IDW Digital Comics Experience vs Comics Plus
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
IDW Digital Comics Experience
Access a vast library of comic books and graphic novels from a renowned publisher. Discover new releases weekly, enjoy curated bundles, and explore free recommendations. Read your collection with a modern, state-of-the-art reader.
- Weekly new releases
- Curated comic and book bundles
- Free comics and books recommendations
- State-of-the-art app reader
- Access to popular titles like Star Trek and TMNT
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IDW Publishing is the home of world-renowned comic book and graphic novel storytelling! We publish some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including Paramount's Star Trek; Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog; and many more. We also publish best-selling original series, including Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez's Locke & Key and Patrick Horvath's Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees. IDWP's critically acclaimed Top Shelf Productions imprint publishes works of visionary artistry, literary sophistication, and personal resonance, including George Takei's They Called Us Enemy and the New York Times best-selling March by Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell. - New releases every week! - Save money with carefully curated comic and book bundles! - Discover new stories with a selection of free comics and books recommended by IDW! - Read your collection at your leisure by using the new state-of-the-art app reader! Get started with your IDW Publishing adventure today!
Comics Plus
Access thousands of digital comics, graphic novels, manga, and picture books from numerous publishers. Enjoy unlimited reading without wait lists or late fees, and manage your progress across devices. Stream titles online or download them for offline enjoyment.
- Unlimited digital comic access
- No wait lists or borrowing limits
- Cross-device reading progress
- Online streaming and offline downloads
- Diverse publisher selection
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Comics Plus from LibraryPass gives you unlimited access to thousands of digital comics, graphic novels, manga, and picture books from dozens of publishers — exclusively through your school or library. Don’t see your school or library listed? Ask your librarian about #ReadAllTheComics! No wait lists; no borrowing limits; no late fees Manage your shelf and reading progress across devices Maintain your reading progress across devices Stream titles online without using storage space Download titles for offline reading Explore a diverse selection from publishers like ABDO, Andrews McMeel, BOOM! Studios, Capstone, Cherry Lake, Dark Horse, Europe Comics, Fantagraphics, Humanoids, Image Comics, Kodansha, Lerner, Manga Classics, Oni Press, Papercutz, Tokyopop, TOON Books, UDON Entertainment, Yen Press, and dozens more. Comics Plus is created by Joyful Reading Co, where we're dedicated to nurturing a lifelong love of reading through engagement, access, and data-driven insights. Learn more at https://comicsplusapp.com/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: IDW Digital Comics Experience at 4.0 against Comics Plus's 2.5. Comics Plus's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 34) and ratings volume (102 vs 4). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. IDW Digital Comics Experience sells 34 one-off in-app purchases. Comics Plus asks for nothing beyond the download.
IDW Digital Comics Experience holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Comics Plus has 102 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 19% of IDW Digital Comics Experience's written reviews are positive against 20% of Comics Plus's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
IDW Digital Comics Experience ships an update every 6 weeks, Comics Plus every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | IDW Digital Comics Experience | Comics Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (4 ratings) — better | 2.5 (102 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 19.0% of reviews | 20.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 102 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 48 MB | 40 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | IDW Publishing | Library Pass, Inc. |
Customer experience
IDW Digital Comics Experience
Comics Plus
User reviews
IDW Digital Comics Experience
From 4 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Fast and easy to use
- 👍 Great selection of comics
- 💡 Potential for future improvements
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and bugs
- 🔍 Poor organization and navigation
- 🔋 High battery consumption
- 📖 Blurry/low-quality reading experience
- 💰 Expensive pricing compared to other options
Comics Plus
From 102 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📚 Massive collection of comics and manga
- 💰 Free access with library card
- ✅ Legal and legitimate reading platform
- 🎨 Wide variety of publishers and genres
- 📖 Ability to store unlimited books on shelf
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and force quits
- ⏳ Extremely slow loading times
- 🔍 Search function broken or non-functional
- 📖 Pages fail to load or display correctly
- ⚫ Black screen issues when opening books
Bugs and requests
IDW Digital Comics Experience
Reported bugs
4 issues- Comics disappearing from library
- Inability to restore purchases
- Frequent crashes and freezes
- Login and account issues
Requested features
5 requests- Offline reading/download functionality
- Better sorting and filtering options
- Panel-by-panel reading mode
- Sync purchases across devices
- Discounts/bundle options
Comics Plus
Reported bugs
25 issues- Login screen stuck on library selection
- Search returns blank page with no loading indicator
- Shelf fails to load
- Pages crop off at bottom
- Black screen when opening downloaded books
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- App crashes when opening new comics
- Pages display out of sync in horizontal mode
- Duplicate pages appearing consecutively
- Pages loop back to beginning after certain number
- Thumbnail not showing for resume position
- Dialog boxes cut off or positioned incorrectly
- App forgets reading position when resuming
- Vertical view does not work
- iCloud backup size inflates dramatically
- Screen goes black periodically during reading
- Network error despite active connection
- Download progress bar hangs
- Orientation change causes reading position reset
- App switches to different manga unexpectedly
- Popular page items don't load or unavailable
- Shelf deletion when launching from cloud library
- Zoom functionality unresponsive
- Page turning causes visual flash and blur
- Inconsistent page display in 2-page mode
- Home bar overlay obscures content on iPad
Requested features
18 requests- Favorites/bookmarking system with notifications
- Auto-download while using other apps
- Auto-mark books as finished
- Better search with pagination and page jumping
- Dark mode option
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- Right-to-left reading for manga
- Folder organization for shelf
- Reading history tracking
- Series completion indicators
- Next book in series recommendations
- Auto zoom feature for reading
- Smooth page transition animations
- Ability to manually move books to completion status
- App status/server status page
- Better content filtering and sorting options
- Rating system for comics
- Chapter bookmarks
- Customizable reading settings
In-app purchases
IDW Digital Comics Experience
- Dungeons & Dragons #0$0.99
- Infestation #1$0.99
- Danger Girl #1$1.99
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- Locke and Key: Crown of Shadows #1$1.99
- Dragon Age #1$1.99
- Dragon Age #2$1.99
- Dungeons & Dragons #1$1.99
- Star Trek #1$1.99
- Star Trek TNG/Doctor Who: Assimilation #1$1.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #68$3.99
- Sonic: Blade of Courage: Chapter 3$3.99
- Sonic: Blade of Courage: Chapter 1$3.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #78$3.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #77$3.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #76$3.99
- Sonic the Hedge.... 1: Fallout$3.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #74$3.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #73$3.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #72$3.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #71$3.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #70$3.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #90$4.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #89$4.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog x Godzilla #2$4.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #88$4.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #87$4.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic Racing$4.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #79$4.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog: Chaotix's 30th$5.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #75$6.99
- Sonic: 35th Anniversary Special$7.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog Annual 2024$7.99
- SonicTheHedgehog: TheIDW Vol1$9.99
- Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft$11.99
Comics Plus
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is IDW Digital Comics Experience free?
Is Comics Plus free?
Which has better reviews, IDW Digital Comics Experience or Comics Plus?
Do IDW Digital Comics Experience or Comics Plus have ads?
Which is updated more often, IDW Digital Comics Experience or Comics Plus?
Other comparisons
