With so many options, it might seem hard to figure out where to read manga online. Manga contains some of the best storylines, incredible characters, and surprising plot twists available. While these graphic novels and comics may originate in Japan, that doesn’t mean you can’t read manga online from pretty much anywhere around the world.
Note: if one of the sites below isn’t available in your country, let us show you how to view blocked websites.
What Is Manga?
If you’ve never had the chance to try manga, think of it as the comic book/graphic novel version of anime. In fact, it’s not uncommon for an anime series to become a manga series and vice versa.
Manga features the same exaggerated features and artwork as anime. However, some of the themes tend to be more adult. When searching for manga to read online, make sure you’re using sites that have translated it into English or your desired language. All of the sites listed here are in English, outside of a few titles here and there.
1. Mangamo
Price: Free (limited) / Premium $5 per month
Mangamo launched in 2020 and quickly became a popular resource for manga hunters all over the world. With officially licensed publishers onboard, the selection on Mangamo is of a very high quality, and at the time of writing, contains over 1,000 titles. It’s nice that you don’t have to be concerned about piracy. This also means it’s a more reliable service.
New chapters are added daily and from officially licensed titles, such as Devil-Chi, Attack on Titan, and A Man With a Thousand Skills. You also get access to over 50 exclusive titles. The free version is limited based on the title, though many titles offer daily free chapters. For premium users, reading is unlimited and ad-free.
The only downside is you can’t read on the web. You must use the mobile app.
2. MANGA Plus by SHUEISA
Price: Free | $5/month for MAX
One of the top sites to read manga online is MANGA Plus by SHUEISA. The site is created and controlled by the Japanese publisher SHUEISA, ensuring that artists are compensated for their work. It’s owned by the same company as the popular manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump, so you’ll be able to read magazine contents on the website as soon as it’s published. With a good variety and clearly legal titles, it’s the perfect option for manga fans.
The first and latest chapters are free to read, though some titles are only available on the mobile apps. To read all chapters, subscribe to MANGA Plus MAX for $5/month. Easily create a favorites library to keep track of your titles, including popular titles such as Leach, Naruto, Blue Box, Dragon Ball, and Black Clover.
3. Crunchyroll
Price: Start at $3.50/month as an add-on
Crunchyrollused to be one of the best websites to read manga online, but the platform discontinued the manga portion in 2023. The good news is manga is back as of October 2025. It’s not a separate subscription. Instead, you add it on to your existing premium Crunchyroll subscription. It’s included for free if you’re an Ultimate Fan subscriber.
All the iffy scanalations are long gone. You’ll find nothing but officially licensed titles. The initial launch includes titles from J-Novel Club, Square Enix, COMPASS, Viz Media, and more. The new service is ad-free and even allows offline reading.
4. Shonen Jump
Price: Free | $4/month for premium
Shonen Jump, the digital version of Weekly Shonen Jump, offers some of the latest chapters of their popular manga titles for free. While you can’t go back and start from the beginning as a free user, this is a great way to get newer chapters without paying anything. You’ll need to create a Viz (the home site of Shonen Jump) account to save favorites. The quality is nice, and it’s easy to navigate the reader on desktop and mobile.
If you want to read even more manga online, upgrade to the premium version. You get over 20,000 chapters, so it’s well worth the small fee. But, there’s plenty available for free users too.
5. ComiXology Unlimited – Premium
Price: $6/month
ComiXology is an Amazon company that’s just for comics, graphic novels, and manga. The main site allows you to buy individual titles. However, the best deal overall is easily ComiXology Unlimited. As the name implies, you get to read all you want for one flat monthly fee. You can even try it free for 30 days.
While over 2,400 manga titles are included in the subscription, some are only available for individual purchase. But, members get discounts. The original ComiXology app wasn’t the most user friendly, so now you just use the Kindle app. You’ll need to subscribe on the desktop site to access it in the app.
6. Book Walker
Price: Free and per item pricing
If you want to read manga online and keep it, Book Walker is the best option. It’s a store versus just a reading platform, though once you purchase a title, it’s listed in your library to read whenever you want. But, the site has a rotating selection of free series and chapters.
Check back weekly for sales to get new chapters, first chapters, and much more without paying anything. At the time of writing, there were over 15 pages of free items on their site. Plus, you’ll find numerous sales offering anywhere from 5-50 percent off to help you build your manga collection without destroying your budget.
7. INKR
Price: Free | Premium starts at $2.50/month
INKR is home to over a thousand manga, webtoons, manhua, and comics titles. The best part is everything is legal and creators are welcome to create exclusive content for the platform. While some chapters and titles are free, most require a membership and/or coins to access. Here’s where things get complicated.
There isn’t a simple membership model. Some titles only require the INKR Extra membership to access. Some chapters and titles require coins, which you can purchase in packs. But, some coins are included with your membership. Still, other chapters that require coins are free for members. Yes, it’s a strange pricing model, but the growing collection of manga may make it worth trying.
8. WEBTOON
Price: Free with premium options
WEBTOON offers a growing collection of comics, webtoons, and manga. Everything is officially licensed and much of the content is completely free to access. To help support creators, you’ll have to deal with some ads, though they’re not obtrusive. The latest releases are typically free a week after release, or you can pay extra for a fast pass for early access.
To access entire series and titles, you’ll typically need coins. I suggest buying these in WEBTOON Premium packages since you get more coins for your money. You can only buy coins in the mobile apps and some content is only available in the apps versus the browser.
9. Alpha Manga
Price: Free and premium content
Alpha Manga works like many other sites to read manga online. Some content is free and other requires you to unlock it with tickets (similar to coins on other sites). But, what sets them apart is you get a free premium chapter every day. So, if you’re patient, you’ll get free content daily and never have to pay anything.
Of course, you can also unlock premium content at any time by buying packs of tickets. The price varies based on the title. One downside is much of the content is only available in the mobile apps, so if you prefer a larger screen, just know desktop reading might not be an option. You could also just cast the app to your TV screen.
10. MangaPlaza
Price: Free | $7/month for premium
MangaPlaza has over 150,000 chapters available. Easily find some of your favorites or discover something new. You’ll find thousands of free chapters and the site rotates free selections. Many first chapters of premium series are free as well.
If you subscribe the MangaPlaza Premium, you get instant access to 30,000 premium chapters. All manga on the site is legal with high quality translations. The downside is some chapters and series aren’t included in the premium plan. You’ll need to buy coin packs for those. But, if you’re a member, you get a discount on coins. Also, look for sales to get more chapters for less.
11. K MANGA
Price: Free and premium purchases
If you’re a fan of any series from Kodansha, K MANGA should be the first place you go to read manga online. It’s the official Kodansha site that offers a variety of free series with new updates weekly. You can also check out a selection of free chapters on most premium titles.
Unlike many other manga sites, there isn’t a membership. Instead, it works more like a store. You buy packs of points and use those to buy the chapters or series you want. Once you buy them, you can even read offline if you want.
12. OverDrive
Price: Free with a library card
OverDrive is a service libraries use to provide digital books, audiobooks, magazines, and more. It’s completely free as long as you have a library card from a participating library. Manga can be checked out and returned just like any other book from a physical library, except it’s digital in this case. What’s available varies based on each individual library. Finding manga is sometimes a challenge, but it’s free and legal.
Depending on your library, you’ll need to download either the Libby, Sora, or Kanopy app for Android or iOS if you want to read on mobile. The only downside is some libraries don’t offer OverDrive. And, even if they do, they might not have the titles you want.
If you want to read manga on your Nintendo Switch, try out InkyPen. It’s currently exclusive to the original Switch only. Or, add a little manga to your favorite Discord server.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are free manga sites legal?
It depends on the site. Free sites that have licensed content through the publishers are completely legal. For instance, MANGA Plus is free, but all content is provided through official channels, so it’s free and legal.
Most free sites aren’t technically legal, as they simply gather content but don’t pay any kind of licensing fees to the creators. Some have actually been taken down as a result, while others are still going strong. Those that don’t offer any type of download or offline reading options are less likely to be taken offline. However, don’t be surprised if any free sites that fall into a legal grey area are suddenly shut down due to a DMCA notice.
Another issue is whether the site is actually hosting the manga. A site that just provides links to other sites isn’t actually illegal. However, the sites that host or store the content are illegal. Until they’re required by law to cease operation, you can still read manga on them.
What’s the problem with scanlations?
The most common manga you’ll run across is scanlations. These are translated copies that are scanned in to be shared with readers. These are done without the copyright holder’s permission, meaning they don’t get credit or compensation.
Once again, it’s a grey area of legality. You can read them legally, but the person uploading the content could face serious fines if copyright holders decide to pursue any legal action against them. On the other hand, it’s seen as a great way for manga fans to read comics that aren’t licensed in their region of the world.
Is it safe to read manga online on free sites?
Yes and no. There’s always a risk that ads and pop-ups on free sites could contain malware. Ideally, don’t click on anything other than the manga titles themselves. Otherwise, you could be in trouble.
Reduce the risk by using an ad blocker in your browser to reduce ads. Also, make sure you have updated antivirus software running in real time to protect you.
Can I download manga online?
Yes, but in this case, stick with legal sites. There’s an extremely high risk of malware and other viruses if you illegally download manga or anything else online. While action isn’t usually taken against the downloader (mainly just uploaders), there’s still a chance that you could be tracked down and fined for illegal downloads.
If you want to keep your manga titles, consider buying them from reputable online bookstores, such as Amazon and Book Walker. Consider keeping track of your manga collection (digital and physical) with a collection organizing app.
