If you’re unsure where to read manga for free, we’ve got you covered. Here are the five best apps and websites you can visit to read official English translations of manga online legally.
- Platforms: Web, Android, iOS
- Cost: Free, $2.99/month, or pay per issue
- Notable Titles: One Piece, My Hero Academia, One-Punch Man
In the world of manga, WSJ doesn’t stand for Wall Street Journal; it stands for Weekly Shonen Jump. It’s one of the oldest, most popular (and arguably the best) weekly manga magazines available today. And it has a whole new digital avatar you should know about.
Called only Shonen Jump in the digital version, you can access three chapters of any ongoing series for free. Depending on the series, you’ll be able to read the first or several first chapters of the manga for free. If you want to continue reading beyond that, you’ll need a Shonen Jump subscription.
For $2.99/month, you can unlock the Shonen Jump vault of over 20,000 chapters across a range of titles. WSJ was the origin of some of the most iconic manga in history, like Death Note, Naruto, and Bleach. It still publishes some classic titles, like Hunter x Hunter, and you’ll discover plenty of new gems.
As with the classic WSJ, new chapters of several manga (usually over 20) arrive on the site every week. Shonen Jump also releases English translations at the same time as Japanese chapters.
Download: Shonen Jump for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
- Platforms: Android, iOS, Web
- Cost: Free, $1.99/month (Standard), $4.99/month (Deluxe)
- Notable Titles: Luffy, Goku, Naruto, Deku, Tanjiro
Manga Plus is one of the popular sites where you can read manga legally for free. While the platform isn’t completely free, you can read several chapters of any title for free. It offers a rich library of titles from Japan and even offers some of them in multiple languages besides English and Japanese.
Plus, Manga Plus guarantees the release of titles in English and other languages the same day they are released in Japan. It offers the first three chapters, and the newest three chapters of any title are free.
The site works directly with creators and publishes their work on the platform. The website offers an easy way to read manga, but you can also download the Android and iOS apps to read on the go. It also allows you to read the free chapters of any title without signing up.
Manga Plus has two plans: Standard ($1.99/month) and Deluxe ($4.99/month). The Standard plan gives you access to all the ongoing titles, while Deluxe unlocks all titles, including completed classics like Naruto, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, and Death Note.
Download: Manga Plus for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
- Platforms: Web, Android, iOS
- Cost: Free, or pay per issue
- Notable Titles: Attack on Titan, No Game No Life, Re:ZERO – Starting Life in Another World
Book Walker is a one-stop shop for legal and official digital comics from Japan. The service includes all the popular publishers, including Viz, Kodansha, and Yen. It’s like shopping on the Kindle store, except specifically for manga.
Book Walker features different free titles every month, but sadly, there’s significantly more paid content than free content. Nevertheless, you can download the Book Walker app on your mobile device or visit the website on your PC browser. You can browse by categories, genres, publishers, or authors.
When you purchase Book Walker, it’s added to your catalog for eternity, and you earn coins that can be used to make future purchases. There are also membership rankings, which are determined by how much you spend. The higher your ranking is, the more coins you can earn per purchase.
Download: Book Walker for Android | iOS (Free, offers in-app purchases)
- Platforms: Web, Android, iOS
- Cost: $4.99/month, 7-day free trial
- Notable Titles: Apotheosis, Apocalypse Online, The Devil Butler
Since manga, comics, webtoons, and manhua go hand-in-hand, INKR Comics includes all four. The library includes over 1,000 titles across different categories, including action, romance, comedy, horror, and more. As an overall deal for a Japanophile, INKR Comics is amazing.
Using the app is a seamless experience, and it offers notifications so you can easily keep up with new releases of your favorite titles. Because the site is more than just a place where you can read manga online, it might be a little bit overwhelming for a beginner but the categorization should make it a bit easy finding manga across different categories.
INKR Comics includes a $4.99/month subscription, which gives you access to all titles on the platform. However, if you’d rather own specific titles, it offers a coin system that you can purchase to unlock any chapter. But before paying for any title on the platform, INKR Comics gives you a chance to read several chapters for free to get a feel of the title before fully committing.
Download: INKR Comics for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
- Platforms: Web, Android, iOS, Windows, macOS
- Cost: $5.99/month, or pay per issue
- Notable Titles: Lone Wolf and Cub, Attack on Titan, Fairy Tail, The Seven Deadly Sins, Love Hina, Sherlock Bones
ComiXology is one of the best manga apps for Android and iOS. And the ComiXology Unlimited subscription service gives you access to a large collection of comics for a flat fee, like INKR Comics.
Additionally, in February 2022, Amazon integrated Comixology into Kindle, replacing Comixology’s browser-based store and reader. Moving forward, you can now read your manga online inside Kindle, which is another great reason why you should buy a Kindle. That has brought about some advantages, such as using your existing Amazon account to read Comixology’s vast manga library.
ComiXology is perhaps the best option as a one-stop shop for all your manga needs. It offers both a subscription model and the ability to purchase individual issues that aren’t in the subscription. Plus, since Amazon owns ComiXology, you can rest assured that your subscription isn’t going to die without notice. But if you despise the platform due to its tie to Amazon, you can check out the best Comixology alternatives.
So, should you get ComiXology Unlimited or buy individual issues separately? Check the full list of ComiXology Unlimited titles and see if it’s worth $6/month. And remember, you also get access to a large collection of other comics from DC, Marvel, and so on.
Download: Amazon Kindle for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
These websites are the best places to read manga online today. But it’s worth considering how you want to consume your favorite books. Manga is generally black and white, so you don’t need a color screen to get the most out of the art form. This makes the Kindle an ideal device, but the low storage may prove to be a problem.
