Abstract: Series connection of energy storage cells implies the need of a BMS and a balancing system to control and improve the performance of the battery pack. Nowadays passive balancing is the most used balancing system in industrial applications, basically due to its simplicity and low price. Active balancing systems are mostly reserved to research articles and experimental prototypes. During this research article, single switch active balancing systems will be presented as a real option of passive balancing substitution. For that purpose during the article most important characteristics of balancing systems will be presented regarding to the impact on the final battery performance, behavior and price. After detecting most important comparison characteristicsa single switch active balancing systems will be compared with a passive balancing system prototypes under different working situations.