Online fax vs fax machine for a small practice

Online fax on Fax Pigeon's Basic plan costs a practice $59.88 a year for 200 pages a month, billed annually. A Brother fax machine with its toner, paper and a business phone line costs $767.43 in its first year and $597.44 every year after. Every machine price is the seller's listed price. Basic includes a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA), your own dedicated fax number and a shared inbox.

What does a fax machine cost a small practice in a year?

Count 200 pages a month, sent and received together, which is the page budget on Basic. Each page is on paper once, printed when it arrives or printed before it goes out. A year is 2,400 sheets: five reams of paper and one toner cartridge.

After its first year the machine costs 24.9¢ a page. Basic costs about 2.5¢, a tenth of that. Over five years the machine comes to $3,157.19 and Basic to $299.40. Basic month to month is $5.99 a month, or $71.88 a year.

The FAX2840 is a Brother laser fax machine with a 250-sheet paper tray and a 20-page document feeder. Spectrum's package includes unlimited local and long-distance calling, and its monthly service fee is $50.00; the table uses the lower promotional rates. It also leaves out costs that would raise the machine's side, such as Spectrum's $99.00 voice installation charge and a $104.99 Brother drum unit, rated for about 12,000 pages.

A multifunction printer with fax costs about the same. Brother's MFC-L2820DW is $279.99 and its TN830XL toner is $98.29 for up to 3,000 pages, which makes $784.23 in the first year and $624.24 after with the same line and paper.

What does HHS say about a fax machine in a shared room?

HHS answers a version of this in its FAQ on faxing patient information between physician offices. The Privacy Rule lets a physician fax protected health information to another provider for treatment. A covered entity must have reasonable and appropriate administrative, technical and physical safeguards for what goes through the machine, and HHS gives two examples: confirming the fax number is the right one, and "placing the fax machine in a secure location" (HHS FAQ 356). The rule behind that answer, 45 CFR 164.530(c), asks a covered entity to safeguard patient information and to limit incidental disclosures.

HHS's example puts the safeguard in the room. Whoever can reach the tray can read what arrived. A printed fax is also a paper record, and HHS names shredding, burning, pulping and pulverizing among its examples of proper disposal for paper (HHS FAQ 575).

An inbox prints nothing on its own, so no tray needs a location and no stack needs shredding. People open each fax by signing in, roles set what each person can do, and assignment names who handles each fax (Shared fax inbox for a small office). HIPAA also calls for a written agreement with a vendor that handles a practice's patient information on its behalf (45 CFR 164.502(e)). Every Fax Pigeon plan includes a signed BAA, executed at signup.

How does the switch keep your fax number?

The number on your letterhead can move with you. Porting a number in is free on every paid plan, and you start it at signup or from Settings. The port takes most numbers 5 to 15 business days, and the machine keeps receiving on the old line until the day the number lands. Cancel the phone line after that, not before. Toll-free numbers and Chicago 312 numbers are the two kinds Fax Pigeon does not port. Porting out is free too. The first fax is free as well: confirm your email and send one fax of up to 10 pages, no credit card, from Fax Pigeon's shared number under the same signed BAA.

The order of steps and what to gather are in Port your fax number before you cancel. What carriers are doing to copper lines is in What happens to your fax number when the copper line goes.

Who should switch from a fax machine?

• A practice whose machine prints into a tray that people outside the clinical team can reach.
• A practice paying $360 to $600 a year for a phone line that carries only faxes, which is $30.00 to $50.00 a month in Spectrum's guide.
• A practice where more than one person works the faxes. Every plan has unlimited people at no extra cost.
• A practice whose fax number is on letterhead and in payer files. Porting in is free.

Every Fax Pigeon plan includes every feature, and the ones that replace the machine are the dedicated number, the shared inbox with roles and assignment and a delivery certificate for every delivered fax. The plans differ only in pages a month and the price of an extra page, 10¢ on Basic. The pricing page lists all six.

* Prices last verified October 7, 2026, at each provider's own site. Fax Pigeon is not affiliated with Brother, HP or Spectrum.