The best background check services for employers, ranked
By Jean Luc · Updated August 7, 2026 · Ranked from review data and published pricing
Disclosure: this site earns a commission if you sign up for Checkr through our links, at no cost to you. That relationship does not change the data: every rating below is the platform's published figure, and the competitor wins are stated in each comparison.
- #1
Checkr
Best overall / best self-servePublished pay-as-you-go pricing ($29.99 to $94.99 per report), same-day self-serve signup, 200+ ATS integrations, and the strongest employer ratings in the category (G2 4.5 across 457 reviews; Capterra 4.5 across 303). Candidates rate it 4.1 on Trustpilot, unusually high for the industry. Known trade-offs, straight from its review corpus: chat-first support, county-court delays on some checks, and court/DMV pass-through fees on top of sticker prices.
See Checkr pricing ↗Read 650+ aggregated Checkr reviews → - #2
GoodHire
Best preset packages for small businessOwned by Checkr since 2022 but sold as its own simpler storefront: three preset packages ($29.99 / $54.99 / $79.99), with education and employment verification bundled at the top tier. The shortest path for small teams without an ATS. Same parent company as our #1, which we disclose because it matters.
Read the full Checkr vs GoodHire comparison → - #3
Certn
Best for Canada and UK hiringThe Canada-born challenger (Victoria, BC; ~$139M raised): published self-serve rates with a basic criminal check around $17.99, Canadian criminal checks in minutes, native UK screening via its Credence acquisition, and the category's best G2 ease-of-use scores (4.8 across ~203 reviews). The caveat that keeps it out of the top two: a 1.7 candidate score on Trustpilot, the widest employer/candidate gap on this list, and a smaller US integration catalog.
Read the full Checkr vs Certn comparison → - #4
Sterling (First Advantage)
Best candidate experience among incumbentsThe legacy vendor candidates actually rate well: 4.0 on Trustpilot across ~3,880 reviews. Enterprise-only, quote-based pricing, strong clinic and occupational health network. Acquired by First Advantage for ~$2.2B in October 2024, so ask about platform migration before signing.
Read the full Checkr vs Sterling comparison → - #5
First Advantage
Best for global enterprise consolidationThe public-company giant (NASDAQ: FA) and, after absorbing Sterling, the biggest screener. One vendor for multinational programs, verticalized enterprise solutions, procurement-friendly. No published pricing, no self-serve, and candidate-facing review averages are poor (~1.2/5 in third-party roundups).
Read the full Checkr vs First Advantage comparison → - #6
HireRight
Enterprise alternative with global depthDecades of global screening operations and regulated-industry programs, taken private in 2024 ($1.7B, General Atlantic and Stone Point). Quote-based only. Its candidate Trustpilot score, 1.1 across ~695 reviews with ~97% one-star, is the worst in this list and a real operational signal, not just a vanity metric.
Read the full Checkr vs HireRight comparison → - #7
Accurate Background
Best service-led mid-market optionService-led screening with account management, close to Checkr on employer satisfaction (G2 ~4.4), and the largest privately held minority-owned screener, a real supplier-diversity credential. No published pricing, and candidate reviews (~1.3 on Trustpilot) describe delays and poor communication.
Read the full Checkr vs Accurate Background comparison →
Frequently asked questions
How did you rank these services?+
From published review data (G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, BBB, TrustRadius, Gartner Peer Insights), published pricing where it exists, and documented company facts like ownership and acquisitions. Services that publish pricing and support self-serve buying rank higher for the small and mid-size employers this site serves. We did not test enterprise contracts firsthand.
Why is Checkr ranked first if this is a Checkr review site?+
Fair question, and the affiliate relationship is disclosed on this page. The ranking logic is shown: Checkr has the highest employer ratings at the largest self-serve review volume, published pricing, and the broadest integration catalog. Where competitors beat it, our comparison pages say so explicitly, including Sterling's equal candidate score and GoodHire's cheaper verification bundle.
What's the cheapest way to run one background check?+
Among vendors with published pricing, Certn's basic criminal check runs about $17.99 per third-party summaries of its rate card, while Checkr and GoodHire both start at $29.99 per report. All three add court pass-through fees, and Certn's US employment-verification access fees can exceed the check itself. The enterprise vendors don't publish prices and generally don't serve one-off checks.
Are these rankings different for enterprise buyers?+
Yes, materially. At thousands of checks a year with global coverage needs, First Advantage, Sterling, and HireRight compete on negotiated terms we can't evaluate from published data, and Checkr's enterprise tier joins that conversation. Our ranking optimizes for buyers who can't get a quote without a sales cycle.