How to Receive a Fax Without a Fax Machine

How receiving works without a machine

A fax number does not have to end at a machine. With FaxTerra, your number is answered for you: when someone faxes it, the fax becomes a PDF in your inbox, and an email tells you the moment it arrives (plus a push notification if you use the mobile app).

The sender does nothing differently. They dial your number from any fax machine or fax service, and to them it looks like any other fax line. There is nothing to install on your side either; any web browser works.

What you need

A FaxTerra subscription. Every paid plan includes a dedicated fax number of your own, starting with Starter at $4.99/month (or $49.99/year). You choose the country and area code and pick the number you want from what is available; US and Canada numbers are usually verified and live in under a minute. If people already fax you at a number you hold elsewhere, you can bring that number with you instead, free on any paid plan.

Sending is different: it has a genuinely free tier. Every account, paid or not, can send 10 free pages a month to the US and Canada. Receiving is what requires a plan, because a number that answers for you around the clock has to be held for you alone. If you were counting on a free number, read what free fax number offers actually include first.

Set it up in four steps

1. Pick a plan. Starter covers most people: your own number plus 50 pages a month (60 effective with the free pages every account gets), shared between sending and receiving. See pricing for the full lineup.
2. Choose your number. Pick the country and an area code, then the number itself. The dashboard shows "Setting up" while a new US or Canada number is confirmed working, usually under a minute, and you get an email when it is live.
3. Give the number out. Put it on forms, letterhead, and directory listings, or read it to the agent on the phone. Anyone can fax it from any machine or service.
4. Get the fax. An email arrives the moment a fax lands, naming the sender's number and page count. Open the fax on your phone, tablet, or computer and view or download the PDF from your inbox.

Where the faxes go, and for how long

Received faxes live in your FaxTerra inbox as PDFs: view them in the browser, download them, or open them from the mobile app. They are kept for 90 days on Starter and for a year on Business and Pro.

Received pages draw from the same monthly page pool as sending. If a busy month exceeds the allowance, the overflowing faxes still arrive and are listed in your inbox, and they open again when the allowance resets on the 1st or the plan is upgraded. For the notification side in both directions, see fax to email.

If you only need to receive one fax

A subscription is the wrong shape for a single expected document. A one-time number is $14.99 paid once: your own number for 90 days, 50 pages included, receiving into your inbox the same way a plan's number does, and it ends on its own with nothing to cancel. The common case is an IRS fax-back: see receiving a fax from the IRS and getting a fax number without a subscription.