Comparison · By Povilas Konopackas, founder · Updated May 2026

Shotfax vs HelloFax (Dropbox Fax) in 2026.

HelloFax rebranded to Dropbox Fax after Dropbox acquired it. The same URL (app.hellofax.com) now serves the Dropbox Fax brand. For a casual sender who fits inside the free tier, Dropbox Fax is a legitimate option. For a one-off send of a document that matters, Shotfax at $2.99 pay-per-fax with no account is cleaner. This page shows the break-even math honestly.

1. Pricing side by side

Prices verified 29 June 2026. Dropbox Fax pricing is published at app.hellofax.com/info/pricing; Shotfax pricing at shotfax.com. Subscription pricing can change; check each current pricing page before committing.

2. Break-even math by fax volume

The only number that matters when picking between the two is how many faxes you actually send per month, and of what typical length. Here is the honest math for a typical five-page fax, without spinning either way.

Honest math: if you are willing to create a Dropbox account, Dropbox Fax pay-per-fax ($0.99 for up to 10 pages) is cheaper per send than Shotfax, and Dropbox Fax Home ($9.99/month) wins from roughly 3+ faxes a month. Shotfax does not compete on the lowest possible price here; its edge is no account or signup, files deleted after sending, a flat price for up to 20 pages, and 55+ country reach. The Dropbox Fax free tier is a one-time 5-page allotment, not a monthly refill.

3. Account, signup, and friction

This is where the services diverge most sharply, and it matters for one-off sends.

• Shotfax: no account. Land on shotfax.com, upload the file, enter the number, pay $2.99. Three inputs, one transaction, done. No email verification, no password, no cross-sell.
• Dropbox Fax: requires a Dropbox account. If you already have one (millions of people do), sign in and you are halfway there. If you do not, you create one, verify the email, set a password, pick a tier. For the free tier you also agree to Dropbox marketing in your email inbox until you unsubscribe.

If you send one fax every two years, account friction is a real cost. If you use Dropbox for other file storage anyway, the friction is zero because you are already signed in.

4. Where both services are equivalent

• Delivery reliability. Both use real fax carrier networks with T.38 error correction. The receiving fax machine cannot tell the difference.
• Domestic and international coverage. Both reach all US and Canadian numbers and dozens of international countries.
• PDF and image support. Both accept PDF, JPG, and PNG.
• Delivery receipt. Both produce a timestamped confirmation; Shotfax emails a receipt PDF if you provide an email, Dropbox Fax logs the send inside the dashboard.
• Ad-free cover on paid sends. Neither service adds ads on paid transmissions.

On the pure question of "will my fax arrive at the IRS / my doctor / the title company", the two services are equivalent. The decision rests on how much you pay and how much friction you are willing to accept for account creation.

5. Where Dropbox Fax wins

• Heavy users. If you send 4 or more faxes per month, the Home tier at $9.99 is cheaper than 4 Shotfax sends ($11.96) and lets you fax as much as you want up to 300 pages.
• Existing Dropbox customers. If you already pay for Dropbox, the integration with your file storage saves steps. The fax feature plugs into the same app you already use.
• Free tier for a one-time short send. If you have a single short (1 to 5 page) fax to send, the free tier costs $0 once, as long as you accept the Dropbox account and marketing. It is a one-time allotment, not a monthly refill, so it does not help a repeat sender.
• Team access. Professional and Small Business tiers support multiple users on one plan, which matters for small offices.

6. Where Shotfax wins

• One-off sends. A single fax for $2.99 with no account is cheaper and faster than setting up Dropbox for one send.
• Privacy preferences. Shotfax deletes the uploaded file the moment the fax is confirmed delivered or failed, and keeps only 90 days of metadata (destination number, page count, timestamp, status). Dropbox stores your faxes by default inside your Dropbox account until you manually delete them.
• No account means no cross-sell. Shotfax does not have your email unless you optionally provide it for the receipt. No newsletters, no upsells, no pricing-change emails to manage.
• Transparent per-fax cost. Shotfax charges $2.99 flat for documents up to 20 pages. No tier migrations, no overage charges that appear on a credit card statement as a surprise.

7. The HelloFax rebrand, briefly

For anyone who used HelloFax under its original name, a quick note on what changed. Dropbox acquired HelloFax as part of its acquisition of HelloSign in early 2019 and gradually folded the fax product into the Dropbox brand. By 2026 the product is consistently labeled Dropbox Fax inside the app and on the pricing page at app.hellofax.com/info/pricing. The underlying transmission stack is the same carrier-routed fax as before; what changed is the account model (Dropbox account replaces the standalone HelloFax account) and the pricing tiers (which are now aligned with Dropbox's per-seat logic rather than HelloFax's original per-page logic). Users who had legacy HelloFax plans were migrated to the equivalent Dropbox Fax tier when the rebrand finished.

If you land on app.hellofax.com from an old bookmark, you are in the right place. You will see Dropbox branding and the four-tier pricing covered in section 1.

8. The short recommendation

If you are sending one or two faxes a month, Shotfax is cheaper and has less friction. If you are sending four or more faxes a month, Dropbox Fax Home is cheaper. If you are already a Dropbox customer, the Dropbox fax feature saves setup steps either way and the cost differential at low volumes is small.

For a single panicked send to the IRS, your doctor, or a landlord this afternoon, the three-input, no-account Shotfax flow is usually the right answer. For an accounting team that faxes invoices to a dozen vendors every month, Dropbox Fax Home at $9.99 is the better long-run fit. The honest recommendation depends on your actual fax volume, not on which service is paying for your click.

9. Related reading

• Shotfax vs eFax: when a subscription is worth it
• Shotfax vs FaxZero: free with ads, or $2.99 clean
• The cheapest way to send one fax in 2026
• How to fax without a fax machine