The Best Short Drama Apps, Ranked

How we ranked them

All of these apps sell the same thing: vertical dramas in episodes of about a minute, a few free episodes up front, then coins or a subscription.

So we ranked them on three things:

• Catalog: what kind of stories each app is best at.
• Price clarity: how clearly it tells you what an episode costs.
• Friction: how hard the free route is, and how hard it is to cancel.

The facts come from each app’s own website, terms and store listings, plus App Store and Trustpilot reviews. Prices are US App Store prices and change by country.

Two apps, ReelShort and GoodShort, publish what an episode costs. For the others, the cost per episode below is what App Store reviewers report, and we say how many reports it rests on. New to the format? Start with what a short drama is.

1. ReelShort: best for classic billionaire and revenge dramas

In short: the most focused catalog, and the clearest about price.

• Who runs it: Crazy Maple Studio, Inc. (published on both stores as NewLeaf Publishing)
• Cost per episode: 60 coins, about 60 cents. ReelShort’s own coin guide says a standard episode usually costs 60 coins and $4.99 buys 500 coins.
• Free route: daily check-ins, rewarded ads, tasks and an invite program
• Plans: one $19.99 subscription on the US App Store, plus one-time purchases from $4.99 to $29.99
• Watch out for: a 1.3 TrustScore on Trustpilot from 251 reviews, 84% of them one star, mostly about charges after cancelling. Its terms say all sales are final.

Its store listing is built around billionaires, tragedies, comebacks and revenge, and promises “hundreds of new episodes online each month” (Google Play). It also has an interactive story feature that lets you choose what happens next.

App Store reviewers mainly complain about daily caps on ad rewards and reward coins that expire if you stop opening the app. Its Google Play rating, 3.8, is the lowest of the big four.

ReelShort review · Free coins · Open ReelShort

2. DramaBox: best for genre variety

In short: the widest range of genres, but no published prices.

• Who runs it: StoryMatrix, a Singapore company
• Cost per episode: about 50 coins, by reviewers’ reports: 21 of the 23 App Store reviews that name a price say 50 coins. Reviewers put 500 coins at $4.99, so about 50 cents an episode.
• Free route: free episodes at the start of each series, plus reward coins for check-ins and ads
• Plans: memberships at $5.99, $17.99 and $19.99 on the US App Store. The listing doesn’t say whether they’re weekly or longer, so check in the app.
• Watch out for: ads that run longer than the one-minute episodes they unlock. Its terms say “all fees are in U.S. dollars and are non-refundable.”

DramaBox’s website sorts shows into more than twenty categories, from Romance, Fantasy and Mafia to Divine Tycoon, Rebirth and Concealed Identity. The other big apps name about a dozen genres each.

Its About Us page, dated December 2024, says it is available in over 200 countries with more than 2,000 series. Its Trustpilot page has only four reviews, too few to read much into.

DramaBox review · Free coins · ReelShort vs DramaBox · Open DramaBox

3. ShortMax: best for international and multilingual dramas

In short: the biggest library and the most languages, but the least clear about price.

• Who runs it: SHORTTV LIMITED, Hong Kong
• Cost per episode: about 80 coins, by reviewers’ reports: 8 of the 11 App Store reviews that name a price say 60 to 80 coins. Reviewers describe about 100 coins per dollar, so roughly 80 cents.
• Free route: a daily check-in and a daily allowance of rewarded ads
• Plans: Weekly Pass Pro at $9.99 or $19.99, plus one-time purchases from $3.49 to $24.99
• Watch out for: paid coins are spent before bonus coins, so earned bonuses can expire unused. Its six Trustpilot reviews, all one star, describe weekly charges after cancelling.

Its listings claim “50,000+ trending short dramas and movies in 19 languages”, with American, Korean, Chinese and Japanese series, subtitles and dubbing. That’s ShortMax’s own figure, but the international range is the reason to pick it.

It also offers offline downloads and Picture-in-Picture playback.

ShortMax review · Free coins · Open ShortMax

4. GoodShort: best for VIP perks like offline viewing

In short: the most open about price, with the most generous VIP features.

• Who runs it: Singapore New Reading Technology Pte. Ltd. (listed on Google Play under GoodNovel)
• Cost per episode: a median of 48 coins, about 48 cents. GoodShort is the only app that shows the coin price of every episode on its website.
• Free route: free episodes at the start of each series, plus check-in rewards and ads
• Plans: Weekly VIP at $5.99, $9.99 or $19.99. Coin packs are 500 coins at $4.99 up to 2,500 at $24.99.
• Watch out for: a 1.6 TrustScore from 37 reviews, 94% of them one star, about charges after cancelling and refused refunds. Its terms rule out partial refunds mid-billing cycle.

Its VIP pitch is the most detailed of the four: premium dramas free and ad-free, offline downloads, 1080p playback, and check-in rewards that extend VIP.

The catalog leans on webnovel adaptations: billionaire romance, ruthless CEOs, alpha werewolves and war gods.

GoodShort review · Free coins · Open GoodShort

Also reviewed: KalosTV

In short: dramas in 12 languages, but expensive per episode and hard to cancel.

• Cost per episode: reviewers report prices that rise as a series goes on, from about 50 to 150 coins. At KalosTV’s 70 paid coins per dollar, that’s roughly 70 cents to $2.
• Plans: Season Pass at $14.99 for 7 days, or Monthly Benefits at $29.99
• Watch out for: 39 of its 50 most recent US App Store reviews give one or two stars, mostly about price and cancelling.

KalosTV review · Open KalosTV

Also reviewed: StardustTV

In short: you can watch by sitting through ads, but reviewers say its “free” advertising oversells it, and cancelling is the top complaint.

• Cost per episode: App Store reviewers most often report 59 coins. At 100 coins per dollar, that’s about 59 cents.
• Plans: weekly subscription at $19.99 or $29.99 on the App Store
• Watch out for: 157 of its 500 most recent US App Store reviews give one star, mostly about the free promise, ads and charges people couldn’t stop.

StardustTV review · Open StardustTV

How to pick

Every app here has free episodes, so try before you pay. Then pick by what you want to watch:

• Core billionaire and revenge tropes: ReelShort
• The widest genre range: DramaBox
• Non-US dramas and dubbing: ShortMax
• Offline downloads and VIP perks: GoodShort

Not sure where a series streams? Search our trope lists, trending and new titles.

Whichever app you choose, protect your wallet:

• Watch the free episodes before you pay.
• Compare coins against one week of VIP when a series has many locked episodes left.
• Turn off auto-renewal the day you subscribe. Every app here renews automatically, and none of them refunds easily.

Our guides to how coins work and whether short drama apps are safe go deeper.

Sources

• ReelShort terms of use: https://www.reelshort.com/user-agreement.html
• ReelShort coin guide: https://www.reelshort.com/fandom/reelshort-coins-01-25-3faa2218/
• ReelShort free coins guide: https://www.reelshort.com/fandom/how-to-earn-free-coins-on-reelshort-01-25-3faa2218/