Despite living in an increasingly digital world, the ability to send fax is still important to a great many businesses and individuals. Why? Because a fax delivers a hard copy of an official document directly to the recipient. Not only that, you don’t need to have a broadband connection to send a fax.
And because the information is sent over standard telephone lines instead of the ether, there’s no chance of the information you’re sending being hacked or intercepted.
While very few businesses still have a physical fax machine, there is still a huge demand for fax services. Today, you can send a free online fax in seconds – via a digital interface. This marriage of retro and contemporary tech is growing increasingly popular. But with so many services to choose from, how do you know which is right for you?
We’ve taken a close look at three of the internet’s most popular free online fax services, and here’s what we found.
FaxDroid
What’s most striking about FaxDroid is how easy and quick the entire process is. Users can send and receive faxes via a user-friendly browser interface.
There are clear, step-by-step instructions, as well as progress bars to keep you informed. Featuring guaranteed delivery, email notifications and a dedicated fax number, FaxDroid has everything you could possibly need from an online fax service.
The process of sending a fax with FaxDroid couldn’t be simpler. Click the “Send” link at the top of the home page, and click the “Upload” button on the subsequent screen. You can then select the file you wish to send from your computer’s drive. There’s also the option of sending multiple files at the same time.
What makes FaxDroid so impressive is the ease at which unregistered users can send a free fax. Just enter your name, email address and the recipient’s fax number. A confirmation page lets you check your details and preview the document that’s about to be faxed.
If everything is correct, simply click “Next” to send the fax. And that’s it. A progress bar keeps you informed on the progress of your message. And success is confirmed by email.
FaxDroid offers several impressive benefits, including.
Ease of use
Minimal information and just a few clicks of a mouse are all that’s required to send a fax.
No registration required
There’s no need to register or sign up to send faxes with FaxDroid. You can send up to six pages for free every day, with no subscription fees. And you don’t need to provide credit card details to make use of the free fax service.
Free for many destinations
Users can send free faxes to around 30 countries at the time of writing this review. However, expect more countries to be added to the list in the future.
Cheap pay as you go options
There are three services available from FaxDroid: Guest Fax, On Demand Fax and Subscription Plans.
Guest Fax allows you to send up to six pages for free every day without registering.
On Demand still allows you to send six free pages, but you need to register. The advantage of registering is having the ability to keep a history of all the faxes you send. This service offers cheap pay-as-you-go options once your free allowance is used.
Subscription Plans are for business users who need to send faxes regularly as part of their role. You get a dedicated fax number and a log of all your sent and received faxes. Use the service as you would your own fax machine. And there’s no long-term contract you can – you can cancel at any time.
FaxDroid is a versatile, flexible, easy-to-use free online fax service that can’t be beaten on value.
FaxZero
Next on the list is FaxZero – a simple online fax service that is both reliable and easy to use. You can send faxes without registering, and you receive a real-time notification when the fax has gone through. The free service allows you to send five faxes per day and a maximum of three pages plus a cover.
While FaxZero’s basic service is free and easy to use, it’s not without its problems. The website is littered with ads, which both distract the user and slow down the page.
Crucially, you can only send free faxes to the USA and Canada. A charge applies for everywhere else. And the pay-as-you-go option is a little inflexible. You must pay for a minimum of 15 pages, which will be far too many for most users.
What’s also a little disappointing about FaxZero is the fax quality – it’s noticeably inferior to FaxDroid’s. Overall, however, FaxZero is a reliable, user-friendly service that delivers a basic service very well.
HelloFax
HelloFax is an established free online fax service based in the USA. This highly rated fax platform offers multiple fax lines, fax number transfers, and cloud storage. The user interface is simple, but it makes the process of sending faxes quick and hassle-free.
However, as good as HelloFax is, it’s probably not the right service for casual users or businesses that want a flexible approach to sending faxes. While there’s a free trial, there is no pay-as-you-go option. The free package includes five free fax pages per day.
Any more than this involves entering into a subscription contract priced at around $10 per month (plans rise to $40 per month). This isn’t suitable for businesses that need to send and receive faxes sporadically throughout the course of a trading year.
Crucially, you can’t send a fax via HelloFax without registering. This lack of flexibility won’t suit a lot of small and medium-sized businesses.
Summary
All three of these free online fax services deliver reliability and security. However, if you’re looking for the flexibility to send free faxes without registering or committing to a subscription, FaxDroid is the clear winner.
FaxDroid also came out on top in terms of the number of countries included in the free service, as well as in the number of payment options available.
If you need to send a free fax quickly and securely without the need to register, FaxDroid is the best option.
