8 Manhwa Like Solo Leveling (and Most of Them Are Better)

Credit where it’s due: Solo Leveling opened the door to manhwa for half the planet and set the bar for art sky-high. But let’s be honest, it’s a textbook power fantasy. Sung Jin-woo goes from E-rank hunter to the strongest man alive, and the rest of the cast mostly stands around watching him do it. It works, which is why it blew up. But there’s better stuff out there.

If you’re here after the anime or after finishing the webtoon, and you want that same feeling of watching someone climb from the very bottom, this list is for you. These are eight manhwa I’ve read myself, and I rate each one in five categories: art, story, characters, humor and action. For reference, I give Solo Leveling a 10 for art and a 9 for action, but only a 6 for story, characters and humor. Chapter counts are for the original Korean release as of October 2026, per MangaUpdates; the English release is often behind.

1. Murim Login

Jin Tae-kyung is a low-ranked hunter in a world overrun by monsters pouring out of gates, just like in Solo Leveling. One day he plugs into a beat-up VR console by accident and gets trapped in a murim world with no way to log out.

What makes it special is how it blends the two genres without either one losing steam. While you’re in the murim you don’t miss the hunter world, and when you go back, the switch feels welcome. The protagonist is fantastic and the action is among the best in the genre. It’s one of my favorites.

Read it if… you loved the dungeons in Solo Leveling and you’re curious about murim but don’t want to dive in headfirst.

Status: on hiatus between seasons; season 4 starts on November 7, 2026 (250 chapters).

My ratings: art 10 · story 9 · characters 9 · humor 9 · action 10. Read it on Tapas as Log-in Murim.

2. Eternally Regressing Knight

Enkrid has wanted to be a knight since he was a kid, but he simply doesn’t have the talent. One day he dies in battle and wakes up at the start of that same day. And again. And again.

The premise isn’t original, I’ll admit it. The execution is superb. Unlike Jin-woo, Enkrid doesn’t get a power that solves everything: every step toward getting stronger is hard-earned, and that’s exactly why it’s so satisfying. The cast around him holds its own too, something Solo Leveling sorely lacks.

Read it if… your favorite part of Solo Leveling was watching the hero level up, but you wished it cost him more and that he had real characters around him.

Status: on hiatus between seasons; season 2 is expected in early 2027 (112 chapters).

My ratings: art 9 · story 9 · characters 10 · humor 9 · action 9. Read it on WEBTOON, where it’s also listed as The Knight Only Lives Today.

3. Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint

Kim Dokja is the only reader who ever reached the end of Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse, an endless web novel. The day he finishes it, the story becomes real. He isn’t the protagonist (that’s Yoo Joonghyuk, an absurdly powerful regressor), but he’s the only one who knows how it ends.

Like Solo Leveling, it turns the world into a game, with scenarios, rewards and monsters everywhere. The big difference is the lead: Dokja almost always fights at a disadvantage and wins with what he knows and how clever he is, not with his stats. That makes it far more interesting than most of its competitors. Required reading.

If you’d rather wait and watch it, AniList lists the anime for 2027.

Read it if… you want the scale and action of Solo Leveling, with a protagonist who has to think.

Status: on hiatus between seasons; season 2 returns this fall, according to WEBTOON (311 chapters).

My ratings: art 9 · story 9 · characters 9 · humor 7 · action 10. Read it on WEBTOON as Omniscient Reader.

4. SSS-Class Suicide Hunter

Kim Gong-ja (Confucius Kim in the English release) lives in the Tower, a multi-floor structure that works like an RPG, envying the famous hunters. When he finally gets a legendary skill, it turns out it only copies the abilities of whoever kills him. His first killer is the number-one hunter, and what he copies is the ability to go back in time every time he dies.

The title is a bit off-putting, I know. The opening is the usual too: weak protagonist gets a broken skill. But the story quickly turns into something else, and it’s handled masterfully. Climbing the tower lets the author jump between very different genres with a thread that pulls you in, and a few of those floors will leave a mark. Required reading.

It’s getting an anime as well: AniList lists it for January 2027.

Read it if… you like leveling up, but with a cost attached.

Status: ongoing (154 chapters).

My ratings: art 8 · story 10 · characters 9 · humor 8 · action 8. Read it on Tapas as SSS-Class Revival Hunter.

5. Survival of the Sword King

Ryu Han-bin ends up in another world with a glitchy guide system that traps him in the tutorial for more than twenty years. When he finally gets out, that world has decided newcomers like him are not welcome.

It’s a power fantasy, sure, and the protagonist is way above everyone else. The difference from Solo Leveling is that here it’s earned: twenty years of tutorial, with all the scars that leaves. The story is solid (at least until the last chapters, where it loses its way a bit), so is the cast, and the action never lets up.

Read it if… you want an overpowered hero without the feeling that the power fell from the sky.

Status: ongoing, now in its final season (290 chapters).

My ratings: art 9 · story 7 · characters 8 · humor 8 · action 9. Read it on Tapas as Latna Saga: Survival of a Sword King.

6. Pick Me Up, Infinite Gacha

Han Seo-jin is an expert player of Pick Me Up, a notoriously hard gacha game where 1-star heroes are cannon fodder. Until he wakes up inside the game as one of them, and the only way to survive is to rank up.

Terrible title aside (another one), it’s a gripping story with interesting characters and a good lead. The odds are stacked against him and the stakes are real: nobody strolls through these dungeons.

Read it if… you’re into gacha games or squad-based strategy stories.

Status: ongoing (221 chapters).

My ratings: art 9 · story 8 · characters 7 · humor 6 · action 9. Read it on Tapas as Pick Me Up.

7. Surviving the Game as a Barbarian

Lee Han-su has spent nine years playing Dungeon and Stone, an RPG nobody has ever beaten. Right as he reaches the final boss, he wakes up inside the game in the body of Bjorn Yandel, a barbarian.

The premise is pretty standard, but the protagonist stands out for his brains and strategy in an extremely hostile world where death is an everyday thing. Solid story, interesting cast. A word of advice: if you have a friend called Hans, keep an eye on him.

Read it if… you want more dungeon and less superhero.

Status: ongoing (161 chapters).

My ratings: art 9 · story 8 · characters 8 · humor 7 · action 9. Read it on WEBTOON.

8. The Tutorial Is Too Hard

Lee Ho-jae, a former pro gamer, accepts an invitation to the Tutorial World and, full of himself, picks hell difficulty. Survival rate: 0.01%. And there’s no quit button.

Another power fantasy with an unoriginal premise that, surprisingly, builds an interesting story around a one-of-a-kind protagonist. Ho-jae ends up above everyone fairly quickly, but he earns his power by being completely unhinged. It’s the most modest pick on this list, and it still beats Solo Leveling on story and characters.

Status: ongoing (281 chapters).

My ratings: art 7 · story 7 · characters 7 · humor 7 · action 8. Read it on Tapas as The Tutorial Is Too Tough!

What if you just want more Solo Leveling?

Then you don’t need a list. There’s the sequel, Solo Leveling: Ragnarok, which has just confirmed its third season on Tapas (here’s when it’s back), and the anime, already two seasons in. But if that’s all you read, you’re missing the best of the genre.

Where I’d start

If you’re only reading one, Murim Login: it’s the closest to Solo Leveling at the start and beats it at almost everything else. If you want something with more heart, Eternally Regressing Knight. And if you like heroes who win by thinking, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint.

Which one haven’t you read yet?