Webtoons vs Manga: What’s the Difference?
Vertical color scroll vs print B&W — the real differences.
By Web Admin
If you have spent any time near comics in the last decade, you have run into both words, often used as if they mean the same thing. They do not. Manga is the Japanese comics tradition, typically read as black-and-white pages bound into volumes and read right-to-left. Webtoons are a newer, mostly Korean-born format built for the phone: full color, read by scrolling straight down, one long vertical strip per episode. Both are comics. Both have exploded in the English-speaking world. But they are shaped by different tools, different business models, and different reading habits, and those differences change what the stories feel like.
This guide walks through the real, practical distinctions — format, color, platforms, pricing, discovery, and print — so you can understand what you are actually choosing between, and pick the right on-ramp for how you like to read.
The short version: what each word actually means
Manga refers to comics made in Japan, a medium with more than a century of history and an industry that dwarfs Western comics in raw readership. It is usually serialized in thick weekly or monthly anthology magazines, then collected into paperback volumes called tankobon. The art is nearly always black and white, and native editions are read right-to-left — a convention most English publishers now preserve.
The word “webtoon” is a portmanteau of “web” and “cartoon.” It originated in South Korea (where the native term is often manhwa for Korean comics generally) and describes comics designed first for digital screens. The defining trait is the vertical scroll: instead of turning pages, you drag your thumb downward through a continuous ribbon of panels. Color is the norm, and episodes are released one at a time, usually weekly.
Format: the page versus the infinite scroll
This is the single biggest difference, and it drives almost everything else. Manga is built around the page and the two-page spread. Artists compose panels to be taken in as a group, use the page turn as a beat of suspense, and can pack a dramatic moment into a full-bleed splash that fills your field of view.
Webtoons are built around the vertical scroll, sometimes called the “long strip” or “smarttoon” format. There is no page turn. Instead, creators control pacing by how much empty space sits between panels — a long gap of white can function like a held breath before a reveal. Motion tends to flow top-to-bottom, and a single dramatic panel can be enormously tall. It is a format engineered for the thumb and the phone, and it reads very differently: more cinematic scroll, less deliberate page architecture.
Color versus black and white
Manga is overwhelmingly black and white. This is partly economic — publishing weekly at manga’s punishing volume is only feasible without color — and partly aesthetic. Manga artists developed an entire visual language of screentones, hatching, and negative space to convey mood and texture in monochrome. Color pages, when they appear, are usually a special treat at the front of a volume.
Webtoons are almost always in full color. Because they are produced digitally and released one episode at a time, color is baked into the workflow, and many studios use assistants or teams to keep a weekly color schedule. The result feels closer to an animated storyboard than to a traditional comic page.
The head-to-head comparison
Here is the quick reference version of everything above and below, side by side.
| Feature | Manga | Webtoons |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | Japan | South Korea (spreading globally) |
| Format | Bound pages, spreads | Vertical infinite scroll |
| Reading direction | Right-to-left | Top-to-bottom |
| Color | Mostly black and white | Almost always full color |
| Primary device | Print volume or e-reader | Smartphone app |
| Release cadence | Weekly/monthly chapters, then volumes | Weekly episodes |
| Typical monetization | Magazine + paperback sales | Free-to-read + pay-to-unlock ahead |
| Print editions | The default | Increasingly common for hits |
Platforms and where you read them
Where you find each format differs sharply. For webtoons, the dominant apps are WEBTOON (operated by Naver) and Tapas, with a growing field of competitors. These are vertical-scroll-native apps where a large catalog is free to read on a delay, and you pay to jump ahead.
Manga has a more fragmented digital landscape. Official routes include the Shonen Jump app and Manga Plus (both run by Shueisha), which offer large libraries of simulpublished chapters, plus the digital storefronts of English publishers. But manga’s spiritual home is still print — the local bookshop shelf and the personal collection.
- Webtoons: WEBTOON, Tapas, and other scroll-first apps.
- Manga: Shonen Jump / Manga Plus for chapters; bookstores and e-readers for volumes.
- Both: increasingly available in libraries via digital lending apps.
We compare the best reading apps across both formats in our guide to the best comic book apps.
The money: free episodes, Fast Pass, and paperback volumes
The business models are almost mirror images. Webtoons popularized a freemium model: the back catalog is free to read, but recent or upcoming episodes are locked behind a mechanism often branded “Fast Pass” or “Daily Pass,” which you unlock with in-app coins. This lowers the barrier to trying anything to zero, then monetizes the readers who cannot wait.
Manga’s model is more traditional: you buy the volume, roughly US$10–13 for a standard paperback, or subscribe to an app for access to a rotating library and new chapters. There is no “pay to skip ahead” pressure — you either own the book or you do not.
- Webtoons: read free on delay, pay coins to unlock the newest episodes early.
- Manga apps: subscription or per-volume digital purchase.
- Manga print: buy the paperback, own it forever.
Discovery and the role of algorithms
Webtoon platforms live and die by their recommendation algorithms and ranking charts. Because everything sits in one app, discovery is driven by trending lists, genre rankings, and personalized suggestions — a lot like a streaming service. A new series can climb from obscurity to a massive audience on the strength of the charts alone, and reader engagement metrics directly shape what gets promoted and greenlit.
Manga discovery is more editorial and word-of-mouth. A series earns its place in a Shueisha or Kodansha magazine, survives (or is cancelled by) reader-survey rankings, and builds an audience through anime adaptations, bookstore placement, and community recommendation. If you are coming from the algorithm-fed world of apps, this can feel slower — but it also means the biggest manga hits are battle-tested over years. Our overview of the state of manga in the West digs into how that pipeline reaches English readers.
When the digital hit becomes a printed book
One of the clearest signs that these two worlds are converging: successful webtoons increasingly get print editions. A series that was born as a free vertical scroll on an app may later be re-laid-out and published as a physical book — sometimes reformatted into pages, sometimes preserving a scroll-like flow. For fans, a print edition is both a collectible and a way to support creators beyond in-app coins.
This mirrors manga’s long-standing path from serialized magazine chapter to collected paperback. The direction of travel is the same in both traditions — from cheap, fast serialization to a permanent, ownable object — even if the starting point is a magazine in one case and an app in the other. If you care about owning what you read, our take on digital vs physical comics is worth a look.
Which should you start with?
There is no wrong answer, but the honest guidance is about your habits, not the medium’s prestige.
Pros
- Start with webtoons if you read mostly on your phone, want color, and like bingeing free episodes
- Start with manga if you prefer owning books, do not mind black and white, and want the deepest back catalog in comics
- Both are beginner-friendly; you do not need to pick one forever
Cons
- Webtoons can pressure you into unlocking episodes early; the “free” catalog is a hook
- Manga’s right-to-left reading takes a chapter or two to click for newcomers
- Quality varies wildly in both; the charts and bestseller lists are your filter
If you want a curated starting point, browse our best webtoons picks or, for the Japanese side, our best manga for beginners guide and the full manga hub. And if you are curious how both traditions stack up against Western superhero comics, see manga vs American comics.
Frequently asked questions
Is a webtoon just a digital manga?
No. While both are comics, “manga” specifically means the Japanese page-based, mostly black-and-white tradition, and “webtoon” means the vertical-scroll, full-color format that originated in Korea. A manga chapter read on a phone is still manga; a webtoon is designed from the ground up for scrolling.
Do you read webtoons right-to-left like manga?
No. Webtoons are read top-to-bottom in a single vertical scroll, and text is left-to-right. Right-to-left reading is a manga convention that most English publishers preserve to keep the original art intact.
Are webtoons free?
Most of the back catalog on the major apps is free to read, but the newest episodes are usually locked behind a coin-based “Fast Pass” style system so you can pay to read ahead. Manga is more often bought by the volume or read through an app subscription.
Which has better stories, webtoons or manga?
Neither is inherently better — it depends entirely on the individual title. Manga has a deeper and older catalog with more battle-tested classics; webtoons are newer, more color-forward, and often stronger in romance and slice-of-life. The best approach is to try a highly recommended title in each and see which format clicks.
Keep exploring with our best webtoons list, the beginner’s manga guide, or the whole manga hub.
