How to send a fax online

Updated October 25, 2026 · PlusFax team

Send a fax from your computer or phone in four steps: upload the document, enter the number, pay, get a confirmation. No fax machine, no account, no subscription.

In short

  1. Prepare the document. Save the file as a PDF, or take clear photos of the pages. Check that every page is upright and readable.
  2. Upload it. Open the Send a fax page and drop the file in. The page count and the price are shown before you continue.
  3. Enter the fax number. Type the full number with the area code. For another country, start with the country code, for example +44.
  4. Pay and track. Pay by card. The status page updates live and you receive an email with the page count and delivery time.

What "online fax" actually means

A fax is a phone call between two machines that agree on a speed, then exchange an image of each page. An online fax service owns the machine on your side. You hand it a document through your browser, it dials the number from its carrier connection, and it tells you what happened. Nothing is installed, no phone line is needed, and the receiving office sees an ordinary fax arriving on its ordinary machine.

That is why online faxing works with every destination that still uses fax: doctors, pharmacies, courts, insurers, government offices and banks. They do not need to change anything.

Step 1: prepare the document

Fax is black and white, so the cleaner the original, the better the result on the other end.

  • PDF is the safest format. Every word processor exports one (File, Save as or Export, then PDF). The layout is frozen, so what you see is what arrives.
  • Photos work too. Photograph each page straight on, in daylight or under a lamp, with the whole sheet in frame. Several photos become one fax, one photo per page, scaled to a Letter page automatically.
  • Check the order and orientation. A page that is upside down on your screen will be upside down on the receiving machine.
  • Sign first. Print, sign and photograph the signature page, or sign on screen in your PDF reader. The receiving side only sees the image, so either is fine.

Step 2: upload and check the price

Open the Send a fax page and drop the file into the upload area, or tap it to pick a file on a phone. The page count appears at once, with the exact price next to it: $1.99 covers the first 5 pages and each page after that is $0.25. There is nothing to compare or calculate; what you see is what you pay.

Step 3: enter the fax number

Type the number the way you would dial it from a phone in the same country, including the area code: 212 555 0134 for New York, for example. For another country, start with a plus sign and the country code and drop the leading zero of the area code: +44 20 7946 0000 for London. Our international fax guide has a table of country codes and the formatting rules.

Two things to double-check before you continue. First, that it is a fax number and not the office's voice line; a receptionist answering the call is the most common reason a fax fails. Second, that there is no extension: fax machines do not have them.

Step 4: pay and follow the delivery

Pay with a card on a secure checkout page. The moment the payment is confirmed, the fax is queued and you land on a status page that updates on its own: queued, dialling, sending page 2 of 5, delivered. When the receiving machine acknowledges the last page, you get an email with the number, the page count and the time of delivery. Keep it; it is your proof that the document arrived.

If the line is busy or does not answer, the fax is retried automatically for a while. If it still cannot be delivered, the status page tells you why, and you are not charged for a fax that never arrived. The failed fax guide explains each error message and what fixes it.

How long it takes

Dialling and the handshake take a few seconds, and each page takes roughly 30 to 60 seconds to transmit, depending on how much is on it. A typical three-page form is delivered within two or three minutes of paying. See how long a fax takes for the details and for what slows a fax down.

Do you need a cover sheet?

Not by rule, but a cover sheet helps the receiving office route the pages to the right person, and it is where a confidentiality notice goes if the document contains medical, legal or financial details. Our cover sheet guide has a template you can copy. If you use one, upload it as the first file and it becomes page one.

When an account is worth it

A one-off fax needs no account. If you fax more than a couple of times a month, a free account with a prepaid balance brings the price down to $0.15 a page and keeps a history of every fax with its receipt. If you also need to receive faxes, a monthly plan gives you your own fax number with incoming pages delivered to your email as PDF; the receiving guide explains how that works. All three options are compared on the pricing page.

Send a fax now, no account needed

$1.99 for up to 5 pages, then $0.25 a page. Upload, enter the number, pay by card, get a delivery receipt by email.

Send a fax

Need your own number? Plans with fax-to-email start at $7.99 a month. See pricing.

Frequently asked questions

No. A one-off fax can be sent as a guest and paid by card. An account is only useful if you fax regularly, want to receive faxes, or want a history of what you sent.

Export it as a PDF first (File, Save as, PDF) and upload the PDF. Fax is a black-and-white image format, so a PDF keeps the layout exactly as you see it.

The receiving machine confirms every page. When the last page is acknowledged the status changes to Delivered, and the confirmation email is your proof of delivery.

The status page shows the reason, for example busy or no answer. Registered users are refunded automatically; guests are refunded on request.

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