Top Online Fax Services

Which Online Fax Service is Best?

First, consider whether you need to receive faxes or just send them. There are many online fax services that will let you send faxes free of charge from your computer. I've written about several free online faxing services in the past. See my article Free Internet Faxing for details on how to send free faxes.

If you want to receive faxes as well as send them, you will need a fax phone number. Online fax services issue fax numbers to customers, often with a free trial period of up to 30 days. In some cases, you can request a fax number in a particular area code or even a "vanity" fax number; these numbers are subject to availability. For an additional fee, you can get a toll-free fax number so that it costs your customers nothing to fax documents to you. Note that these incoming fax numbers do NOT require you to have a landline from your local telephone company. If you have a dedicated fax line, you can cancel that service by switching to online faxing.

Documents faxed to the number provided are stored in digital format on the fax service's servers. There are two ways for you to retrieve your faxes, both involving email. Some online fax services forward a copy of a digital fax to the email address(es) you provide as attachments to email messages. Others merely send you an email notifying you that a fax has arrived; the email body includes a URL that, when clicked, displays the fax document in your Web browser. From there, you can save a copy of the document, print it, forward it to another recipient via email or fax, and save or delete it on the fax server.

Some online fax services provide helpful fax management tools that make it easy to search for a particular fax by date, sender, subject, and other criteria. You'll want to check how long faxes can be stored on the service's servers. Of course, one of the best reasons to use an online fax service, instead of a physical fax machine, is that you no longer have to deal with paper, toner and machines that are often balky or needing repair. And there's no need to print junk faxes - just delete them.

My Recommended Online Fax Services

If you're like me, and you only get a few incoming faxes, Faxaway is a great choice. For only $1 a month, you get a dedicated incoming fax number. There's no software to install, and faxes sent to your number are automatically forwarded to your email address, so you can view and/or print them. I've used Faxaway for years, and the service has always been excellent.

RapidFax is a good, inexpensive ($9.95/month) online fax service for individuals and small businesses. They offer a 30-day free trial, and toll-free fax numbers at no additional charge if desired. Multiple faxes can be sent at the same time.

RingCentral charges only $7.99/month. It gives you the choice of receiving fax documents via email or viewing them online through a browser. You can also sign faxes electronically and fax from within any application. The company offers integration with Outlook, too.

MyFax is a popular Internet fax service that lets you receive faxes by email, via the web, or on your smart phone. You can get a local fax number or a toll free fax line at no additional cost. The entry-level Myfax plan lets you receive 200 fax pages for $10/month, and they offer a 30-day free trial.

eFax is one of the largest and oldest players in the online faxing business. It's not be biggest bargain among online fax services, when measured on a dollars-per-page level. But eFax offers amenities like the ability to search faxes by key words, and other perks for high-volume fax operations.

Do you have a favorite online fax service that's not mentioned here? Post your comment or question below...