Best manga translator extensions compared

The best manga translator extension depends on what you need. Torii and Ichigo Reader are released extensions that work on reader sites today, Google Lens is the quickest way to understand one image, and open-source tools suit people who run their own setup. RuneManga's extension is in the Chrome Web Store and Edge Add-ons for Chrome, Edge, Opera and Brave.

How we compared

• Does it translate in the browser, in place, on the page you are reading?
• Which browsers does it support?
• How does it ask for access to websites?
• How is it paid for?
• What does it do with the images?

Torii Image Translator

Torii has a web app and a browser extension for Chrome, Edge, Brave and Opera, a Firefox add-on for desktop and Android, and Safari on Mac, iPad and iPhone. It translates with a choice of AI models into more than 140 languages, has an editor for correcting results and can colorize. It works on credits: you get free credits when you sign up, then buy credit packs. On Firefox, its add-on page lists a requirement for access to your data on all websites.

Ichigo Reader

Ichigo Reader is a subscription service with an upload page, a Chrome extension that works on manga sites and apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android. It offers a choice of AI models and 18 target languages, with a free trial that needs no registration. Its privacy policy says uploaded images are kept as long as needed to provide the service, without a fixed period.

Open-source tools you run yourself

manga-image-translator is an open-source project with a web interface and a browser user script, and BallonsTranslator is an open-source desktop editor. Both are free to use under open-source licenses and give you full control. You install and run them on your own machine or server, which takes technical comfort and, for good speed, a capable graphics card.

Google Lens

On a computer, Chrome can send an image to Google Lens from the right-click menu, and Lens can translate the text. It is free, built in and supports many languages. It is made for any image, such as signs and menus, not for comic pages, so you translate one image at a time and get no re-lettered page back.

RuneManga

RuneManga's WebApp works today: upload pages, a folder, a ZIP, a PDF or a pasted image, and download the translated pages as images, a ZIP or one PDF. The extension works in Chrome, Edge, Opera and Brave, and a Firefox version is in review. It has a per-site Auto switch, translation of the pages on screen and as you scroll, an area-select tool for protected readers, a right-click option, keyboard shortcuts and automatic retries. It asks for access to one site at a time, when you switch it on there.

Which one to pick

• You read on the web every day and want something that works now: Torii or Ichigo Reader. Compare their pricing and what each says about your images.
• You need one line understood quickly: Google Lens.
• You want to own the setup and have the hardware: an open-source tool.
• You have files, a folder or a ZIP and want to start for free: the RuneManga WebApp.
• You want per-site access: try the RuneManga extension.

What to check before you install any of them

• The permissions page: does it want every site, or one site at a time?
• The privacy policy: where do images go, and for how long?
• The price after the free part: credits, a subscription or nothing.
• Your reader site: test one chapter before you commit, because some sites draw pages in ways extensions cannot read.

Questions

• RuneManga vs Torii Image Translator
• RuneManga vs Ichigo Reader
• Manga translator browser extension: how it works
• Is a manga translator safe? What to check