You may occasionally need to send a fax. However, not many people even have access to fax machines. Although it is expensive and inconvenient, you could always pay to use an actual fax machine at your neighborhood print shop. The answer is straightforward: use an online fax service. Online fax services, frequently referred to as fax apps, are practical to use, simpler to use than a traditional fax machine, and may include extra benefits like digital signature capabilities or the capacity to transmit faxes via email. Whether you send faxes frequently or infrequently, the top online fax services make your life simpler. Additionally, you can transmit a few fax pages for free if you occasionally need to send just one fax and don’t want to pay.
Consider getting faxes. If you switch to an online fax service, you might be able to get rid of the all-in-one printer that has fax functionality that you still have. You require a paid account for each of the fax providers we’ve seen in order to receive incoming faxes. By logging into your online fax service account, you can access the received files digitally. In some circumstances, you can also have the files sent directly to your email inbox.
Even though sending faxes is still annoying, the top faxing services make it more contemporary. So, if you’re interested in learning how to send or receive a fax without using a fax machine, here is a list of the finest fax services, followed by further information you might require.
EDITORS’ RECOMMENDATION
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FAX.PLUS
WHY WE Chose FAXZERO The majority of your fax-sending requirements can be met by the freeware fax service FaxZero. Although it is rather basic, it is the most generous free service we tested, with daily page replenishments! Each fax you send can be up to three pages long and you are only allowed to send up to five per day (plus a cover page). However, in terms of delivery speeds, paid client faxes prevail over free ones. Additionally, FaxZero adds its own branding to cover pages with the free tier.
You can use a credit card, debit card, or PayPal to pay for paid faxes, which have a flat rate of $2.09 for up to 25 pages plus a cover sheet. Only outgoing fax services are available through FaxZero.
WHO IT’S FOR FaxZero is fantastic for people who use faxing for activism, such as sending faxes to government authorities, because it allows you to fax a few pages for free each day. The fact that you don’t have to pay for a regular subscription, as you must with some other services, and that even if you have to pay $2.09 for a 25-pager, that’s still a very inexpensive fee, makes it a wonderful choice if you only need to fax something once. Therefore, FaxZero is your best choice if you don’t want much from a fax service (including the capability to receive faxes).
Ideal for Minimal Use
SRFAX @ SRFax Although its costs have increased since our last test, SRFax is a simple and cost-effective faxing alternative. SRFax now offers 200 pages of incoming or outgoing fax support for $9.95 per month. The cost increases to 8 cents per page if you go above that limit. Although SRFax offers multi-factor authentication, it lacks digital signature features and a dedicated mobile app. There is a free 30-day trial available even if there is no free account. SRFax offers four service tiers in its Healthcare plans for those who need HIPAA compliance, as well as a custom solution for very large enterprises.
(Editors’ note: Ziff Davis, the parent company of PCMags, is a minority shareholder in SRFax. Consensus Cloud Solutions, Inc. is the firm’s owner.)
WHO IS IT FOR? For medical practices, SRFax offers enticing programs. We like that SRFax offers a number of HIPAA-compliant plans at different pricing points, meeting the needs of both small practices and large companies. Although many fax services offer HIPAA-compliant plans. For instance, the Healthcare Lite plan starts at $10.95 per month for 200 pages, with sent and received pages pooled. Overage pages are charged at a very affordable rate of 5 cents apiece.
WHY FAXING ONLINE? You may send and receive faxes using the top online fax services without a fax machine. Typically, to send a fax, you create a PDF or scan the pages of the document you wish to send. The file is then uploaded to the fax service. The recipient’s name and fax number are next filled out, and you can optionally include a cover page. The rest is handled by the online fax service. The documents are delivered to the addressee exactly as if you had sent them via fax. In some cases, which we’ll explore in more detail later, you can transmit a fax through email.
You must have a paid account, which will grant you a dedicated fax number, in order to receive faxes through an online fax service. The majority of the time, you can get digital copies of faxes you receive by logging into a web site or by having them emailed to your email.
You will want an account with a paid membership plan if you intend to use an online fax service frequently, such as sending more than one or two faxes each month. If not, you can get by with a free service like FaxZero or by using HelloFax to pay per fax without a subscription.
A GUIDE TO ONLINE FAX SENDING All of the fax services listed below provide a web interface, but their usefulness varies greatly. Good software can boost user confidence, but outdated services might do the exact opposite.
HelloFax is the most intuitive and highly functioning web interface of all the providers we examined.
If all you need to do is send the occasional fax, there is just no reason to choose a paying service. You require a premium plan if getting faxes is necessary for you.
Using your phone or tablet to send a fax Most internet fax businesses have iPhone and Android applications. You can just take a picture of a document and send it on its way using a mobile faxing software. Only Fax.Plus and RingCentral of the services on this list include mobile apps.
Online fax businesses would ideally have their own mobile apps, but they should at the very least have a mobile-friendly website. The websites of FaxZero SRFax are particularly mobile-friendly. You can send a fax from your mobile device using HelloFax, but you must first log into your email account.
For a variety of reasons, some sectors still utilize fax machines, and knowing where to go online when you need to send a fax to one of them is considerably simpler than rushing outside with pages in hand to find a company that provides in-house faxing services.
There are various safe alternatives for file sharing and sending encrypted email, so make sure to look into those as well as faxing isn’t the only way to distribute data.
