How Do MetroFax and RingCentral Compare?
RingCentral and MetroFax consistently rank as two of the most popular Internet fax services. Both are affordable, offer solid support, and include good features. Here’s a closer look at how the two compare on value, features and ease of use as well as our bottom line on the comparison.
Value
MetroFax and RingCentral both offer tiered plans. RingCentral’s most cost effective plan includes 500 send or receive pages for $9.99 per month (or $95.88/ year if paid annually). MetroFax’s “Essential” plan includes 500 pages for $7.95/ month (or $79.50/ year if paid annually). Both also offer a 1,000-page plan, but MetroFax is only $12.95/ month (or $129.50 annually) while RingCentral’s plan is $17.99/ month ( or $155.88 annually). They both also offer 2,500 page plans, but MetroFax offers a much better price of $34.95/ month ($349.50 annually) versus and RingCentral’s $59.99 ($599.88 annually).
RingCentral also offers a corporate plan for $49.99 per month (or $479.88 annually) with two fax numbers and an option to add more fax numbers at $4.99 each, with “unlimited” pages included (fair use policies actually limit this to 10,000 pages per month). This plan is designed for businesses that do a lot of faxing and need multiple employees to have their own, dedicated fax numbers and administrative controls.
Both MetroFax and RingCentral give you the option of signing up for an 888, 877, 866 or 855 toll free number for not extra cost. However, only RingCentral offers a true “800” number option, for which they charge a $30 setup fee. MetroFax no longer offers 800 numbers.
MetroFax’s website offers a “Corporate” plan for companies needing multiple numbers, large fax volume and centralized admin, but people looking for this option will simply be referred to eFax Corporate (eFax’s parent company, j2 Global, bought MetroFax in 2013).
Features
Both MetroFax and RingCentral offer iPhone & Android apps, but only RingCentral offers an app for Blackberry. Both companies’ apps, allow you to send files from your phone’s camera roll and from services like Dropbox, but they do so in different ways. MetroFax is smoother for attaching photos from your camera, while RingCentral has better Cloud service integration. Both services also allow faxing to international numbers.
Neither service currently offers an e-signing feature, but RingCentral offers a setting that makes the service HIPAA compliant (necessary for people in the medical industry). However, RingCentral will not sign a “business associate agreement” for fax only customers. Business associate agreements are a further way to insure HIPAA compliance, but only a few HIPAA compliant fax companies offer this feature.
RingCentral recently eliminated phone support for their fax only customers, instead providing a “case management” system where customers can submit their issues online. Cases are responded to within 24 hours. MetroFax offers North American based phone support Monday through Friday from 8am to 9pm Eastern Time.
RingCentral also features two additional products that include fax services: RingCentral Office and RingCentral Professional. These services provide users with a complete business phone system as well as fax capabilities, and the prices for these services start at $9.99/ month depending on your needs.
Ease of Use
Both services make sending faxes very easy, and allow you to send through email, a web interface, and smartphone apps. Because RingCentral offers services beyond fax, their interface is more complicated than MetroFax, but it offers additional features like custom caller ID settings, call blocking, etc. Both services also allow users to receive faxes at multiple email addresses (30 for RingCentral and 10 for MetroFax).
Bottom Line
MetroFax is the better choice for non-medical professionals looking for fax capabilities. It is less expensive, simpler, offers better customer service and quality apps. For people needing HIPAA compliance that don’t need a business associate agreement, RingCentral is an excellent choice. Also, if you are interested in an easy to use, feature rich business phone system that includes faxing, RingCentral’s Office and Professional services are worth a look.
