A typical morning, and a bad one
Every place gets two times: the usual journey, and the one where a connection breaks. P50 22 min and P80 27 min — because nobody should plan their life around their luckiest Tuesday.
Where could you live and still get to work by nine?
Ask in your own words. bynine knows the Swiss timetable and the figures for every commune — and answers on a map.
96 communes reachable
Ask
Live demoPress Enter and you'll land on the live map, mid-answer.
What the map knows
A commute is a promise.
This map keeps the receipts.
Every commune, with its figures
Tax, noise, air, sunshine, vacancies — 55 layers across all 2,120 communes, ranked beside the travel times. Nine are walking minutes to the nearest school, doctor or shop, measured from the address rather than averaged over the commune. "Somewhere quiet with low tax" is a question the data can actually answer.
Two workplaces, one home
Add your partner's workplace and the map keeps only the places that work for both of you — timed to the longer of the two journeys, because that's the one that decides.
What it costs there
A price for every commune —
and how much to trust it.
Click any tile and you get what a 3.5-room flat is advertised at — as a range, not a confident single number. The range is measured, not assumed: checked against places the model was never shown, it holds 9 times out of 10 — and that figure is the one we counted, not the one we hoped for.
Every quote says how much evidence stands behind it. 163 communes have twenty listings or more. 608 have none at all — and there the card says so, rather than dressing a guess up as a measurement.
Where the land registry publishes enough transactions, there's a sale price too. Where it doesn't, there is no number: the model refuses 279 communes instead of guessing at them.
Zürich
3.5 rooms · 80 m²
CHF 2'210 – 3'097
Midpoint CHF 2'616 · gross asking rent, per month · modelled
High
1,729 listings here — 163 communes
Medium
between 1 and 19 listings — 1,349 communes
Low
no listing at all, so nothing to check it against — 608 communes
Modelled from Flatfox listings, used by agreement, and the Federal Statistical Office's rent-per-m² table (T 09.03.03.05, 2024). An estimate of the asking rent — not a rent register, and not what sitting tenants pay.
The obvious question
Why not just ask ChatGPT?
We did — same questions, side by side, stopwatch running. It's charming company, and it has genuinely heard of Switzerland. But it's guessing from memory — and a commute is not something you want guessed.
bynine
0:14
Where could I live within 30 minutes of Zürich HB, by nine?
41 communes. Nearest by rail: Thalwil 11 min, Baden 15, Winterthur 20, Zug 22 — every one timed door to door for a 09:00 arrival, with a bad-day time beside it.
Real timetable
Bad-day times
Interactive map
ChatGPT
1:05
Where could I live within 30 minutes of Zürich HB, by nine?
Great question! Popular options within roughly 30 minutes of Zürich include Winterthur, Zug, Baden, and suburbs like Dietikon or Wallisellen. Actual travel times can vary depending on the connection, so it's best to double-check specific routes on SBB or Google Maps…
No map
Guessed from memory
"Best to double-check"
No map
4×
faster to an answer you can act on
41 : 6
communes named, each with a time — versus a handful of vibes
2
times per place: a typical morning and a bad day
1 : 0
interactive maps. Drag the ceiling, share the link
| bynine | ChatGPT | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to an answer | Seconds — streamed straight onto the map | A paragraph at a time, then "check SBB" |
| Where the times come from | The Swiss timetable — door to door, for the arrival time you set | Its memory of Switzerland |
| The bad day | A second time for every place (P80) | — |
| Detail per place | Tax, noise, air, sunshine — 55 layers for every commune, plus a modelled rent with its range | General reputation |
| The map | Graded tiles — drag the ceiling, share the link | None |
From our own side-by-side test, August 2026 — same questions to both, stopwatch on the table. Run your own: ours is the one with the map.
Or keep your assistant — and give it the receipts
The same engine, inside Claude or ChatGPT.
Everything above is also an MCP server. Connect it once and the assistant you already use stops guessing about Switzerland: it queries the real timetable and the real commune figures, and answers from those. Claude and ChatGPT both speak MCP — it's one server, not three integrations.
Searching through it comes with Max, CHF 29 a month. Posting your flat through it needs no plan — and the map itself stays free.
| Tool | What it answers |
|---|---|
| list_layers | Every figure bynine holds for a commune: what it means, its unit, its source and year. The one to call first. |
| find_places | Every commune you could live in and still reach a station or an address by a given time, with its figures attached. |
| describe_commune | One commune on every figure, each with its source and year. |
| find_flats | The flats people have offered on bynine, in the communes you name. |
| find_stations | Stations by name, accent-insensitive, with their positions. |
| plan_route | One concrete journey on the real timetable: which trains, buses and trams, where to change, how far to walk. |
| transit_isochrone | Where you could live and still arrive by a deadline on public transport, as GeoJSON bands. |
| isochrone | How far you get by car, on foot or by bike within a time budget, as GeoJSON bands. |
| doctor | Whether the engine is up and what it can answer. Never fails — the one to call when nothing else works. |
| post_flat my_flats edit_flat take_down_flat | With your account connected: post your flat, edit it, take it down again — photos you add on the site. |
Add it as a connector
One address, the same in both:
https://api.bynine.ch/mcp
- Claude: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, paste the address.
- ChatGPT: Settings → Apps (turn on developer mode) → Create, paste the address.
Then bynine opens in your browser: sign in, check the name, press Allow. That's all.
It can post your flat, too
- Tell it about your flat: it writes the advert with you.
- When you ask, it posts, edits or takes it down — in your name.
- Photos you then add yourself on bynine, under your adverts.
You sign in on bynine itself, and privately up to 2 adverts at a time are free. Disconnect it in your account, and it can do nothing more.
What it costs to use
The map is free.
Asking it things, at some point, isn't.
Free
0 CHF · no account for the map
The whole map, for as long as you want it.
- Every commune, all 55 layers, both times per place
- The modelled rent band on every commune
- 1 question without an account, then 5 a day with a free one
Pro
19 CHF a month
Ask as often as you like, in words.
- Everything in Free
- Unlimited questions — no credits to count
- Two workplaces at once, and shareable links to what you found
Max
29 CHF a month
The engine inside the assistant you already use.
- Everything in Pro
- The MCP server — every search tool, in Claude or ChatGPT
- The same timetable and commune figures, answered where you work
Prices in Swiss francs, including VAT. Cancel whenever — the map goes back to being free, and stays as complete as it is today.
For property managers and agents
Whole portfolios, found by commute.
Post by hand, from your own software or through an assistant. Privately, up to 2 adverts at a time are free; firms pay per object and day.
The map is free, and staying that way
Every commune, every layer, both times per place — no account, no card. The paid plans are for asking it questions in your own words, not for seeing the country.
Posted by the people who hold the keys
Every flat on bynine was posted by someone who can hand it over — the person moving out, or the firm that lets it. Every advert stands on equal terms.
Swiss data, named sources
Timetable © opentransportdata.swiss, basemap © swisstopo, map data © OpenStreetMap, statistics from the Federal Statistical Office. Every figure names its source and its year — and a modelled figure says that it is one.
One box, whole country
Ask it about your commute.
Type the question the way you'd say it out loud. The map does the rest.