Quick Summary: No single app has everything, because each big publisher keeps its own library. For most readers the cheapest complete setup is MANGA Plus (free, Shueisha) plus Shonen Jump ($3.99/month, VIZ), then one more app depending on whether you read Kodansha titles (K MANGA) or want older complete series (Omoi). Everything below is licensed and legal.
Open ten "best manga sites" lists and you'll get ten near-identical rankings that never tell you the two things that decide whether an app works for you: who publishes your series and whether the app is even sold in your country. A reader in Manila, one in Lyon and one in Texas can all search "where to read Jujutsu Kaisen online" and need three different answers.
So this guide is sorted by publisher, price and region. Prices are in US dollars from store listings and publisher pages as of October 2026, and they shift by country, so treat them as a US baseline.
Manga platforms compared (2026)
| Platform | Price (US) | Owner / main catalog | Same-day as Japan | Offline | Reach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MANGA Plus | Free; MAX $1.99 or $4.99 | Shueisha (One Piece, Chainsaw Man, Dandadan) | Yes | Limited | Worldwide except Japan, China, South Korea |
| Shonen Jump | $3.99/mo | VIZ Media (Weekly Shonen Jump, 20,000+ chapters) | Yes | Yes | Rights vary by country |
| VIZ Manga | $1.99/mo | VIZ Media (romance, horror, seinen, classics) | Mostly no | Yes | Rights vary by country |
| K MANGA | Points, about $1 per 100 | Kodansha (Fire Force, Blue Lock, Attack on Titan) | Yes, for simulpubs | Check app | US, Canada, UK, much of Europe, India, Brazil, Southeast Asia |
| Omoi (ex-Azuki) | $4.99/mo or $49.99/yr | Kodansha, Kadokawa, Square Enix, J-Novel Club | Rarely | Yes | Web, iOS, Android |
| Crunchyroll Manga | Add-on from $4.00 to a Fan plan, or inside Ultimate | Square Enix, Yen Press, VIZ, J-Novel Club | Varies | Yes | US, Canada, UK, Australia |
| BookWalker | Pay per volume | Kadokawa group, 60,000+ English titles | Some simulpubs | Yes (owned files) | Global English store |
| WEBTOON | Free with paid early access | Vertical-scroll webcomics, mostly manhwa | Weekly drops | Limited | Global |
Why one app is never enough
Japanese publishers run their own apps and lock their series to them. Shueisha's hits sit in MANGA Plus and, through VIZ, in Shonen Jump. Kodansha's sit in K MANGA. Square Enix titles are spread across Crunchyroll Manga, Omoi and BookWalker. A series can also leave: in January 2023 Kodansha pulled its simulpubs from third-party apps, and chapters vanished from services readers had paid for.
That leads to a rule worth remembering. Search for the series first, then pick the app. Subscribing to a library before checking that your series is in it is the most common way people waste money on manga.
There is a second split most lists skip: renting versus owning. Shonen Jump, VIZ Manga, Omoi Premium and Crunchyroll Manga give access while you pay. Stop paying and the shelf empties. Buying volumes (BookWalker, or purchases on Omoi) keeps them in your library.
1. MANGA Plus by Shueisha: best free option for current chapters
Price: Free. MAX Standard $1.99/mo, Deluxe $4.99/mo (regional pricing applies).
Best for: Keeping up with weekly Shueisha series on release day.
Series: One Piece, Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen, Dandadan, Spy x Family, Kaiju No. 8, Kagurabachi.
Catch: Free reading covers the first three and latest three chapters of most series.
Shueisha runs this one directly, so new chapters go live at the same time as in Japan. The free tier is generous in a specific way: besides the first and latest three chapters, the app lets you read every chapter of an ongoing series once for free. That works well for catching up on one title, less well for a long binge.
MAX removes ads and opens the back catalog. Standard covers ongoing series; Deluxe adds completed classics such as Dragon Ball, Naruto, Bleach, Death Note, Tokyo Ghoul and Haikyu!!. The subscription is English-only and the app is unavailable in Japan, China and South Korea. The regional pricing is the part that matters for readers outside the US and Europe, since Shueisha sets different MAX prices by country instead of charging everyone the same.
If One Piece is why you're here, our Bepo review is a good companion read while you catch up on the Heart Pirates.
2. Shonen Jump by VIZ Media: best paid value for Jump readers
Price: $3.99/month, with a 7-day trial on Google Play.
Best for: Binge-reading complete Weekly Shonen Jump back catalogs.
Series: Naruto, Bleach, Dragon Ball, Death Note, One-Punch Man, My Hero Academia, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
Catch: Not a complete VIZ library, and availability depends on your country.
VIZ's app lists more than 20,000 chapters in the membership, keeps the latest chapters free, supports offline downloads and shows two-page spreads in landscape. It overlaps with MANGA Plus on current Shueisha series, which is why most people need only one of the two for ongoing titles. Pick Shonen Jump when you want the deep back catalog in one flat fee, and MANGA Plus when you only follow new chapters.
Because VIZ licenses by territory, the app's catalog can look thinner outside North America. Check the series inside the app before paying.
3. VIZ Manga: the other VIZ app
Price: $1.99/month, with a 7-day trial on Google Play.
Best for: Romance, horror, seinen and classics that Shonen Jump doesn't carry.
Catalog: 10,000+ chapters, plus individual volumes you can buy.
Catch: It's a separate app and a separate subscription from Shonen Jump.
This trips up a lot of buyers. A Shonen Jump subscription does not unlock VIZ Manga, and the reverse is also true. If you read both shonen and shojo or horror, the two apps together still cost $5.98 a month, less than most single-platform subscriptions.
4. K MANGA by Kodansha: where Kodansha series start
Price: Pay-as-you-read. Points cost about $1 for 100, and chapters unlock for up to 99 points each.
Best for: Kodansha simulpubs and ongoing series.
Series: Fire Force, Blue Lock, Attack on Titan, Fairy Tail, Tokyo Revengers, To Your Eternity, Rent-a-Girlfriend.
Catch: No flat monthly plan. Heavy readers can spend more than on a subscription.
K MANGA launched in the US in May 2023 and has spread widely since: Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore in 2024, then the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Mexico and Brazil, and in 2025 the UK, France, Germany, Spain and a long list of other European and Middle Eastern markets. That makes it one of the best-distributed official apps outside North America.
Points and tickets confuse people at first. Points buy chapters permanently. Tickets rent a chapter for three days. Most series give the first few chapters free, so test before you load credit. Fire Force readers can pair it with our Fire Force characters breakdown.
5. Omoi (formerly Azuki): best for finished series
Price: $4.99/month or $49.99/year, free trial available.
Best for: Completed and nearly completed series you can read start to finish.
Publishers: Kodansha, Kadokawa, Futabasha, Manga UP!, Square Enix, J-Novel Club.
Catch: Premium doesn't cover every title. Some series are purchase-only.
Azuki renamed itself Omoi on November 13, 2025. The pricing and app stayed the same. It was founded by a small team of former Crunchyroll staff, and the service pays licensors based on how much you read. Premium members get 20% off purchases, and anything you buy stays in your library. Attack on Titan and Fire Force sit in its catalog alongside exclusive licenses the company translates itself.
Omoi works as a second app after one of the publisher-specific ones. Licensing can pull titles out of Premium, so check any series you care about right before subscribing.
6. Crunchyroll Manga: worth it only if you already subscribe
Price: Included in Ultimate Fan. Fan and Mega Fan members add it from $4.00 (US launch pricing).
Best for: Anime viewers who want the manga of what they watch.
Catalog: 250+ localized titles from Square Enix, Yen Press, J-Novel Club and VIZ.
Catch: Can't be bought on its own, and it's not available in many countries yet.
Crunchyroll Manga launched on October 9, 2025 in the US and Canada, built by Link-U Group, the company behind Comikey. It later reached the UK and Australia. It's ad-free, supports offline downloads and shows full page spreads. The catalog is smaller than VIZ or Shueisha's, so if manga is your main use, it's the weakest value of the eight. If you already pay for Ultimate, you get it at no extra cost and it's worth opening.
Anime fans who also like to mod their games might enjoy our list of anime Minecraft mods, and if you're comparing streaming options too, here's Sekai One.
7. BookWalker: best for owning your volumes
Price: Pay per volume, with frequent sales and points.
Best for: Building a permanent digital shelf.
Catalog: 60,000+ English manga, light novels and audiobooks.
Catch: The 2026 relaunch required an account migration, and the old membership program is being replaced.
BookWalker Global is part of the Kadokawa group and moved its English store to bookwalker.com in 2026 with a rebuilt app and reader. The headline change is LCP DRM, which ties a purchase to your ownership instead of one app, so books can open in compatible readers and offline. Japanese-language titles stay on the original BOOK☆WALKER site and app. If you want volumes that won't disappear when a subscription ends, this is the store to try first.
8. WEBTOON: best for vertical-scroll comics
Price: Free to read, with paid early access to new episodes.
Best for: Phone reading and Korean manhwa.
Catch: Few traditional Japanese manga. Pages are built for scrolling, not flipping.
WEBTOON isn't where you read One Piece. It's where you read formats that never existed on paper: long vertical strips with color, built for thumbs. Its biggest hits are Korean manhwa and original webcomics. Think of it as a complement to the seven above, since the reading habit is different.
Budget stacks that work
| Budget | Stack | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| $0 | MANGA Plus + free tiers of K MANGA and WEBTOON | Current Shueisha chapters, free first chapters of Kodansha series, free webcomics |
| About $2 | MANGA Plus MAX Standard | Ad-free, all ongoing Shueisha series |
| About $6 | Shonen Jump + VIZ Manga | Two VIZ libraries, offline reading, the biggest back catalog per dollar |
| About $10 | Shonen Jump + Omoi | Jump classics plus finished Kodansha and Kadokawa series |
| Collector | BookWalker + free apps | Permanent library, free chapters for sampling |
What about scanlation sites?
Readers searching for alternatives to shut-down or unreliable free sites are a big share of manga search traffic. The trade-off is plain: unofficial sites change domains, push intrusive ads and sometimes carry malware, and none of the money reaches the artist. Chapters also tend to lag, are often poorly translated, and disappear without warning. Legal apps now publish many series on the same day as Japan, which removes the main reason people used to give for going unofficial.
One caution on region locks: some guides suggest a VPN to unlock another country's catalog. Most platforms prohibit this in their terms and can close accounts, so read the terms for the app you use before trying it.
FAQ
Is MANGA Plus really free?
Yes. The app is free to download, and it shows the first three and latest three chapters of most series without payment, plus a one-time free read of any ongoing series. MAX is the optional paid tier for ad-free unlimited access.
What's the difference between Shonen Jump and VIZ Manga?
They are two separate VIZ apps. Shonen Jump ($3.99/month) covers Weekly Shonen Jump series with 20,000+ chapters. VIZ Manga ($1.99/month) covers a broader set of genres, including romance and horror, with 10,000+ chapters. One subscription does not unlock the other.
Which manga app is best for Android and iPhone?
MANGA Plus, Shonen Jump, VIZ Manga, K MANGA, Omoi and Crunchyroll Manga all have iOS and Android apps. For tablets and iPads, apps with landscape two-page spreads, such as Shonen Jump, show spreads closest to the original layout.
Where can I read Fire Force legally?
Fire Force is a Kodansha series, so check K MANGA first and Omoi second.
Can I read manga legally in India, the Philippines or Brazil?
Yes. MANGA Plus is available worldwide except Japan, China and South Korea and uses regional pricing. K MANGA covers India, the Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Do I own manga bought on these apps?
Subscriptions (Shonen Jump, VIZ Manga, Omoi Premium, Crunchyroll Manga) give access only while you pay. Purchased volumes on BookWalker and Omoi stay in your library.
Prices and catalogs change often and differ by country. Confirm on the platform's own page before subscribing. Sources: publisher and store listings from Shueisha, VIZ Media, Kodansha, Omoi, Crunchyroll and BookWalker, plus reporting from Anime News Network and Anime Corner.