Every Budget Pick, Reviewed
We signed up, sent real faxes, and checked every price against the provider's own site. Here's each one, judged purely on what you get for the money.
1. CocoFax
Lowest possible price, non-PHI
$4.99/mo 60 pages 30-day money-back
If your only question is "what's the lowest monthly price for a real fax number," CocoFax answers it: $4.99/month on the annual Lite plan. That buys 60 pages, 256-bit AES encryption, and a 30-day money-back guarantee, plenty for someone who faxes a handful of documents a month and wants to spend as little as possible. Be honest about your volume, though. Sixty pages goes quickly, and the next tier up (Basic, $9.99/mo for 200 pages) costs more than Fax.Plus charges for the same page count. One more thing to know before you hand over a card: CocoFax advertises HIPAA, GDPR and PHIPA, but those claims are self-attested (there's no public SOC 2 or HITRUST audit) and the BAA is only provided on request. For non-sensitive faxing on the tightest possible budget, it's the cheapest door in. For anything involving medical or financial records, keep reading.
Pros
- Lowest sticker price of any paid plan ($4.99/mo, annual)
- 256-bit AES encryption + 30-day money-back guarantee
- Google Workspace and Slack integrations
- 180+ country coverage
Cons
- Only 60 pages on the cheap Lite plan
- Basic tier ($9.99) costs more than Fax.Plus for the same 200 pages
- HIPAA is self-attested: no public audit, BAA on request
- E-signature (CocoSign) is a separate paid product
2. Fax.Plus
Best value: the smart-money pick
$6.99/mo 200 pages 10 pages/mo free, forever
Spend two dollars more than CocoFax and the math changes completely. Fax.Plus gives you 200 pages for $6.99/month, more than three times the pages, plus a permanent free plan (10 pages a month, no card) you can sit on for as long as you like. For most people shopping on price, this is the one we'd actually pick: cheap enough to feel like a bargain, but without giving up coverage (190+ countries), security (SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, end-to-end encryption) or a genuinely good mobile app to get there. The only place it loses to CocoFax is the headline number, and only by two dollars. Fax even semi-regularly and Fax.Plus is the better deal, which is exactly why it sits at the top of our overall rankings too.
Pros
- 200 pages for $6.99/mo, best value per page
- Permanent free plan (10 pages/month, no credit card)
- 190+ country coverage for international sending
- SOC 2 Type II + ISO 27001, end-to-end encrypted
- Polished iOS and Android apps
Cons
- Two dollars more than CocoFax's headline price
- HIPAA with signed BAA only on the Enterprise plan
- Free pages don't roll over month to month
3. FaxZero
Truly occasional, free sending
Free 3 pages + cover 5 free faxes/day
Fax once in a blue moon and you shouldn't be paying a subscription at all. FaxZero is the reason. No account, no credit card, no monthly fee: upload a document, type the destination number, and send up to 3 pages plus a cover sheet, as many as 5 times a day. For the person who needs to fax a signed lease back to a landlord or a one-off form to a government office, it's free and it works. The limits are the price you pay: there's branding on the free cover page, you can't receive faxes, you don't get a number of your own, and it only reaches US and Canadian numbers. Need to send something longer or ad-free? The pay-per-fax option is $3.29 a fax, still cheaper than a single month of any subscription if you truly only send once or twice a year.
Pros
- Genuinely free: no account, no card, no subscription
- Up to 5 free faxes/day (3 pages + cover sheet)
- Pay-per-fax option ($3.29) for longer documents
- Around since 2006, SSL-encrypted transmission
Cons
- No fax number and no receiving
- US and Canada destinations only
- Branding on the free cover page
- Not HIPAA: never for medical or financial records
4. MyFax
Reliable, no-frills budget number
$8.25/mo 100 pages 14-day free trial
MyFax doesn't try to be exciting, and for a budget pick that's a feature. At $8.25/month it sits just above Fax.Plus on price while including 100 sent and 100 received pages, and it runs on Consensus Cloud Solutions infrastructure, the same parent company behind eFax, so deliverability is dependable rather than scrappy. The 14-day free trial is one of the longest going, which lets you confirm it fits before committing. There's no HIPAA, no e-signature, and the interface looks its age, but if what you want is a no-drama fax number with real pages included and a brand-name backbone for under nine dollars, MyFax earns its place on the list.
Pros
- $8.25/mo for 100 sent + 100 received pages, steady mid-budget value
- 14-day free trial, one of the longest available
- Runs on Consensus Cloud (eFax's parent) infrastructure
- Send and receive with a real, dedicated fax number
Cons
- Slightly pricier than Fax.Plus for the same pages
- No HIPAA compliance and no e-signature
- Dated, utilitarian interface
5. MetroFax
High volume on a budget (US/Canada)
$9.96/mo 550 pages 3-day trial
If "cheap" to you means lowest cost per page rather than lowest monthly bill, MetroFax wins outright. Just under ten dollars buys 550 pages (roughly triple what most services include at this price) and overage is a tiny $0.03 a page, the lowest rate we found anywhere. For a real estate office, an insurance desk, or anyone pushing stacks of paper domestically, nothing here is more economical per fax. The catch is geographic: MetroFax only reaches US and Canadian numbers, with no international sending, no HIPAA, and no e-signature. Stay inside those borders, though, and it's the clear volume bargain.
Pros
- 550 pages for $9.96/mo, best pages-per-dollar value
- Lowest overage rate anywhere ($0.03/page)
- Fax scheduling included
- Dependable US/Canada delivery
Cons
- US and Canada only, no international sending
- No HIPAA compliance
- No e-signature or team features
6. SRFax
Cheapest real HIPAA compliance
$12.60/mo 200 pages No free tier
Most of the cheap options on this list fall apart the moment you need real compliance: the HIPAA is self-attested, there's no BAA, or it's locked behind a $25 tier. SRFax is the budget exception. From $12.60/month for 200 pages you get HIPAA and PHIPA compliance native to every plan, free PGP encryption, and a signed BAA, all backed by Canadian data residency and human phone support. It isn't the cheapest line on this page and there's no mobile app to speak of, but if you handle patient or client records and refuse to overpay, SRFax is the lowest-priced service we'd actually trust with sensitive documents.
Pros
- Cheapest credible HIPAA/PHIPA option ($12.60/mo)
- Signed BAA and free PGP encryption on every plan
- Canadian data residency with human phone support
- Developer-friendly REST API
Cons
- No real mobile app
- No permanent free tier
- Pricier than the non-compliant budget picks
