Send and receive, no hardware

How to fax without a fax machine

You don’t need one. A phone app, a web browser or your email account will send and receive faxes over the internet, and the machine at the other end gets an ordinary fax. Here are all three ways, what each one needs, and which to pick.

Fax from your phone Compare the three ways

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Three ways, and one fallback

Pick the one that fits the fax

The three online ways are all online fax services: each sends a standard fax over the internet, with no machine and no phone line. The store counter is there for when you’d rather hand over the paper.

Way	You need	Sends	Receives	Your own number	Cost
Phone appMunicorn Fax	An iPhone or Android phone	Yes	In the app	Included, a US or Canadian area code	$9.99 a week on iOS; Android through Google Play
Web browserEveryFax	Any computer	Yes	In your account	Included, any area code	EveryFax plans, with a two-week trial
EmailEveryFax	Any email account	Yes	As PDFs by email	Included, any area code	The same EveryFax plan
Store counterNo account	The paper, and a trip	Yes	For a fee	No, you use the store’s	About $1.50–$3 a page

App prices are App Store prices; Android is billed through Google Play. EveryFax web and email faxing is priced separately. Store prices come from our fax near me guides.

Step by step

How to send a fax without a fax machine

From your phone

Municorn Fax, on iPhone or Android

Download Municorn Fax and pick a plan. Your own fax number comes with it.
Scan the pages with the camera, or add a PDF or photo from your phone, Google Drive, iCloud or Dropbox.
Enter the recipient’s fax number, in the US or any of 90+ countries, and send. You get a confirmation when it’s delivered.

Full guide: faxing from a phone

From a computer

EveryFax, in any browser

Open EveryFax, set up an account and choose your fax number.
Start a new fax, enter the recipient’s fax number, attach your documents and add a cover sheet if the other end wants one.
Send. The confirmation shows up in your account, and so do faxes sent to you.

Full guide: faxing from a computer

From your email

EveryFax, from the inbox you already use

Set up EveryFax and link the email address you’ll send from.
Write a new email to 1 plus the fax number @send.everyfax.com — for example 12125551234@send.everyfax.com.
Attach the documents and send. A delivery report comes back by email.

Full guide: faxing from email

Watch it

See it done on a phone

A short walkthrough of sending a fax with Municorn Fax.

Receiving

How to receive a fax without a fax machine

Once you have a fax number, faxes come to you, with no machine left switched on in a corner.

In the appStraight to your phone

Give people your Municorn Fax number and incoming faxes land in the app’s inbox, ready to read, download or forward. Lose the phone and support can recover your history.

Receiving faxes online By emailAs a PDF in your inbox

With EveryFax your number is tied to your email address, and each fax arrives as a PDF attachment, usually within a minute or two.

Receiving faxes by email No accountCollected from a store

The UPS Store, FedEx Office, Staples and Office Depot will take in a fax for you for a per-page fee. You give the sender the store’s number.

Stores that receive faxes

Your setup

A guide for every device

Step-by-step guides for each phone, computer and email service we’ve covered.

iPhoneRead the guide iPadRead the guide AndroidRead the guide MacRead the guide Any computerRead the guide GmailRead the guide OutlookRead the guide Yahoo MailRead the guide Google DriveRead the guide A printerRead the guide Scan and faxRead the guide A PDFRead the guide

No landline either? Here’s how to fax without a phone line.

Compared

Online fax vs a fax machine

An online fax service does the machine’s job with nothing to buy, plug in or maintain.

	Online fax	A fax machine
Up front	Nothing to buy. The app is free to download.	About $200 for a basic machine.
Running costs	One subscription: $9.99 a week on iOS, or an EveryFax plan.	A phone line every month, plus paper, ink or toner, and repairs.
Where you send from	Anywhere with wifi or mobile data.	Wherever the machine and the line are.
Where faxes arrive	In the app, or as a PDF in your email.	Printed, in a tray next to the machine.

Machine costs from our guide to faxing without a phone line. Android is billed through Google Play.

Security

Is it as safe as a fax machine?

Usually safer — and it matters, because medical records, legal papers and some tax forms still travel by fax. A shared office machine prints your pages into a tray anyone can walk past; an online fax lands in one account.

256-bit AES encryption HIPAA compliant, with a BAA A delivery confirmation for every fax

More on how secure online faxing is and HIPAA-compliant faxing.

Questions

What people ask first

Can you really fax without a fax machine?

Yes. An online fax service turns your PDF or photo into a standard fax and delivers it to the number you enter, so the machine at the other end receives a normal fax and has no way of knowing whether it came from another machine, an app or an email.

Can I fax without a fax machine for free?

Municorn Fax gives you one free single-page test fax, enough to check it works. After that it’s a subscription. Free receiving is rarer: most free services only send, and the few that receive cap the pages and give you a temporary number. For the genuinely free options, and their catches, see our round-up of free fax services.

Do I need a phone line?

No. All three ways work over wifi or mobile data. More in how to fax without a phone line.

Do I need my own fax number?

You need one to receive faxes, and it comes with Municorn Fax and with EveryFax. You choose a US or Canadian area code.

How do I receive a fax without a fax machine?

Share your fax number. Faxes then arrive in the Municorn Fax app, or as PDFs in your email with EveryFax. If you’d rather not sign up for anything, a store like The UPS Store will receive one for you for a fee. Details in receiving faxes online.

Can I use my phone as a fax machine?

Yes, both ways. Municorn Fax scans paper with your camera and sends it, and faxes sent to your number arrive in the app. It works on iPhone and Android. More in how to fax from a phone.

Can I send or receive a fax through Gmail?

Gmail has no fax feature of its own, but an email-to-fax service adds one. With EveryFax you write to 1 plus the fax number @send.everyfax.com and attach the document, and faxes sent to your number arrive in Gmail as PDFs. More in how to fax from Gmail.

Can I fax from my printer?

Only if it’s an all-in-one printer with a fax modem, and usually only with a landline plugged in. About 1 in 4 printers can fax at all. At that point it’s a fax machine in all but name, so for most people an app or email is simpler. More in how to fax from a printer.

I only have a paper copy. What now?

Your phone’s camera is the scanner: Municorn Fax has one built in, so photograph the pages and send. If you’d rather hand them over a counter, here’s where to fax near you.

Your phone is already a fax machine

Municorn Fax sends and receives from your iPhone or Android, with your own US or Canadian fax number. Try it with one free single-page test fax.

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