If you search for the world’s largest eCommerce store on Google, you’ll see that most are multi-vendor marketplaces. The great success of online multi-vendor marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, and eBay has motivated new entrepreneurs to launch their own multi-vendor online stores. However, creating a multi-vendor marketplace is challenging. You must develop a fully functional online store that allows multiple vendors to operate smoothly under one platform.

So today, I have decided to compare the top ecommerce platforms that help you build a multivendor online store like Amazon & FlipKart without any technical knowledge.

Based on my research for top multi-vendor marketplace platforms, I found these 4 multi-vendor ecommerce platforms for comparison:

  • Cs-Cart
  • Yokart
  • X-Cart
  • Apattha

These are the popular names in the multivendor industry, before I started; let me give you a brief introduction about each platform:

CS-Cart is a very popular name in the multivendor industry. You can start a self-hosted multivendor marketplace with CS Cart easily.

YoKart is a dedicated multivendor marketplace platform that has gained a lot of popularly in short period of time. You can start both hosted and self-hosted marketplaces with YoKart.

X-Cart is a popular open source platform. With X-Cart you can start a single or multivendor ecommerce store easily.

Apptha is basically an extension by which you can start a multivendor marketplace swiftly with your word-press, Magento, or Joomla online store.

Let’s Start the Comparison

Features:

I have compared features that must have in a multi-vendor marketplace. In Addition to, I compared features of each platform that is available in their base package.

  • Features Available in YoKart $1299 Package
  • Features Available in CS-Cart $1450 Package
  • Features Available in Apptha with extensions
  • Features Available in X cart $1495 package

Pricing:

CS Cart:

  • $1450- A Self Hosted Solution
  • $3500- A Self Hosted Solution with more features
  • Enterprise Package – Pricing is not mentioned on the website

Yokart:

  • $250 – a hosted solution
  • $999 – a Self-Hosted solution
  • $1299 – a Self-Hosted solution with new features like product catalog, multilingual, & multi-currency.
  • $2999 – A Self-hosted solution with Partial Custom Design option
  • $5999 – A Self-hosted solution with Fully Custom Design & Pre Launch Marketing option.

Yokart provides free installation on all the packages.

Appatha:

  • $799 – A marketplace solution

X-Cart:

  • $1495 – A Self Hosted Solution
  • $5995 – For enterprises with more features

Technical Support:

In the starting period of any startup, good technical support is very necessary. So, you need to hire an ecommerce company that has an active customer support team and additionally won’t charge you for support.

  • YoKart provides 1 year free technical support. The technical support mediums are phone calls, email, Skype, & WhatsApp chat.
  • Cs Cart provides free customer support for 90 days. After that, you’ll have to pay for technical support.
  • X-Cart provides 1 year free technical support but that is in $5995 package. If you’ll buy any other package, you have to pay for technical support.
  • Apptha provides 3 months free support. After that, you’ll have to pay for technical support.

Mobile Apps:

Nowadays many people like to buy products through mobile apps because mobile apps offer a more user-centric experience.

  • Cs-Cart offers mobile apps for customer shopping but not for vendors and admin. Regarding the mobile apps price, it is $90 for one month without source code. In package of $3500 (Multivendor Plus) customer shopping mobile apps (Without source code) are included.
  • Yokart offers mobile apps for customer and sellers. Regarding the price, it is $499 (one time price) for each app without source code. For with source code mobile apps, you have to contact YoKart team.
  • X-Cart also offers mobile apps for customer shopping but not for sellers and buyers. The mobile apps price information is not written on their website.
  • There is no information about Apptha mobile apps on their website.

Customizability and Scalability:

When starting a new business, it’s hard for anyone to know when it will exceed expectations. You can’t tell when orders will rise or when you’ll want to grow into new areas. These questions only get answered as you approach the expansion stage.

  • Cs-Cart has the developers in many countries, so customization is easy in CS-Cart.
  • YoKart is a fully customizable eCommerce platform. However, finding YoKart developers on the web is not easy. You have to contact YoKart team for any customization work.
  • X-Cart is also a customizable platform and you can consult with X-Cart team for customization work.
  • You can customize your marketplace built with Apptha. However, customization cost could be on the higher side.

Free Demo:

  • Cs-Cart offers 15 days free use of its multivendor marketplace. You have to contact CS Cart team for that.
  • YoKart doesn’t offer a free trial period but you can check the live demos easily (without contacting YoKart team) to get through the system.
  • For free demo in X-Cart, you have to contact their team.
  • There is no free demo option with Apptha.

Conclusion:

Depending on your requirements and budget, you can choose the best platform from the above solutions to start a multi-vendor online store like Amazon, Etsy, Flipkart. If you want me to compare any other multi-vendor eCommerce platform with the above solutions, please let me know in the comment section.