7 Free Online Fax Services

Former Lifewire writer Melanie Uy has 5+ years' experience writing about consumer-oriented technology and is an expert telecommuter.

• Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College

Jessica Kormos is a writer and editor with 15 years' experience writing articles, copy, and UX content for Tecca.com, Rosenfeld Media, and many others.

We independently evaluate all of our recommendations. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation.

Faxing may seem outdated, but many organizations still conduct business via fax. There's no need to invest in a fax machine or computer fax modem, however. Free online fax services allow you to send faxes from your computer and receive them in your email.

Since these internet faxing options are free, the features are limited. Read carefully before choosing one. You'll need to pay to access anything beyond the basics.

FaxZero

• Great for very limited faxing needs.
• Faxes straight from Word files.
• No credit card required.

• Daily limit of five faxes.
• Includes ads on the cover page.
• No way to receive a fax.

With FaxZero, send a fax for free anywhere in the United States and Canada, as well as many international destinations. Upload a document or PDF file or enter the text you'd like to fax. There is no fax-receiving function, however.

The free service places an ad on the cover page and is limited to a maximum of three pages per fax and up to five free faxes per day. If you need to send more than three pages, send a fax of up to 25 pages with priority delivery and no advertising on the cover page for $2.09. This service is accredited by the Better Business Bureau.

GotFreeFax

• No branding or ads.
• Reasonable fee structure.

• Limited to two faxes per day.
• No ability to receive faxes.

If you prefer no ads on your cover page, consider GotFreeFax. This free internet faxing website doesn't place ads on its cover pages and doesn't add any GotFreeFax branding to your fax. Send faxes online to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. There is no fax-receiving functionality.

Send up to three pages per fax with two free faxes allowed per day. If you need to send more than three pages, GotFreeFax supports sending up to 10 pages for $1.25, 20 pages for $1.98, and 30 pages for $2.98. The premium pay-per-fax service also uses an encrypted connection and provides priority delivery.

PamFax

• Reasonable pricing plans.
• Notifications via Facebook, Skype, and more.

• Lets you send just three pages.
• Limited features in free offering.

PamFax is free to join, and new users get three free fax pages. PamFax is available for the web, Windows, macOS, iPhone, iPad, and Android.

Once you're beyond your three free fax pages, choose between the PamFax on-demand service (10 cents per page), the Basic plan ($4.59 per month and 10 cents per page), or the Professional plan ($6.91 per month and 7 cents per page).

Both the Basic and Professional plans include a personal fax number and allow you to send multiple documents in a single fax. This internet fax service offers integration with various messaging services, as well, like Facebook Messenger and Telegram. The Professional plan also includes support for Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, and Box.

FaxBetter

• Great for people with consistent but low-volume fax needs.
• OCR and document-search capability.
• Online storage.

• Weekly fax receipts to keep your number.
• Can't send faxes.
• Only 30 days of fax storage.

FaxBetter Free gives you a dedicated free fax line, allowing you to receive up to 50 pages per month. You'll get email notifications every time you receive a fax. FaxBetter Free stores up to 1,000 pages on its site for you to access your faxes online.

However, you can't send faxes using this free fax number, and the fax-to-email service, as well as the OCR/searchable fax feature, is free only during a 30-day trial. Additionally, you agree to browser ads when using the free version.

If you expect to receive many faxes or want to send faxes in various formats, the Premium version starts at $5.95 per month for up to 500 pages per month, and two cents per page after that (although, at this price, you have to pay upfront for two years). This plan also includes unlimited fax storage, searchable fax notifications, and no advertising.

eFax

• Good for light-volume needs.
• Select your own fax number.

• Pricey subscription model.

The eFax free trial gives you a free fax number for incoming and outgoing faxes. Send and receive faxes from your email program or log in to an online portal (the portal even lets you sign faxes). During the trial, you can send and receive up to 150 documents.

After your trial period ends, sign up for the Plus plan ($15.83 per month billed annually) or Pro plan ($20.83 per month billed annually) and gain the ability to send and receive faxes from your mobile device via the eFax app. You’ll also be able to access all your faxes from your online portal.

When you sign up for a Pro or Plus plan, you can change the area code for your fax number and send and receive up to 170 (Plus) or 275 (Pro) pages per month. Separate plans are available for regulated industries and corporations.

Microsoft 365

• Free.
• Built into Windows.

• Requires a modem and phone line.

You might not realize that Microsoft 365/Microsoft Office has a built-in ability to send faxes through Outlook, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. To use this feature, the Windows Fax driver or Fax Services must be installed and activated on the sending computer.

Using these programs to send a fax is an easy and free alternative to an outside fax service.

MyFax

• Good overseas coverage.
• Subscription plan is good for people with moderate-to-heavy fax needs.

• Free trial means you'll be charged if you forget to cancel.

The MyFax free trial lets you receive faxes and send faxes to dozens of countries. It supports more types of files than other fax services, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and image files. MyFax works with iPhones and other smartphones.

The MyFax free trial lasts for 3 days and lets you send and receive up to 100 pages each, after which accounts start at $12 per month. MyFax's Terms and Conditions are extensive, so make sure you read through them before signing up.