An "apples to apples" comparison of the top providers of online fax services.

ChooseWhat's online fax comparison was created to consolidate and organize information about the top providers of online fax services so that you can make an "apples to apples" comparison of the different service providers and select the one that best fits your needs.

What is an online fax?

Simply put, online fax uses your Internet connection and your email client to send and receive faxes digitally. It is a great solution for any small business owner who doesn’t want to buy an expensive fax machine but needs to send and receive faxes regularly. When you sign up for an online fax service, you receive an assigned fax number that automatically converts incoming faxes into email attachments and sends documents directly to your email address. With most online fax services you can also send attachments, such as Word documents, PDFs, or JPEGs, to traditional fax numbers that are then received as if you sent the documents through a typical fax machine. Because your faxes are sent as email attachments, you can also transmit other file formats, like TIF or PDF files.

Who should use an online fax service?

While online fax services are gaining in popularity, they aren’t right for everyone. If your company is fairly large and you send a lot of faxes on a regular basis, traditional faxing may still be your best option. However, if you fit into any of the following categories, you should really think about ditching the fax machine.

Green businesses: Traditional faxing can take a toll on the environment. With all that paper constantly being printed, the amount of energy consumed, and ink and toner cartridges needing replacement, fax machines create a lot of waste. Online faxing is a great option for those who want an alternative to producing waste and to create a greener workplace.

Businesses on-the-go: Thanks to Smart phones, employees are able to take their businesses mobile and make decisions more quickly than before. Online fax gives you the convenience of receiving every fax via email and accessing documents on your mobile phone with the click of a button, making your job easier while on the go.

Virtual offices: Many freelancers and other small business owners work from home. With this office setup, you may not have room for a fax machine. In home or virtual office, being able to fax easily over the Internet could make your life simpler and cut the costs of having a dedicated fax line.

Infrequent faxers: If your company faxes every day, then having a traditional machine might be best for your needs. However, not every business faxes regularly. If you fax only occasionally, it’s not cost-effective to have a fax machine, a physical fax line, and an assortment of ink and toner for something you hardly use. But because many business documents need to be faxed rather than mailed, faxing is still relevant to many businesses. Online fax is a great option for infrequent faxers.

Businesses with security concerns: Using a traditional fax machine forces everyone in the office to sift through piles of received faxes containing confidential documents waiting to be picked up. Conversely, online fax services increase security. A specific number of email addresses can be added to the service, allowing only intended recipients to view important faxes.

What to look for in an online fax service:

Market Standard: Based on our online fax research, we created the ChooseWhat "Market Standard,” to which we compare features, pricing and options of all the online fax services we review. Below is a good list of standards you should look for when choosing your online fax provider.

• 30 day free trial
• No registration fee
• $9.95 per month
• 300 total pages (incoming and outgoing)
• $0.10 per minute for additional pages
• No hidden fees
• 24/7 customer service
• Send/Receive capabilities

More popular online fax carriers may charge more for the same service than smaller, cheaper carriers, but there are plenty of affordable email fax providers with reliable customer service that meet our "Market Standard" criteria.  You should check out the online fax comparison grid above for full pricing and special features of each vendor.

Pages v. Minutes: Note that some online fax providers’ rates are in minutes, while others’ are in pages. While actual transmission times will vary, the services that quote rates in pages assume it takes one minute or less to fax a single page.

Why buy online fax services?

There are several reasons why you should consider using an online fax service:

Inexpensive:  The No. 1 reason users switch from traditional faxing to online fax is the cost. The monthly fee for an online fax service is usually less expensive than the cost of a physical phone line, and you won’t have any long distance charges to worry about. And without a physical fax machine, you don’t have the additional costs of paper or toner.

Fast:  Another reason why online fax is so attractive is that you can set up several email addresses and automatically send faxes to the appropriate person, instead of to a pile of paper sitting on the fax machine. With online fax, you can also browse faxes on your Smartphone, enabling you to quickly take action on-the-go if you’re waiting for an important fax.

Effective:  Gone are the days of busy signals and paper jams. Online fax is as reliable as your Internet connection and doesn’t require hardware or maintenance.  

Secure:  Because online fax services use secure encryption technologies, you don’t have to worry about the protection of your sent or received faxes.

Green:  Since you probably won’t be printing every single fax or using energy-consuming fax machines, you’ll have a positive impact on the environment.