Top alternatives for manga readers after Bato.to shut down

The manga community was dealt a major blow this week as long-running piracy site Bato.to officially go offline following mounting legal pressure.

The site confirmed the shutdown on their official Discord server on January 19. This marked the permanent end of a platform manga lovers relied on for older, rare, and niche manga titles.

The team cites “ongoing legal challenges” as the primary reason for shutting down the site. Later, the Discord community was also deleted.

Fans across social media considered it a major loss, especially as it hosted scanlations of manga that never had official English releases.

For many readers, the site functioned as an archive for forgotten or unlicensed works.

Due to its clean interface, detailed tagging system, and strong support from independent scanlation groups, it has built a loyal user base over the years.

In the wake of Bato.to’s closure, readers are now seeking alternatives. Some of the reliable options are:

• MangaDex
• Mangatoto
• Battwo
• MangaBat

For legal options, users can rely on Webtoon and Anime Planet. Due to strict piracy enforcement, the future of fan-translation archives remains uncertain, leaving readers to balance accessibility with legality in the evolving digital landscape.