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Online faxing is cheaper than maintaining a fax machine, but the lowest advertised price is not always the lowest total cost. Providers count pages differently, charge overages, restrict receiving on free plans, and may bundle faxing into a broader business communications package.
For occasional personal use, a pay-per-fax service can be the sensible choice. A household or solo business that receives documents regularly needs a number and a monthly allowance. Healthcare users should look beyond encryption and confirm that the specific plan includes a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA).
These are the strongest options for different budgets and workloads, with current pricing and restrictions checked against each provider’s published information.
Best online fax services at a glance
| Service | Best for | Current starting cost | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fax.Plus | Affordable recurring faxing | $6.99/month for 200 pages | Overages cost $0.10/page; free plan is only 10 pages total |
| Dropbox Fax | Occasional outbound faxes | Five free pages, with up to 20 more earned | Receiving requires a paid account |
| eFax | A searchable fax archive | Personal includes 200 pages/month to the US and Canada | Business features and international allowances cost more |
| RingCentral Fax through RingEX | Companies already using RingCentral | $24.99/user/month for Standard when paid annually | Fax is bundled; Essentials does not list internet fax |
| MyFax | Users who send and receive similar volumes | $12/month for 100 sent and 100 received pages | Cancellation requires customer support contact |
| SRFax | Healthcare faxing | $12.60/month for 200 combined Healthcare pages | Available only in the US and Canada |
| FaxZero | One-off free faxes | Free for up to three pages plus cover | Five free faxes per day, branding, and no receiving |
Prices can change with billing term, location, promotions, and user count. The page allowances also are not directly interchangeable: MyFax separates sent and received pages, while SRFax combines them into one pool.
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- Convenient, easy-to-operate faxing
- Black-and-white copying with up to 400 x 400 dpi resolution
- 9,600 BPS fax modem transmits at about 15 seconds per page
- 512 KB memory stores up to 25 pages
- 50-Sheet paper capacity
Fax.Plus: best value for regular light use
Fax.Plus Basic costs $6.99 per month in the US and includes 200 pages, one fax number, and one member. Annual billing is displayed as $83.99. Each page beyond the allowance costs $0.10, so the plan is better described as a 200-page allowance than as an unlimited fax service.
The free plan includes 10 pages total, not 10 pages that replenish every month. Basic transmissions can be up to 60 pages; higher plans raise that limit to 90, 200, or 250 pages.
To send from a computer, open the dashboard, select Send Fax, attach the document, enter the recipient number, and click Send. Fax.Plus supports local, toll-free, and international numbers, although availability depends on the country and area. Number porting is plan-dependent; do not assume the Basic plan includes it.
Fax.Plus is a strong fit when you need a persistent number without paying for a large business communications suite. For regulated healthcare documents, however, the published pricing places a BAA with HIPAA support on the Enterprise plan. Encryption alone is not a substitute for that agreement.
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Dropbox Fax: best for occasional sending
Dropbox Fax is the current name of the service formerly known as HelloFax. New accounts get five free outbound pages and can earn up to 20 additional pages, for a one-time maximum of 25 free pages. The free offer is not a free send-and-receive number.
After the free pages are used, pay-as-you-go pricing is $0.99 for the first 10 pages of a fax, then $0.20 for each additional page. Receiving faxes requires a paid account, which forwards received faxes to email as PDFs.
The web workflow is straightforward:
- Log in and choose Send a fax.
- Upload a file.
- Add signature or text fields if needed.
- Enter the recipient fax number or email address.
- Add an optional title or message.
- Click Send document.
Supported formats include PDF, DOC, DOCX, Microsoft Office files, JPG, PNG, TXT, HTML, and GIF. Each document can be up to 40 MB, with a 250-page total limit. Dropbox also supports email-to-fax using the recipient number followed by @fax.dropbox.com, such as [email protected].
Watch automatic renewal if you move to a subscription: Dropbox says subscriptions renew unless canceled in account settings. Porting a number also requires a Professional or Small Business plan.
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eFax: best for storing and finding faxes
eFax Personal includes 200 pages per month sent to the US and Canada, one user, and one fax number. Additional pages cost $0.10 each. Business includes 500 pages per month to 51 countries, five user licenses, and a $0.07 overage rate.
Its useful differentiator is the Message Center. The path is Log in to eFax MyPortal → View Faxes → Send Faxes. The Websend form lets you choose the country, enter the number, add a cover page and attachments, include a reference ID, select quality, and specify where to send a receipt. The current help documentation allows up to 10 documents with an 18 MB maximum.
Stored faxes can be searched by date, keyword, or tag. With optional eFax Protect enabled, search is disabled, and keyword search works only with English-language keywords. Deleted faxes remain in Trash until removed or purged; eFax states a maximum retention period of six months for Personal accounts and 12 months for Business accounts.
eFax also supports email-to-fax through the recipient number followed by @send.efax.com. One pricing warning: an older or context-specific eFax guide still mentions 150 pages, but the current pricing page lists 200 pages for Personal. Use the current plan page when estimating cost.
RingCentral Fax through RingEX: best for an existing business phone system
RingCentral now presents fax primarily inside RingEX rather than as the inexpensive standalone fax subscription shown in older comparison charts. Standard, Premium, and Ultimate include unlimited internet fax; Essentials does not list internet fax.
When paid annually, the displayed starting prices are $19.99 per user per month for Essentials, $24.99 for Standard, $34.99 for Premium, and $49.99 for Ultimate. User count, billing term, promotions, and region can change the displayed price. This makes RingCentral difficult to justify for fax alone, but potentially economical if you also need its phone, messaging, and meeting tools.
To send a fax, select New actions (+) → Send new fax, enter the recipient in To, choose a cover page or None, attach the file with the paper-clip icon, and choose Send now or Send later. Scheduled faxes require a date and time, followed by Schedule. Sending is available on the web, Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
Additional fax numbers are listed at $4.99 per user per month. Additional 1-800 and vanity numbers have a listed $30 one-time fee. Email-to-fax is not available on every RingEX tier; RingCentral identifies Advanced and Ultra as including that feature.
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- Convenient, easy-to-operate faxing
- Black-and-white copying with up to 400 x 400 dpi resolution
- 9,600 BPS fax modem transmits at about 15 seconds per page
- 512 KB memory stores up to 25 pages
- 50-Sheet paper capacity
MyFax: best for balanced send-and-receive allowances
MyFax’s plans allocate the same number of sent and received pages:
| Plan price | Sent pages | Received pages | Annual-billing equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| $12/month | 100 | 100 | $8.25/month |
| $25/month | 300 | 300 | $20.83/month |
| $45/month | 600 | 600 | $37.50/month |
Additional US pages cost $0.10 each. The main pricing page advertises a 14-day Home Office trial, while another MyFax offer displays three days. Check the exact offer at signup rather than budgeting around a guaranteed trial length.
In MyFax Central, choose Send Faxes in the top navigation, add recipients, a cover letter, and documents, and click Send. Email-to-fax uses the recipient number followed by @send.myfax.com.
There are unusually specific attachment rules: a transmission can contain up to 10 attachments and 20 MB total. Files should not be password-protected, contain macros, or contain live hyperlinks. MyFax recommends filenames shorter than 21 characters, including the extension. Cancellation requires contacting support by phone or online chat rather than using an obvious self-service cancellation button.
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SRFax’s Healthcare plans are built around combined sent-and-received allowances. Current monthly choices are $12.60 for 200 pages, $16.05 for 500, $22.95 for 800, $41.35 for 1,500, and $137.90 for 5,000. Annual billing is advertised at a 15% discount. Overage rates range from $0.05 per page on lower tiers to $0.04 or $0.045 on higher-volume plans.
SRFax says it will sign a BAA for healthcare customers. That is materially more useful than simply seeing “HIPAA-ready” in marketing copy, but the agreement still needs to cover the plan and workflow you actually use. Confirm retention, access controls, audit features, and who is permitted to receive documents before sending protected health information.
The service supports web and email faxing, mobile access, scheduled outgoing faxes to as many as 50 recipients, unlimited storage, a printer driver, and an API. It is available only in the US and Canada. Published SRFax support-hour claims are inconsistent across pages, so verify current coverage if response time matters.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.FaxZero: best for a single uncomplicated fax
FaxZero is useful when you need to send one basic document and do not want to create an account or enter a credit card. Its free US and Canada service allows up to three pages plus a cover page, requires email confirmation, adds FaxZero branding, and permits five free faxes per day.
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The premium US and Canada option costs $3.29 and supports up to 25 pages plus an optional cover page, removes the branding, and has no five-fax daily limit. FaxZero is outbound-only, so it is not a replacement for a fax number. It is also unsuitable for recurring workflows, receiving documents, or HIPAA/BAA requirements.
Password-protected PDFs cannot be converted. Unlock the file or print it to a new, unprotected PDF before uploading.
How to choose without overpaying
- Estimate both directions. Count pages you send and pages you receive separately. A plan with 200 sent pages may be poor value if you receive 300 pages, while SRFax’s combined allowance changes the calculation.
- Include overages. For example, 250 pages on Fax.Plus Basic means 200 included pages plus $5 in overages, before any taxes or other charges.
- Decide whether you need a number. FaxZero and Dropbox Fax’s free tier can handle outbound emergencies, but free sending does not provide free ongoing reception.
- Check file conversion. Use a normal, unlocked PDF when possible. Test documents with signatures, faint handwriting, unusual fonts, macros, hyperlinks, and multiple pages.
- Verify the destination format. International rules vary. eFax asks you to select the destination country and omit a UK trunk “0”; Fax.Plus documents international numbers with a plus sign and country code.
- Match compliance to the contract. If medical information is involved, obtain a signed BAA for the exact plan. Do not treat TLS, encryption, or a delivery receipt as proof of HIPAA compliance.
- Budget for cancellation and renewal. Dropbox subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled in account settings, while MyFax says cancellation requires support contact.
What to test before relying on an online fax service
Send a harmless test document to the intended destination and check the rendered output, page order, cover sheet, confirmation email, and recipient’s copy. Then test a multi-page scan from a phone separately from a clean PDF. Camera captures can fail because of shadows, low contrast, faint handwriting, or skewed pages.
A delivery confirmation means the provider reached a fax endpoint. It does not prove that the intended person received, opened, or correctly interpreted the document. For important submissions, retain the confirmation and, where possible, independently verify receipt.
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FAQ
What is the cheapest online fax service?
For a single outbound fax, FaxZero can be free for up to three pages plus a cover page, subject to email confirmation, branding, and a five-fax daily limit. For recurring use, Fax.Plus Basic starts at $6.99 per month for 200 pages, but overages cost $0.10 per page.
Can I receive faxes for free online?
Usually not. FaxZero is outbound-only, and Dropbox Fax’s free pages are for sending. Receiving faxes with Dropbox Fax requires a paid account. A recurring fax number and inbox normally require a monthly plan.
Which online fax service is best for HIPAA-related documents?
SRFax Healthcare is the clearest specialist option in this list because SRFax says it will sign a BAA for healthcare customers. Fax.Plus identifies BAA availability with Enterprise, and eFax identifies a BAA for Business accounts. Confirm the exact plan, obtain the signed agreement, and review retention and access controls before sending protected information.
Are online fax delivery confirmations legally proof of receipt?
No. A confirmation generally indicates that the provider reached a fax endpoint and completed transmission. It does not prove that the intended person received, read, or correctly interpreted every page. Keep the confirmation and obtain separate recipient verification for important documents.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: Fax.Plus is the most balanced low-cost choice for regular light faxing, while Dropbox Fax and FaxZero are better for occasional outbound documents. eFax is worth considering when searchable storage matters, MyFax makes sense when sending and receiving volumes are similar, and RingCentral is most defensible when fax is part of a wider RingEX setup. For healthcare, choose only a plan with a documented BAA and verify the complete workflow—not just the provider’s security slogan.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
