Get a fax number without a fax machine
To get a fax number, rent one online. Here a number in the United States or Canada costs $2 a month, and each page it receives costs $0.019. You order it in a web dashboard, and every fax sent to it arrives as a PDF you open in your browser. You need no fax machine and no phone line.
This is not a free fax number, and not the developer page for ordering numbers by API. Developers order the same numbers on the fax numbers by API page. Prices as of 2026-10-28.
Updated
How to get a fax number online
- Step 1
Sign in with a link
Open the dashboard, type your email address and choose "Send me a link". The link in the mail works once, for 15 minutes, and signs you in. There is no password. The first sign-in opens your account.
- Step 2
Switch to live
A new account opens in the sandbox, which uses test numbers and charges nothing. The chip in the top bar switches between sandbox and live. Choose live to rent a real number.
- Step 3
Top up the wallet by card
Open Billing and choose "Top up". Type an amount from $10 to $1,000 in whole dollars. You pay by card on Stripe's page, and the amount lands in your prepaid wallet.
- Step 4
Find a number
Open Numbers. Under "Find a number", pick the United States or Canada, type a city or an area if you want one, and press Search. The list shows each number with its area and its monthly price.
- Step 5
Order the number
Press Order beside the number you want. The box named "Order a number" states the monthly price. That amount is held now and charged when the number activates, then every month on that day until you release the number. Until the carrier confirms, the number shows as pending.
- Step 6
Give out the number and read your faxes
Give the number to whoever needs to fax you. Each fax sent to it appears in the Inbox as a PDF. Open the fax and choose "Download PDF".
You can also sign in with a passkey, or with a GitHub or a Google account. Only an owner or an admin of the account can order a number. The person who opens the account is its owner.
What a fax number costs
| What | Price | When it is charged |
|---|---|---|
| The number | $2 a month | when the number activates, then every month on that day |
| Each page received | $0.019 | when the fax arrives |
| Smallest top-up | $10 | when you pay by card |
One number that receives 50 pages in a month costs $2.95: $2 for the number and 50 pages at $0.019. There is no setup fee and no minimum term. The top-up is a balance you spend down, not a fee. The same prices are on the pricing page and in facts.json.
If the wallet cannot pay the month when it is due, the number stays on your account and stops receiving. A mail tells you. Receiving starts again once the wallet has paid the month.
What you receive and how you read it
Each fax becomes one PDF in the Inbox of your dashboard. The Inbox shows who sent it, which of your numbers received it, the page count and the time. "Download PDF" makes a private link to the file that works for 10 minutes. The file has no public address.
The PDF is kept 30 days by default and the Inbox entry 90 days, as of 2026-10-28. Download a fax you need to keep longer. You can delete a document sooner.
The dashboard is a web page, so it opens on a phone as well as on a computer. Nothing is installed.
Does the fax come to my email?
It can, once you switch that on. When a fax arrives on a live number, a notice goes to the address of the account's owner. Its subject names the number and the page count. It lists the number that received the fax and the number that sent it, with the pages and the time. A button in it opens the fax in your Inbox. By default the document is not in the mail, and neither is its text.
An owner of the organization can tick "Mail each received fax as a PDF" for a number, under Numbers in the dashboard. The notice then carries the fax as a PDF attachment. It goes to the address the owner signs in with, and to no other address. A PDF over 15 MB is not attached, as of 2026-11-13. The notice says so, and the file stays in the Inbox. A copy in your mailbox is yours to keep or delete. Our retention does not reach it.
Software can be told in a second way, by a signed fax.received webhook. The receive fax API page describes it.
What this number cannot do
- It is not free. The number and each received page are paid from the wallet.
- It does not mail a fax to an address outside the account. The PDF by mail goes to the owner's sign-in address, and only once the owner switches it on.
- You cannot move a number you already have by yourself. Porting is on request by mail to hello@faxforagents.com.
- There is no toll-free number in the inventory today.
- It is not a phone number for talking. Voice is not offered on these numbers.
- Outside the United States and Canada a number is on request, because most countries ask for documents first. The coverage page has the list.
- It is not a HIPAA service. Do not have protected health information faxed to it.
A number is for receiving. To send one document you need no number and no wallet. You can send a fax online for $2.49, for up to 5 pages to the United States and Canada. The price is as of 2026-11-12.
Who a rented fax number suits
A person who is asked for a fax number on a form and has no machine. A small office that gets a few faxes a month from a bank, a landlord, an insurer or a government office. A team that wants every received fax as a file one person can open from anywhere.
It suits a low and uneven volume, because you pay for the number and for the pages that arrive. The owner can have each fax attached to the notice mail as a PDF. It does not suit an office that must keep a number it already has. Porting is on request.
Questions about getting a fax number
How do I get a fax number without a fax machine?
Rent one from an online service. Here you sign in to the dashboard with a link sent by mail and top up a prepaid wallet by card. Then you order a number in the United States or Canada. The number costs $2 a month and each received page costs $0.019, as of 2026-10-28. A fax sent to the number arrives in your Inbox as a PDF. You need no machine, no phone line and no paper.
How do I get a fax number that sends faxes to my email?
Rent a number here, open it under Numbers in the dashboard and tick "Mail each received fax as a PDF". The option is off by default, and an owner of the organization switches it on. From then on the notice mail for each fax carries the fax as a PDF attachment. It goes to the address the owner signs in with, and to no other address. A PDF over 15 MB is not attached, as of 2026-11-13, and the notice says so. With the option off you get the notice alone, with a button that opens the fax in your Inbox.
Can I get a fax number for free?
Not here. A number costs $2 a month and each received page costs $0.019, as of 2026-10-28. Both come out of a prepaid wallet, and the smallest top-up is $10. There is no trial with a real number. The sandbox costs nothing, but its numbers are test numbers that no outside fax machine can reach. There is no setup fee and no minimum term.
Can I keep the fax number I already have?
Not by yourself in the dashboard. Moving an existing number to us is called porting, and it is done on request. Write to hello@faxforagents.com with the number and the name of your current carrier. A port needs a letter of authorization and a recent bill, and it takes days to weeks. The number keeps working on the old side until the port completes.
What happens when I no longer need the number?
Release it. Open Numbers, choose Release beside the number and type the number to confirm. It stops receiving at once and no further month is charged. A released number is kept out of the inventory for 30 days, so it cannot be ordered again through us in that time. Faxes you already received stay in your Inbox until their retention ends. Download the ones you need first.