How to send a fax without a fax machine, four ways

Printed prices, verified

The four ways, and when each fits

1. From a computer, through the provider's web page. Sign in, upload the PDF, type the recipient's number, send. This is the standard route for every vendor in the table and the one the plans are priced for. It sends and, on receiving plans, receives, with the transmission report stored with the fax.
2. From a phone app. Most providers in the table ship iOS and Android apps that photograph or upload a document and send it against the same allowance. CocoFax prints its mobile apps as a plan feature. Useful for a signature page from the road; the cost per page is the plan's, not the app's.
3. By email. Send an email addressed in the provider's format with the document attached and the provider faxes it. The fax-by-email guide on this site walks through the addressing; the billing is identical to the web route.
4. One fax, once, through a web sender. FaxZero sends up to three pages free, at most five times a day, and 25 pages for $3.29 by PayPal, with no account and no ability to receive. For a single form it is the cheapest route in the table; for a second fax next month a plan is cheaper per page.

Can I send a fax from my computer, and can I fax a PDF?

Yes to both, through any online fax service: the computer's browser or the provider's desktop app uploads the PDF and the provider transmits it. There is no need for a modem, a phone line or a printer. A PDF is the safest format because each page maps to one fax page; providers cap pages per fax, Fax.Plus at 60 on Basic and 200 on Business, and each page counts against the monthly allowance whatever route you used.

Sending from a printer with a built-in fax still needs a phone line, which is the thing most homes and offices no longer have; the printer's fax number is the line's number, and without a line there is none. An online service replaces the line, the number and the machine at once.

Receiving without a machine

Sending is the easy half. Receiving needs a number that answers, which only the paid plans in the table provide: an incoming fax to your number arrives as a PDF by email or in the provider's inbox. The one-off web senders cannot receive, which is the difference between FaxZero and everything else in the table, and the reason a business that gets faxed purchase orders needs a plan rather than a free sender.

Common questions

How can I send a fax without a fax machine?

Through an online fax service, from its web page, its phone app or by email, or through a one-off web sender for a single document. All four transmit the pages from the provider's server; the table records what each costs.

Can I send a fax from my computer for free?

For a single short fax, FaxZero prints free faxes of up to three pages, five a day. Anything longer or recurring is a paid plan; the entry prices in the table start at $3.49 a month per line and $6.99 a month with pages included.

Can I receive faxes without a machine?

Yes, on any receiving plan in the table: faxes to your number arrive as PDFs by email. The free web senders cannot receive.

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