Cheapfax vs eFax: Which Fax App Should You Use?
You need to send a fax, probably once or twice a month, and you're stuck comparing two very different options. In the Cheapfax vs eFax matchup, one charges you by the page and the other wants a monthly subscription before you've sent anything. Here's how they compare so you can pick the one that matches how you fax.
Cheapfax vs eFax: the core pricing difference
eFax is a subscription service. You pay a monthly fee for a plan that bundles in a set number of pages, a dedicated fax number, and online storage. If you fax constantly, that pricing can work in your favour, because a heavy sender gets a lower per-page rate inside the bundle.
Cheapfax works the other way. It's a pay-per-page fax app for iPhone that charges 50¢ per page, with no subscription and no monthly fee. You pay when you send, and you don't pay anything when you don't. If a fax fails to go through, you get an automatic refund, so a busy phone line at the other end doesn't cost you money.
If you send dozens of faxes a week, eFax's monthly pricing might beat per-page rates. If you send a handful here and there, paying per page usually costs less.
Running the numbers
Let's say you fax four pages a month. With Cheapfax, that's $2. With most eFax plans, you'd be paying a monthly fee that starts around $17 to $20, even though you're using a fraction of the included pages. Over a year, that's roughly $216 vs $24.
Now flip it. Suppose you fax 300 pages a month. A per-page rate of 50¢ gets expensive fast, so a bundled plan makes more sense at that volume. The break-even point sits somewhere in the middle, and you can find it by dividing the monthly fee by 50¢. If your page count lands above that number, a subscription starts to look reasonable.
Be realistic about your volume before you commit. Most people overestimate how often they'll fax. If you're a renter sending a lease, a parent sending a school form, or a contractor sending the occasional signed document, your real number is probably small.
Do you need a dedicated fax number?
eFax gives you a fax number on most plans, so people can send faxes to you. That matters if you receive documents regularly, say, you run a small practice that gets referral faxes every week.
If you only send, a dedicated number is a bill for something you don't use. Cheapfax doesn't include one, and for send-only users that's a feature you're happy to skip. Ask yourself when you last received a fax. If the answer is "never" or "years ago," you know where you stand.
How sending works in each app
With Cheapfax, you scan a document with your iPhone camera, import a file, or share it from another app. You enter the fax number, pay per page, and it goes. Failed transmissions refund automatically, so you're not chasing support for your 50¢ back.
eFax runs through its apps and website, with documents stored in your online account. You compose, attach, and send, drawing on the pages included in your plan. If you go over your allotment, overage fees kick in, and those per-page overage rates run higher than what the bundle works out to.
Both handle the basics. The friction difference shows up at signup and billing.
Privacy and what happens to your documents
Fax documents tend to be sensitive: tax returns, medical forms, contracts, IDs. So check where your files live after you hit send.
Cheapfax encrypts documents in transit and deletes them from its servers 30 days after sending. That gives you a clear retention policy. eFax stores documents in your cloud account as part of the service, which is convenient if you want an archive, but it also means your history sits on their servers for as long as your account does.
If you want a searchable record of everything you've faxed, eFax's storage helps. If you'd rather your mortgage application not linger anywhere longer than it needs to, the 30-day deletion window is easier to reason about.
Contracts, trials, and cancellation
Subscriptions add admin. eFax has been known to require notice before cancelling, and users report calling to close accounts. If you forget, you keep paying. Some plans come with trials that roll into paid subscriptions, which is where a lot of people get billed a month they didn't mean to buy.
Pay-per-page has none of that. You stop opening the app, you stop paying. Credit, where it applies, doesn't expire, so a page you buy today still works next year.
When eFax makes sense
There are cases where the subscription model fits. You fax a high volume month after month and need a dedicated number for incoming faxes, with cloud storage built into the service. If that describes you, eFax is a reasonable pick, and the monthly fee buys things a one-off sender doesn't need.
When Cheapfax makes sense
If your faxing is occasional and one-directional, pay-per-page wins on cost. Four pages a month costs $2, not $20. Two pages a year costs a dollar. Cheapfax also suits people who resent the whole idea of faxing and just want the form to go away: open the app, scan, send, done.
Cheapfax vs eFax: the quick decision guide
Ask yourself three questions.
First, how many pages do you send in a typical month? Under about 35 pages, per-page pricing costs less than a typical subscription. Second, do you need to receive faxes? If yes, you want a dedicated number, which points toward eFax. Third, do you want your documents archived long-term, or deleted? Storage or deletion, pick the one that matches your comfort level.
For most occasional senders, the answers point the same way: pay per page, skip the subscription, and only pay when a fax goes through. For high-volume senders and receivers, a monthly plan earns its keep.
You don't have to guess. Work out your real page count for the last three months, divide by three, and price both options against that number. One of them will clearly cost less for the way you fax, and that's the one to pick.
