WEBTOON vs Tapas vs Manta: which app for Korean webtoons in English now that Tapas is closing?

Three apps come up again and again when people ask where to read Korean webtoons in English: WEBTOON, the global app of NAVER WEBTOON; Tapas, the North American platform Kakao Entertainment bought in 2021; and Manta, a membership app run by the Korean company RIDI. This autumn the picture changed. Tapas announced on 1 October 2026 that it is winding down, and the service ends on 31 March 2027. This guide is for readers choosing their first English webtoon app and for Tapas readers looking for a new home. It compares free reading, how you pay, subscription prices, refunds, age limits and whether each app is on the Korean App Store. It is a research piece, not a review: the facts come from each service’s notices, terms, help centres and Apple App Store listings, checked on 27 October 2026 (US Central time; the morning of 28 October in Korea), and I did not buy anything in the apps. Prices are US App Store prices in US dollars unless noted, and they differ by country. The three are not ranked.

First, the news: Tapas closes on 31 March 2027

Tapas’s End of Service Notice, dated 1 October 2026, says the decision to wind down the platform has been made. From that day you can no longer get Ink, Tapas’s in-app currency, in any form, free Ink included. Ink you already hold can be spent until 31 March 2027 at 23:59 Pacific Time, which is also when the service ends. In Korea that is 15:59 on 1 April (my conversion, with US daylight saving time).

After that you lose access to Tapas, including episodes you have already unlocked. The FAQ says purchases cannot be moved to Kakao Page, Kakao Webtoon or any other Kakao service, and that Ink and unlocked content will not be refunded. No more sales or events are planned before the end, and prices stay as they are. If you want a copy of your account and personal data, the FAQ asks you to e-mail [email protected].

One trap: when I checked on 27 October, Tapas’s US App Store description had not caught up. It still advertises free episodes every three hours and Wait Until Free. Treat the shutdown notice as the current rule; it does not say whether Wait Until Free keeps working until March. So this guide does not suggest starting on Tapas now. If you are new, read the comparison as a choice between WEBTOON and Manta; if you read on Tapas, read it as a guide to where to move.

WEBTOON: an easy free start

WEBTOON’s terms of use, last updated on 12 October 2026, name NAVER WEBTOON Ltd. as the provider, and its US App Store listing carries the copyright line “© WEBTOON ENTERTAINMENT”. The help centre says the app is free to download and use. ORIGINALS series are free to read, and ongoing series update weekly. Next to ORIGINALS sits CANVAS, where anyone can publish their own comics.

Much of what you pay for is speed. Coins buy Fast Pass episodes ahead of their regular release, and many Fast Pass episodes become free after a while; the help centre does not say how long. On eligible series, Ad Pass lets you watch short ads to unlock an episode for three days. Coins are also used for Title Purchase, and the number of Coins an episode needs varies by series. On the US App Store, Coins come in packs such as 10 for $0.99 and 50 plus 2 for $4.99.

Since 17 September 2025 there is also WEBTOON Premium, a monthly plan that tops up your Coins: $3.99 (20 Coins plus 2 bonus), $9.99 (100 plus 10), $19.99 (200 plus 25) or $49.99 (500 plus 75). It removes ads on Original series and adds episode discounts, but some ads stay, such as CANVAS ads and video ads for unlocking episodes, and the $3.99 plan has no episode discount.

Now the small print. Coins exist only in the Android and iOS apps, and Premium works only in the app; on a desktop browser you can still read free episodes. Under the terms, free promotional Coins can expire and are spent before the ones you bought. Coins do not move between iOS and Android or between content languages, even on one account, and Coin sales are final unless the law requires otherwise. For offline reading you can download some ORIGINALS episodes, which stay on your device for 30 days.

WEBTOON’s global platform runs in English, German, French, Traditional Chinese (Taiwan), Indonesian, Thai and Spanish (Latin America); Korean readers are served by Naver WEBTOON and Japanese readers by LINE Manga. Which series you can read depends on where you are and which language you choose. The terms set a minimum age of 13, with readers aged 13 to 18 under a parent’s or guardian’s supervision, and the US App Store rates the app 13+.

If you will be reading in Korea, note this: on 27 October Apple’s Korean storefront returned no result for the global WEBTOON app, while the US storefront did. The same company runs a separate Korean-language app for Korean readers, 네이버 웹툰 (Naver Webtoon). The help centre says free episodes can be read on the website, but I did not test access from Korea.

Tapas: only if you still have Ink

Tapas started in San Francisco in 2012. When Kakao announced in 2021 that Kakao Entertainment had secured 100% of the company, it called Tapas North America’s first webtoon platform, and said it had begun supplying Korean titles such as A Business Proposal (사내맞선) and Navillera (나빌레라) to North America through Tapas. The US App Store description still lists Solo Leveling, A Business Proposal and Moving under “international sensations and famous Tapas Original Series” without saying which is which, and Kakao’s release names A Business Proposal as a Kakao title supplied to Tapas.

What is left to do there is limited. Under the notice and FAQ you can use remaining Ink to unlock and read episodes until 31 March 2027. Titles stay up until the end unless they are removed earlier, and creators may keep publishing for now. Because unlocked episodes disappear with the service, spend leftover Ink on the series you most want to finish.

The iOS app is still on the US and Korean App Stores (version 7.13.1, released on 13 October), rated 16+ on the US store and offered in English and Spanish. There is no reason to start there now, and no sign yet of a Kakao successor in English: the FAQ only says purchases cannot be moved to Kakao Page or Kakao Webtoon, and this research found no official English-language Kakao service replacing Tapas.

Manta: one monthly fee for a 300-plus-series library

Manta is run by RIDI CORPORATION, a Korean company. Its terms (version 4, effective 13 August 2026) describe it as RIDI’s personalised subscription service for comics and web novels. The app is free to download, and non-members can read the first few episodes of each webcomic; after that you need a Membership or Gems, or a Free Pass where a title has one (see below).

Membership is the core. Members can read the Unlimited Library of more than 300 series, which mixes licensed titles with Manta Originals from Manta’s in-house studios. On the US App Store, Standard costs $4.99 for one month, $12.99 for three months or $49.90 for twelve. Premium is $9.99 a month and adds 1,420 Gems every month. Paying on Manta’s website brings Premium down to $8.99 a month, and a limited-time offer lets first-time members start Premium at $4.99 for the first month; the notice gives no end date. The three- and twelve-month Standard plans can only be bought in the app, and a membership cannot be paused.

Membership does not cover everything. Some titles sit outside the Unlimited Library and are sold for Gems only. Since 31 March 2026, Gem numbers are ten times larger than before: 200 Gems cost $1.99, and a comic episode that the change notice put at typically 3 to 6 Gems now works out at 30 to 60. Series you unlock with Gems stay in your library even if they later leave Manta. For free reading there is the Free Pass, available on more than 400 comics: an episode opened with it stays readable for 72 hours, the pass resets 24 hours after you use it, and it may not apply to the newest episodes.

Downloads for offline reading are open to every user, member or not. All payments are final; if you cancel, the membership runs to the end of the period you paid for, and auto-renewal has to be turned off at least 24 hours before that period ends. The app is in English only. The terms set a minimum age of 13, and the US App Store rates it 16+. Manta is on the Korean App Store as well, at ₩6,600 for one month of Standard and ₩14,000 for Premium; RIDI runs a separate Korean-language app.

How to choose, and one more option

If you are new to webtoons in English, start with WEBTOON: read ORIGINALS for free and pay only when you cannot wait for a Fast Pass episode. If you find yourself reading several series a month, a month of Manta Standard is easier to budget, but check first whether the series you want is in the Unlimited Library or Gem-only. If you are a Tapas reader with Ink left, use it by 31 March 2027 (23:59 Pacific Time) and look up where your series continue. The same series can be on one app and not another, and line-ups change by country and language.

There is one more option outside these three: Tappytoon, run by Contents First Inc. Tappytoon says all its content is offered in official partnership with creators and rights holders, and its comics come in English, French and German. Selected comics use Time Till Free, which unlocks the next episode for a limited time every 24 hours (or another set period), and episodes bought with points stay unlocked. On the US App Store, Club Membership costs $4.99 a month and points start at 1,400 for $1.99. The app is rated 16+.

Whichever app you choose, keep a few rules in mind. Paid currency is hard to get refunded. WEBTOON Coins do not move between content languages, and nothing unlocked on Tapas can be moved to another Kakao service. App Store prices differ by country, so check your own store before you pay.

Related on Rank Three: to shop for anime goods and figures in Seoul, see Anime and figure shopping in Seoul: Yongsan I’Park Mall, AK Plaza Hongdae or Kukje Electronics Center?; if you are picking up a game hobby again, Returning to Pokémon: Let’s Go, Scarlet/Violet or Legends: Z-A?; and to look up Korean words you meet in webtoons, Three Korean dictionaries to bookmark for Hangeul Day.

Side by side

Where I would start

Starting today, I would install WEBTOON first, read ORIGINALS for free to find what I like, and spend Coins only on series I cannot wait for. If I found myself reading several series a month, I would try one month of Manta Standard and check whether my series are in its Unlimited Library. If you still hold Ink on Tapas, use it by 31 March 2027 (23:59 Pacific Time) and find where your series continue, whether on WEBTOON, Manta or Tappytoon. Payments in all of these apps are hard to refund and prices vary by country, so check your own store before you buy.