Top Online Fax Services

Category: Fax

Using an online fax service can save you money on paper, ink, a fax machine, and machine maintenance. Some of the top online fax services have been in business for many years now. Here is a guide to internet faxing and my picks for the 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.
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...

 
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Most recent comments on "Top Online Fax Services"

Posted by:

Anima Farway
28 Jun 2011

Hi,

Nice blog...

but we are from superfax also online fax service provider . we are first company in India provided this service.
So please add our url also in your list.

For more visit oour site http://www.superfax.in


Posted by:

Stephen
03 Jul 2011

As it pertains to the Faxaway service, that $1 per month you mentioned is an account maintenance fee, not the fee to send & receive faxes. There is a 1 minute minimum charge, then in 6-second increments as they bill you based on how long the transmission takes to complete. It's all pre-paid. You start with $10 credit (via credit card) or $100 if you send them a check, and the fax costs are deducted from that balance.
I point this out, as I was thinking, gee, for $1 a month, it's not bad to have the fax account. Not quite what I thought it was going to be. It might be good for some, but for what I was thinking, it's not. I don't want to have to set up a balance with them.
Maybe in the future, I will consider them, if I need to get a fax system.


Posted by:

Peter
04 Jul 2011

I use the free fax services in WinXP. This is not included in the initial WinXP install. You must have the original WinXP install disk, and load it as an optional program. You must connect to a phone line. For an occasional fax user, the price is right.


Posted by:

Patrick
04 Jul 2011

I'm considering switching to FaxItFast as their plans suit my usage better than my current provider (TrustFax):

I would appreciate any comments or advice from current users of any of these services, especially for FaxItFast.


Posted by:

Nunu
11 Jan 2012

I just got an hp 6500a plus 4 in 1 printer for my birthday and I am having a little trouble recieving a fax with a Magic Jack service on the same line> I have made all the adjustments possible and it will either pick up the fax or the phone call due to the least amount of rings on the fax or the phone.
Do you have an answer for this one Bob?


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