As the number of online fax providers grows, so too does the range of services, including free online faxing. Although you may have to look harder to find them, there are several free fax services to choose from. However, they come with some limitations, most notably that free fax services allow you to either send or receive faxes – never both.
Free fax services are usually offered either by a provider that also sells paid subscriptions, or they come from advertising-supported providers. In most cases you can expect a free service to allow you to send or receive only a limited number of pages per month, and to come with limited online storage. Many also require users to use the fax number on a regular basis, or else the account is terminated.
While free online fax services vary slightly, most that allow you to send free faxes offer some online fax storage. Some will also give you a toll-free number. All will limit the number of pages you can send or receive, but those amounts vary. Some only allow users 10 pages per month, while some allow up to 50. For business users that want to have a dedicated fax number, but rarely need to send or receive faxes, a free service can be a good fit, as long as the account isn’t left untouched.
If you sign up for a free fax service from a provider that also has paid subscriptions, be aware that you will not be able to access most of the paid features, like selecting a number, esigning, or mobile apps. On the plus side, free fax services from providers that offer paid subscriptions tend to have easy-to-use interfaces. Advertising-supported services sometimes have poorly-designed interfaces, and in some cases put branding on the cover pages for sent faxes.
Another free fax option is to sign up for a free trial from a paid subscription service. This would work only if your faxing needs are temporary, or if you’re trying to determine what your faxing needs are. Most full-featured subscription services offer a one-month trial, with access to all the features you’d get with a paid subscription. SRFax offers a 60-day free trial. In some cases those features are significant, including esigning, smartphone apps, HIPAA compliance, and customer support.