CS-Cart Multi-Vendor vs. Shift4Shop

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
CS-Cart Multi-Vendor
Score 8.6 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
CS-Cart Multi-Vendor is an eCommerce marketplace software for SMBs available in cloud (No-Code) and self-hosted (On-Premises) versions. It allows users to open an online marketplace, where the user is the admin, and all the others—invited sellers. Each seller has his or her own micro-store with a customizable storefront, categories, filters, and search. Just like in Amazon. In the CS-Cart Multi-Vendor marketplace platform, managing vendors is designed to be simple:…
$1,250
per year
Shift4Shop
Score 1.9 out of 10
N/A
Shift4Shop (formerly 3dcart) is a customizable eCommerce platform designed to build an online store. Some features include Level 1 PCI security compliance, the same level used by banks and large financial institutions, along with search engine optimized templates and no transaction fees. The former 3dcart was acquired by Shift4 Payments in November, 2020.N/A
Pricing
CS-Cart Multi-VendorShift4Shop
Editions & Modules
Standard
$1,250
per year
Plus
$3,150
per year
Ultimate
$6,950
per year
Ultimate Lifetime
Contact Sales
one-time fee
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
CS-Cart Multi-VendorShift4Shop
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsShift4Shop offers a free enterprise-grade plan for US customers who use their payment processing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
CS-Cart Multi-VendorShift4Shop
Top Pros

No answers on this topic

Top Cons

No answers on this topic

Features
CS-Cart Multi-VendorShift4Shop
Online Storefront
Comparison of Online Storefront features of Product A and Product B
CS-Cart Multi-Vendor
8.6
10 Ratings
11% above category average
Shift4Shop
1.0
9 Ratings
154% below category average
Product catalog & listings8.810 Ratings1.09 Ratings
Product management8.910 Ratings1.09 Ratings
Bulk product upload8.39 Ratings1.07 Ratings
Branding8.710 Ratings1.08 Ratings
Mobile storefront8.08 Ratings1.09 Ratings
Product variations8.59 Ratings1.09 Ratings
Website integration8.69 Ratings1.09 Ratings
Visual customization8.710 Ratings1.09 Ratings
CMS8.810 Ratings1.08 Ratings
Online Shopping Cart
Comparison of Online Shopping Cart features of Product A and Product B
CS-Cart Multi-Vendor
8.4
10 Ratings
10% above category average
Shift4Shop
1.4
9 Ratings
138% below category average
Abandoned cart recovery8.29 Ratings1.47 Ratings
Checkout user experience8.510 Ratings1.49 Ratings
Online Payment System
Comparison of Online Payment System features of Product A and Product B
CS-Cart Multi-Vendor
8.9
9 Ratings
7% above category average
Shift4Shop
1.4
9 Ratings
142% below category average
eCommerce security8.99 Ratings1.49 Ratings
eCommerce Marketing
Comparison of eCommerce Marketing features of Product A and Product B
CS-Cart Multi-Vendor
8.4
9 Ratings
12% above category average
Shift4Shop
1.4
9 Ratings
137% below category average
Promotions & discounts8.89 Ratings1.09 Ratings
Personalized recommendations8.09 Ratings1.78 Ratings
SEO8.49 Ratings1.69 Ratings
eCommerce Business Management
Comparison of eCommerce Business Management features of Product A and Product B
CS-Cart Multi-Vendor
8.0
10 Ratings
2% above category average
Shift4Shop
1.7
9 Ratings
129% below category average
Multi-site management8.78 Ratings1.04 Ratings
Order processing8.510 Ratings3.18 Ratings
Inventory management6.510 Ratings1.07 Ratings
Shipping7.39 Ratings2.48 Ratings
Custom functionality8.99 Ratings1.08 Ratings
Best Alternatives
CS-Cart Multi-VendorShift4Shop
Small Businesses
Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus
Score 8.9 out of 10
Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
IBM Digital Commerce
IBM Digital Commerce
Score 9.0 out of 10
IBM Digital Commerce
IBM Digital Commerce
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM Digital Commerce
IBM Digital Commerce
Score 9.0 out of 10
IBM Digital Commerce
IBM Digital Commerce
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
CS-Cart Multi-VendorShift4Shop
Likelihood to Recommend
8.6
(10 ratings)
1.0
(10 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
8.3
(7 ratings)
4.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
2.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(7 ratings)
4.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.2
(1 ratings)
2.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
2.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
CS-Cart Multi-VendorShift4Shop
Likelihood to Recommend
CS-Cart
For quickly setting up a most intuitive online marketplace, CS-Cart Multi-Vendor is the best one. The software is very well suited for those who have some basic knowledge about backend customization, installation, server setup, proper server configuration etc. Though I'm sure the support team will get you up and running. Only few third-party service providers are very professional, provide honest service and will help you to run your business smoothly. I would highly recommend to use CS-Cart Multi-Vendor.
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Shift4
At this point I would recommend looking elsewhere - 8 years with a platform and finally have to switch due to the unreliability is not something a business likes to do! They should sell the platform to a company that actually cares about owning an ecommerce builder. Research Shift4 - the parent
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Pros
CS-Cart
  • Quick and easy set up of a multi-vendor marketplace
  • Very easy-to-use page designer
  • Huge marketplace of add-ons to cover pretty much anything you need
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Shift4
  • In my opinion, charge you too much for what it is worth
  • In my opinion, tech support is always blaming client and end up fixing it own issues
  • In my experience, make you believe client is important
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Cons
CS-Cart
  • The high cost of the platform itself and plugins.
  • Unavailability of the mobile application in the basic version of the platform.
  • Relatively difficult process of installing updates if you are new to IT.
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Shift4
  • Page structure is all over the place. It can be difficult to find where to go to make page edits.
  • Base platform isn't very robust and requires multiple add-ons in order to add CRM, Taxes, and other capabilities
  • Reporting isn't very strong, necessitating outside analytics
  • File system is also pretty wonky and feels very primitive
  • Customer service and technical help leaves MUCH to be desired.
  • Not as many supported add-ons/plug-ins as other platforms, and many of them cost additional fees. Many of them also don't seamlessly integrate, meaning you'll need to dev the integration yourself.
  • In general, what you see in the WYSIWYG is not what you get.
  • Order System is not very intuitive for the modern era
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Likelihood to Renew
CS-Cart
No answers on this topic
Shift4
Not applicable - as a franchisee, the franchiser took over the web site and shopping cart capabilities, so I no longer need the tool. But I would recommend it.
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Usability
CS-Cart
The software consists of most of all e-commerce related features. Also, there are plenty of third party addons are available in the market which can improve our business. There are a lot of powerful themes available in the cs cart market which improve the look and feel on the front store. If CS-cart adjusted the price on their software license cost, controlling the third party addon cost and provide more freelancers with cheaper hourly rate for the customization on the cs-cart multi vendor software, the cs-cart company can be a master among other e-commerce software companies in the world.
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Shift4
If you are looking for ultra basic interface ...
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Reliability and Availability
CS-Cart
No answers on this topic
Shift4
regular updates braking our site
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Support Rating
CS-Cart
inside of the support subscription, they give me all the time a fast answer and you can ask in a community forum also other users. But i miss a free support/chat like other solutions.
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Shift4
You always manage to fins someone, but, in my experience, resolving issues are not an easy task. Why do we pay for a service , and then spend time trouble shooting constantly with them ?? In my experience, they eliminate features , send you an email what you can use instead, with instructions most people cant do without an IT guy . It feel more like an open source than a true integrated service.
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Implementation Rating
CS-Cart
Mostly extremely easy to implement, both back-end logic as well as styling. Great addon marketplace helped, particularly around payment options.
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Shift4
Initially it was difficult to manage the UI to the client, and then hard to change anything , unless you used the boring and too generic templates . Their template selection is very limited , that are basically all the same with different background images and colours . If you are unfortunate to have been a long-time client, you will have to completely rebuild your store, because old templates are not supported anymore
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Alternatives Considered
CS-Cart
It's a one-time payment and the entire CMS is in your control, can list unlimited products and vendors. no need to depend on an e-commerce platform to pay huge commissions. promote your own brand globally. change the looks of your listing with multiple themes, there are vast add on and page themes to enhance look and controls.
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Shift4
We used them for 2 years and had minor problems up until the end. For the last 2 months, customers were unable to checkout, or connect to our payment processor. We put in like 3 to 5 hot tickets to get fixed and day after day nothing was fixed and support got ruder and ruder with us! We lost thousands of dollars online with this company and now they are chasing us for a renewal payment! Simply put, this is bad software with a poor customer care staff!
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Return on Investment
CS-Cart
  • Positive impact in learning to set up a shopping cart
  • ROI is questionable, as we are still building our business model
  • Positive impact on our business model and direction
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Shift4
  • We have seen an increase in sales of 440% since starting with 3D cart.
  • We find that the 3D features of promotions, coupon codes, rewards points all make customers want to come to us or come back to us.
  • They made mobile conversion pretty easy, and our mobile traffic went from 33% to 54%.
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ScreenShots

CS-Cart Multi-Vendor Screenshots

Screenshot of Multi-Vendor marketplace storefrontScreenshot of Multi-Vendor marketplace product pageScreenshot of

Shift4Shop Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of