lebenslauf.ch or bewerbung.ch — which suits whom?

Feature comparison

As of 4 September 2026. "not stated" means it could not be read on their own site — not "does not exist". Our rows come from the code (lib/stripe/trialConfig.ts) and from walking the live flow, not from marketing copy.

Pricing side by side

As of 4 September 2026. "not stated" means it could not be read on their own site — not "does not exist". Our rows come from the code (lib/stripe/trialConfig.ts) and from walking the live flow, not from marketing copy.

What each site actually offered on 28 August 2026

lebenslauf.ch is a generator and does not pretend otherwise. Five templates; editing straight in the document instead of through a form; colour, typeface, font size and line spacing adjustable; sections you can add, reorder or invent; a button to switch the language of the CV; a PDF download; and a share link so a recruiter always sees the current version. That is the complete working feature set, and for one CV it is enough.

bewerbung.ch lists thirteen promises on its homepage, and they describe a different product: CV, cover letter and documents in one place, application management, "100% ATS-Unterstützung", a CV and application check with written feedback, an integrated job search with suggestions, personal application web pages, AI interview training, and automatic translation of the CV. Its release notes show steady work — automatic import for cover letters on 31 July 2026, sign-in with a Microsoft account on 15 February 2026.

So the honest summary is not that one tool is better built. It is that one is a document maker and the other is a dossier workspace, and they cost accordingly.

Why one is free: read who owns it

Both providers are open about how they are funded, and the two answers differ. bewerbung.ch writes in its FAQ that it does not pass personal data to third parties, that its business model is not based on selling data, and — in its own words — that this is precisely why the service is not entirely free: "Ist eine Dienstleistung kostenlos, sind oft du oder deine Daten das Produkt." That is a stated position rather than proof, but it does explain the price tag.

lebenslauf.ch is free because a staffing agency owns it. The privacy policy linked in its footer is not a policy for a CV tool but the policy of Universal-Job AG, version 2.2 dated 27 September 2024 and in force since 1 October 2024, covering — in its own wording — every website the company operates: universaljob.ch, my.universaljob.ch and lebenslauf.ch. On the CV tool specifically it says personal data is collected — name, contact details, professional qualifications, education, work history — in order to produce CVs and application documents. The same document contains a chapter on consent in the context of job placement and staff leasing.

None of that is a scandal. A free tool operated by a recruiter is a normal and legitimate way to meet candidates, and the announced "Direkt bewerben" feature says as much in plain language. It is simply a different transaction from CHF 20 a month, and worth knowing before you type in your entire employment history.

If you have recently moved to Switzerland

Two Swiss conventions catch people out, and neither tool will warn you about them. First, the Arbeitszeugnis: employers here expect written references from your previous Swiss employers, and applications routinely include them as attachments. If you arrived recently you may not have any yet, which is normal — say so in the covering email rather than leaving a gap. Second, work authorisation: if you are not Swiss or EU/EFTA, employers generally want to see your permit status stated plainly on the CV, and a template designed for a European reader will not have a place for it.

There is also the small stuff that is not small: workload is written as a percentage — an 80% Pensum, not "four days a week" — and language ability is stated as a CEFR level, B2 or C1, not as "fluent". Both tools let you type these in, and neither prompts you to.

The interface question is the practical one though. If your German is not good enough to work through a form field labelled "Berufserfahrung" or "Aus- und Weiterbildung", you will spend the evening in a translation tab. bewerbung.ch will translate the finished CV into English for you, but only with Premium and only after you have filled it in through a German interface.

Which language your application should be in

Whether an English CV helps you at all depends on the advert, not on the tool. Of the open vacancies in our own index that state a language requirement — 71.5% of them do — 66.7% ask for German, 42.6% for English, 21.4% for French and 4.0% for Italian, and 28.6% name two or more languages. English is genuinely present in this market, but it rarely stands alone.

The regional split matters just as much. Around a fifth of the language requirements are French, and applications in the Suisse romande are made in French — not in a translated German dossier. If you are job-hunting across the language border, translating the document is the smaller half of the work; matching the advert's own vocabulary is the larger one.

Neither tool decides this for you. What it decides is how painful it is to keep two versions of the same CV, and there bewerbung.ch has the edge: it stores your data once and can produce the translated version from it, while a generator asks you to build the second CV yourself.

Short version: who takes which

Take lebenslauf.ch if you want a single CV as a PDF, do not want to create an account, are writing the cover letter yourself, read enough German to work through a German form, and would rather not pay. It delivers exactly that.

Take bewerbung.ch if you are applying repeatedly over weeks, need cover letters and attachments in one dossier, want AI suggestions or interview practice, or need the same CV in German and in English or French. CHF 50 for three months is a clear price and nothing renews behind your back.

Take neither if you need an editable Word file — neither offers one — or if you cannot work in a German interface. And if you are applying to a series of different Swiss adverts and want each CV cut to the advert in front of you, that is the point at which our own tool is worth a look: the Swiss vacancies and the CV editor sit on the same site here.