eFax is the name most people think of first when they hear “online fax,” simply because it has been around the longest. FAX.PLUS by Alohi is the newer, leaner alternative built specifically for businesses that want a modern interface and straightforward pricing without the baggage of a legacy platform. If you are trying to decide between the two for your ecommerce business, here is a direct, feature-by-feature comparison.
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Quick Comparison Table
| Feature | FAX.PLUS by Alohi | eFax |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free plan, then $6.99/mo | No free plan, entry tier priced higher |
| Company founded | Modern platform, launched more recently | One of the oldest names in the category |
| Mobile app | Consistently high app store ratings | Functional but dated reputation |
| HIPAA compliance | Available at Enterprise tier | Available at higher tiers |
| Team accounts | Up to 5 on Business tier | Available, priced separately |
Pricing: Where the Real Gap Is
The clearest difference between these two services shows up in pricing. FAX.PLUS offers a genuinely usable free tier and starts its paid plans at $6.99 a month for 200 pages. eFax does not offer a comparable free option and its entry-level paid plan tends to price higher than FAX.PLUS Basic for a similar page allowance. For a full breakdown of every FAX.PLUS tier, see the complete pricing guide.
Neither service publishes pricing that stays static forever, so always check current rates before committing. But as a general pattern, sellers switching from eFax to FAX.PLUS commonly report meaningful monthly savings at equivalent page volumes.
Interface and Ease of Use
This is where the age gap between the two companies shows most clearly. FAX.PLUS was built more recently with a cleaner, more modern interface both on desktop and in its mobile apps. eFax has been iterating on its platform for a long time, and while it is fully functional, user reviews consistently describe the experience as feeling more dated compared to newer entrants in the category.
If you spend a lot of time faxing from your phone between supplier calls or while traveling for sourcing trips, this difference in polish is worth weighing seriously, since a clunky mobile experience becomes a real friction point when you are trying to get a document out quickly.
Independent Review Data
Beyond G2 and TrustRadius, Capterra’s user reviews for FAX.PLUS consistently highlight ease of setup and mobile reliability as the most frequently praised aspects of the service, with complaints concentrated mainly around occasional page-counting discrepancies on longer documents rather than core reliability issues. This pattern of feedback, strong on usability and setup, more mixed on edge-case billing details, is fairly consistent across the newer generation of fax tools compared to legacy platforms that tend to score more evenly across categories without standing out in any particular direction.
Brand Recognition and Trust
eFax’s biggest genuine advantage is its name recognition. It has been operating long enough that many suppliers, especially older or more traditional ones, already know the brand and trust it without needing an explanation. If you are working with vendors who are skeptical of newer tools or who specifically ask what fax service you use, eFax’s longevity can smooth that conversation in a way a newer brand cannot yet match.
For most day-to-day ecommerce use, though, the supplier on the other end rarely cares which service sent the fax, only that it arrived correctly and looks professional, which both services handle competently.
Fax Delivery Reliability
Both services report high successful delivery rates on standard domestic faxes, and neither is meaningfully more or less reliable than the other for the vast majority of routine documents. Where reliability differences tend to show up is on edge cases: very large multi-page documents, faxes sent to older physical fax machines with slower handshake speeds, and international destinations with less consistent telecom infrastructure. In these edge cases, both platforms offer delivery confirmation and automatic retry attempts if the first send fails, which matters more than raw success rate statistics for a business that genuinely needs an important document to arrive on the first real attempt rather than just technically get sent into the void somewhere.
Feature Depth Comparison
Both services cover the fundamentals: sending from scanned documents or native files, receiving to a dedicated number, and mobile access. Where FAX.PLUS pulls ahead for ecommerce use cases specifically is in its more affordable team account structure, letting a small operation add users without jumping to an enterprise-priced tier the way some competitors require.
eFax offers similarly deep features but often gates them behind higher-priced plans or add-ons, meaning the total cost of matching FAX.PLUS’s feature set at a comparable tier tends to run higher.
HIPAA and Compliance
Both FAX.PLUS and eFax offer HIPAA-compliant faxing options for businesses that need it, typically reserved for their higher-priced tiers. If your ecommerce business touches health-adjacent products, supplements, or anything requiring documented compliance trails, verify the current HIPAA offering and pricing directly with whichever service you are considering, since compliance feature sets and their associated costs are the parts of these platforms most likely to change over time.
Customer Support Experience
User reports on support responsiveness are mixed for both companies, as is typical in this category. FAX.PLUS tends to get positive marks for support tied to its smaller, more focused product line. eFax’s support has to cover a broader legacy product with more account variations and integrations, which can mean a wider range of resolution times depending on the specific issue.
Who Should Choose FAX.PLUS
Choose FAX.PLUS if you want the most modern interface, a genuinely usable free tier to test with before paying, straightforward team account pricing, and you do not have a specific reason to need eFax’s brand recognition. For most ecommerce sellers running supplier communications, licensing paperwork, or insurance documentation, this describes the majority of use cases.
Who Should Choose eFax
Choose eFax if brand longevity specifically matters to your supplier relationships, if you are already embedded in eFax’s ecosystem from a previous business, or if a specific integration you rely on is only built for eFax rather than FAX.PLUS. Outside of those specific scenarios, most ecommerce sellers will find FAX.PLUS the more cost-effective and modern option.
There is also a middle-ground scenario worth mentioning: a seller who inherited an existing eFax account from a business partner, a previous store owner in an acquisition, or an agency relationship, where the account is already paid for and configured. In that case, switching purely for the sake of switching rarely makes sense until the existing contract term runs out or the account genuinely stops meeting your needs. Evaluate a switch on real friction points you are experiencing, not just on this comparison alone.
Review Platform Sentiment
On G2, FAX.PLUS carries strong marks on ease of use and mobile experience specifically, categories where reviewers of legacy fax platforms more broadly tend to score lower. On TrustRadius, reviewers echo similar sentiment around setup speed and interface quality being a meaningful differentiator versus older platforms in the category.
How Setup Time Compares
Getting started matters more than it seems when you need to send a document today, not next week. FAX.PLUS is built for fast signup, typically getting a new user a working dedicated number and the ability to send a first fax within minutes of creating an account, with no phone verification calls or manual account review required for standard signups. eFax’s signup process is similarly quick for the basic tiers, though some of its higher, more feature-rich plans have historically involved more account configuration steps before you can start sending.
If you are choosing a service specifically because you need to send a supplier document today, both work, but FAX.PLUS’s streamlined free-tier signup gives you a faster path to testing the interface before committing any money.
Number Porting and Account Portability
If you already have an existing fax number, whether from eFax, a traditional phone line, or another provider, both services generally support porting that number into your account rather than forcing you to start with a new one. The process typically takes a few business days and requires documentation proving you control the existing number. If keeping your current number matters to your supplier relationships, confirm the specific porting timeline and requirements with either provider directly before canceling your old service, since a gap in number continuity can mean missed incoming faxes during the transition.
Data Retention and Document Access
Both platforms retain sent and received faxes for a period of time within your account, letting you pull up historical documents without needing to keep separate local copies of everything. FAX.PLUS’s retention policies scale with plan tier, with higher tiers generally offering longer or unlimited retention windows. eFax follows a similar tiered retention model. If you need to reference old supplier agreements or insurance documentation months or years later, check the specific retention window on whichever plan you choose rather than assuming indefinite storage is included by default.
API Access and Automation
For ecommerce operations that want to automate fax sending directly from their own systems, rather than manually uploading documents through a web dashboard, both FAX.PLUS and eFax offer API access at their higher tiers. This becomes relevant if you are processing a high volume of standardized documents, like automated purchase order confirmations, and want to trigger fax sends programmatically from your existing order management or supplier communication software rather than handling each one manually. Most individual ecommerce sellers will not need this level of automation, but it is worth knowing the option exists on both platforms if your operation scales to that point.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is FAX.PLUS cheaper than eFax?
Generally yes, both on the entry paid tier and because FAX.PLUS offers a free tier that eFax does not have a direct equivalent to.
Does eFax have better brand recognition than FAX.PLUS?
Yes, simply due to being in the market much longer. This matters mainly if you are working with suppliers who specifically care about the fax provider’s name.
Can I switch from eFax to FAX.PLUS without losing my fax number?
Number portability depends on your specific eFax plan and current provider terms. Check with both services directly before canceling your eFax account to confirm the transfer process.
Which one has a better mobile app?
FAX.PLUS generally receives stronger mobile app reviews for interface quality and ease of use compared to eFax’s mobile offering.
Do both services support HIPAA compliance?
Yes, both offer HIPAA-compliant faxing at their higher pricing tiers, though the exact features and costs should be verified directly since they change over time.
Cost Over a Full Year
Running the numbers over a 12-month period makes the price gap between these two services more concrete than a single monthly figure. On FAX.PLUS’s Premium tier at $13.99 a month, a full year runs a little under $170, with annual billing typically knocking off roughly two months’ worth of cost. eFax’s equivalent-tier plan, priced higher on a monthly basis and generally without as steep an annual discount, can end up costing meaningfully more over the same 12 months for a comparable page allowance. For a seller running lean on operating expenses in the early stages of a dropshipping business, that gap is real money that could go toward inventory, ads, or supplier deposits instead.
What Actual Users Say About Switching
A common pattern among reviewers who have used both services is that the switch from eFax to FAX.PLUS tends to be motivated by price first and interface quality second, rather than any specific missing feature on eFax’s side. Users who switch generally report the transition being straightforward, with the main friction point being the number porting process rather than anything about FAX.PLUS itself being harder to learn. This lines up with the broader theme across review platforms: FAX.PLUS is not winning on some exotic feature eFax lacks, it is winning on being a more modern, better-priced version of the same core service.
When eFax’s Longevity Actually Matters
It is worth being fair to eFax here rather than dismissing its advantages entirely. There are real scenarios where an established name carries weight beyond simple brand recognition. Some larger, more bureaucratic supplier organizations, particularly those in industries with a long history of paper-based processes like furniture manufacturing, industrial equipment, or certain import and export operations, have internal vendor approval processes that specifically list approved fax providers, and older platforms are more likely to already be on those lists. If you are working with a supplier of that type and they push back on an unfamiliar service, having eFax’s name recognition on your side can occasionally smooth an otherwise unnecessary conversation.
For the large majority of ecommerce sellers dealing with more modern, flexible suppliers, this scenario simply does not come up, and the price and interface advantages of FAX.PLUS end up mattering more in practice.
Making the Final Call
If you are still undecided after weighing price, interface, and brand considerations, the lowest-risk path is to test FAX.PLUS’s free tier against your actual documents before committing to either service long term. Ten free pages is enough to send a real supplier agreement or a piece of licensing paperwork and see firsthand how the interface, delivery confirmation, and mobile experience compare to whatever you have used before, including eFax if you are already a customer there. Making the decision based on a real test with your own documents beats comparing feature lists on a page, since the details that matter most, like how a specific document type renders or how quickly delivery confirmation arrives, vary in ways that are hard to fully capture in a written comparison.
The Bottom Line
For most ecommerce sellers, FAX.PLUS offers a better combination of price, interface quality, and mobile usability than eFax, without sacrificing the core reliability both services need to deliver. Read the full FAX.PLUS by Alohi review for the complete feature breakdown.
Or check the full alternatives roundup if you want to see how other competitors stack up too.
If you are still building out the operational side of your dropshipping business, our done for you services can help you get supplier documentation and vendor relationships set up correctly from the start.
Prefer a more hands-on approach? Our one on one coaching walks you through the entire process, including exactly the kind of supplier paperwork that makes a tool like this necessary.
New to the space entirely? Start with our guide to what high ticket dropshipping actually is. From there, our list of the best high ticket niches helps you narrow down a category to focus on.
Once you know your niche, our guide on finding the best suppliers covers exactly the kind of vendor relationships that generate fax-worthy paperwork in the first place. Our walkthrough of business formation for high ticket dropshipping rounds out the operational side.
Grab our free beginner’s guide to high ticket dropshipping. Or visit the Ecommerce Paradise homepage to explore everything else available.
Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
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