In short
- A webtoon is a comic made for the screen: one long vertical strip per episode, released in installments.
- The format comes from Korea, where the word weptun was in use as early as 1994.
- WEBTOON in capitals is a platform and a registered trademark; lowercase "webtoon" is the format.
- Explicit adult webtoons in English sit mostly on websites, because the store apps cannot carry them.
Webtoon meaning
Merriam-Webster's slang entry, updated in June 2026, defines a webtoon as a type of digital comic published online, formatted vertically, and released in episodes
and adds that the word is also the proprietary name for a leading digital comics publishing platform
. The same entry dates the Korean form, weptun, to as early as 1994.
Two habits set the format apart from a printed comic. Panels stack in one continuous scroll instead of sitting on pages, so the gap between panels does the work of a page turn (more on that under vertical scroll). And a series arrives in episodes, so many platforms sell webtoons one episode at a time with coins.
WEBTOON the platform and webtoon the format
The platform's name is a registered trademark, stylized WEBTOON™. We write it in capitals for the service and in lowercase for the format. Readers looking for adult webtoons should know the difference, because WEBTOON itself is not an adult site: its content guidelines allow sexual themes and ban nudity and explicit sex, and its Mature-rated series are hidden from accounts under 18.
Where adult webtoons are published
Explicit webtoons come mostly from Korean publishers. Adult-only titles made up 57.7% of web comics available in Korea in 2024, according to KOMACON data reported by the Korea Herald: 83.4% on Bomtoon and 71.3% on Lezhin Comics, against 5.2% on Naver Webtoon. Those figures describe Korean domestic catalogs, not the English sites.
In English the adult versions usually live on the web. Tapas keeps its Mature section out of its iOS and Android apps (and Tapas itself closes on March 31, 2027). Lezhin's store apps carry no R-rated titles, while its website and an Android APK do. Honeytoon has no store app at all. Apple's guideline 1.1.4 bans overtly sexual or pornographic material
in apps, which leaves little room for anything else.
For platforms by name, see adult webtoons and our list of adult webtoon platforms. How the format compares with manga is on webtoons vs manga, and the Korean word for comics has its own entry, manhwa. Other terms are in the adult comics glossary.
FAQ
Is a webtoon the same as manhwa?
Not quite. Manhwa names the origin (Korean comics) and webtoon names the format (vertical, episodic, online). Most manhwa read in English are webtoons, and Chinese manhua published in vertical episodes are webtoons too.
Is WEBTOON an adult webtoon site?
No. Its guidelines ban nudity and explicit sexual acts on the app and the website alike. Mature-rated series exist, but they cover themes and violence, and they are locked for readers under 18.
Are webtoons free to read?
Many start free. WEBTOON releases its ORIGINALS free on a weekly schedule and charges coins for the newest episodes. Adult webtoon sites usually give away the first few episodes of a series and charge per episode after that; see how webtoon coins work.