| Price per page | HIPAA Compliance | eSignature | Fax Broadcasting | Fax API | |
| RingCentral | 1¢ | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| MetroFax | 2¢ | No | No | Yes | Yes |
RingCentral is one of the pricier alternatives to MetroFax at $27.99 monthly per user for 3000 fax pages. While this price translates to only $0.01 per page, the cost can rapidly multiply if you have multiple users in your team. However, you can save $5 monthly by choosing to pay annually. Also, consider that the expense includes cover pages, cloud service integration, and mobile apps. For users needing video, SMS, and calling capabilities, subscribe to RingCentral Advanced for $35 monthly.
Reviewing MetroFax shows that the service provides a cost-effective entry-level plan for only $9.96 monthly (billed annually). This subscription lets you send and receive up to 500 fax pages each month. MetroFax also offers a Professional plan for $31.63 per month, which is best for businesses with higher faxing requirements.
RingCentral prioritizes strong security features, given that it is a business solution. It employs industry-grade 256-bit AES encryption to encrypt data. It also provides security throughout all stages of its product development.
As a secure alternative to RingCentral, Metrofax falls short. While the MetroFax privacy policy and website discuss several aspects of data handling and collection, it doesn’t provide an explicit discussion of technical security features. On its list of FAQs, the fax service only mentions that your data is encrypted. It also says that digital faxes are more private than faxes sitting open on a community fax machine, which is only common sense and not persuasive proof of robust security.
MetroFax cannot claim HIPAA compliance given its lack of security features. If you’re going to fax protected health information (PHI), it’s better to choose another internet fax provider.
RingCentral on the other hand, provides a Business Associate Agreement (BAA), which is required for business associates under HIPAA rules. It also undergoes third-party auditing to maintain industry standards of security.
Both MetroFax and RingCentral provide free mobile apps so you can fax from any mobile device.
MetroFax apps are available for download at the iTunes app store and Google Play.
RingCentral apps for PC, Mac, Android, and iOS are available from the RingCentral app gallery.
RingCentral’s API goes beyond faxing since it also supports integrations for SMS, video calls, and team messaging. As for its Fax API, you can configure it to integrate fax functionalities into EHR, EMR, or CRM systems.
In this aspect, MetroFax falls short as a suitable Ringcentral alternative as it doesn’t have a programmable API for integrating faxing with your current workflows.
By default, RingCentral lets you send faxes to 50 recipients simultaneously. You can also ask RingCentral to enable its fax broadcasting feature if you need to send a fax blast to more recipients. Without the fax broadcasting feature turned on, faxes sent to more than 50 recipients will fail, and you’ll receive an email notification stating that the fax status is pending. Document attachments should also not exceed 200 pages with a 50MB maximum file size.
MetroFax’s fax broadcasting feature is more limited. You can only send to up to 50 recipients. Moreover, file attachments should be limited to 10 documents and not exceed 18 MB.
All MetroFax plans include a local or toll-free number within the US or Canadian regions. If you have a current fax number, you can also port it to this online fax service for free.
RingCentral is a more flexible MetroFax alternative when it comes to fax numbers. Its Fax 3000 plan lets you choose from fax numbers in over 105 countries. What’s more, you can also choose a vanity number for better number recall. As for its number porting service, RingCentral shoulders the transfer cost. That’s additional savings while avoiding the hassle of updating contacts.
It’s clear from this comparison that RingCentral offers features lacking in MetroFax, such as HIPAA compliance, strong encryption, fax broadcasting, international numbers, and API support. This explains RingCentral’s heftier price tag. However, if you only have basic faxing needs and are looking for a budget-friendly alternative, then MetroFax might be more suitable.
Why businesses choose iFax over RingCentral and MetroFax
iFax offers scalable plans starting from as low as $8.33 monthly.
Conveniently attcah eSignatures to fax documents within the iFax app.
Send fax broadcasts to your contacts with no limits on your reach.
“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.”
