How to Read Ridibooks in English

Ridibooks is Korean only, and unlike most platforms it says so in writing: its own overseas guide states that English and other translations are not supported. So the way to read Ridibooks in English is to open the episode in its web viewer and run Madomi over it, a real-time manga translator by Pawaka Labs that reads the Korean inside each speech bubble and overlays your language as you scroll. Foreign cards work, email sign-up works, and the catalogue is bigger than anything licensed abroad. Last checked on 5 October 2026.

Ridibooks (RIDI, since the company shortened its name) started as an e-book store and became the home of Korean romance fantasy and BL webtoons. Under the Oak Tree, the series Manta built its international business on, is a Ridibooks exclusive. RIDI was the first content platform in Korea to reach unicorn status, and it booked 235 billion won in revenue in 2024, which tells you how much reading happens there that never makes it into English.

Here is what the platform gives an international reader, what it costs from outside Korea, and how to read it.

Does Ridibooks have an English version?

No, and this is the one platform where you don’t have to guess. The RIDI help centre’s overseas usage guide opens by saying the website and apps provide content as a Korean-language service and do not support English or other translations. The apps and the desktop viewer are Korean-only too.

What RIDI does have is Manta, a separate English-language app launched in late 2020. It is a subscription service rather than a store, 4.99 US dollars a month for the Standard plan and 9.99 for Premium, and it carries titles RIDI translates in-house, with a Free Pass that unlocks one episode every 24 hours on selected series. It is a curated slice, not the catalogue. RIDI’s own guide describes it as “some webtoons” from Ridibooks served in foreign languages, which is honest.

Verdict: there is no English toggle on Ridibooks, so Madomi is what turns its Korean catalogue into a readable one.

Is the series already on Manta?

Worth thirty seconds first. If you want Under the Oak Tree or another of Manta’s headline titles in a finished English translation, Manta is the official place to read it.

The gap is everything else. Ridibooks serialises thousands of romance fantasy, BL and web novel adaptations that Manta has never touched, and even for the titles it does carry, the Korean side is ahead. Under the Oak Tree was on episode 169 on Ridibooks as of 3 October 2026 and still updating weekly. Verdict: check Manta, then use Madomi for the rest, which is most of the store.

Is Ridibooks free to read?

More of it than its “paid store” reputation suggests.

Wait-for-Free (리다무 in RIDI’s shorthand) is marked by a blue clock badge on the cover. On a badged title you unlock one episode free every fixed interval, and the free episode stays readable for three days. The interval is set per series: on Under the Oak Tree it is 72 hours, and the newest ten episodes are held back from the timer, which is the usual pattern on a long-running serial. The first few episodes of most serialised titles are free with no timer at all.

Paid episodes are cheap. The same webtoon prices each episode at 300 won to rent for three days or 500 won to own, so a binge through a hundred episodes costs less than a single licensed volume in English. Top-ups earn bonus points, doubled if you charge on the 1st to 3rd of the month, and every account gets three 10% coupons a week for purchases over 1,000 won.

What Ridibooks does not do is Naver’s free weekly serialisation, so if you want an entirely free platform, Naver Webtoon is the one, and it has the same language problem. Verdict: on Ridibooks the money is small and the language is the real cost, and Madomi removes it.

Can you use Ridibooks from outside Korea?

Yes, and more smoothly than KakaoPage. RIDI publishes an overseas guide precisely because foreign readers are a real audience.

Browsing and reading work anywhere. ridibooks.com opens in a normal browser with no VPN, and the app is on the US App Store and Google Play (it is Korean-language inside either way).

Sign-up takes no Korean phone number. The guide lists Kakao, Naver, Google and Apple as one-tap options, plus a plain email account verified from your inbox.

Foreign cards are accepted on the website. Choose “overseas-issued credit card” at checkout and Visa, Mastercard, JCB and American Express go through Paygate. In the iOS app you top up Ridi Cash through the App Store, and on Android through Google Play, so the apps work too, just via the store’s billing. Buy on whichever is convenient; purchases sit on the account and open everywhere.

Adult-rated titles need one extra step. Korean age verification normally wants a Korean phone, so RIDI offers an overseas verification done from your account settings with an ID document. It is approved manually, takes a few days, and lasts a year. The general app editions also hide adult titles from search for store-policy reasons, so do that browsing on the web.

Verdict: nothing about Ridibooks locks out an international reader except the Korean, and Madomi handles that part.

The English routes compared

Route	How much of the catalogue	Up to date with Korea	Works on any title	Cost
Manta	A translated selection	Usually behind	No	$4.99 or $9.99 a month
Waiting for a licence	Whatever gets picked up	Years, if ever	No	Free, eventually
Ridibooks + Madomi	All of it	Same day as Korea	Yes	Free credits monthly, Premium for unlimited

Why Google Translate doesn’t work on Ridibooks webtoons

RIDI’s overseas guide explains this one for us. For web novels, it recommends turning on your browser’s translation feature in the web viewer, and that works, because a novel is text in the page. For webtoons, the same guide says browser translation is not supported because the episodes are produced as images.

That is the whole problem in one sentence. The Korean you want is lettering baked into the artwork. A page translator will do the menus, the title and the episode list and leave every speech bubble untouched. Screenshot-and-upload tools do read the image, but one panel at a time, which is not how anyone reads a 70-panel episode.

Verdict: the job is optical, not textual, and Madomi is built for it.

How to read Ridibooks in English

Madomi is a real-time manga translator by Pawaka Labs that works as a browser extension on Chrome and Firefox and as a native app on Android and iOS. Open any raw episode, activate Madomi, and it reads the Korean text inside every speech bubble using OCR built for comic lettering, then overlays the translation in your language as you scroll.

It’s rated 4.8 out of 5 from 385 Chrome Web Store ratings, with 20,000+ users, the highest-rated manga translator extension on the Chrome Web Store. You get free credits every month, one credit per translated image, and Madomi Premium removes the limit.

Ridibooks is a good fit for it. Webtoons and web novels open in the web viewer rather than a locked app, which is exactly where the browser extension works, and vertical-scroll episodes are the easiest format it handles: no page turns, no right-to-left order, just the art with your language laid over it.

For the wider picture, our guide to the best manhwa raw sites covers Naver, Kakao and Lezhin alongside Ridibooks, how to read KakaoPage in English does the same job for the other big paid platform, and reading Korean manhwa without knowing a word of Korean is the longer walkthrough of the setup.

Quick start guide

1. Check Manta first in case your series has an official English translation.
2. If it doesn’t, open ridibooks.com and search the Korean title.
3. Sign up with Google, Apple or an email address. No Korean phone number needed.
4. Look for the blue clock badge and use Wait-for-Free, and read the free opening episodes while you wait.
5. To buy episodes, pick “overseas-issued credit card” on the website, or top up Ridi Cash inside the app through the App Store or Google Play.
6. Open the episode in the web viewer, turn Madomi on, and scroll. The translation appears over each panel as you go.

Frequently asked questions

How do you read Ridibooks in English? Open the episode in the web viewer and run Madomi over it. Ridibooks states that it does not support translation, so an overlay translator is the way to read most of what is on it.

Does Ridibooks have an English version? No. RIDI’s English service is Manta, a separate subscription app with a translated selection, not an English mode for Ridibooks.

Can I use Ridibooks outside Korea? Yes. Sign up with Kakao, Naver, Google, Apple or email, and pay on the website with a foreign Visa, Mastercard, JCB or Amex. Adult titles need a one-time overseas age verification.

Is Ridibooks free to read? Partly. Wait-for-Free titles unlock one episode per interval, 72 hours on Under the Oak Tree, with the newest ten held back. Paid episodes run about 300 won to rent or 500 won to keep.

Why does Google Translate not work on Ridibooks webtoons? Because webtoons are images. RIDI’s own guide says browser translation works on web novels in the web viewer and not on webtoons.

What is the difference between Ridibooks and Manta? Same company. Ridibooks is the Korean store with everything; Manta is the English subscription app with a curated, translated slice, $4.99 or $9.99 a month.

Can I read Ridibooks on a computer? Yes for webtoons and web novels, in the web viewer. E-books need the app or desktop viewer.

Stop Waiting for the Manta Version

RIDI has told you plainly that Ridibooks will not be translated. The catalogue is there anyway, open to foreign cards and email sign-ups, for a few hundred won an episode. The only thing between you and it is the lettering.

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