FAQ: How can I send a fax from the Internet?

This document is copyright 1994-2013 by Kevin Savetz.

Updated April 29, 2013 Continually updated since 1994!
What's new:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CAN I SEND A FAX FROM THE INTERNET?

Yes. There are many services that will let you use the Internet to send faxes. Some are free while others are pay services. Some services require that you can send and receive electronic mail, or that you have Web access. Others require you to install special software on your computer. (Most offer the choice, working with your choice of e-mail, web, or desktop software.)

Most services allow you to receive faxes, too. When you receive a fax at a special number, it is delivered via e-mail address or available for viewing on the Web. Some commercial services include bulk faxing and other special features.

COMMERCIAL SERVICES FOR SENDING AND RECEIVING FAXES

These services allow you to send faxes using any Web browser or e-mail client. Many services also allow you to send faxes using an application on your Internet-connected computer. (These tools often let you send formatted, graphical faxes directly from your favorite applications.) You do not need a fax modem for any of these services.

MetroFax [KEVIN'S PICK]

MetroFax lets you send and receive faxes via e-mail or by printing to fax from your Microsoft Windows applications. For a local number, a monthly charge of $12.95 (or $129.50 per year if paid in advance) includes up to 1,000 pages of combined inbound or outbound faxes (Value plan). Or, pay $7.95 per month ($79.50 per year) for 500 faxes (Essential plan), or $35.95 per month ($359.50 per year) for 2,500 (Professional plan). Toll-free faxing plans are $14.95 per month ($149.50 per year) for 1,000 faxes, $8.95 per month ($89.50 per year) for the 500-fax plan, or $40.95 per month ($409.50 per year) for 2,500 (Professional plan). (3 cents per additional page.) Delivered as PDF or TIFF (you specify). Also supports Mac and PDAs. A MetroFax app for iPhone is now available. You can associate up to 10 email addresses with your MetroFax account for no extra charge; it's $2 per month per address for more than 10. No activation fee. It's easy to add extra fax numbers, allowing each employee to have their own fax number that delivers faxes directly to their e-mail account. You can port an existing number in, if your current telelcommunications provider agrees, for a one-time fee of $24.95. Even if you did not port in your number, you may request that your assigned MetroFax Number be ported out to a new service provider. MetroFax may grant such a request at their discretion.
     Go to MetroFax
Rated by 49 people. Reliability: 5.2. Cost: 5.7. Features: 5.2. Satisfaction: 6. (Each out of 7.)
Have you used this service? Rate it!
[Verified 4/26/2013]

FaxitNice [KEVIN'S PICK]

For occasional faxing, a prepaid FaxIt Credit send-only account is a good deal with no monthly fees: 15 to 18 cents per page, depending on volume. $20 minimum pre-pay. For sending and receiving faxes, the Prepaid Basic plan lets you send and receive with a per-page fee (150 free pages per month, 15 cents for extra pages) and a monthly fee of $5.99. The Prepaid Premium plan is $9.99 per month and you get 500 free pages and pay 10 cents for extras. For heavier users the $29.99/month FaxIt Elite plan lets you send/receive a total of 2,000 pages per month and pay 10 cents for extra pages. Fax numbers may be lost if no action is taken after being notified of 160 days of inactivity, and the account will change to send-only. A free trial is offered for 15 days or 20 pages, whichever comes first. Also offers FaxItOnce service for $4.99 for 10 pages; 30 cents per additional page. No setup fee. You can transmit many common file formats, including Word, Excel, PDF, and RTF. Porting (transferring) numbers in or out is not allowed.
     Go to FaxItNice
Rated by 31 people. Reliability: 5.7. Cost: 5.8. Features: 5.2. Satisfaction: 5.5. (Each out of 7.)
Have you used this service? Rate it!
[Verified 4/26/2013]

Fax1 [KEVIN'S PICK]

Send faxes worldwide via PC software, e-mail, or the Web. 12 cents per page for U.S. destinations, with no sign up or monthly fees. New signups get $1 worth of free trial use (send-only); then purchase $10 in use credits. If you need to receive faxes too, a Pro account ($9.95 per month or $99.95 per year) provides an incoming fax line in your choice of many area codes. You can receive 500 faxes per month, send 100, and additional pages are 5 cents each. With Pro Plus, pay $19.95 per month or $199.95 per year to receive 1,000 and send 300. There's also an inbound service for $9 per month, paired with pay-as-you-go outbound, allowing 200 pages in per month. Faxes are delivered as TIFF or PDF files. Also supports Google/Android phones and Microsoft Office. Fax1 welcomes the porting in and out of fax numbers, for no charge.
     Go to Fax1
Rated by 52 people. Reliability: 4.8. Cost: 5.5. Features: 4.2. Satisfaction: 4.9. (Each out of 7.)
Have you used this service? Rate it!
[Verified 4/26/2013]

MaxEmail [KEVIN'S PICK]

MaxEmail, one of the oldest Internet fax services, lets you receive faxes and voicemail as e-mail attachments, and send faxes via e-mail or the web. The Lite version of the service has an annual fee of $24 (with a non-local fax number). There are 100 inbound pages allowed per month, with additional inbound pages costing 5 cents each and all outbound pages costing 5 to 10 cents each. The Plus version costs $84 a year (or $9.95 per month if paid monthly), and includes a local number in your choice of various cities. Included are 250 inbound pages and 100 outbound pages per month. There's also a $10 activation fee, except on the Corporate plans. Corporate Lite is $39.95 per month for 600 inbound pages; extra incoming pages are 2 cents and all outgoing pages range from 5 to 10 cents. There's also a Corporate plan at $104.50 per month for 2,000 pages; 1 cent per extra incoming pages and 5-10 cents for all outgoing pages. All plans except Lite have a toll-free option, but on toll-free plans each page sent cost 10 cents. MaxEmail offers a 30-day free trial. Broadcast fax service is also available. A MaxEmail app is available for iPhone. You can port (transfer) in an existing fax number if your current provider allows it, but MaxEmail will not allow numbers it assigns to subscribers to be ported out (though per FCC rules, you retain the rights to a number you have ported IN to MaxEmail).
     Go to MaxEmail
Rated by 46 people. Reliability: 5.7. Cost: 5.3. Features: 4.5. Satisfaction: 5.8. (Each out of 7.)
Have you used this service? Rate it!
[Verified 4/26/2013]

GreenFax [KEVIN'S PICK]

GreenFax (formerly IntelliFax) offers full-service internet-faxing solutions. Local fax numbers for receiving faxes are available in 150+ area codes. For a local number on the Signature Service Plan, pricing is $12.95 per month (billed quarterly), and includes 250 incoming and 100 outgoing pages per month. (Additional incoming pages are 3 cents; additional sent pages are 7 cents for the first page and 5 cents for additional pages.) A toll-free plan is also $12.95 per month, and includes 50 incoming and 100 outgoing pages. (Additional incoming pages are 15 cents; additional sent pages are 7 cents for the first page and 5 cents for additional pages.) For users who receive a large number of inbound faxes, GreenFax offers a high volume inbound plan for $29.95 per month which includes 1,000 incoming pages (excess pages are 2 cents per page). For users who need only to send faxes, GreenFax offers a pay-as-you-go "Send-Only" plan with no monthly service charge, in which pricing to send outbound faxes is 7 cents for the first page 5 cents for each additional page. GreenFax does not charge a setup fee and offers a cancel-anytime policy. Other features and options include: lifetime storage of inbound faxes, secure inbound fax option, and corporate accounts.
     Go to GreenFax
Rated by 20 people. Reliability: 5.7. Cost: 6. Features: 5.1. Satisfaction: 5.6. (Each out of 7.)
Have you used this service? Rate it!
[Verified 4/26/2013]

SRFax

SRFax lets you send faxes via e-mail or the web, and provides a toll-free phone number for incoming faxes. (Local numbers available in many major cities.) The Ultra Lite plan is $6.95 per month or $66 per year to send and receive 200 combined pages per month. The Lite plan lets you send and receive 500 for $9.95 a month or $95.40 per year; the Small Business plan bumps it to 800 pages for $15.95 per month or $154.20 per year. Extra pages are 6 cents. A Medium Business Plan allows 1500 pages for $29.95 per month or $287.40 per year. Extra pages are 5 cents. The Large Business plan is $39.95 per month for 2500 pages and extra pages are 3.5 cents. There is also a Basic plan which includes 25 pages for $3.29 per month or $36 per year. Extra pages are 10 cents. 100-plus file formats supported. No extra charge for toll-free numbers. Supports iPhone, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile. There's a free 60-day trial (except on the Basic plan), and discounted annual rates are available. Unlimited storage included for all current clients. You can port an existing toll free number into SRFax, for a one-time $25 fee, if your current provider allows it to be ported out. The ability to port local numbers varies. Call forwarding (from an existing number to an SRFax number) is also supported. SRFax also allows numbers to be ported out, with no charge on SRFax's end.
     Go to SRFax
Rated by 42 people. Reliability: 6.1. Cost: 6.5. Features: 6.6. Satisfaction: 6.6. (Each out of 7.)
Have you used this service? Rate it!
[Verified 4/26/2013]

FlatRateFax

FlatRateFax is a straight-forward service that offers email-based faxing for individuals as well as bulk faxing for business customers. Send-only service is 4.9 cents per minute. To receive faxes, too, it's $6.95 for a local number (Texas area code) or $8.95 for a toll-free number or non-Texas number. For the toll-free plan, the price includes 50 pages; additional pages are 10 cents. For the local plans, you can receive up to 300 pages and pay 4.9 cents per minute for additional pages. For bulk faxing, pay 4.9 cents per minute with a $10 minimum to send the same document to multiple recipients. Faxes are sent as TIFF or PDF attachments, and password protection is available at no additional cost. Works with email-enabled smartphones and PDAs. FlatRateFax's free Wizard can be downloaded to fax from Microsoft, Adobe, and other PC applications. Viewable log of fax history. Up to 5MB of faxes can be stored for 30 days; more space and time available for an extra charge. No service contracts are required, and there is no signup fee. A 30-day free trial is offered. FlatRateFax will port in your current fax number (if your current provider allows it) for $10, or for free if it's in a local Texas area code. Porting out is only allowed if you ported the number in; there is no fee.
     Go to FlatRateFax
Rated by less than 3 people. Have you used this service? Rate it!
[Verified 4/26/2013]

eFax

The eFax service provides a local number which delivers incoming faxes to your e-mail account. An eFax Plus account is $16.95 per month, or $14.13 if paid annually, and allows the receipt of 150 pages per month as well as the sending of 150 pages. The eFax Pro membership is $19.95 per month, or $16.63 if paid annually, and includes 200 received pages and 200 sent pages. Extra sent/received pages are 10 cents each. There may currently be no setup fee. Incoming faxes on toll free numbers cost 10 cents, except for accounts registered prior to May 31, 2011. No free pages are included. Plus and Pro accounts include the download of eFax Messenger (for Windows and MacOS), which allows conversion to PDF, the addition of digital signatures and other features. eFax recently added mobile apps for iPhone and Android. If your current provider allows it, you can port a number into an eFax account. If you've ported a number in, you can port it out later for $40. In some cases, you can port out a number provided by eFax, if entitled by local law.
     Go to eFax
Rated by 204 people. Reliability: 3.8. Cost: 3.8. Features: 3.5. Satisfaction: 3.1. (Each out of 7.)
Have you used this service? Rate it!
[Verified 4/26/2013]

RapidFAX

RapidFax provides a local or toll-free number for incoming faxes for $9.95 per month, including 300 combined incoming/outgoing pages per month. There is no extra charge for toll-free numbers and no setup fee. 8 cents per additional page. You can send and receive faxes via e-mail or the web site. Also integrates with Microsoft Office 2003 or 2007. Free 30-day trial. If allowed by your current provider, you can port a number into RapidFAX. If you've ported a number in, you can port it out for $40. In some cases, if entitled to by local law, you can port out a number provided by RapidFAX for a fee of up to $100.
     Go to RapidFAX
Rated by 21 people. Reliability: 4.6. Cost: 5. Features: 4.8. Satisfaction: 4.7. (Each out of 7.)
Have you used this service? Rate it!
[Verified 4/26/2013]

FaxAge

FaxAge offers plans starting at $3.49. For $7.95 a month, you get 300 incoming/300 outgoing faxes with your choice of toll-free and local numbers. Higher-volume plans start from $19.95 per month. An unlimited send/receive plan is $64.95 per month for local numbers; a similar toll-free plan allows 500 inbound faxes and unlimited outgoing. The toll-free Fax 1500 plan allows 750 incoming and 750 outgoing faxes for $19.95 per month. Overage charge is 5 cents per minute on most plans. There is a $5 setup fee for all account types. FaxAge allows for multiple fax numbers per account and forwards faxes as PDF or TIFF files to as many email addresses as the user specifies. User management, status reporting, list faxing and other features are all provided via the web interface. FaxAge charges $20 to port (transfer) in an existing number, but your current provider usually must agree. If you port a number in, you can port it out later. The FaxAge website has a tool to check if a number is "portable." FaxAge recently expanded their coverage. They now offer toll-free coverage in all 50 states and local coverage in the entirety of the contiguous United States. Portability and number transfer are now available in the expanded areas as well. Direct Microsoft Office integration for Office 2013.
     Go to FaxAge
Rated by 7 people. Reliability: 5.7. Cost: 6.1. Features: 5.3. Satisfaction: 5.7. (Each out of 7.)
Have you used this service? Rate it!
[Verified 4/26/2013]

Fax.com

Fax.com offers fax-to-email and email-to-fax services for $9.99 per month. Choose local or toll-free number. No setup fee. Free trial includes 300 pages for 30 days. (Additional pages 12 cents each; faxes kept in online storage beyond 30 days will be charged 5 cents per fax per month.) Fax.com allows you to port a number in if your current provider agrees. If you've ported a number in, you can port it out for $40. In some cases, if entitled to by local law, you can port out a number provided by Fax.com.
     Go to Fax.com
Rated by 4 people. Reliability: 4.3. Cost: 5.5. Features: 5. Satisfaction: 4. (Each out of 7.)
Have you used this service? Rate it!
[Verified 4/26/2013]

SmartFax

SmartFax offers email-to-fax and fax-to-email services. SmartFax Local plan is $6.95 a month and includes a local fax number with 250 combined incoming/outgoing pages per month (8 cents each for additional pages). The SmartFax Toll Free plan is priced the same, with the same features. No setup charge. Offers 30-day free trial, which automatically continues to the equivalent paid package after the free trial period expires. Faxes stored longer than 30 days will be charged 5 cents per fax per month. SmartFax allows you to port a number in if your current provider agrees, but may assess a $40 fee. If you've ported a number in, you can port it out for a fee, and in some cases you can port a SmartFax-provided number out as well.
     Go to SmartFax
Rated by 3 people. Reliability: 4. Cost: 4.7. Features: 3.7. Satisfaction: 3.3. (Each out of 7.)
Have you used this service? Rate it!
[Verified 4/26/2013]

RingCentral

RingCentral Fax includes a toll-free or local fax number to send and receive faxes by email web-based account. Receive fax alerts by cell phone. RingCentral Fax plans start at $7.99 per month based on annual pricing. (It's $9.99 for the month-to-month Fax 500 plan; if paid annually it works out to $7.99 per month). The plan includes 500 pages per month and it's 5.9 cents per additional page. Free fax editing software included to sign/edit faxes electronically. The service is fully integrated with Microsoft Office so you can fax directly from Word or Excel by clicking fax icon on your toolbar. Billing plans include: Fax 1000 $19.99/mo. annual plan ($24.99 if billed monthly) send/receive 1000 faxes per month and pay 4.9 cents for additional pages; Fax 2500 plan, $49.99 per month and 3.9 cents for additional pages ($59.99 if billed monthly). There's also a corporate plan, Fax ProUnlimited, which includes two numbers ($4.99/mo for extra lines) and is $39.99 per month if paid annually; $49.99 otherwise for virtually unlimited faxing. Unlimited duration storage of up to 200 messages on all plans. There is a $30 setup fee for vanity numbers. Free 30-day trial. You can port a number in to RingCentral, if your current provider agrees. You can also port a number out, but you must maintain your RingCentral service until the process is complete.
     Go to RingCentral
Rated by 26 people. Reliability: 3.7. Cost: 4.2. Features: 4.2. Satisfaction: 3.6. (Each out of 7.)
Have you used this service? Rate it!
[Verified 4/26/2013]

ClicktoFax

ClicktoFax offers three fax plans. Fax Basic includes 500 pages for $4.49/mo when paid annually, otherwise $7.95/mo. Extra pages are 2¢. Fax Lite includes 1000 pages for $9.95/mo annually, otherwise $12.95/mo (extra pages 1.5¢). Fax Pro includes 2500 pages for $19.95/mo annually, otherwise $24.95/mo (extra pages 1¢). A 30 day free trial is offered on all plans and there is no setup fee. Toll free and local numbers are available. Faxes can be sent through PC applications, email, or mobile app. Porting numbers in is allowed, and is free.
     Go to ClicktoFax
Rated by less than 3 people. Have you used this service? Rate it!
[Verified 4/26/2013]

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT FAXING

How to send an international fax? See HowToCall.info
[Verified 4/26/2013]

This site has free fax cover sheets available for download.
[Verified 4/26/2013]

Kevin answers lots of other questions about faxing and voicemail at Fax Answers.com
[Verified 4/26/2013]

LEGAL STUFF

This document is copyright 2013 by Kevin M. Savetz and may not be reproduced without my express permission.

All prices in US dollars, unless otherwise indicated.

This document is always in transition. If you notice that something important is missing, or information herein needs updating, please contact the editor.

The editor and contributors have developed this FAQ as a service to the Internet community. We hope you find it useful. This FAQ is purely a volunteer effort. Although every effort has been made to ensure that answers are as accurate as possible, no guarantee is implied or intended. While the editor tries to keep this document current, remember that the Internet and its services are constantly changing, so don't be surprised if you happen across statements which are obsolete. If you do, please send corrections to the editor. Corrections, questions, and comments should be sent to Kevin Savetz.