements into a single profile for each company.

Free access includes:

• Basic company profile (name, address, legal form, UID)
• Directors and board members
• Industry classification
• Publication history (SOGC entries)

Paid subscriptions (from approximately CHF 290/year) add:

• Credit ratings and creditworthiness scores
• Published financial statements (where available)
• Corporate network maps (who sits on which boards)
• Management change alerts
• Debt collection entries
• Monitoring and notification services

Handelsregister.ch

Handelsregister.ch is a privately operated portal that mirrors cantonal register data in a unified interface. It provides free access to the same information available on cantonal register portals, but with a consistent layout across all 26 cantons.

Advantages:

• Single interface for all cantons (unlike the 26 separate official portals)
• Clean, searchable format
• Free access to director names, signing authority, and purpose clauses

Limitations:

• Data is mirrored, not live — slight delays compared to official sources are possible
• No certified extracts (you must go to the cantonal register for those)
• Advertisements on the free version

Other commercial providers

• Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) — international credit reports including Swiss entities, used primarily by multinational corporations
• Creditreform — Swiss and European credit information, widely used by Swiss banks and large companies
• Bisnode (now part of Dun & Bradstreet) — similar scope to D&B, strong in the DACH region

These providers serve compliance teams, credit departments, and procurement offices that need standardised risk reports across multiple jurisdictions.

How Do All Swiss Company Search Tools Compare?

Quick decision guide:

• “Does this company exist?” — Use Zefix
• “Who runs this company?” — Use the cantonal register or Handelsregister.ch
• “Is this VAT number valid?” — Use the UID register
• “What changed recently?” — Use SOGC/SHAB
• “Is this company creditworthy?” — Use Moneyhouse or a credit bureau

How Do You Do a Full Swiss Company Check?

When you need a thorough picture of a Swiss company — for due diligence before a business deal, investment, partnership, or supplier onboarding — follow these steps in order.

Step 1: Start with Zefix

Go to zefix.ch and search by company name or UID number.

Confirm:

• The company exists and is active (not in liquidation or deleted)
• The registered legal form matches what you were told
• The canton of registration is as expected
• Note the UID number for later steps

If the company does not appear on Zefix, it may be a sole proprietorship below the CHF 100,000 threshold, a foreign entity without a Swiss branch, or simply unregistered. In that case, try the UID register next.

Step 2: Check the cantonal register

Click through from the Zefix result to the cantonal commercial register. Alternatively, go directly to the cantonal register website.

Review:

• Directors and board members — are the people you are dealing with actually authorised to represent the company?
• Signing authority — does the person signing the contract have sole signature authority, or do they need a co-signatory?
• Purpose clause — does the registered purpose align with the business the company claims to conduct?
• Share capital — is it the legal minimum (CHF 20,000 for GmbH, CHF 100,000 for AG) or has additional capital been paid in?
• Auditor — has the company opted out of auditing? If so, it qualifies as a small company under the size thresholds.
• Change history — frequent director changes or repeated address moves can be a red flag

Step 3: Verify the UID and VAT status

Go to uid.admin.ch and enter the UID number.

Confirm:

• The UID is active
• The company is registered for VAT (if it should be — companies with turnover exceeding CHF 100,000 must register for VAT)
• The address matches the commercial register entry

A discrepancy between the UID register address and the commercial register address may indicate a recent move that has not been updated in one of the databases.

Step 4: Check SOGC/SHAB publications

Search for the company on shab.ch and review recent publications.

Look for:

• Recent director or board changes
• Capital reductions (which may signal financial difficulty)
• Liquidation filings
• Debt restructuring moratoriums
• Calls to creditors

A company with no SOGC publications in recent years is likely stable. A company with frequent mutations may be undergoing significant restructuring.

Step 5: Consider commercial data (optional)

For higher-stakes decisions, check Moneyhouse or another commercial provider for:

• Credit rating and creditworthiness score
• Published financial statements (if available)
• Debt collection entries
• Corporate network connections (shared directors, group structures)

Step 6: Order a certified register extract (if needed)

If you need official documentation — for a bank, court, regulatory authority, or foreign counterpart — order a certified extract (beglaubigter Handelsregisterauszug) from the cantonal register office. This costs CHF 17-40 and is typically available within one to three business days. Some cantons such as Zurich and Zug provide instant digital extracts. The extract can be apostilled for international use.

For details on ordering extracts, including the process for each canton, see our guide on register extracts.

What Is Publicly Available vs What Requires a Paid Extract

One of the most common points of confusion: nearly all commercial register data is publicly available for free. The paid extract does not give you access to secret information. What you are paying for is the official certification.

Free (available through cantonal register portals and Zefix)

• Company name, legal form, UID, registered office, status
• Directors, board members, and signing authority
• Purpose clause
• Share capital and capital structure
• GmbH quota holders (owners with names and contributions)
• Auditor details
• Complete change history
• All SOGC publications

Only available through a paid certified extract

• Official certification — the stamp and signature (or digital seal) of the cantonal register office confirming the data is current and accurate
• Legal evidentiary value — a certified extract is accepted as evidence in court proceedings, by banks for account opening, by notaries for transactions, and by foreign authorities
• Apostille eligibility — only a certified extract can be apostilled for use in foreign jurisdictions under the Hague Convention

Never publicly available (regardless of payment)

• AG shareholder names — maintained in the company’s internal shareholder register, not accessible through any public database
• Beneficial ownership information — Switzerland does not maintain a public beneficial ownership register (unlike some EU countries)
• Financial statements — not filed with the commercial register. Some are accessible through Moneyhouse if the company has published them, but there is no mandatory public disclosure for private companies.
• Internal contracts — shareholder agreements, employment contracts, loan agreements

The distinction matters for practical planning. If you are conducting routine due diligence, free online searches give you everything you need. If you are submitting documentation to a bank, regulator, or foreign authority, budget CHF 17-40 and one to three days for the certified extract.

How We Verified This Guide

Every search tool described here was tested with live queries on Zefix, the UID Register, and the SOGC/SHAB archive. Cantonal register portals for Zurich, Zug, Bern, Geneva, Basel-Stadt, and St. Gallen were accessed to confirm data field availability. Moneyhouse and Handelsregister.ch features were verified against their current free and paid tiers. The comparison table reflects data availability as of April 2026. This guide is reviewed by Florian Rosenberg, who uses these tools professionally for client due diligence and company formation work.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best free tool to search for a Swiss company?

Zefix (zefix.ch) is the best free tool for searching Swiss companies. It is operated by the Federal Commercial Registry Office (EHRA) and covers every entity registered in any of Switzerland's 26 cantonal commercial registers. You can search by company name, UID number, or keyword without creating an account. For more detailed data such as directors and signing authority, follow the Zefix link to the relevant cantonal register portal, which is also free to search.

Can I find the owner of a Swiss company online for free?

It depends on the legal form. For a GmbH (LLC), yes: the names and capital contributions of all quota holders are recorded in the cantonal commercial register and visible to anyone through the free online portal. For an AG (corporation), no: shareholder names are never part of the public register. You can see the board of directors and authorised signatories for both forms. For deeper ownership research on an AG, you would need to engage a professional or use commercial intelligence providers.

What is the difference between Zefix and Moneyhouse?

Zefix is the official federal company index, showing basic registration data (name, legal form, UID, canton, status) drawn directly from the 26 cantonal commercial registers. It is free and authoritative but limited in depth. Moneyhouse is a private commercial aggregator that combines register data with financial statements, credit ratings, corporate network maps, and management profiles. Basic Moneyhouse searches are free; detailed reports and monitoring require a paid subscription starting around CHF 290 per year.

How do I verify a Swiss company's VAT number?

Every VAT-registered company in Switzerland has a UID number in the format CHE-xxx.xxx.xxx followed by the suffix MWST (or TVA in French-speaking cantons, IVA in Italian-speaking cantons). You can verify any VAT number on the UID register at uid.admin.ch, which confirms whether the number is valid, shows the company name and address, and indicates the current VAT registration status. Alternatively, enter the CHE number on Zefix to confirm the company exists in the commercial register.

How do I search for a Swiss company if I only know the industry sector?

Swiss company search tools do not directly support industry-based searches, but several approaches work. The NOGA code (Nomenclature générale des activités économiques) is Switzerland's industry classification system, and the UID register at uid.admin.ch allows filtering by NOGA code. Commercial aggregators such as Moneyhouse also support sector-based browsing. For a free approach, search Zefix with relevant industry keywords that might appear in company names, though this relies on the company having a descriptive name rather than a generic or invented one.

Can I find out if a Swiss company has been sued or is involved in legal proceedings?

Not through the commercial register. The commercial register records only voluntary and mandatory corporate facts: formation, mutations, and dissolution. It does not record litigation, debt collection proceedings, or court judgements. For debt collection information, check the cantonal debt enforcement register (Betreibungsregister) via the relevant cantonal authority. For insolvency and bankruptcy, both the commercial register (which records liquidation proceedings) and the debt collection register provide relevant data. Moneyhouse also aggregates some debt collection data in its premium reports.

Is the cantonal commercial register data available in English?

Zefix is available in four languages including English, but the underlying cantonal register data is maintained in the official language of each canton: German, French, or Italian. Company names, purpose clauses, and director entries remain in the original language. The English interface on Zefix translates the navigation and interface labels only, not the company data itself. For key details such as purpose clauses in documents to be used abroad, a certified translation by a sworn translator is required.

What is the SOGC and how does it relate to company searches?

The SOGC (Schweizerisches Handelsamtsblatt or Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce) is the official publication platform where every commercial register entry, amendment, and deletion is published. It is available at shab.ch and searchable by company name, canton, and date. Under OR Art. 932, publication in the SOGC creates a legal presumption that the registered fact is known to the public. For company research, SOGC is most useful for monitoring recent changes — new director appointments, capital increases, and liquidation filings — rather than for initial company lookup.

How do I confirm that the person I am dealing with has authority to sign on behalf of a Swiss company?

Check the cantonal commercial register entry for the company. Every authorised signatory is listed by name, together with their signing authority: sole signature (Einzelunterschrift) means they can bind the company alone; joint signature to two (Kollektivunterschrift zu zweien) means they need a co-signatory. A person not listed in the register has no registered authority to bind the company. Under OR Art. 933, a company cannot oppose the registered signing authority against a third party who acted in good faith relying on the register.

Do deleted companies remain searchable on Swiss company search tools?

Yes. Zefix, cantonal register portals, and the SOGC/SHAB archive all retain records of deleted companies. On Zefix, you can filter results by status to include deleted entities. The cantonal register also preserves the complete history of a deleted company, including its former directors, purpose clause, and the reason for deletion. This historical data is important for due diligence, tracing corporate predecessors, or verifying past business relationships.