CompareDeepL

RuneManga vs DeepL for translating manga images

DeepL or RuneManga for manga pages: image translation on the web and in the apps, batches, languages, price and how your pages are used.

Updated October 29, 20264 min read

Short answer

DeepL is known for the quality of its text translation, and it also translates images: on its website as a file, in beta and with an account, and in its mobile apps with the camera. It puts the translated text back into the image. It is not made for comics: one image per file, no chapter upload and nothing about speech bubbles or vertical Japanese. RuneManga is built for manga, manhwa and webtoons, with whole chapters, a browser extension and a free plan.

Feature	RuneManga	DeepL
WebApp upload	Yes. Add images, a folder, a ZIP, a CBZ or a PDF (50 to 500 pages at once depending on the plan, 20 MB each), correct the result in Edit mode, and download single pages, a ZIP or one PDF.	Yes, as a file translation in beta: sign in, add PNG or JPG images of up to 3 MB, one image per file (several files at once), and download each image translated. Images inside a PDF are not translated.
Browser extension	Yes, in the Chrome Web Store (Chrome, Brave, Opera) and Edge Add-ons; a Firefox version is in review. It translates pages right on the sites you read: an R button per page, Auto mode while you scroll, show original, Translate an area, Edit image and a ZIP of the page's translations.	DeepL's browser extension and desktop apps translate text. Their screen capture only reads the text out of an area; they do not re-letter the images on a web page.
Languages	From Japanese, Korean, Chinese, English and six more languages (or auto-detect) into 89 languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish and French. Arabic and Thai output is experimental.	All of DeepL's languages for image files. The mobile camera does not read Greek or Cyrillic.
Bubble-aware typesetting	Yes. Lettering in speech bubbles, caption boxes and text on the art is erased, the background filled in and the translation fitted in its place. Sound effects stay as drawn. Edit mode, in the WebApp and the extension, lets you move, restyle and rewrite the text.	DeepL says it extracts the text, translates it and embeds it back into the image. It does not mention speech bubbles or vertical Japanese and warns that stylized text may lower the quality.
Colorize	SoonPlanned, not available yet. The colorizer is in development.	No.
Translation engine	RuneLingua, our own AI translator for manga dialogue, on every plan, Free included. A few languages it does not cover well yet use another translation service. You can also connect your own AI key (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, xAI or OpenRouter).	DeepL's own translation.
Pricing	Credits, 1 per page. Free at $0: 20 credits a day, claimed on the site, plus 30 once at sign-up that never expire. Supporter ($2.99, 1,000 a month), Pro ($4.99, 2,500) and Ultimate ($9.99, 5,000) are on sale now, with packs of 1,000, 2,500 or 6,000 credits that never expire.	An account is needed. While the feature is in beta, image files do not count toward the free plan's monthly file limit. DeepL Pro starts at €7.49 a month, billed yearly.
Privacy and retention	Pages are processed on RuneManga's servers; only the text found on the page goes to the translation engine. Jobs are deleted about an hour after they finish and are not used for training.	On the free plan, DeepL may keep texts for a limited time to train its models. On Pro, texts are not stored or used for training.
Sign-up needed	Yes for the WebApp: a free sign-in with Google, Discord or an emailed link, no card.	Yes for image translation.

When RuneManga is the better fit

You want a whole chapter translated in one run, from images, a ZIP, a CBZ or a PDF.
You want the translation fitted inside each speech bubble, with the old lettering erased.
You want to translate pages on the sites you read, with a browser extension.
You have large pages: RuneManga takes up to 20 MB per page.

When DeepL is the better fit

You translate documents, slides and emails as well as the odd image, and want one tool for all of them.
You already pay for DeepL Pro and want its privacy terms for work text.
You point your phone at printed text and want a quick overlay.

Questions

Can DeepL translate manga pages?

It can translate an image file and put the text back into it, one image per file. It does not say it handles speech bubbles or vertical Japanese, so a comic page may need corrections.

Can DeepL translate a manga PDF?

Not the pictures: DeepL translates the text of a PDF but not the images inside it. RuneManga takes the PDF and translates every page.

Is DeepL free for images?

You need a DeepL account. While image translation is in beta, image files do not count toward the free plan's file limit.

Sources

Facts checked on October 29, 2026 from each tool's own pages and store listings. Something out of date? Write to [email protected].