Fax Pigeon vs eFax

Fax Pigeon costs a quarter of what eFax charges at the same page count, and it includes the signed Business Associate Agreement on every plan, including the free first send. eFax names its BAA on the Business plan at $39.99 a month. The 200-page Personal plan that a solo practice would actually buy is labeled "HIPAA Compliant" on eFax's pricing page; confirm in writing that the agreement covers it before you send patient information.

The two plans side by side

What eFax's own terms disclose

These are the clauses a practice discovers after signing up. Each quote is from eFax's published customer agreement.

• Failed sends are billed. eFax states it "will bill You for each attempt made by the Company to send the fax where any transmission occurs whether or not the transmission is completed." Fax Pigeon restores your pages automatically when a line or carrier problem stops delivery.
• A $10 wallet you did not ask for. On your first overage page, eFax charges a $10 "Usage Prepay Amount" and recharges another $10 whenever the balance drops to $2. Any unused balance is forfeited when you cancel. Fax Pigeon overage is 5¢ a page on Standard (500 pages), billed on your next invoice, and the page meter in your account shows where you stand.
• $40 to leave with your number. Releasing a number to another provider costs $40 per number and requires 30 days' notice; miss a condition and eFax "shall remain the customer of record of the number(s)." Fax Pigeon ports numbers out free, and porting in is free too.
• Your faxes disappear when you close the account. eFax's cancellation page states that "once your account is closed, you will no longer be able to access your fax documents," and stored faxes are purged after six months on Personal and twelve months on Business even while the account is open. At Fax Pigeon your records stay for the life of your account; deletion is something you request.
• No refunds, and cancellation by phone for many customers. eFax's terms state that "cancellation on the first day, or any day, of a monthly period shall be considered as Your usage for that monthly period and no refund shall be made." Customers on annual plans, with more than one number, or with a balance are directed to contact an agent rather than cancel online. Fax Pigeon cancels from Settings, takes effect at period end, and offers a full refund within 72 hours of your first subscription.

The BAA question

A fax service that handles patient information for you is your business associate under HIPAA, and the Business Associate Agreement is the document that makes that arrangement lawful. Two things matter: whether the plan you buy includes one, and whether you can read it before you pay.

eFax's own pricing page draws the line for you: "While all plans feature HIPAA-compliant encryption, our Business Plan includes the signed BAA required for healthcare providers to remain fully compliant." Encryption is not a BAA. A solo therapist or biller on the $18.99 Personal plan has a HIPAA badge on the receipt and no agreement behind it. HIPAA Journal has also reported that eFax's agreement could not be reviewed without first committing to a subscription.

Fax Pigeon's BAA is included on every plan, including the free first send, and the full text is public at faxpigeon.com/baa. You read it, then you sign up. Behind it: encryption in transit and at rest, an append-only audit trail, and our own fax servers carrying every call, so your documents are never handed to a third-party fax provider.

What every Fax Pigeon plan includes

• A signed BAA, on every plan, with the agreement public before you sign up.
• Your own local fax number on every paid plan, with free porting in and out.
• An AI summary of every inbound fax, so you know what arrived before you open it.
• E-signatures, cover sheets, and contact management built in.
• A delivery certificate for every fax: date, time, page count, confirmation ID.
• Records kept for the life of your account, encrypted at rest.
• Unlimited people on every plan, on one number, no per-seat fees.
• Send a fax by email on every paid plan: from your account's email address, mail one PDF to the recipient's number at fax.faxpigeon.com and it goes out as a fax from your own number.
• Fax to email as a secure link: every received fax mails you the sender's number, the page count and a link, and the document stays behind your login.

Switching from eFax

Port your number first, then cancel. A number can only be ported while the account that holds it is active, and eFax charges $40 to release it, so start the port at Fax Pigeon from Settings, wait for it to complete (most ports take 5 to 15 business days, and your number keeps working with eFax meanwhile), then cancel eFax and ask for written confirmation. The step-by-step order is in How to cancel eFax and keep your fax number.

Download anything you want to keep from eFax before the account closes. Their help page is explicit that stored faxes are not accessible afterward.

Who should switch

A solo practice, a small clinic, a billing company, or a law office buying from eFax's pricing page is paying a large-organization price for a plan that may not even include the agreement it needs. The same pages, the agreement signed at signup, your own number, and free porting both ways cost $4.99 to $9.99 a month at Fax Pigeon. Start with the free first fax; the BAA covers it.

* Prices, plan terms and quoted policies last verified September 2, 2026, at each provider's own site. Fax Pigeon is not affiliated with eFax or Consensus Cloud Solutions.