Yclas vs CS-Cart Multi-Vendor
CS-Cart Multi-Vendor sells you a yearly licence for shop software you host, with a strong cart and catalogue. Yclas is a hosted marketplace with AI, bookings, offers and classified ads built in, for less than the licence and server together.
- 7 AI tools, built inIncluded in CS-Cart Multi-Vendor: none. Each one is paid, partial or missing.
- $412.70 in plugins to match8 paid plugins and services for CS-Cart Multi-Vendor, and 6 features you can't buy at all.
- Live in about two minutesHosting, SSL, updates, backups and support are in one monthly price.
- No server to runHosting, SSL, updates and backups are in the plan: no licence renewals, VPS or update routine.
CS-Cart Multi-Vendor is PHP software for a multi-vendor shop: you buy a licence, run it on a server, and add what it lacks from its add-on marketplace. Its hosted Cloud plans are listed as temporarily unavailable. Yclas is a hosted marketplace platform: we run the servers, updates and backups.
Last checked: 22 October 2026. Facts about CS-Cart Multi-Vendor come from its own website; the sources are listed at the end of this page.
AI that does the work for you.
Yclas puts AI into every part of a marketplace: building it, filling it, searching it and keeping it safe. Monthly AI use is included in every plan. Under each one, what CS-Cart Multi-Vendor offers.
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.
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.
Sellers add a photo; the AI writes the title, description and price, and picks the category and fields.
Visitors search the way they talk, such as "red bike under 300 near Valencia", and get the right filters.
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.
On multilingual sites each listing is translated into every site language, with its own page for search engines. 44 languages.
The AI drafts a seller's reply from the listing and the conversation; the seller edits and sends it.
What changes for you.
What you get with Yclas that CS-Cart Multi-Vendor doesn't include.
The Yclas Marketplace plan includes all of these. For CS-Cart we list what its own website offers in the Plus edition, and the price of add-ons from its marketplace.
| Feature | Yclas | CS-Cart Multi-Vendor |
|---|---|---|
| Checkout and payouts | ||
| Shopping cart across sellers | Buyers fill one cart from several sellers and pay once; the payment is split between the sellers automatically | Included One cart, split into an order per vendor [10] |
| Commission on every sale | A percentage and a fixed fee on each sale, with rates by category or by seller, and an optional service fee for buyers | Included Commission through vendor plans, by category on Plus; split payouts with Stripe Connect or PayPal; no service fee for buyers [10] |
| Payment held until delivery | The seller is paid once the buyer confirms the order arrived, or after the number of days you set | Partly Stripe Connect transfers can wait, by hand or for a number of days; not until the buyer confirms delivery [13] |
| Product options and sale prices | Size, colour and other options with their own price and stock, sale prices, quantity discounts and bundles | Included Variants, quantity discounts and product bundles [15] |
| Seller payouts with or without Stripe Connect | 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 | Included Split payouts with Stripe Connect or PayPal, or vendor withdrawal requests you pay outside CS-Cart [11] |
| Shipping rates per seller | Each seller sets rates by country, with free shipping over an amount, and live carrier rates through your Shippo account | Included Vendors set their own shipping methods, with real-time carrier rates [16] |
| Coupons | Coupons from sellers and from you, used in the cart | Included Your promotions on every edition; vendor promotions on Plus [1] |
| Saved cards | Buyers save a card and pay with one click next time | Not offered Not listed [14] |
| Ways to sell | ||
| Classified ads in the same site | Listings can be buy-now items or contact-the-seller ads, with featured listings, bump to top and paid categories you charge for | Partly Catalog mode swaps the cart for an outside link; every seller is a vendor company, no private ads [19] |
| Offers and quotes | Offers and counter-offers in the chat, and request a quote: the seller sends a price, the buyer pays it online | Paid add-on Buyers can ask a vendor a question; Make an Offer add-on $69, request a quote $99 [36] |
| Auctions | Proxy bidding, reserve price, buy-now and anti-sniping | Paid add-on Auction add-ons from $29.70 [37] |
| Bookings and rentals | Availability calendar by day, night or hour, instant booking, deposits and price rules, paid online | Paid add-on Booking add-ons from $99 [38] |
| Digital downloads | Sell files: the buyer gets a download link as soon as they pay, with a limit on downloads | Included Downloadable products on every edition [1] |
| Memberships you charge sellers | Monthly seller plans, renewed automatically from the seller's saved card | Included Vendor plans with a one-off or recurring fee [17] |
| Sellers and stores | ||
| Seller storefronts | A store page for each seller with logo, banner, policies and rating, followers, a vacation mode, and a directory of every store | Included A micro-store per vendor and a vendor page [1] |
| Sales dashboard for sellers | Each seller sees their sales, views and payouts | Partly A vendor panel with orders, earnings and balance; detailed reports are for the admin [16] |
| Account types you define | 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 | Partly Customers and vendors; customers apply to become vendors, with your approval [18] |
| Seller verification | ID and business document checks, with Verified badges | Paid add-on Vendor KYC add-on, $49 [39] |
| Questions on listings | Buyers ask in public and the seller answers on the listing page | Paid add-on Product Q&A add-ons, $39 to $60 [40] |
| Buyers and trust | ||
| Messages between buyers and sellers | Built in, with photos and PDFs, read receipts and a "needs your action" list | Included Message Center between buyers and vendors; attachments not stated [20] |
| Reviews | Double-blind reviews after a completed order, and badges sellers earn | Included Product and vendor reviews; vendor rating on Plus; no double-blind reviews listed [21] |
| Disputes | The buyer reports a problem, the payout waits, and you decide: refund the buyer or pay the seller | Paid add-on Only a third-party Disputes add-on [41] |
| Returns | The buyer asks within the return window, the seller accepts or refuses, and the refund goes back through Stripe | Included Return requests; vendors manage them on Plus [22] |
| Saved searches with alerts | Instant or daily alerts for new matches, by email and push | Not offered No saved searches; a Price Drop Alert add-on [42] |
| Easy and safe sign-in | Google, Facebook, Apple, X, Microsoft and LinkedIn, a code by SMS, one-click email links and two-step login | Partly Social sign-in included; two-step login through add-ons [29] |
| Growth and reach | ||
| Many languages in one marketplace | 44 languages, right-to-left included; visitors switch language and listings are translated for them | Included 26 languages, right-to-left included; listings translated by hand or with an add-on [9] |
| SEO toolkit | Title patterns, redirects and a 404 log, structured data by listing type, sitemaps for every listing and IndexNow | Included SEO-friendly URLs, sitemap and breadcrumb structured data [24] |
| Maps and map search | OpenStreetMap with no API key, or Google Maps; search the area on the map or near a place | Partly Vendor locations on Google Maps (beta); no map search of listings [25] |
| Referral rewards | Members share an invite link and earn credit or a coupon when a friend buys or lists | Paid add-on Referral Marketing add-on, $45; Affiliate Extension, $89 [43] |
| Automatic social posting | New listings posted to a Facebook Page, Instagram, X and Telegram | Paid add-on Auto social posting add-ons; price not clear [33] |
| Your own iPhone app | Your marketplace as a branded app on the App Store, with push notifications, published for you | Partly One app for buyers and vendors on Plus and up, free for a year, then $1,199 a year; not on Standard [6] |
| API, webhooks and MCP | Signed webhooks, scoped API keys, an OpenAPI description, and an MCP server so AI assistants can work with your site | Partly REST API and Zapier; vendor API on Plus; no outgoing webhooks or MCP listed [26] |
| Running the marketplace | ||
| Hosting, SSL, updates and backups | Included, with support | Not offered Not included: you run your own server; Cloud plans temporarily unavailable [4] |
| PDF invoices | Buyers download a PDF invoice for each order; right-to-left and Asian scripts use the printable invoice page | Included Editable invoices, sent as PDF with order emails [12] |
| Seller tax reporting (DAC7) | Sellers enter their tax details, and you get the yearly report EU rules ask marketplaces for | Not offered No DAC7 report listed [27] |
| Tools for your team | A "needs your attention" list, an audit log of staff changes, a conversation viewer and log in as a user | Included Logs of users' actions with their IP [28] |
| Moving your listings in | CSV import of listings and users, with a dry run and undo | Included CSV import of products, vendors and users; imports from Shopify and CS-Cart [1] |
A working site in year one.
Licence, a server to run it on, and the add-ons a marketplace like Yclas needs, from CS-Cart's own website and marketplace.
CS-Cart Multi-Vendor
| Multi-Vendor Plus licence, one year with updates [1] | $1,449 |
|---|---|
| Managed VPS from CS-Cart's official host, 11 months (the first is included) [5] | $1,199 |
| Add-ons to match Yclas, bought one by one (see below) [31] | from $412.70 |
| Mobile app after the first year [6] | $1,199 a year |
| Year one | About $3,060 |
The Standard edition costs $725 a year, without vendor coupons, vendor ratings, vendors managing returns or the app. Lifetime licences cost $3,590 (Plus) to $19,990, with one to five years of updates. Customer Care with modifications costs $2,419 or $4,359 a year.
Yclas
| Marketplace up to 300,000 listings · $149 a month | $1,788 |
|---|---|
| Included in the price | Hosting, SSL, updates, backups, support |
Year-one total for the Marketplace plan, the one with the cart and a commission on every sale, from the pricing page. Yclas takes no fee on your sales; Stripe charges its own card fees. 15 days free first, with no credit card, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Prices in US dollars; EU customers pay VAT unless they add a VAT number.
CS-Cart Multi-Vendor and Yclas, point by point.
| Topic | CS-Cart Multi-Vendor | Yclas |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | PHP software with full code access, installed on your server | A hosted marketplace platform: nothing to install |
| Software price | Standard $725, Plus $1,449, Ultimate $3,599 a year | $149 a month on the Marketplace plan, with no fee on your sales. Hosting included. |
| Fee on your sales | None | None |
| Server | You rent and run it: PHP 7.4+, MySQL or MariaDB, a VPS recommended; official managed hosting from $109 a month | Included, with SSL on your own domain |
| Updates | Included while the licence runs; installed by you or by Customer Care | Done for you |
| Payouts to sellers | Stripe Connect or PayPal split payments, or withdrawal requests you pay by hand | Automatic through Stripe Connect, held until delivery if you want; or buyers pay you and sellers withdraw their balance by PayPal or bank transfer |
| Selling model | Every seller is a vendor company with a shop | Private and business sellers, with buy-now items and classified ads side by side |
| Bookings, offers, auctions | Add-ons from the marketplace: bookings $99 to $200, Make an Offer $69, auctions from $29.70 | Built in |
| AI help | Paid add-ons for AI translation and search; an llms.txt editor on Plus | Seven AI tools with monthly use included: page builder, site setup, listings from a photo, search, scam checks, translation and reply drafts |
| Phones | One app for buyers and vendors on Plus and up, free for a year, then $1,199 a year | Your own branded iPhone app on the App Store, published for you, with push notifications; mobile-first theme for every phone |
| Support | Up to 15 requests a month with the licence, business days; modifications with Customer Care from $2,419 a year | Priority support from our developers and an onboarding call on Marketplace |
| Latest release | CS-Cart 4.21.2, 22 September 2026 | Updated continuously, with nothing for you to install |
Also on the Marketplace plan
- 44 languages, right-to-left included, multilingual sites and any currency
- Your own domain with one DNS record, and SSL set up automatically
- 17 payment gateways, including Stripe, PayPal, Mollie, Mercado Pago and Razorpay
- A money wizard that sets up paid posting, featured listings and plans in a few clicks
- Cookie consent that holds back analytics and ad code until visitors accept
- Reporting of illegal listings with a review queue, as the EU Digital Services Act asks
- Captcha with no setup, listing drafts that save themselves, and favourites
- Custom CSS and code, conditional custom fields and a catalogue of add-ons
- Ready-made connections for Zapier, Make, Google Sheets, Mailchimp, Slack and HubSpot
- A share kit with WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram and X buttons and a social image for every listing
The AI features and the page builder work with the Nova theme, the default for new sites. Compare plans →
Make it yours without hiring a developer.
With CS-Cart Multi-Vendor, a design beyond the theme's options usually means paying a developer or designer. Yclas includes a page builder you use yourself: describe what you want, or change it by hand.
The Yclas page builder
- Describe the change in plain words, such as "darker hero, bigger search, rounder cards", and the AI makes it in a draft you preview before you publish.
- Start from 109 ready-made looks for cars, property, jobs, services, equipment and more, then change colours, fonts, buttons and spacing.
- Build pages from a library of sections: hero with search, categories, latest listings, how it works, locations, map, text, image and text, features, testimonials, FAQ, stats, call to action and logos, plus custom code sections for anything else.
- Drag sections into place, edit text right on the page, and check it on desktop, tablet and phone, next to your live site.
- Write and rewrite text with AI, and use free photos from Pexels and Unsplash or your own.
- Add pages, save blocks to reuse, undo any step, restore an earlier version, schedule publishing up to 90 days ahead, and share a preview link for 7 days.
Included in every plan. Want us to do it for you? Our team also does custom design and development.
The usual route with CS-Cart Multi-Vendor
| Professional design theme [1] | $500 |
|---|---|
| Customer Care Plus: 4 modifications a month [1] | $2,419 a year |
| A mid-level freelance PHP developer in the US [44] | $62 to $100 an hour |
Hourly work adds up with every change: a new section, a seasonal banner or a fix after an update is another job to brief, wait for and pay for.
Moving from CS-Cart
CS-Cart exports products, vendors and users as CSV, and Yclas imports CSV.
- Export your products, vendors and users from CS-Cart as CSV files.
- Start a free trial and open Move your site to Yclas, then choose CSV.
- Match the columns, check the dry run (a preview with any errors, nothing is saved yet), then import.
Products become listings with their categories, prices and photos from their web addresses, and vendors and users become accounts. Passwords are not copied: imported users set a new one, and sellers connect their own Stripe account again. You can undo the latest import within 7 days.
When CS-Cart Multi-Vendor may be 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).
- You want an Android app, or one app that vendors also manage their shop in.
If none of these fit, and you would rather spend your time on your marketplace than on a server, try Yclas.
Is CS-Cart Multi-Vendor cheaper than Yclas?
Not once it is online. The Plus licence costs $1,449 a year and CS-Cart's official hosting starts at $109 a month, about $2,650 in the first year before add-ons. Standard is $725 a year without vendor coupons or the app. Yclas Marketplace costs $149 a month with hosting included.
Does CS-Cart have a hosted version?
CS-Cart describes a Multi-Vendor Cloud, hosted with no code access and built-in add-ons only, but its pricing is listed as temporarily unavailable.
Can I sell bookings and take offers on Yclas?
Yes, both are built in: bookings by day, night or hour with deposits, and offers, counter-offers and quotes paid online. On CS-Cart they are add-ons from other developers.
Can I move my CS-Cart marketplace to Yclas?
Yes. Export products, vendors and users as CSV files and bring them in with the Yclas CSV import, after a dry run you can check. You can undo the latest import within 7 days.
Do I need my own server for Yclas?
No. Hosting, SSL, updates, security fixes and backups are part of every plan. You start on a free yourname.yclas.com address and can connect your own domain.
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.
- CS-Cart: compare editions, prices and features
- CS-Cart product list: lifetime licences
- CS-Cart upgrade policy
- CS-Cart Multi-Vendor Cloud: pricing temporarily unavailable
- CS-Cart cloud hosting (Scalesta)
- CS-Cart Multi-Vendor mobile app
- CS-Cart support service
- CS-Cart system requirements
- CS-Cart Multi-Vendor: languages and marketplaces launched
- CS-Cart docs: vendor workflow and payment models
- CS-Cart docs: vendor account balance and withdrawals
- CS-Cart docs: documents and invoices
- CS-Cart docs: Stripe Connect, delayed transfers
- CS-Cart docs: Stripe payments
- CS-Cart docs: quantity discounts
- CS-Cart docs: vendors
- CS-Cart docs: vendor commissions and plans
- CS-Cart docs: customers applying for a vendor account
- CS-Cart docs: catalog mode
- CS-Cart docs: customer-to-vendor communication
- CS-Cart docs: comments and reviews
- CS-Cart docs: vendors managing return requests
- CS-Cart docs: Anti Fraud
- CS-Cart 4.21.1 release notes
- CS-Cart docs: vendor locations (beta)
- CS-Cart docs: REST API
- CS-Cart docs: collecting taxes from vendors
- CS-Cart docs: logs
- CS-Cart marketplace: two-factor authentication add-ons
- CS-Cart release history: 4.21.2, 22 September 2026
- CS-Cart add-on marketplace
- CS-Cart marketplace: AI-powered add-ons
- CS-Cart marketplace: AI-powered add-ons, page 2
- CS-Cart marketplace: NLP Smart Search AI
- CS-Cart marketplace: AI Translator (GPT)
- CS-Cart marketplace: Make An Offer
- CS-Cart marketplace: auction add-on
- CS-Cart marketplace: Booking and rent
- CS-Cart marketplace: Vendor KYC
- CS-Cart marketplace: product questions
- CS-Cart marketplace: Disputes
- CS-Cart marketplace: Price Drop Alert
- CS-Cart marketplace: affiliate and referral add-ons
- SecondTalent, cost to hire a PHP developer (rates updated 25 September 2026)
- Yclas pricing
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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