One of the best ways to use an iPad is as a digital comic book reader. As nice as it is to hold a printed comic in your hand, the comic book scene is also alive and kicking on both iOS and iPadOS.

Let's look at the best iPad comic readers, whether you’re looking to import your own CBR and CBZ files or get access to the biggest comics stores. These will enable you to either build a comic book collection from scratch or read your existing comics.

The Best CBR and CBZ Readers for iPad

If you're reading this, there's a strong chance you already own a sizable collection of digital comic books in CBR or CBZ formats. If that's the case, you're probably looking for a way to read them on your iPad.

Here are some of the best iPad apps you can use to import and read your existing CBR or CBZ comics.

1. Chunky: The Best Free iPad CBR or CBZ Reader

Chunky might be the most popular comic book reader available on the iPad. It's totally free to install and offers a range of different ways to import your collection. What's great is that Chunky automatically upscales your comics to improve low-resolution images. You can even turn on Auto Contrast to compensate for faded panels and muted colors.

Sync Chunky with iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, and other cloud services to import and read CBR, CBZ, CBT, or PDF files on your iPad. If that isn't convenient enough, upgrade to Pro to wirelessly download comics from a computer or NAS drive.

The Pro upgrade also gets you access to alternate color schemes and automatically crops the borders from each page. Even without the upgrade, though, Chunky offers all you need to enjoy comics on your iPad.

Download: Chunky for iPadOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

2. Panels: A Sleek-Looking App With Cloud Syncing

Panels is a sleek new comic reader that uses your Google account to sync your reading progress across your iPad and iPhone. It works with CBR, CBZ, and PDF files to cover all the most common formats, which you can read in horizontal, landscape, or panel-by-panel mode.

The free version of Panels only lets you import your comics using iCloud Drive. But you can upgrade to the Pro version to unlock Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and web server options.

Even without upgrading, you can still connect your iPad to a computer to transfer comics using Finder or iTunes

Download: Panels for iPadOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

3. ComicFlow: The Best Option for Larger Collections

ComicFlow takes a free, simple, and open source approach to reading comics on your iPad. It allows you to load up your device with CBR, CBZ, and PDF files with minimal organization. Just put your comics into a folder to treat them as a series. This is a decent CBR or CBZ reader, though it doesn't get regular updates.

You can transfer comics via Wi-Fi using a web server or a WebDAV server: simply drag and drop your comics into the server window and wait for them to appear in the comic reader on your iPad.

Unfortunately, ComicFlow limits this feature to 50 transfers. After this, you need to upgrade via an in-app purchase. But you can still sync comics for free using Finder or iTunes if you don't want to upgrade.

Thanks to its focus on simplicity, ComicFlow promises to handle thousands of comics and many gigabytes of files. It does so while offering all the features you need to enjoy your collection.

Download: ComicFlow for iPadOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

4. iComix: A CBR and CBZ Reader to Sync With the Cloud

Like ComicFlow, iComix is a free CBR and CBZ reader for your iPad, with an emphasis on simplicity. The app offers light and dark themes, with just a few tools for organizing your library.

There's no handy web server transfer, but you can connect to Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, or Box to import comics instead. If that's not good for you, you can also transfer files from a computer using iTunes or Finder.

iComix only supports CBR and CBZ files, so it isn't the most compatible comic reader available for iPad. That said, the majority of digital comics are in one of those two formats anyway.

Download: iComix for iPadOS (Free)

5. YACReader: Get More Features and PC Support

You can think of YACReader—or "Yet Another Comic Reader”—as a paid upgrade to the free options above. It's great for people who want extra features and compatibility options. YACReader supports CBR, CBZ, PDF, ZIP, RAR, and RAR5 files, so you don't even need to extract your comic archives before you read them on your iPad.

When it comes to importing comics, you can sync using Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, or OneDrive. Or if that isn't good enough, plug your iPad into your computer to sync comics using iTunes or Finder instead.

The app really shines when combined with the free YACReader desktop app for Mac, Windows, or Linux. This lets you connect your iPad to your computer and access your collection without leaving the YACReader app.

Download: YACReader for iPadOS ($3.99)

6. iComics: The Most Widely Compatible iPad Comic Reader

Highly customizable and polished, iComics is another option for those who want even more from their iPad comic reader. As testament to this, iComics supports all of the following comic book file formats: ZIP, CBZ, RAR, CBR, 7ZIP, CB7, TAR, CBT, LZH, LHA, EPUB, and PDF.

You can even read manga comics from right-to-left, and you can send individual pages to a printer. In addition, iComics places great emphasis on the reading experience, with smooth scrolling and the option to crop the borders off.

Unfortunately, iComics might let you down with its transfer options. The only option you get is to connect with iTunes or Finder via a cable or to add comics from other apps on your iPad. You do this by going to Share > Open With from other apps.

Download: iComics for iPadOS ($1.99)

7. Comic Zeal: A Feature-Rich iPad Comic Reader

A premium product that has been in development since 2010, Comic Zeal is mature and rich in features. Although it may seem bloated to those with few demands from an iPad CBR and CBZ reader, the $4.99 price tag gets you powerful organization tools—perfect for keeping large numbers of comics at your disposal.

This app includes support for file transfer over Wi-Fi, downloading from cloud services, importing via AirDrop, and good-old-fashioned iTunes or Finder file transfers. However, to import more than one comic at a time from cloud services, you need to shell out for an extra in-app purchase.

In addition to seemingly endless customization, Comic Zeal also includes a power-user feature: the Slider. This tool makes it easy to organize your collection, create reading lists, reorder comics, and more.

Comic Zeal might be expensive compared to the competition, but it's packed with features.

Download: Comic Zeal for iPadOS ($4.99, in-app purchases available)

Comic Store and Publisher Apps

If you don't already own a collection of CBR or CBZ comics, you might prefer to buy comics directly from a comic reader app on your iPad. The apps below will fit the bill for that.

The following iPad comic readers are all free to download, but you need to buy individual comics to read inside them. Sometimes there are free offers, but for the most part, you'll need to pay for everything you plan to read.

8. comiXology: Buy Individual Comics or Go Unlimited

comiXology is owned by Amazon and is one of the best iPad comic readers available. It offers access to comics from Marvel, DC, Image Comics, IDW, Dark Horse, and much more. However, you might find that the latest releases aren't available to buy until a few months after their physical release.

You can install comiXology to read comics on your Mac, as well as on your iPad or iPhone. This makes it easy to sync your digital comic collection across every device. The only problem is you can't buy comics in the app itself; you need to add them to your Wish List and buy them from the comiXology website instead.

If that sounds like an inconvenience, consider signing up for comiXology Unlimited instead. This subscription service costs $5.99/month and gets you access to over 25,000 comics from the comiXology library.

Download: comiXology for iPadOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

9. Madefire Comics: Discover Animated Comics With Motion Books

Another digital comic book store, Madefire offers access to DC, IDW, Dark Horse, Oni Press, and more publications. The most exciting feature in Madefire's digital comic reader is its flagship "Motion Books" reading experience. This makes full use of the iPad to bring comics to life with interactivity, sound, and animation.

You can find a lot of free content from the sidebar, including comics from Blizzard, DC, and IDW to name a few. But you can also buy well-known series and one-off issues to start building your collection.

Download: Madefire for iPadOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

10. Comic Book Publishers: Marvel, DC, and More

Most major publishers offer their own apps for reading comics on your iPad. Many of these are extremely competent readers with built-in stores for purchasing new issues. However, you don't usually get much in the way of organization options for your library, since the publisher organizes all the comics for you.

You can get apps from DC, Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, and IDW. Unsurprisingly, Marvel's app is one of the most popular. You can also sign up for Marvel's subscription service, which gets you instant access to tens of thousands of comics, although there's a separate app for that.

You might want to look at our comparison of Marvel Unlimited versus comiXology Unlimited to help choose the best subscription service for you.

If you only read comics from a certain publisher, you'll probably get a kick out of using its dedicated app. You might even gain access to exclusive issues that aren't available elsewhere. But most people probably don't want this limitation because it means splitting your comic collection across a range of different apps.

If you read comics from a lot of different publishers, you should probably build a collection of CBR or CBZ files to use one of the iPad comic readers listed above, or stick to buying comics from a third-party store like comiXology instead.

Download: Marvel Comics for iPadOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

Download: DC Universe Infinite for iPadOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

Where to Find Free Comics to Read Online

Now you know all about the best iPad comic readers, you're probably looking to expand your CBR and CBZ comic book collection.

Luckily for you, there are lots of places to read comics online for free. That might mean hunting down giveaways from the big-name publishers or indulging in classic issues that now belong in the public domain. Either way, there's plenty to sink your teeth into.