If you want to send a fax for free from a Mac, here’s we’ve looked at the best ways to send faxes from a Mac in 2024 that don’t cost a cent.
If you just want to send the odd fax or are in a hurry to fax something, these services are perfect for occasional faxing.
There are a few different ways to fax from a Mac.
However, if you’re going to be regularly sending faxes from your Mac or have a small business, we strongly recommend reading our guide to the best fax apps for Mac first.
This looks at professional solutions such as the excellent RingCentral which are far more suitable for business or professional needs.
The apps featured here are not suitable for businesses for the following reasons:
- Most free fax services work by either inserting ads into your faxes or by asking you to sign-up and hoping you’ll subscribe to extra features such as the ability to receive faxes, add multiple addresses, international faxing etc. Ad supported services such as FaxZero may therefore not be suitable for professional purposes.
- Free Fax services are often slow. You may have to wait several minutes before you receive email confirmation that your fax is sent.
- Most free fax services only allow you to send faxes for free, not receive faxes for free. If you want to receive faxes you will have to pay or subscribe to the service instead.
- Free faxes are not always sent over an encrypted connection so if this is important to you, check with the provider first.
With these things in mind, here are the best ways to fax for free from a Mac.
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1. FaxZero
FaxZero is a basic and easy to use ad-supported fax service with which you can send free faxes of no longer than 3 pages plus cover sheet and no more than 5 faxes per day.
The only condition is that FaxZero inserts a small ad on the cover page. Free faxes are also limited to the US and Canada only.
You can attach up to 3 files in DOC, DOCX or PDF format but it also supports other formats such as XLS, TXT, PNG and even VSD for those that want to attach Visio diagrams.
For an extra $2.09, you can send 25 faxes which get priority delivery, no FaxZero branding and you can opt to remove the cover page. You can also send international faxes but this costs anything from $2.09 per fax upwards (maximum 25 pages).
Fax Zero is easy to use but the biggest drawback is how long it takes to send faxes.
Once you’ve written your fax and uploaded any documents, after you click send you must wait for a link that’s emailed to you. This can take over 10 minutes and it’s only when you click on the email link that the fax is sent.
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Adverts are discreet
Cons:
- Slow to send faxes
- Only for sending faxes not receiving
- No mobile app
2. PamFax
PamFax allows you to send 3 pages for free from your computer and then a very reasonable $0.10 per page after that for Zone One regions. There are no upfront costs, no ads inserted into faxes and no monthly charges.
The free version does not however support receiving faxes, email faxing or faxing to multiple recipients.
You can send faxes in various ways using PamFax. You can use the web interface but Mac users can download the PamFax Mac client from the Mac App Store.
You can add files to PamFax simply by dragging and dropping them into the client or it’s conveniently integrated with online services such as Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive.
Alternatively, you can simply drag and drop documents into the PamFax Dock icon on your Mac desktop.
PamFax has a Skype like interface which clearly shows you incoming faxes (and outgoing if you pay for it) where you can see all faxes received and sent.
PamFax supports just about every platform out there including mobile so you can also fax from your iPhone or Android device.
The big drawback to PamFax is that you’ll often find it charges you extra for “slow transmissions”.
Many older traditional fax machines are slow to pick-up, connect and receive, and if you are sending to one of these, PamFax will charge you a surcharge for it.
However, it does at least warn you before sending if it’s going to charge you.
If you want to send a fax for free with a native Mac app, then PamFax is great for no more than 3 pages.
Pros:
- Easy to use Mac app
- Free to send 3 pages
- Attractive interface
Cons:
- May charge extra for “slow transmissions”
- Requires payment for receiving faxes
3. HelloFax
If you use Google Chrome, HelloFax may be your best choice as it has a Chrome extension which allows you to fax for free.
HelloFax will send 5 free faxes after which you must pay $0.99 per fax per 10 pages and then $0.20 per fax thereafter.
You can use either the Hello Fax web interface or Chrome extension to send faxes and both are integrated with cloud services to upload and add files. You can attach most major formats such as DOCX, PDF, XLS etc.
A unique touch to HelloFax is that it also supports faxing from within Google Docs too. This even tells you the status of the fax you’ve sent and also notifies you with an email when the fax is successfully sent.
HelloFax is one of the few services that supports electronic signatures (HelloSign) although you’ll have to sign-up to a paid plan to use this feature.
HelloFax Paid Plans start at $9.99 per month and all have a 30 day free trial but you’ll need to provide credit card details for this.If you want to receive faxes, you must also upgrade to the paid service.
HelloFax is slick, well-integrated with Google products and generally very quick at sending. The paid plans are quite pricey but if you just want to send the odd free fax, it’s excellent.
Pros:
- Useful Chrome and Google Docs integration
- Quick at sending
Cons:
- Electronic document signing requires payment
- Paid plans quite expensive
These are our favorite free fax services although there are a few others that are worth a mention too especially if you need to receive faxes for free too.
4. GotFreeFax
GotFreeFax allows you to send 2 free faxes with 3 pages each fax per day.
You can pay a reasonable $0.98 for up to ten pages but if you need encrypted fax sending, you’ll need to subscribe to its premium plan.
5. FaxBetterFree
FaxBetterFree is one of the few fax services that also supports receiving of faxes for free too.
You don’t need a credit card to sign-up but you will need to receive at least one free fax every 7 days to maintain the free fax number.
The free version has certain limitations however, but if you need an unlimited service there is a monthly subscription plan starting from $5.95 which also comes with 500 additional pages.
You can store up to 1000 pages and search through them at any time.
These are the best apps to send a fax for free from your Mac.
For any other questions, doubts or suggestions regarding the software featured here, let us know in the comments below.
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