Enjoy ReelShort Series Now Cost and Plans
Five Apps, Six Rounds, No Participation Trophies
It has been some time since short-drama apps were a niche curiosity. Sensor Tower tallied about $700M in global in-app revenue for the category in Q1 2025, and the US accounted for 49% of it. Full-year 2025 landed at roughly $2.8–3B, and by Q1 2026 the quarterly figure had climbed to about $750M. Five names lead the conversation, namely ReelShort, DramaBox, ShortMax, My Drama and DramaWave, and anyone who has searched a store for reelshortapp.net a short reels app has come across at least one of them. On the surface, all five look identical, with vertical episodes, a cliffhanger every minute or two and a weekly pass waiting behind the paywall. Underneath, they differ on ownership, pricing, platforms and extras in ways that shape what you pay and where you can watch. Six rounds, one winner per round: that is the format, and we relied on only store listings, company terms and published industry data as of September 2026.
The Big Comparison Grid
Before the rounds, take a look at the entire field on one screen. As of September 2026, the prices match the figures listed in the US App Store, and they vary by country, platform and promotion. Install counts come from each app’s Google Play listing. For market share, the figures are Media Partners Asia estimates for the microdrama market outside China. Where a cell says „not reported”, the figure was not published by any reliable source, and we would rather leave a gap than guess. The grid serves as the scoreboard, and the rounds below serve as the commentary.
| Category | ReelShort | DramaBox | ShortMax | My Drama | DramaWave |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | Crazy Maple Studio (Sunnyvale, CA) | StoryMatrix (Singapore) | SHORTTV LIMITED (Hong Kong) | Holywater (Kyiv) | Skywork AI (Kunlun Tech) |
| Launched | Aug 2022 | Apr 2023 | September 2023 | Spring 2024 | Sep 2024 |
| Google Play installs | 100M+ | 100M+ | 100M+ | 5M+ | 100M+ |
| Subscription plans (US App Store) | Weekly, about $19.99 | Memberships at $5.99, $17.99, $19.99 | $9.99 or $19.99 weekly | Weekly about $19.99 | $7.99–$19.99 weekly; $36.99 monthly |
| Extra purchases | One-time $4.99–$29.99 | Special offers: $4.99–$19.99 | One-time $3.49–$24.99 | Coins: $4.99–$24.99; Premium: $4.99–$9.99 | Not reported |
| Library claimed | Not reported | Not reported | 50,000+ dramas, 19 languages | Fox: 200+ titles over two years | 30,000+ dramas, 18 languages |
| Beyond phones | Web player, Mac, Vision Pro | Site points to the app | Web browsing on ShortTV site | Apple TV (tvOS 18+), Vision Pro | Apps for iOS and Android |
| Notable extra | Official channels on YouTube, TikTok, Dailymotion | Disney Accelerator 2025 | Multilingual library | Fox-produced originals | Offline downloads, 1080p, comments |
| Revenue (Sensor Tower) | $130M Q1 2025; about $140M Q1 2026 | $120M Q1 2025; about $140M Q1 2026 (#1) | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported |
| Share outside China (MPA) | Roughly 29% | Around 21% | Not reported | Not reported | About 13% |
Round 1: Owners and Scale
As the incumbent, ReelShort still holds the most weight. In August 2022, Crazy Maple Studio, based in Sunnyvale and backed by China’s COL Group, released it, and MPA credits it with about 29% of the market outside China. For 2026, MPA projects $1.05B, following 2025 revenue of $785M. DramaBox, run by Singapore’s StoryMatrix as a subsidiary of Beijing Dianzhong Technology, launched in April 2023 and has about 21%. In Q1 2025, Sensor Tower put ReelShort ahead $130M to $120M, but by Q1 2026 the two were even at roughly $140M each, with DramaBox ranked first. The newest app in this lineup is DramaWave, often mistyped as „dreamwave”, yet it already holds about 13%, and its annualized revenue reportedly passed $700M by Q2 2026. ShortMax seems to be the same app as Jiuzhou Culture’s ShortTV, and it operates from Hong Kong. My Drama is the minnow, with 5M+ Android installs, but it is the only one with Fox Entertainment as a shareholder. For context, GoodShort holds about 6% and sits just outside this field. Winner: ReelShort, narrowly, on market share.
Round 2: Price
Nowhere else do the apps seem so alike. In the US App Store, ReelShort, ShortMax, My Drama and DramaWave all sell a weekly pass at about $19.99, and each one auto-renews. On top of that, ShortMax lists a $9.99 „Weekly Pass Pro”, and DramaWave’s weekly VIP begins at $7.99. DramaBox takes a different route, with auto-renewing memberships at $5.99, $17.99 and $19.99 plus special offers from $4.99. DramaWave’s monthly VIP at $36.99 is the standout, since it is the only verified monthly plan in these US listings. Four weeks of a $19.99 weekly pass come to about $80, and that means a monthly plan at less than half that is the smarter buy for steady viewers. Winner: DramaWave, because its monthly plan beats four weekly renewals by a wide margin. Prices change by country, platform and promotion, so the number on your screen may be different.
Round 3: Free Ways to Watch
Free viewing is the area where the marketing gets loud and the details grow thin. The first 5 to 15 episodes of a series are usually free, according to ReelShort’s own blog, and one rewarded ad opens up two premium episodes. Checking in seven days in a row earns 100+ coins, though free reward coins usually expire while paid coins do not. Want the easiest legitimate way to sample a reel short drama without paying? ReelShort also runs official channels on YouTube, TikTok and Dailymotion. Look-alike sites, modded APKs and „unlimited coins” generators are unofficial and never a safe shortcut, so steer clear of them. DramaBox has free options too, but its exact numbers for free episodes, ad caps and check-in coins appear only in third-party guides. Winner: ReelShort, clearly.
Round 4: Screens and Platforms
When it comes to screens, these apps really part ways. Besides iPhone, iPad, Apple silicon Macs, Vision Pro and Android, ReelShort also streams in a browser at reelshort.com, with progress that syncs across devices. DramaBox’s website mostly sends you back to the app, and DramaWave’s verified presence is its iOS and Android apps. ShortMax offers web browsing too, since its domain redirects to the ShortTV website. Thanks to an Apple TV app for tvOS 18 or later, something ReelShort’s App Store listing does not show, My Drama holds the trump card. For anyone who only needs a shorts app on your phone, any of the five will do. Winner: ReelShort overall, although My Drama takes the living room.
Round 5: Library Size and Originals
By raw numbers, ShortMax is in a league of its own. As of January 2024 the company behind ShortTV had made more than 600 mini-dramas for overseas markets, most of them dubbed Chinese adaptations, and the app now claims 50,000+ dramas in 19 languages. DramaWave claims 30,000+ dramas in 18 languages, and reports say more than 80% of its newly released content is AI-generated. The Double Life of My Billionaire Husband and Fated to My Forbidden Alpha, help ReelShort win on recognizable hits, and both of them went viral in November 2023. DramaBox responds with an LA production team and originals such as Fake Dating My Rich Nemesis. My Drama has the most interesting pipeline, because Fox has committed to 200+ vertical titles over two years. Winner: ShortMax, purely on volume.
Round 6: Perks and Fine Print
Here, DramaWave runs away with it. No other app in this comparison is verified to offer offline viewing, and its App Store listing promises offline downloads, on-screen comments and 1080p video. ReelShort’s cross-device sync comes in as the next most useful perk for viewers who switch between phone and laptop. Since it varies more than the prices do, the fine print deserves a look too. On any of these apps, deleting the app does not cancel your subscription, so cancel in App Store or Google Play settings instead. ShortMax’s terms state that refunds are not given „unless the paid product/service is unusable”; My Drama, for its part, forfeits coins after 12 months of inactivity. Winner: DramaWave, comfortably.
Best For: Our Final Picks
No single short drama app wins every round, so the best choice depends on how you watch. My Drama is best for Apple TV, since it is the one app here with a verified tvOS version and the only one with Fox-produced originals. When it comes to web viewing, ReelShort is best, thanks to a full browser player and progress that follows you between devices. Best for commuters and steady bingers is DramaWave, which combines offline downloads with a $36.99 monthly plan. Best for sheer volume is ShortMax, whose claimed 50,000+ dramas dwarf everything else in the grid. For backing the current revenue leader, DramaBox is best: Sensor Tower ranked it first in Q1 2026, and it was picked for Disney’s 2025 Accelerator class. When it comes to free, legitimate sampling, ReelShort is once again best, thanks to its ad unlocks, check-in coins and official social channels. Tempted by all five? Choose one, cancel the weekly pass you are not using and let the cliffhangers wait a day.
