SporeSwaps and Culture Cave are the two multi-vendor marketplaces for spore syringes, liquid cultures and mycology supplies. Several vendors sell on both. This page sets out, plainly, how the two differ, so you can decide where to buy. Every figure was checked on 10 October 2026 and the Culture Cave numbers are rebuilt from the live catalogue every hour.
SporeSwaps is a US-centred marketplace with a central checkout: you pay the marketplace by bank transfer or a peer-to-peer app and it settles with the vendor. Culture Cave is a directory of independent storefronts: you pay the vendor directly, by card, through their own checkout, and the marketplace never touches the money. Culture Cave also lists vendors in the UK, Australia and South Africa, so buyers outside the United States can order domestically.
| What you are comparing | Culture Cave | SporeSwaps |
|---|---|---|
| Vendors | 29 independent stores | 26 vendor storefronts |
| Where vendors are based | 19 in the United States, 6 in the United Kingdom, 3 in Australia and 1 in South Africa | 23 in the United States, 2 in Canada and 1 in Sweden |
| Vendors shipping internationally | 15 of 29 | 9 of 26 |
| Listings | 1,183 | about 2,489 |
| Customer reviews on the platform | 72 | about 3,918 |
| How you pay | Direct to the vendor through the vendor's own card checkout or payment link. Culture Cave never holds your money. | Wise bank transfer, PayPal, Zelle, Cash App and Chime, paid into the marketplace's own account with the order number in the memo. |
| Fees on top of the price | None. Vendors pay a flat subscription and keep 100% of each sale, so there is nothing to pass on. | a checkout payment processing surcharge is described in its FAQ. |
| Who ships the order | The vendor, from their own location, with their own tracking. | The vendor. |
| UK and Australian buyers | 6 UK and 3 Australian stores with domestic delivery and local currency. | No UK or Australian vendors listed. |
| Education | Guides hub plus a written strain library. | An education hub with protocol articles. |
This is the biggest practical difference. On SporeSwaps you choose Wise, PayPal, Zelle, Cash App or Chime and send money to the marketplace's account, typing the order number into the memo field. Some of those rails have no buyer protection at all. On Culture Cave every vendor runs their own payment processor, so you check out by card on the vendor's own page and your card issuer's protection applies as it would with any online shop. If a vendor ever disappears, Culture Cave has nothing of yours to hold.
Culture Cave charges vendors a flat monthly subscription and takes no commission, so the price on the listing is the price you pay. SporeSwaps describes a checkout payment processing surcharge in its FAQ. Both marketplaces leave shipping prices to the vendor.
SporeSwaps has more US vendors and, because it has been running longer with a central cart, a larger pile of accumulated reviews. Culture Cave has vendors on four continents, and more than half of them ship internationally. If you are in the UK, Australia or South Africa, Culture Cave is the only one of the two with vendors in your country. Several well known labs sell on both platforms, and you can compare their prices and shipping on either side.
SporeSwaps lists more products overall. Culture Cave organises its catalogue into strain pages that pull every vendor's listing for a variety into one place, so comparing, say, Penis Envy spores or Pan Cyan isolates across vendors takes one click rather than a search per store.
SporeSwaps figures come from its public vendor directory and FAQ as read on 10 October 2026. They will drift; if you spot something out of date, tell us and it will be corrected. Culture Cave figures are generated from the live platform. Both marketplaces sell spores for microscopy and taxonomy use only.