Your next chapter
The best test is a page you want to read.
Bring a manga page to Scan Translator. See how the dialogue reads and how it fits the picture before you decide.
The same pages. Five different tools.
Best Manga Translator in 2026
Good manga translation should let you forget you’re reading a translation. We tried five tools to see how close they get.
The short answer
Scan Translator is our clear pick for reading manga. The side-by-side results below show where it preserves dialogue, meaning and readable text better than the alternatives we tested.
Yes, we make Scan Translator. This is our comparison, with the actual results below. Here’s how we tested.
What’s in this comparison?
Six pages, three languages, and a closer look at translation, lettering and price. These links open each tool’s official website.
- Scan Translator official website, opens in a new tab
- Torii Translate official website, opens in a new tab
- Ichigo Reader official website, opens in a new tab
- MangaTranslate official website, opens in a new tab
- Madomi official website, opens in a new tab
Each head-to-head comparison opens with a difficult example where we found a clear gap in the results. You can compare all six test pages at the end.
01 / Our pick for reading
Scan Translator
Scan Translator translates manga in Chrome and Firefox, or from images you upload. It detects the source language automatically, translates the dialogue and replaces the original text on the page.
Before
After
Why it’s our pick
- Fewer missing passages. The Manitto result includes dialogue and narration that Ichigo’s free tool left in Korean. See Manitto.
- Meaning that fits the scene. In Frieren, people speak to the character rather than attack them, unlike Torii’s result. See Frieren.
- More readable pages. On the crowded manga page, the dialogue stays coherent without Madomi’s misplaced text. See the crowded page.
Price & free trial
- Subscription
- €12.99 / month
- Credit packs
- €5.99 for 2,500 credits
- Try it free
- Try without an account; 30 welcome credits after signup
1 credit per image. Unlimited includes 20,000 fast translations each month, then continued translation that may slow down at busy times. Bulk included.
02 / Image translation & editing
Torii Translate
Torii is an image translator available as a browser extension and a web upload tool. It translates manga pages where you read them, with an editor for changing the wording, fonts and text placement. You can also erase text and clean up the artwork yourself.
Tested: Web editor trial.
Frieren · Japanese → EnglishTap either image to enlarge. View original
What stood out. “I was attacked several times” is not what the character says. The original describes people speaking to the character. That changes the scene, not just the wording. Scan Translator preserves the meaning.
A polished editor does not make up for a wrong translation. Beyond this Frieren example, some dense pages have text spilling out of bubbles. Torii also lists no unlimited subscription: you keep paying per use.
Pros
- Quick to translate. Automatic source-language detection.
- Room to edit. Detailed controls and good webtoon cleanup.
Cons
- Changes the meaning. Being spoken to becomes being attacked.
- Text spills out. Crowded pages need better fitting, not more editor controls.
Price & free trial
- Subscription
- No unlimited subscription listed
- Credit packs
- $5.99 for 2,500; $12.99 for 6,000 credits
- Try it free
- 30 credits received in our test; account required
OCR plus AI charges, with no unlimited plan listed. Torii charges 1 OCR credit plus AI usage per image; Scan uses 1 credit total. The mid-size packs are $12.99 for 6,000 Torii credits versus €9.99 for 7,000 Scan image translations. Currencies are shown as listed, without conversion.
Plan limits & details
Each image costs 1 OCR credit plus AI usage. Fast models usually add a fraction of a credit; premium models cost more. BYOK removes Torii’s AI charge, but you manage your own provider costs. Purchased credits do not expire.
Source-language detection: Automatic. Prices checked August 27, 2026, in their original currencies. Credits do not buy the same amount of work in every tool. Check the official sites linked above for current offers.
03 / Browser translation & file uploads
Ichigo Reader
Ichigo Reader translates manga from Japanese, Korean and Chinese through browser extensions and a web upload tool. You can translate pages while browsing or upload individual images, PDFs and ZIP files. Its upload page can download the translated results automatically.
Tested: Free web upload tool, not Tier 2.
Manitto · Korean → EnglishTap either image to enlarge. View original
Long-strip preview. Open either image to read the complete webtoon.
What stood out. Look at the first narration block: Ichigo leaves it in Korean. Scan Translator translates it. If you cannot read the source language, that is a missing piece of the story. A quick upload does not solve that.
Ichigo’s free tool missed whole passages, not just sound effects. Our Korean webtoon came back with at least three dialogue or narration blocks still in Korean. It also got Law and Bege wrong in One Piece. Scan Translator handles these checks better.
Pros
- Readable regular bubbles. The simpler manga pages were more convincing.
- Automatic language detection. No need to identify Japanese, Chinese or Korean yourself.
Cons
- Whole passages missed. At least three Korean dialogue or narration blocks remain untranslated.
- Errors beyond this strip. Wrong One Piece names and white patches behind Frieren’s narration.
Price & free trial
- Subscription
- $5.99 / month; Tier 2 $19.99
- Credit packs
- Subscription-based offer
- Try it free
- 20 uploads / 40 extension translations advertised; no account used for our web test
The $5.99 plan is not Tier 2. Tier 2 costs $19.99/month, with a 150 Tier 2 translations/hour limit. Scan Translator lists its unlimited plan at €12.99/month, including bulk upload. We did not test Ichigo’s paid models.
Plan limits & details
Tier 1 advertises unlimited extension use, subject to its terms, and 300 uploads/hour. Tier 2 has a 150 Tier 2 translations/hour limit and lists watermark removal. These saved images come from the free web tool, not either paid tier.
Source-language detection: Automatic. Prices checked August 27, 2026, in their original currencies. Credits do not buy the same amount of work in every tool. Check the official sites linked above for current offers.
04 / Web tool & Chrome side panel
MangaTranslate
MangaTranslate combines an online image translator with a Chrome extension. On the website, you choose a source language, translation model and font before uploading pages. The extension uses a side panel to collect images from reading sites, translate them and export the results.
Tested: Free web trial; six saved results.
Frieren · Japanese → EnglishTap either image to enlarge. View original
What stood out. The original is about magic no longer being under human control. MangaTranslate makes it sound as if the narrator was under human control. Add the white patches over the drawing, and both the story and the artwork suffer. Scan Translator keeps the context and a cleaner result here.
MangaTranslate struggles when text sits on top of the drawing, with white patches covering the background in our Frieren test. There is also a setup step to get right: you have to choose the source language yourself. Scan Translator detects it automatically.
Pros
- Easy first try. Ten credits received without an account.
- Readable regular pages. A straightforward web upload workflow.
Cons
- Artwork covered by white patches. Floating text is not cleanly integrated into the scene.
- Meaning and dialogue lost. Wrong context in Frieren, wrong names in One Piece and missed Korean passages.
Price & free trial
- Subscription
- $8 / month for 1,980 credits
- Credit packs
- $10 for 2,200 credits
- Try it free
- 10 credits received without an account in our test
A monthly subscription, but still a fixed credit allowance. The $8 Basic plan includes 1,980 credits: up to 1,980 standard images or 990 with Ultra at 2 credits each. Scan Translator’s €12.99 unlimited plan includes 20,000 fast translations, then continued use that may slow at busy times.
Plan limits & details
Basic includes 1,980 credits/month with the displayed bonus. Manga and EagleEye cost 1 credit/image; Ultra costs 2. That is up to 1,980 standard or 990 Ultra images, assuming no other credit use. The $24/month annual offer is billed at $288/year, not $24 month-to-month.
Source-language detection: Manual in our test. Prices checked August 27, 2026, in their original currencies. Credits do not buy the same amount of work in every tool. Check the official sites linked above for current offers.
05 / Browser translation & mobile reader
Madomi
Madomi, previously called Fakey, combines browser-based manga translation with a mobile manga reader. Its Chrome and Firefox extensions translate pages in place or let you select a panel. The mobile app also opens local comic files and supports offline reading.
Tested: Free browser extension, captured on the page.
Dense manga page · Japanese → EnglishTap either image to enlarge. View original
What stood out. The first row already puts dialogue in the wrong bubbles. Further down, Japanese blocks and colliding English text break up the conversation. Scan Translator keeps the dialogue in the right places. For this page, the difference is hard to miss.
Madomi’s free extension produced the weakest reading experience in this set. The problem is not just an unattractive font: missing dialogue and oversized text make the conversation difficult to follow. Its free allowance is useful for trying it, but does not make these pages easier to read.
Pros
- A generous first test. One hundred credits received after login.
- Stays on the reading page. No separate upload tool to open.
Cons
- Wrong bubbles, missing dialogue. The output mixes untranslated Japanese with misplaced English.
- Text overwhelms the page. Large overlays collide and spill outside the bubbles.
Price & free trial
- Subscription
- $5.99 / month; Plus $19.99
- Credit packs
- Subscription-based offer
- Try it free
- 100 credits; Google login used in our test
Premium Plus is $19.99/month. Bulk and background translation are listed for mobile on that plan. Scan Translator includes web bulk upload at €12.99/month. Madomi throttles after 20,000 credits; Scan includes 20,000 fast image translations, then use that may slow at busy times. Paid Madomi models were not tested.
Plan limits & details
Both paid plans advertise 20,000 unrestricted credits/month, then throttling. Bulk and background translation are listed as mobile features of Premium Plus. We tested the free browser extension, not the paid models or mobile app.
Source-language detection: Manual in our test. Prices checked August 27, 2026, in their original currencies. Credits do not buy the same amount of work in every tool. Check the official sites linked above for current offers.
Want a closer look?
Six pages. See for yourself.
Regular bubbles, floating text, a crowded manga page and color webtoons. Choose a page to compare Scan Translator with any of the four alternatives.
Six original pages, each tested with all five tools. Explore all 30 translated results.
All test images were translated into English. The results are unchanged across language versions of this article.
Reading in your browser
Which manga translator extension would we use?
We’d start with Scan Translator for Chrome or Firefox. Translate where you read, or use the web tool for a saved page. If a website blocks image access, the screenshot workflow gives you another option.
A clean interface is not enough if the translation misses dialogue or changes the scene. The examples above are why we recommend Scan Translator for reading: clearer meaning, better coverage on the highlighted pages and fewer distracting text-placement problems.
Discover Scan Translator ↗Most images here came from web tools. Only Madomi was tested through its extension.
Behind the comparison
How we tested
We tried each service ourselves using the same six images: four Japanese black-and-white pages, one Chinese color page and one Korean webtoon. We saved the results so you can compare the translations, lettering and artwork side by side.
We deliberately lead with difficult examples where the differences are clear. The full set remains available in the gallery, including the competitors’ stronger results. These are individual outputs, not averages from repeated runs or tests of every premium model. Prices and offers were rechecked on August 27, 2026.
Open the individual test images
- Blue Lock Japanese → English
- Frieren Japanese → English
- Dragon Raja Chinese → English
- Dense manga page Japanese → English
- One Piece Japanese → English
- Manitto Korean → English
Try a page you actually read before choosing a paid plan. You can also explore our manhwa translator examples.
A few practical questions
Scan Translator is our clear pick for reading manga. In the highlighted tests, it preserves the Frieren dialogue, translates the Korean opening that Ichigo misses, and keeps crowded conversations more readable than Madomi. These are meaningful differences in what you can actually read. This is our editorial recommendation from six images, not an independent ranking of every tool or paid model.
Your next chapter
The best test is a page you want to read.
Bring a manga page to Scan Translator. See how the dialogue reads and how it fits the picture before you decide.