| Price per page | HIPAA Compliance | Secure Fax Transmissions | eSignatures | Fax API | |
| eFax | 8¢ | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| WestFax | 2¢ | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
eFax offers four plans: eFax Plus for individuals ($15.83/month for 170 pages), Pro for small businesses ($20.83/month for 275 pages), Plus for regulated industries ($41.66/month for 500 pages) and the customizable Corporate plan. Expect to pay an additional $10 setup fee for this plan.
WestFax is a more flexible eFax alternative, offering four plans with the following fixed monthly fee: Basic ($8.99, 500 pages), Fax 1500 ($29.95, 1500 pages), Fax 3k ($59.95, 3000 pages), and customizable Enterprise plan. Each additional page costs $0.03. HIPAA-compliant plans cost more, starting at $14.99 for 500 pages.
eFax includes HIPAA compliance with a business associate agreement (BAA) in its Corporate plan. It protects your data using TLS 1.2 encryption, 256-bit AES, and secure IDs. Moreover, it uses secure Tier-3 servers with redundancy features that help prevent downtimes and productivity loss.
WestFax also offers HIPAA compliance and encryption using TLS 1.2 and AES 256. Aside from these, they provide unique user identification, automatic log-offs, audit logs, and access controls. WestFax makes its HIPAA-compliant faxing features available in all its plans. Also, the fax service will still provide a BAA even if you choose to pay for the lowest plan.
WestFax offers both Android and iOS apps for easy mobile faxing. The iOS app has received average to high ratings on the Apple Store. However, the Android app was last updated in 2020, which may explain some of its less-than-stellar reviews.
In this eFax review, we found it to also offer free fax apps for Android and iOS. It has separate fax apps for the Corporate plan and the non-HIPAA-compliant eFax Pro plan. Having received recent updates, you can be confident that its apps will work while ensuring security and compatibility with the latest operating systems.
Unfortunately, WestFax is not the best alternative to eFax if you want a fax service with eSigning capabilities. You’ll have to use another software to sign your faxes, which takes additional effort, money, and time.
eFax uses Finger Swipe technology to let you sign your faxes electronically. Aside from using your finger to sign on the screen, you can take a photo of your signature and upload it to the document. You can also choose to have your electronic signature saved for later use.
WestFax provides its fax API access for users subscribing to Fax 1500 plans and above. The least expensive plan, Basic, doesn’t include an API. You can use this functionality to add WestFax to your enterprise applications, send a fax, handle inbound faxes, check for faxes, and more. You can configure the API in most languages, including PHP, .NET, Java, and HTML.
API access for eFax is available in its Corporate plan. You can use the eFax Enterprise API to delete faxes, retrieve faxes, work with fax images, control your fax transmissions, and more. It also has an Admin API for fax number management, account maintenance, user management, and more.
When you sign up with WestFax, you’ll be asked to choose a fax number, which will become a placeholder until your current fax number is successfully ported to WestFax. If your number is portable, you only need to fill out the porting form.
Like WestFax, eFax ports your existing fax number for free. All you need to do is sign the letter of agency (LOA) for transferring your number, which contains the terms and conditions for eFax use. In case you want to purchase a new fax number, you can choose from eFax’s local and toll-free numbers from thousands of cities worldwide.
Choosing between WestFax and eFax depends on your requirements. WestFax’s pricing structure with lower monthly fees is a more cost-effective solution than eFax. If HIPAA compliance is your priority, WestFax offers flexible subscription plans that fit different budgets.
However, eFax has faxing features that you cannot get by subscribing to WestFax. Choosing it is best if you need eSignature capabilities, an international fax number, and dependable mobile applications.
iFax is the better WestFax and eFax alternative
Get advanced faxing features including team fax for as low as $25 monthly.
Fax from anywhere including via email, mobile and your cloud storage.
Port your existing fax number to iFax for free in 3-5 days.
“Cloud-Based Faxing”
“It was cheaper compared to other providers, the ease of use and very intuitive design and the reliability of the faxes being sent. My team and I always get great support from the team whenever an issue needs to be dealt with.”
“I compared the most popular online fax services iFax is overall the best value and feature rich!”
“Great customer service! The Google Workspace integration has been great for our organization. Everyone likes it compared to our previous service.”
