Head to head

Dokan vs CS-Cart Multi-Vendor: features and cost compared.

Dokan: A WooCommerce plugin with paid plans and modules on a WordPress site you host, against a hosted marketplace with one monthly price. CS-Cart Multi-Vendor: A licence for multi-vendor shop software on your own server, with paid add-ons for bookings, offers and auctions, against a hosted marketplace with one monthly price. Here they are side by side, feature by feature, from their own websites, with Yclas as a third option.

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Last checked: 22 October 2026. Facts about other products come from their own websites; the sources are listed at the end of this page.

Feature by feature

Dokan and CS-Cart Multi-Vendor, side by side.

Not offeredNeeds a developerPaid add-onPartlyIncluded

Feature	Dokan	CS-Cart Multi-Vendor	Yclas
AI page builder	Not offered No page builder in the plugin; WordPress page builders are separate. FlyCommerce, the hosted version, lists an AI store and page builder [1]	Not offered No AI page builder in the core or the add-on marketplace [2]	Describe a change, such as "darker hero, bigger search, rounder cards", and the AI makes it in a draft you preview. 109 ready-made looks and drag-and-drop sections.
AI sets up your site	Partly You install WordPress, WooCommerce and Dokan on your hosting; Enterprise includes 1 hour of installation [3]	Partly You install it on your server; free installation by Customer Care, hosting not included [4]	Say what your marketplace is for and the AI writes your categories, subcategories, tagline and About page in your language. Live in about two minutes.
AI listing from a photo	Partly The free AI Assistant writes the title and description from the product name, with your own OpenAI or Gemini key; not from a photo [5]	Not offered AI add-ons make model photos and videos from product images; none writes the listing [6]	Sellers add a photo; the AI writes the title, description and price, and picks the category and fields.
AI search	Not offered Not listed [3]	Paid add-on NLP Smart Search AI add-on, $29.50 [7]	Visitors search the way they talk, such as "red bike under 300 near Valencia", and get the right filters.
AI scam and spam checks	Not offered Report Abuse module (Professional): buyers report products and you check them by hand [8]	Partly Anti Fraud checks orders with a paid MaxMind account; listings and messages are not checked [9]	Every new listing is checked against your rules for scams, prohibited items, spam and wrong categories. Risky ones wait in your queue with the reason, and buyers are warned when a message asks for gift cards or off-site payment.
Automatic listing translation	Not offered WPML integration, with the paid WPML plugin; translations are made by hand [10]	Paid add-on AI Translator (GPT) add-on, $52.50 [11]	On multilingual sites each listing is translated into every site language, with its own page for search engines. 44 languages.
AI suggested replies	Not offered Not listed [3]	Not offered Not in the add-on marketplace [6]	The AI drafts a seller's reply from the listing and the conversation; the seller edits and sends it.
Shopping cart across sellers	Included WooCommerce cart with orders split by vendor [12]	Included One cart, split into an order per vendor [13]	Buyers fill one cart from several sellers and pay once; the payment is split between the sellers automatically
Commission on every sale	Paid add-on Commission is in the free version; automatic split payouts need Professional ($249 a year) or Business ($499) for PayPal Marketplace; no service fee for buyers [12]	Included Commission through vendor plans, by category on Plus; split payouts with Stripe Connect or PayPal; no service fee for buyers [13]	A percentage and a fixed fee on each sale, with rates by category or by seller, and an optional service fee for buyers
Seller payouts with or without Stripe Connect	Included Stripe Connect, MANGOPAY or Razorpay on Professional, PayPal Marketplace on Business; with other gateways you pay vendors from withdraw requests [12]	Included Split payouts with Stripe Connect or PayPal, or vendor withdrawal requests you pay outside CS-Cart [14]	Sellers paid automatically through Stripe Connect, or buyers pay you through PayPal, Stripe or your other gateways and each seller withdraws their balance, less your commission, by PayPal or bank transfer
Payment held until delivery	Partly Payouts released on order completion or after a delay of up to 29 days with some gateways; not when the buyer confirms delivery [15]	Partly Stripe Connect transfers can wait, by hand or for a number of days; not until the buyer confirms delivery [16]	The seller is paid once the buyer confirms the order arrived, or after the number of days you set
Product options and sale prices	Partly Variable products and scheduled sale prices; wholesale prices on Business; no bundles [17]	Included Variants, quantity discounts and product bundles [18]	Size, colour and other options with their own price and stock, sale prices, quantity discounts and bundles
Shipping rates per seller	Paid add-on Per-vendor shipping on Starter, table rates on Professional, ShipStation on Business [19]	Included Vendors set their own shipping methods, with real-time carrier rates [20]	Each seller sets rates by country, with free shipping over an amount, and live carrier rates through your Shippo account
Coupons	Paid add-on Vendor and admin coupons, Starter plan [21]	Included Your promotions on every edition; vendor promotions on Plus [4]	Coupons from sellers and from you, used in the cart
Saved cards	Paid add-on With Stripe Connect or Stripe Express, Professional plan [22]	Not offered Not listed [23]	Buyers save a card and pay with one click next time
Classified ads in the same site	Partly Products to buy only; Product Advertising (Business) sells paid placements, but no contact-the-seller ads [3]	Partly Catalog mode swaps the cart for an outside link; every seller is a vendor company, no private ads [24]	Listings can be buy-now items or contact-the-seller ads, with featured listings, bump to top and paid categories you charge for
Offers and quotes	Paid add-on Request for Quotation module (Business): the vendor can counter, but buyers can't make offers [25]	Paid add-on Buyers can ask a vendor a question; Make an Offer add-on $69, request a quote $99 [26]	Offers and counter-offers in the chat, and request a quote: the seller sends a price, the buyer pays it online
Auctions	Paid add-on Auction module (Business) [27]	Paid add-on Auction add-ons from $29.70 [28]	Proxy bidding, reserve price, buy-now and anti-sniping
Bookings and rentals	Paid add-on Bookings module (Business), which needs the WooCommerce Bookings plugin [29]	Paid add-on Booking add-ons from $99 [30]	Availability calendar by day, night or hour, instant booking, deposits and price rules, paid online
Digital downloads	Included Downloadable products [17]	Included Downloadable products on every edition [4]	Sell files: the buyer gets a download link as soon as they pay, with a limit on downloads
Memberships you charge sellers	Paid add-on Vendor subscription packs (Professional); automatic renewal only through the split-payment gateways [31]	Included Vendor plans with a one-off or recurring fee [32]	Monthly seller plans, renewed automatically from the seller's saved card
Seller storefronts	Included Store pages with banner, bio and opening hours; follow store on Professional, vacation mode on Business [33]	Included A micro-store per vendor and a vendor page [4]	A store page for each seller with logo, banner, policies and rating, followers, a vacation mode, and a directory of every store
Sales dashboard for sellers	Included Vendor dashboard included; Vendor Analytics on a paid plan [3]	Partly A vendor panel with orders, earnings and balance; detailed reports are for the admin [20]	Each seller sees their sales, views and payouts
Account types you define	Partly Vendor sign-up with optional approval; separate account types not listed [34]	Partly Customers and vendors; customers apply to become vendors, with your approval [35]	Create your own account types, such as buyer, seller, provider or agency, each with its own sign-up fields, rights and approval; business accounts can import listings by CSV or a stock feed
Seller verification	Paid add-on Seller Verification (Professional): ID, address and company documents [36]	Paid add-on Vendor KYC add-on, $49 [37]	ID and business document checks, with Verified badges
Questions on listings	Paid add-on Product Q&A module (Business) [38]	Paid add-on Product Q&A add-ons, $39 to $60 [39]	Buyers ask in public and the seller answers on the listing page
Messages between buyers and sellers	Paid add-on Live Chat module (Business) with a TalkJS account; attachments included [40]	Included Message Center between buyers and vendors; attachments not stated [41]	Built in, with photos and PDFs, read receipts and a "needs your action" list
Reviews	Partly WooCommerce product reviews; store reviews on Professional; no double-blind reviews listed [3]	Included Product and vendor reviews; vendor rating on Plus; no double-blind reviews listed [42]	Double-blind reviews after a completed order, and badges sellers earn
Disputes	Not offered No dispute flow listed; Store Support (Professional) is a ticket to the vendor [43]	Paid add-on Only a third-party Disputes add-on [44]	The buyer reports a problem, the payout waits, and you decide: refund the buyer or pay the seller
Returns	Paid add-on Return and Warranty module (Professional) [45]	Included Return requests; vendors manage them on Plus [46]	The buyer asks within the return window, the seller accepts or refuses, and the refund goes back through Stripe
Saved searches with alerts	Not offered Not listed [3]	Not offered No saved searches; a Price Drop Alert add-on [47]	Instant or daily alerts for new matches, by email and push
Easy and safe sign-in	Paid add-on Social login on Starter; two-step login not listed [3]	Partly Social sign-in included; two-step login through add-ons [48]	Google, Facebook, Apple, X, Microsoft and LinkedIn, a code by SMS, one-click email links and two-step login
Many languages in one marketplace	Partly Translated into 20 languages and right-to-left; one language per site unless you add WPML [49]	Included 26 languages, right-to-left included; listings translated by hand or with an add-on [50]	44 languages, right-to-left included; visitors switch language and listings are translated for them
SEO toolkit	Paid add-on Store SEO through Rank Math (Professional) [51]	Included SEO-friendly URLs, sitemap and breadcrumb structured data [52]	Title patterns, redirects and a 404 log, structured data by listing type, sitemaps for every listing and IndexNow
Maps and map search	Paid add-on Geolocation module (Business), with your own Google Maps or Mapbox key [53]	Partly Vendor locations on Google Maps (beta); no map search of listings [54]	OpenStreetMap with no API key, or Google Maps; search the area on the map or near a place
Referral rewards	Not offered Dokan's FAQ says affiliate features are not available yet [49]	Paid add-on Referral Marketing add-on, $45; Affiliate Extension, $89 [55]	Members share an invite link and earn credit or a coupon when a friend buys or lists
Automatic social posting	Not offered Not listed [3]	Paid add-on Auto social posting add-ons; price not clear [6]	New listings posted to a Facebook Page, Instagram, X and Telegram
Your own iPhone app	Paid add-on Customer app $29 to $59 a month + $129 setup; vendor app from $22 a month + $149 setup [56]	Partly One app for buyers and vendors on Plus and up, free for a year, then $1,199 a year; not on Standard [57]	Your marketplace as a branded app on the App Store, with push notifications, published for you
API, webhooks and MCP	Partly REST API; no webhooks or MCP listed [58]	Partly REST API and Zapier; vendor API on Plus; no outgoing webhooks or MCP listed [59]	Signed webhooks, scoped API keys, an OpenAPI description, and an MCP server so AI assistants can work with your site
Hosting, SSL, updates and backups	Not offered Not included in the plugin: you run WordPress hosting, updates and backups [60]	Not offered Not included: you run your own server; Cloud plans temporarily unavailable [61]	Included, with support
PDF invoices	Included PDF invoices in the free version [3]	Included Editable invoices, sent as PDF with order emails [62]	Buyers download a PDF invoice for each order; right-to-left and Asian scripts use the printable invoice page
Seller tax reporting (DAC7)	Partly EU Compliance Fields (Starter) add company and VAT fields; no tax report listed [63]	Not offered No DAC7 report listed [64]	Sellers enter their tax details, and you get the yearly report EU rules ask marketplaces for
Tools for your team	Not offered No audit log listed [3]	Included Logs of users' actions with their IP [65]	A "needs your attention" list, an audit log of staff changes, a conversation viewer and log in as a user
Moving your listings in	Paid add-on Export Import module (Business); migration help on lifetime Enterprise [66]	Included CSV import of products, vendors and users; imports from Shopify and CS-Cart [4]	CSV import of listings and users, with a dry run and undo

Cost

A working site in year one.

Dokan, year one	About $709, before bookings and apps
CS-Cart Multi-Vendor, year one	About $3,060
Yclas Marketplace, year one	$1,788

When Dokan is the better choice

Your shop already runs on WooCommerce, and you want to open it to other sellers.
You need WooCommerce's product types and plugins, such as subscriptions, print on demand or a particular payment gateway.
You want sellers paid automatically through PayPal Marketplace, MANGOPAY or Razorpay rather than Stripe.

When CS-Cart Multi-Vendor is the better choice

You run a large online shop with many vendors and need warehouses, gift certificates, reward points or B2B price groups.
You want the code on your own server, with your developers changing anything.
Your vendors sell the same products side by side and buyers pick the cheapest offer (Common products).

Questions

Questions people ask

Yclas vs Dokan Yclas vs CS-Cart Multi-Vendor

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Which is cheaper, Dokan or CS-Cart Multi-Vendor?

In our counts, a working site costs About $709, before bookings and apps in year one with Dokan and About $3,060 with CS-Cart Multi-Vendor. Each comparison page lists the lines that make up the total.

Which includes more, Dokan or CS-Cart Multi-Vendor?

Of the 44 features compared here, Dokan includes 6 (or as a free add-on) and CS-Cart Multi-Vendor includes 17. Yclas includes all of them.

Is there a third option?

Yes: Yclas is hosted, with every feature in this table built in, a 15-day free trial and no credit card.

Sources

Checked on 22 October 2026. Prices change: the vendor's own page is always the latest word. If something here is out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.

Product names belong to their owners and are used only to identify the products compared. Yclas is not affiliated with them.

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