Background check software, compared by what it actually covers
Background check software orders, tracks and returns pre-employment reports from a consumer reporting agency. Providers differ mostly in which searches sit in the base package, whether they publish a price at all, and how far their international coverage reaches. The FCRA duties stay with you, whichever background screening software you buy.
What background check software is
Background check software The ordering layer over a consumer reporting agency. You pick a package, the platform collects the candidate's consent and details, runs criminal, identity, driving and verification searches, and returns a report. Background verification software, background search software and background check systems all name this.
One person in HR opens a role, sends the candidate a link, and waits. The candidate consents and enters their own identifiers. Searches run in parallel, and a report lands in a dashboard where somebody has to decide what it means.
Four things to settle before you pick background check software
- Which searches the role genuinely needs. Buying the top package for every hire is the usual overspend
- Whether the quote is per report or a volume commitment, and what court fees get passed through
- The FCRA notices are yours to send. No vendor takes that duty off you
- Where the finished report lands, and which pipeline stage it is allowed to gate
Background check software compared
| Provider | Built for | Publishes prices | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accurate Background | Employers wanting criminal, credit, driving, drug and health, I-9 and E-Verify, monitoring and social media searches in one catalogue | No. The solutions page directs you to sales | You cannot size the spend without a conversation first |
| Certn | International hiring. Certn says it runs checks on candidates from 200 or more countries and territories | No. It states pay per check with no setup fees or minimums, but shows no figures | Its own site also references 195 countries, so ask which number is current |
| Checkr | Teams that want to read a price before talking to anyone. Three packages plus a custom enterprise tier | Yes. Basic 29.99, Essential 59.99 and Complete 94.99 per report at the time of writing | Court and database fees sit outside the package price, passed through at cost |
| First Advantage | Larger and cross-border programmes. It names criminal checks, verifications, fingerprinting, sanctions and compliance, and records monitoring | No. No pricing and no country total on the solutions page | Global coverage is described through regional sites, so confirm your countries by name |
| GoodHire | Smaller teams. GoodHire is a Checkr company and publishes the same three packages | Yes. The same ladder as Checkr, with third-party fees noted as extra | It is not an independent alternative to Checkr, it is the same house |
Screening and verification are two different purchases
Criminal and identity screening asks whether a public record exists. Employment, education and income verification asks a human institution to confirm something the candidate told you. The second is slower and fails differently, because it depends on a former employer or a registrar answering. Candidate verification platforms sell it as its own line for that reason.
Hard-to-verify employers are where this gets expensive: a company that has folded, been acquired, or has no HR desk to call. Ask any provider what happens on a failed verification, who chases it, and whether you get an API or only a dashboard. That answer varies far more between vendors than the criminal search does.
Which searches a pre employment screening software package includes
| Tier | Searches named by the vendor | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | SSN trace, sex offender registry, global watchlist search, national criminal search | A first pass where the role carries no money, no driving and no vulnerable people |
| Essential | Everything in Basic plus identity verification and unlimited county criminal search | Most office hires. County records are where the detail actually lives |
| Complete | Everything in Essential plus unlimited state criminal search and federal criminal search | Roles touching regulated work, federal contracts or significant assets |
| Add-ons | Checkr lists MVR at 9.50, identity verification at 4.99, drug screening from 10 and employment verification from 12.50 | Anything the role actually requires rather than everything the catalogue offers |
How to run a compliant employee background check
- Give a stand-alone written notice Tell the applicant you might use the information for decisions about their employment. The FTC requires this notice to be in writing and in a stand-alone format, not buried in the application. One page, one purpose. Nothing else on it, including no liability waiver.
- Get written permission You need the applicant's written permission to run the check. If you want the option to run checks later during employment, say so in that permission. Ongoing checks after hire need consent that says so, not a fresh assumption.
- Certify compliance to the provider Before the report is produced, you certify to the screening company that you notified the applicant, got permission, and will comply with FCRA requirements. The vendor collects this in setup. Read what you are signing.
- Send pre-adverse action before you decide Before taking an adverse action, give the person a notice that includes a copy of the consumer report you relied on and a copy of A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This is where a candidate gets the chance to tell you the record is not theirs.
- Send adverse action after you decide After the decision, tell the person they were rejected because of information in the report, and give the name, address and phone number of the company that sold it. Name the reporting company. A generic rejection email does not satisfy this.
The 7-year rule, correctly
Under 15 U.S.C. 1681c, arrests, civil suits and judgments drop off after 7 years or when the statute of limitations runs, whichever is longer. Bankruptcies run 10 years. Convictions carry no federal limit. States can be stricter, so check yours.
What to ask background screening platforms before you sign
- Which searches are in the base price, named individually, not as a tier label
- Are court and database fees passed through at cost, or marked up
- What happens when a county court is closed or a record needs manual retrieval
- Show me the pre-adverse and adverse action screens in the actual product
- Which ATS do you integrate with, and does the result write back
- Are you listed in the PBSA directory of accredited firms
- Name the countries I hire in and tell me what you can run in each
- Do you sell post-hire monitoring, and what consent does it need
What people mean by Checkr alternatives
Searches for Checkr alternatives and Checkr competitors almost always carry a specific complaint underneath. Usually one of three: the per-report price is wrong at low volume, the international coverage does not reach where you hire, or a particular verification type is the real need and the criminal search is incidental.
Match the complaint to the provider. Certn states coverage of candidates from 200 or more countries and territories. First Advantage names fingerprinting, plus sanctions and compliance screening and post-hire criminal records monitoring. Accurate Background names a broad service catalogue including global searches. GoodHire is not an answer to this search, since it is a Checkr company running the same published ladder.
Using the result without creating a problem
Do
- Apply the same standards to everyone, whatever their race, sex, religion, disability, age or national origin
- Look at the offence, how long ago it was, and whether it bears on this specific job
- Keep the personnel and employment records you make for at least 1 year
- Give the candidate the report before you decide, so a mistaken record can be corrected
Do not
- Seeking genetic information, which the EEOC says includes family medical history
- A blanket exclusion by record type that disadvantages a protected group
- Starting the check before the stand-alone disclosure has been signed
- Treating a vendor template as legal advice for the states you hire in
Where the check sits in your pipeline
Candidates grouped by stage, each carrying a status, with a push back to the connected ATS.
Your HR background check software sits beside the pipeline, not inside it, so the pipeline needs a stage the check can gate. In The Cognitive, candidates sit in stage groups with statuses from Ready to Invite through Invite Sent, Scheduled, Completed and Pending Review to Approved.
Employment verification APIs, by what the vendor publishes
| Need | What to look for | Verified example |
|---|---|---|
| Employment and education verification | Whether it is an add-on or a core product, and how many prior employers are included before the price moves | Checkr publishes employment verification from 12.50. First Advantage names employment and education verifications |
| Income verification | Which payroll and records sources it reaches, and what the candidate has to do when automated lookup fails | Accurate Background names Verifications as a service line. Neither publishes income figures or prices |
| Hard-to-verify employers | Who chases a folded or acquired company, how long they try, and what the report says when nobody answers | No vendor on this page publishes a policy for it. Ask for it in writing before you sign |
Cost, and why three of these five will not tell you
Two pricing models are in play. Checkr and GoodHire publish a per-report ladder and call it pay as you go, which suits low and irregular volume. Certn, Accurate Background and First Advantage publish nothing and price to a quote, which usually means a conversation about annual volume before anyone says a number. Nobody here sells a flat background check subscription.
A published per-report price is not the full cost either. Checkr states that standard third-party court and database access fees may apply, passed through at cost with no markup, and GoodHire notes third-party fees as extra. So the honest comparison is a quote at your real annual volume, with the pass-through fees named, not a headline figure.
A shortlist you can run in a week
- List your open roles and write down the searches each one genuinely needs
- Get 2 quotes at your real annual volume, not at your best month
- Run 1 test check end to end on a willing internal volunteer
- Read the adverse-action screens yourself, in the product, not in a slide
- Confirm the ATS integration writes the result back, both directions
- Check the state rules everywhere you hire, since several go past federal limits
Keep reading
AI screening software · Pre-screening interview · Talent assessment tools compared · Applicant tracking systems compared
Frequently asked questions
What do most companies use for background checks?
There is no single standard, and anyone naming the top 3 background check companies or the most accurate background check sites is ranking on traffic rather than fit. Of the five background check platforms here, only Checkr and its GoodHire brand publish per-report prices. Accurate Background, Certn and First Advantage price to a quote. Choose on which searches your roles need, which countries you hire in, and whether you want a published price or a negotiated one.
How to choose the right background check service?
Work from the role, not from the catalogue. Write down the searches each job genuinely requires, get 2 quotes at your real annual volume, and ask whether court fees are passed through at cost. Then look at the adverse-action workflow inside the product, because that is the screen your team will use under pressure. Finish by confirming the result writes back to whatever system holds your pipeline.
What is the best background check software for small business?
Low volume usually favours a published per-report price over a contract, because you are not buying enough to negotiate. GoodHire states that under 50 checks a year it builds a custom package, and offers preset packages above that. Checkr publishes the same three-tier ladder. Either way, price the tier you would really buy, then add the pass-through court fees on top.
How far back does a background check go?
Under 15 U.S.C. 1681c, a consumer reporting agency may not report arrests, civil suits or civil judgments older than 7 years, or older than the governing statute of limitations, whichever period is longer. Bankruptcies run 10 years. Records of criminal convictions are excluded from that 7-year limit under federal law. The statute also carves out reports tied to higher salary bands, which is worth reading in full. Several states are stricter, so check where you hire.
What are the best employment verification APIs?
Judge them on coverage and failure handling rather than endpoints, and the same test applies when you shortlist income verification APIs. Ask which payroll and records sources they reach, what happens when an employer has folded or been acquired, and whether the report distinguishes unverified from contradicted. Among the providers on this page, Checkr publishes employment verification as an add-on from 12.50, First Advantage names employment and education verifications, and Accurate Background names Verifications as a service line.
What are the alternatives to Checkr?
GoodHire is not one. Its own pricing page identifies it as a Checkr company and publishes the same package ladder. Among the providers we verified, the independently branded options are Certn, which states coverage across 200 or more countries and territories, Accurate Background, which names global searches and monitoring in its catalogue, and First Advantage, which names fingerprinting and post-hire criminal records monitoring. None of the three publishes prices.
Do background check companies handle the legal notices for me?
No. Under the FTC's guidance for employers, the stand-alone written disclosure, the written permission, the certification to the screening company and both adverse-action notices are your obligations. Software can template and time them, and good background check tools do. The duty itself does not transfer to the vendor, and a claim lands on you rather than on them.
Can background check software do social media screening?
Some do. If you want employment screening services with social media monitoring for new hires, Certn lists a Social Media Background Check for identifying risk indicators in public posts, and Accurate Background names Social Media Searches in its catalogue. Whatever the source, the EEOC's position holds: apply the same standards to everyone, and do not seek genetic information, which includes family medical history.
How long does a background check take?
It depends on which searches are in the package and whether a human has to be involved. A database search returns quickly. A county criminal record or an employment verification can wait on a clerk or a former employer answering the phone. Certn states that many checks are completed in minutes. Ask each vendor for its own stated turnaround by search type, and treat any single number as an average hiding a long tail.
Should we run continuous monitoring after hire?
It is a separate purchase and a separate consent question. First Advantage offers post-hire criminal records monitoring, and Accurate Background names Monitoring Services. Before buying either, decide what you would actually do with an alert, and make sure your written permission covers checks during employment rather than only at hire. The FCRA notice sequence applies to any adverse action you take on the result.
Explore: AI screening software · Pre-screening interview · Talent assessment tools compared · Applicant tracking systems compared · The recruitment process