Faxes are so 1980s. Who faxes anymore? Lots of folks, actually—from medical offices, small companies, and large corporations. And why? Well, let's say you want your doctor to send you a copy of your latest lab results. Or your financial analyst asks you to send a document authorizing a certain transaction. Snail mail can be too slow, and email isn't secure. So that leaves us with the decades-old, but still reliable, fax.

But I don't have a fax machine, you say. How can I send or receive a fax? Lucky for you, an array of web-based services exist that can send or receive faxes without much effort.  

Send an Online Fax

Some web services can send a fax to any number you choose for free, as long as you transmit a small number of pages or put up with an ad or logo on the cover page. If you need to send more pages or don't want an ad cluttering up your fax, you'll usually have to cough up some money. This can either be a per-fax cost or a monthly subscription, though many offer a trial period.

Assuming the document you want to fax is in hard copy format, you'll first need to scan it. You can accomplish this with a scanner, an all-in-one printer, or even a scanning app. The scanned document can be saved as a PDF or TIFF, though the former is better if you want an electronic copy that can be easily shared with other people. Many fax services encrypt the transmission to keep the information private and secure.

FaxZero

(Credit: Lance Whitney / FaxZero)

FaxZero is simple to use. From the website, enter your name and contact information, the name of the recipient, and their fax number. Attach the document you wish to fax—FaxZero accepts Microsoft Word documents and PDF files. Add a cover page if needed, type the confirmation code displayed, and then send your fax. FaxZero will email you a confirmation message with a link to the fax. When it's delivered to the recipient, you’ll receive an email to confirm that your fax was received.

FaxZero is free if you send only three pages at a time, limit yourself to five faxes per day, and don't mind the FaxZero logo on the cover page. For $2.09 per page, you can send as many as 25 pages at a time without a cover page ad. According to the company, all user information sent to FaxZero is encrypted and submitted through the HTTPS protocol to its server. Further, all outbound communication from the FaxZero server is secured with either SSL or TLS.

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Fax Plus

(Credit: Lance Whitney / Fax Plus)

Fax.Plus is worth considering for its convenience and availability. You can send a fax from the Fax.Plus website, the iOS or Android app, Google Docs, or email services such as Gmail and Outlook. Your first 10 faxes are free; after that, it's 20 cents per page, or you’ll have to sign up for a paid plan. With a plan, you also get a phone number through which you can receive faxes.

• Basic plan: 200 pages a month for $8.99 per month or $83.99 per year.
• Premium plan: 500 pages a month for $17.99 per month or $167.99 per year.
• Business plan: 1,000 pages a month for $34.99 per month or $335.99 per year.
• Enterprise plan: 4,000 pages a month for $99.99 per month or $959.99 per year.

To send a fax via the web, head to the Fax.Plus home page and click Get Started. Sign in and click the Send Fax button. Enter the receiving fax number and attach the document you want to send. Fax.Plus supports a wide array of document types, including Word, Excel, HTML, PDF, JPG, PNG, and TIF. Click the Add Page button to include a cover sheet. Select the Settings icon to access options to schedule the fax, retry if it fails, email recipients a PDF of the fax, and optimize the document. When ready, click the Send button. All faxes sent and received through the service are encrypted with AES-256-bit encryption.

Receive an Online Fax

If you need to be on the receiving end of a fax, a variety of sites will assign you a virtual phone number that you can give the sender. The faxed document reaches you via email, typically as a PDF or TIF image. Some services use a proprietary format for the document and provide free software for viewing it.

FaxBetter

(Credit: Lance Whitney / FaxBetter)

With the free flavor of FaxBetter, you get a dedicated fax number and can receive up to 50 pages of faxes per month. However, to use the service for free, you’ll have to install a browser extension that inserts ads into web pages while you’re browsing. You’ll also have to view received faxes on the FaxBetter website. You also need to use your fax number at least once every seven days, otherwise you’ll lose it. With the FaxBetter Premium plan, you can get up to 500 faxed pages per month, view them over email, search for text within your faxes, and send faxes. It starts at $9.95/month, $95.40 for one year ($7.95/month), or $142.80 for two years ($5.95/month).

FaxSalad

(Credit: Lance Whitney / FaxSalad)

FaxSalad has monthly subscriptions and pay-as-you-go options to receive and send faxes. For $10 a month, you get up to 150 faxed pages. For $20 a month, you get as many as 450 pages. If you pay as you go, each fax you receive costs $0.03 per page. In addition, a temporary fax number that expires after 30 days imposes a one-time charge of $4.50, while a permanent fax number is $4.50 per month. To create an account at FaxSalad, you have to provide your credit card or PayPal information. Incoming faxes are formatted as PDF files and forwarded to your regular email address and FaxSalad inbox on the website where you can view and print them.