Both Fax.Plus and iFax sit near the top of the modern online-fax market, and both deliver HIPAA-compliant operation with a Business Associate Agreement. The decision between them is rarely about features — it is about where compliance kicks in, what your buyer profile looks like, and how much of your workflow happens on a phone. Fax.Plus reserves its HIPAA, SSO, API, and data residency controls for the Enterprise tier at $79.99 per month annual. iFax includes a free BAA from the Plus plan at $24.99 per month annual. For most healthcare practices, the price gap and the mobile experience determine the answer.
Fax.Plus and iFax are the two strongest modern entries in the cloud-fax category. Both treat fax as software rather than as a legacy telephony product. Both publish their security posture transparently. Both treat HIPAA as a first-class concern rather than a bolt-on add-on. The difference is which buyer the product was designed for in the first place.
Fax.Plus is built by Alohi SA in Geneva, Switzerland. The product reflects Swiss engineering and Swiss procurement sensibilities: a complete Trust Centre, ISO 27001 governance, granular data residency controls on the Enterprise tier, and a documented procurement process that fits naturally inside the kind of vendor questionnaire a hospital IT department sends. The Basic, Premium and Business tiers ($6.99, $17.99 and $34.99 a month annual) cover general fax workloads. The HIPAA BAA, SSO, the API and the granular data-residency controls all sit on the Enterprise tier at $79.99 a month annual. The pricing posture is enterprise-friendly: high entry for compliance, but a single product covering the full procurement checklist.
iFax is built by RinggCentral Inc. (no relation to RingCentral Office) and headquartered in California. The product reflects a different design philosophy: ship the BAA at the entry tier where buyers actually need it, polish the mobile workflow to industry-leading level, and price the entry plan at a level that does not require a procurement conversation. iFax Basic at $14.99 a month annual is send-only and excludes HIPAA. The HIPAA BAA appears on iFax Plus at $24.99 a month annual — the price band that solo and small-clinic practices actually live in. SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and SSO appear on iFax Pro at $33.33 a month annual.
The structural decision is: do you need an enterprise procurement package, or do you need fast, polished access to HIPAA fax in a typical small-team workflow? Fax.Plus wins the first question. iFax wins the second.
01
Feature comparison
Criterion
Fax.Plus
iFax
Editor's score
4.6 /5
4.5 /5
Starting at
$6.99 /month · billed annually
$12.49 /month · billed annually
HIPAA + BAA
HIPAA with BAA
HIPAA with BAA
Supported platforms
Web app · iOS · Android · macOS · Windows · Email-to-fax · API
Web app · iOS · Android · macOS · Windows · Email-to-fax · API
Local fax numbers available in
US · UK · CA · CH · DE · FR · IT · ES · AU
US · UK · CA
Encryption
256-bit AES at rest, TLS 1.2+ in transit. Data hosted in Swiss data centres governed by ISO 27001.
256-bit AES end-to-end encryption with TLS for data in transit. HIPAA Seal of Compliance verified by Compliancy Group.
02
Pricing comparison
Fax.Plus
Plan
Monthly
Annual
Pages / month
HIPAA + BAA
Basic
$8.99 /mo
$6.99 /mo
200
Not included
Premium
$17.99 /mo
$13.99 /mo
500
Not included
Business
$34.99 /mo
$27.99 /mo
1,000
Not included
EnterpriseMost popular
Only plan with HIPAA-compliant operation and signed BAA. Page allowance is custom — 1,000+ pages depending on contract.
$99.99 /mo
$79.99 /mo
Custom
Included
iFax
Plan
Monthly
Annual
Pages / month
HIPAA + BAA
Basic
Send-only. Does not include receiving faxes or HIPAA.
$14.99 /mo
$12.49 /mo
200
Not included
PlusMost popular
$29.99 /mo
$24.99 /mo
500
Included
Pro
SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 apply at iFax company level (not plan-gated).
$39.99 /mo
$33.33 /mo
1,000
Included
Enterprise
Custom volume pricing with a dedicated account manager.
—
Contact sales
Custom
Included
No setup fees and no overage fees, per iFax's pricing page.
03
Strengths / Weaknesses
Fax.Plus
+Strengths
Swiss data residency with ISO 27001 and SOC 2
HIPAA-compliant operation with signed BAA on Enterprise
SSO, API, and granular data residency controls
Custom page allowance on Enterprise (1,000+ depending on contract)
Mature engineering, well-documented API
Predictable enterprise procurement experience
Free tier available (10 pages one-time, no credit card)
−Weaknesses
HIPAA only on Enterprise — overkill for solo practices
Free tier is one-time 10 pages only — no recurring free allowance and no time-limited paid-plan trial
Higher entry price than mid-market alternatives
Smaller out-of-the-box integration catalogue than iFax
Local fax numbers limited to US, UK, Canada, Italy
Higher entry price than budget competitors
No phone support line
No GDPR or PHIPA claims published
04
Winner by use case
01
Solo healthcare provider
iFax Plus at $24.99/month with a free BAA covers the workflow without the Fax.Plus Enterprise tier overhead.
iFax
02
Hospital with strict IT procurement
Fax.Plus Enterprise ships SSO, the API, ISO 27001, SOC 2, and data residency in one package that maps cleanly onto enterprise procurement requirements.
Fax.Plus
03
Mobile-first workflow
iFax's iOS and Android apps are the best in the category. Fax.Plus has mobile apps, but the design and workflow polish lag behind.
iFax
04
Highest monthly volume (>2,000 pages)
Fax.Plus Enterprise ships a custom page allowance (typically 1,000+) a month; iFax's Professional caps at 1,000 before an Enterprise conversation.
Fax.Plus
05
The HIPAA threshold: where compliance actually kicks in
The single most consequential difference between these two products is the price at which HIPAA coverage starts. iFax signs the BAA at $24.99 a month annual. Fax.Plus does not sign the BAA below Enterprise at $79.99 a month annual. For a solo practice, that is a $660-per-year difference for the same compliance bar.
What justifies the Fax.Plus premium? Three real differentiators. First, Swiss data residency. For an EU healthcare practice that needs GDPR-aligned residency, Fax.Plus is the only product in this comparison set that offers it without an enterprise contract. Second, the API. Fax.Plus Enterprise ships a documented API suitable for integration with EHR systems, document-management platforms or workflow automation tools. iFax Pro offers an API but the integration footprint is smaller. Third, the included page allowance — custom (1,000+) on Fax.Plus Enterprise versus 1,000 on iFax Pro. For high-volume buyers, the page-allowance arithmetic catches some of the price gap back.
What does iFax offer that Fax.Plus does not? Mobile workflow polish that genuinely leads the category. The iOS and Android apps include a document scanner that converts a phone camera into a high-resolution input, OCR that pulls text out of inbound faxes, native eSign, and a fluid send queue. For a practice where a mobile workflow is core (field-based clinicians, multi-location nurses, travelling case managers), the iFax workflow is the operational reality and the Fax.Plus alternative does not match it.
The practical decision: if HIPAA matters and the practice fits inside small-to-mid headcount with a non-EU residency need, iFax Plus or Professional is the right answer. If the buyer is an EU hospital, an enterprise IT shop, or a multi-region operator, Fax.Plus Enterprise is the right answer.
06
Procurement vs product: two buying motions
Fax.Plus is built around an IT-led procurement motion. The product expects a procurement process — the Trust Centre publishes the documentation a security review needs, the contract path runs through enterprise sales for Enterprise-tier buyers, the SLA is written with credit terms, and the SSO documentation matches what a 500-user IT department wants to see. For an organisation where fax purchasing flows through IT, vendor management, legal review and procurement, Fax.Plus fits the existing workflow naturally.
iFax is built around a department-led buying motion. The product expects a credit-card sign-up by the practice manager or the clinic administrator. The BAA signs at checkout. The Trust Centre is light because the buyer does not typically run a vendor security review. The pricing is published cleanly so the decision happens without a sales call.
For a solo psychotherapist, a small dental office or a single-attorney legal practice, the iFax buying motion is the right shape. The buyer does not need to schedule a demo, file an IT ticket or run a security review. The product self-installs.
For a hospital system with a vendor-management committee, the iFax buying motion is the wrong shape. Procurement will ask for a SOC 2 report, a SCIM 2.0 implementation guide, a sub-processor list and an exit-clause negotiation. iFax can produce most of these, but the buying motion was not built for that conversation. Fax.Plus Enterprise was.
The practical recommendation: match the buying motion to your organisation's procurement reality. A small-team buyer who tries to navigate the Fax.Plus Enterprise sales process for a $79.99 plan will be over-served and frustrated. An IT-led enterprise buyer who tries to handle iFax procurement through a credit-card checkout will end up redoing the paperwork anyway. Both products are excellent in their own buying motion; both are awkward in the other.
07
Mobile, eSign, OCR and the workflow gap
iFax's mobile workflow is the strongest in the category. The iOS and Android apps consistently score above 4.6 on the respective app stores. The integrated document scanner replaces a real-world scanner for most small-office workflows. The OCR layer pulls structured text out of inbound documents, which simplifies downstream routing. The built-in eSign integration handles signature-required workflows without a second vendor.
Fax.Plus has mobile apps too, but the polish gap is real. The interface follows desktop conventions; the workflow assumes a primary desktop user with mobile as a fallback rather than a primary surface. For a buyer whose fax workflow is desktop-primary (most enterprise IT environments), this is fine. For a buyer whose workflow is phone-primary (most small-clinic practices), the difference is felt every working day.
The eSign distinction is worth dwelling on. iFax's eSign is included in the Plus plan and integrates with the fax workflow — you can scan, sign and send in a single flow without leaving the app. Fax.Plus does not include native eSign; signatures route through an external vendor (DocuSign, HelloSign or similar). For a practice that already uses DocuSign for engagement letters and contracts, the Fax.Plus approach is fine — the eSign vendor already exists. For a practice that does not have an eSign vendor and does not want to add one, iFax's bundled approach is materially simpler.
The OCR layer matters for inbound document routing. iFax pulls patient name, date of birth and document type from inbound faxes with reasonable accuracy. For a busy intake practice, this turns the inbound queue into a partially structured stream — paralegals or intake staff process faster because the metadata is already extracted. Fax.Plus does not match this capability outside the Enterprise-tier API-based workflows.
08
Volume, scaling and the page-allowance math
Page allowance is the second axis where these products diverge. iFax Pro includes 1,000 pages at $33.33/month annual with a published overage path; iFax does not publish an Enterprise tier above Pro without a sales conversation. Fax.Plus Enterprise at $79.99/month bundles a custom page allowance — typically 1,000+ pages depending on contract, with the specific number negotiated rather than published.
The math: at 3,000 pages a month on iFax Pro (1,000 included), the 2,000 overage pages add up. iFax does not publish the standard Pro overage rate openly — it is set per-account through enterprise sales. Assume $0.04-$0.07 per page based on typical category pricing. At those rates, iFax Pro stays competitive against Fax.Plus Enterprise's $79.99 entry through the low-thousands of pages.
The crossover happens when negotiated Fax.Plus volume pricing becomes more attractive than iFax overage stacking. For healthcare networks pushing above roughly 5,000 pages a month, the contract conversation with Fax.Plus Enterprise tends to win on per-page math because the custom allowance scales without the per-page penalty.
In practice, healthcare-network buyers above 5,000 pages a month should evaluate Documo Custom alongside Fax.Plus Enterprise — Documo's Custom-tier pricing includes intelligent document processing which can replace a separate intake-automation vendor.
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What to check before you sign
Match the product to your buying motion first. If your fax decision is made by IT, vendor management, or a procurement committee, Fax.Plus Enterprise fits the existing workflow. The Trust Centre publishes the documentation a security review needs without a sales call. If your decision is made by a practice manager or clinic administrator with a credit card, iFax fits the existing workflow.
Match the BAA threshold to your real compliance need. If you transmit PHI, iFax Plus at $24.99 a month annual is the cheapest credible option. Do not buy Fax.Plus Premium at $17.99 thinking it covers HIPAA — it does not. The Fax.Plus HIPAA tier is Enterprise at $79.99.
Match the workflow shape. For a mobile-heavy small practice, iFax Plus is the right answer. For an enterprise IT environment with multi-region requirements, Fax.Plus Enterprise is the right answer. Do not over-buy on mobile polish if your workflow is desktop-primary; do not under-buy on Trust Centre depth if your procurement is enterprise-led.
Run a two-month trial on both if the choice is unclear. Both vendors offer trial periods. The decision between them often resolves only when staff use both for a week — the friction differences emerge in production that did not surface in demo.
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Frequently asked questions
01Is Fax.Plus HIPAA-compliant on the Premium plan?
No. Fax.Plus Premium, Basic and Business plans do not include the BAA. Only Fax.Plus Enterprise at $79.99 a month annual signs the BAA. If you need HIPAA on a lower budget, iFax Plus at $24.99 or SRFax Healthcare Lite at $12.60 are the correct alternatives.
02Does iFax really include the BAA at $24.99?
Yes. iFax Plus at $24.99 a month annual includes a free Business Associate Agreement signed at checkout. iFax Basic at $14.99 is send-only and does not include the BAA. For HIPAA workflows, start at Plus.
03Which has stronger mobile apps?
iFax. The iOS and Android apps lead the category — built-in document scanner, OCR, eSign and a polished send queue. Fax.Plus has functional mobile apps but the workflow polish is desktop-first. For mobile-heavy practices, iFax is the right answer.
04When is Fax.Plus the right answer despite the higher price?
When the buyer is enterprise IT with a procurement committee, when EU data residency matters, when volume exceeds 4,500 pages a month, or when a documented IT-led procurement process is part of the procurement requirements. Outside these scenarios, iFax usually wins on value.
05Do both offer SAML SSO?
Yes, but at different price points. iFax Pro at $33.33 a month annual is the cheapest credible SAML SSO entry in the category. Fax.Plus Enterprise at $79.99 includes SAML SSO with more granular role separation suitable for larger deployments. For under 250 users, iFax Pro is sufficient.
06Are international fax numbers available on both?
Yes. Both offer local fax numbers in multiple countries. Fax.Plus has wider European coverage given its Swiss origin. iFax has wider North American and Asian coverage. For a global business operating across regions, check the specific country list before committing.
The verdict
iFax wins for small and mid-sized healthcare practices, legal teams, and any organisation where the buyer prioritises a clean app, an included BAA, and a price that does not require a procurement committee. Fax.Plus wins when the buyer is enterprise IT — when SSO, granular data residency controls, ISO 27001 + SOC 2 evidence, and custom-tier 1,000+ included pages a month are part of the requirements list rather than the wish list. The two products are not substitutes; they serve different sides of the same compliance market.
