Kayla Dube · October 28, 2024 · 12 min read 
Japanese comics (or anime) have seen a rise in popularity over the years, and so has manga, its graphic novel counterpart. If you’re a fan, you can read manga online digitally (and legally) on websites like Crunchyroll, Comic Walker, and Comixology. This post highlights some of the best manga websites to read your favorite manga series/comics online.
The sites listed below make it easy to find popular manga or discover lesser-known series that might interest you. The mangas on these sites are uploaded through high-quality scans, allowing anyone to access them. It’s a great way to keep up on your favorite series. Here are some of the best manga sites you should check out.
1. Crunchyroll
While most well-known for its anime streaming service, Crunchyroll provides manga lovers with access to manga series. The website has lots of free manga and a dedicated app for reading on the go.
Crunchyroll is great for an ad-free experience if it hosts the series you read or love. To read all the manga available, you can sign up for Crunchyroll Premium for $7.99/mo. A subscription gives you access to the site’s anime and manga. The website also provides “simulpubs,” where you can access manga while it’s released in Japan.
2. Manga Kakalot
If you’re looking for a little more variety, Manga Kakalot has what you need and more. It hosts manga series spanning 40 genres, and you can find all the popular and lesser-known series.
Each manga chapter is on one web page, so you can scroll to read the entirety of any chapter. You can also change a couple of options to make reading more accessible. There are options to choose which image server to use (if one of them has an error, you can switch) and change page margins. Overall, this is one of the best sites for manga reading.
3. Manga Owl
There are over 100 genres of manga to browse on this site, so you’re likely to find whatever niche series you want. Manga Owl has a vast collection, especially if you’re a romance manga fan, including top-rated series like Naruto, One Piece, and Dragon Ball. There are also many adult-oriented mangas on this site.
If you register to join the site, you can create collections of your favorite manga and participate in discussions. It has an active community and plenty of content to keep you busy reading.
4. Manga Reborn
Since most manga need to be translated from Japanese to reach an English audience, most smaller series never get translated or make their way out of Japan. This website aims to bring these lesser-known series to a larger audience with the help of translators who volunteer to make them accessible to English readers.
There are plenty of free series on this site, or you can pay to read specific series if you wish. This manga website is an excellent service for all those who love manga to ensure that smaller creators and artists have the chance they deserve to get their work read.
5. Comic Walker
Comic Walker is a prominent manga site in Japan, and you can easily change the language to English to make your reading experience easy. You can find lots of popular series with the latest updates. If you wish, you can buy more of a particular series for those that aren’t free.
Each page provides lots of information so you can find similar series or parts of the same series. The scanned chapters are also high-quality and easy to read.
6. Book Walker
Book Walker and Comic Walker are sister sites. Although you can buy lots of manga on Book Walker, they also provide many free titles and chapters in e-book format. The free manga offerings get updated often, so you never know what you might find to read.
Book Walker also has steep discounts on many manga titles, so if you want to own them, it’s a great place to buy manga. Once you download a title, you can read it in your browser with a suitable viewer and see all downloaded manga in your booklist. This website is one of the best free platforms for manga and light novels.
7. KissManga
KissManga is one of the best sources of free digital manga, with tons of content available. If there’s a specific manga you’re interested in, you can search for it on the site. You can also see popular or trending series that others are reading.
Each manga series has summarized information on its page. You can read each chapter on one page, so you don’t need to refresh every time. The scans are high-quality, and there are many manga series translated into English that you may not be able to find otherwise.
8. Readm.org
Readm.org is a very cleanly formatted site. The front page shows the best and trending manga series, with many genres to browse. The series are high-quality and easy to read.
You can participate in the active community and discuss your favorite manga with others. Take advantage of the advanced search, subscription alerts on new updates, and the ability to create or find collections of manga series.
9. Manga Fox (FanFox)
Manga Fox (also called FanFox) is another platform with a diverse manga collection—Action, Mystery, Shounen, Webtoons, etc. The homepage is user-friendly and houses the latest manga releases, manga recommendations, and popular mangas read by other members.
The platform also hosts a “Manga Ranking” that ranks manga based on readers’ ratings, popularity, reviews, and other factors. There’s a daily, weekly, and monthly ranking and a grand “Total Leaderboard.”
10. MangaHere
MangaHere and MangaFox have similar homepage structure/design, but MangaHere has a broader collection of manga genres. You’ll find new manga releases and interesting title recommendations on the homepage. A “Manga Spoilers” section shares predictions and spoilers about upcoming and latest releases.
11. MangaDex
This is one of the best manga websites for free reading graphic novels and Manhwa-type comic books. You can access the platform as a guest or registered member. Creating an account gives you the full experiences and features—user groups, communities, reading history, etc.
MangaDex has a “Random” feature that recommends a random manga in its library. Use the feature if you find the library overwhelming or can’t decide what title to read.
12. MangaPark
MangaPark doesn’t have the best user interface, but its collection of manga books is grand. Mangapark’s advanced search engine lets you find mangas by author names if you don’t remember a manga title. You can also discover good mangas by views, rating score, and read status (completed, dropped, reading, re-reading, etc.).
We found Mangapark’s site theme to be quite interesting. You can switch the website’s theme (Light, Dark, Black, Dracula, Valentine, or Wireframe) to match the emotion of the manga you’re reading. Themes also spice up the background aesthetic to your preference.
13. BATO.TO
Although Bato.to doesn’t come close to other platforms on this list feature-wise, it’s a free manga website worth exploring. It has a diverse manga collection, but you cannot search/find mangas by genre or category. However, it does color-code ties for easy identification.
Regular, old, or normal mangas have blue titles, while popular and newly added mangas have red and green labels. The platform also has a bookmark feature, dark mode, and a publishing tool for uploading new manga titles/volumes/chapters.
14. Honto.jp
Honto is an online manga website for core manga fans. If you don’t understand Japanese, use Google Translate to translate the website to your preferred language. You can access manga titles on the platform or download them (for free) to your device as eBooks. Honto also prints, sells and ships paperback copies of manga comics.
Aside from manga comics, you’ll find light novels, novels/literature, economy, and business books on Honto.
15. Comixology
Comixology, an Amazon-owned company, has over 40,000 mangas, comics, and graphic novels in its library. If the websites above don’t have mangas from top publishers (DC, Marvel, Harlequin, etc.), you’ll find them on Comixology.
While Comixology isn’t free ($5.99/month), new users get a 30-day free trial and unlimited access to thousands of manga titles. It’s worth mentioning that the subscription (Comixology Unlimited) is available to U.S.-based customers only.
16. Mangago
There’s a lot to love about Mangago: an intuitive interface, an interactive reader community, and an extensive collection of free comics. The website offers free content (with high-quality pictures) for registered users and guests.
The platform categorizes manga by release date, daily ranking, and genre. The search engine lets you find manga by title or author and sort the results by views, popularity, creation date, and update date.
17. MangaPanda
If there’s one place to find the latest chapters of popular manga or your favorite comics, it’s MangaPanda. What the website lacks in user interface, it compensates with an extensive collection of titles across 40+ genres like comedy. While you’ll find the latest chapters of the best manga on MangaPanda for free, be ready to put up with frequent and annoying on-page ads.
18. MangaDex
Unlike MangaPanda, MangaDex is an ad-free website that lets visitors read online without interruption. Additionally, it’s one of the best manga websites with high-quality images/content. On the homepage, you’ll find titles categorized by latest updates, staff picks, newly added, seasonal, and supporters’ recommendations.
In the “Community” section, you can catch up on the latest manga news and join forums, groups, and contests.
19. Manga Park
Manga Park is one of the best free manga sites for several reasons. In addition to a huge database of Korean comics across different genres, the impressive search tool lets visitors find stories by language preference, upload status, number of chapters, translations, etc.
You can also use the random manga generator to find good reads if you’re spoilt for choice or unsure what to read. The tool generates and recommends six manga titles each time you select the “Change” button.
20. MangaKakalot
Like other sites, MangaKakalot has a huge content library of titles from highbrow and popular manga publishers. It’s one of the best websites to find all the comics being read by other manga fans. The website houses popular action comics, Isekai, and Shonen Jump manga like One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, etc.
How to Read Manga for Free?
Reading free manga on the internet is easy, fast, and cost-saving. Lack of money shouldn’t keep you from the joys of reading manga, so try out some of the free manga websites listed above to find your favorites. All you need is an internet-enabled device, an internet connection, and a manga website.
The many websites listed above are the best free platforms to read your favorite manga series on your mobile device or computer. Many of these manga websites let you read for free as a guest, but some might require you to register an account to access content. Other notable manga websites to read online include Manga Plant, Mangafreak, Comico, and MangapandaVIZ.
Difference Between Manga and Comic
Manga and comic books may look similar on the surface, but a few subtle differences distinguish them. Content-wise, mangas are condensed with more visuals than texts, but the visuals are mostly in black and white. On the other hand, comics are printed/published in colors but with fewer images and more text. Additionally, the pages in manga stories are structured/arranged to be read from right to left and from top to bottom. For comics, you read from the left page toward the right.
Story creation is another differentiating factor. Manga series typically have a single author/writer and illustrator, while comics are compiled by a team of multiple creatives.
Reading Manga Online: FAQs
1. What is Manga?
Manga is a core component of Japanese popular culture. It is the umbrella term for graphic comics or books originating from Japan.
2. Is It Legal to Read Manga Online?
Yes, it’s totally legal to read free manga on the internet. You aren’t breaking any rule as long as you access manga on websites authorized to publish/distribute them.
3. Where Can I Legally Read Manga?
Comixology and VIZ Manga are some of the best platforms for legally reading manga. Although these websites aren’t free, they offer affordable subscriptions (as low as $1.99 monthly) that grant unlimited access to thousands of manga chapters.
4. What is the Number 1 Longest Manga?
“Golgo 13” is the longest-running and oldest Japanese manga. It’s been running since 1968 and currently has 212 volumes and 678 chapters. The series tells the story of a professional assassin, his missions, enemies, and lifestyle.
5. Is Reading Manga Good for You?
Reading manga online has its benefits. With digital manga, your favorite comics are available at your fingertips at zero cost.
6. Are Free Manga Sites Legal?
Most free don’t have the license to (re)distribute manga. Hence, they’re illegal. Any legal website authorized to distribute manga will say so in its terms of use. Also, legal websites are typically subscription-based and only offer paid access to manga. However, they usually offer a trial period for new users to read a free chapter or series without payment. If you are unsure whether a free manga site is legal, contact the site administrator to verify they have authorization to distribute content.
7. Which is Better: Anime or Manga?
Anime and manga both have pros and cons. Manga chapters are published more frequently and are usually more updated than animes. Additionally, manga covers stories more comprehensively. Animes adapted from mangas are often summarized and don’t tell the whole story.
Manga is the better option if you prefer to read. But the silent monochrome pages and text can sometimes get boring. Anime livens things up with colors, voices, motion, sound, etc. Switch to anime if reading bores you out or you prefer video content. In summary, choosing between anime or manga all boils down to personal preferences and interests.
