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RecruitBest 6 Background Check Providers
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Finding the right people for your organization takes more than just sorting through the best resumes and looking for the people with the highest levels of educational and career attainment. People are complex, and there’s no single metric by which you can simply judge who’s the best pick, Instead, you have to perform interviews, skills tests, reference checks, and often rely a lot on your instincts. However, even though you might think you’ve found the very best candidate for a position, there may be something lurking in their past that could end up being a threat to your organization.
While people’s histories don’t necessarily predict their futures, knowing key elements of their backgrounds can predict your company from certain real and relevant risks. This is why there are hundreds of service providers out there that specialize in performing background checks for employers. In this review, we’ll look at what these providers do and how you can leverage them to reduce your risk exposure. We’ll also present our list of the best six background check providers in 2025.
What a Background Check Provider Does and Why You Need One
There is a lot to know about any candidate you come across, and though you can read their resumes and applications and ask interview questions, you might not be able to gather all the details. There’s also the risk that candidates don’t openly and honestly present their histories, but performing a formal check is one way to get to the truth. Background checks can include investigations into employment and education history, criminal records, credit history, and even a person’s social media behavior.
Background check providers should be able to offer checks into all of these factors but also advise you on what’s necessary to protect your organization’s interests. A transport driver’s driving history will be highly relevant, while a chief financial officer’s credit history will be more valuable to investigate.
Background checks are legal in some countries, while some types of information cannot be legally collected in others. In the US, background checks are legal, though what you can look into is restricted. For example, the Fair Credit Recording Act (FCRA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) both protect employees from discrimination during hiring, and the FCRA requires employers to collect signed, informed consent from job candidates before undertaking checks. Different states also have laws governing checks with some activities barred and others highly restricted.
Legal compliance can be quite challenging but a good background check provider will be familiar with all the relevant laws and restrictions where it works. Using a provider can, therefore protect you from legal actions due to non-compliant hiring practices.
Benefits of using a background check provider
- Knowledge of which kinds of checks are relevant for different positions
- Fair and accurate investigations performed by a neutral party
- Time and money saved by outsourcing to professionals
- Compliance with all relevant laws to reduce your liability
- Access to more extensive databases for more accurate results
Integral Elements of Background Checks
When you want to look into a job candidate’s history, there’s a lot to examine. Depending on the type of position you’re hiring for, you’ll want to know different things about them, and this is how a background check provider will help you decide to help you limit your risk.
The most common elements of background checks that providers will look into include:
Employment History
While a candidate’s resume will state where and when they worked, this information is not always accurate, or they may leave certain positions off their resumes for a variety of reasons.
By checking their work history, you can find out what they did accurately, including any issues with their work that may have occurred. You can also check into their pay history with their consent, though some ex-employers may not release this information.
Education History
Find out if a candidate has told you accurate information about where and what they studied. In many cases, it’s critical to find out if someone has actually attained the degree or other qualification they claim, not just studied part of a program.
Criminal Record
By looking into a candidate’s criminal record, you can find out if they’ve ever committed offenses or been incarcerated.
A criminal history is not necessarily a risk for many positions, and indeed, some states uphold “ban the box” laws that make it illegal to discriminate against candidates based on their records. However, this could be a serious safety issue for positions that involve working with children, other vulnerable groups, money, or sensitive company information.
Sanctions and Enforcements
Some actions and activities may not make it onto people’s criminal records but can still present potential risks for your organization.
Background checks can also look into things like terrorist affiliations, professional disbarments, and financial prohibitions to help you identify these risks before making your hiring decisions.
Credit History
Checking into a candidate’s credit score, bad debts, outstanding debts, and adverse financial judgments can help you assess whether they’re an appropriate person to handle company finances.
This is particularly important for jobs with high levels of financial responsibility, like accountants, treasurers, or financial officers.
Driving/Operating History
Checks can uncover a candidate’s driving record, find out if they hold the driving or operator’s licenses they claim, or simply assess whether they’re legally allowed to obtain licenses in various states.
For driving or heavy vehicle operating jobs, these checks are critical to protect your company from liability.
Social Media
A check into your candidate’s social activities can uncover behaviors and attitudes that are undesirable for your team, or that could even put your company at risk. While you may think that your candidate’s social media information is public and, therefore, fair game, there are actually many restrictions to think about before looking into their social posts and activities.
According to the FCRA, you need to obtain written consent before obtaining this kind of check, and some states have additional privacy laws that can restrict what you’re allowed to look into.
Top 6 Background Check Providers
It’s never easy distilling a wide range of service providers down to a manageable shortlist. You’re busy and don’t have time to look into the details of every background-checking agency out there.
| Background Check Provider | Description |
|---|---|
| GoodHire | Provides customizable and user-friendly background checks with a focus on compliance and transparency. Ideal for small to mid-sized businesses. |
| Sterling | A global leader in background screening, specializing in identity verification, criminal record checks, and workforce risk mitigation for enterprises. |
| Certn | Offers AI-powered, rapid background screening with a focus on accuracy and candidate experience. Known for its mobile-friendly and easy-to-use platform. |
| HireRight | Trusted by enterprises worldwide, HireRight delivers comprehensive background screening services, including employment verification and global compliance solutions. |
| Intelius | A consumer-focused background check service, providing public record searches, identity verification, and people search tools for personal and professional use. |
| Accurate | Provides reliable, data-driven background screening solutions for businesses. Specializes in criminal history checks, employment verification, and industry-specific compliance. |
This is exactly why we’ve compiled this list for you with introductions to what we think are the best six background checking providers in the market today.
1
Checkr/GoodHire
Goodhire is an FCRA-compliant provider that was acquired by Chekr, with both offering the same service packages and prices.
Offer 100 different checks with the most common like criminal record checks fixed into packages and others available by add-on. While prices start at $29.99 for social security number (SSN) tracing, sex offender register, global watchlist, and national criminal searches, Goodhire and Chekr also offer discounted prices for companies that perform more than ten employee checks per year.
Chekr/Goodhire’s Pricing
| Plan | Starting Price |
|---|---|
| Basic + | Starting from $29.99/check |
| Essential | Starting from $54.99/check |
| Complete | Starting from $89.99/check |
Chekr/Goodhire’s Features
- Quick turnaround for convenient time savings
- AI-powered platform
- Screenings of candidates in the US and internationally
- User-friendly, easy-to-use platform with integrations with around 100 HRIS, ATS, and onboarding apps
2
Sterling
Sterling is a well-known and popular background-checking provider that looks into important factors like criminal records, identity verification, references, and more. It offers post-hire services like onboarding and ongoing monitoring.
Sterling’s software also features integrations with 15 of the most popular ATS (applicant tracking system) and HRIS (human resources information systems) apps like Greenhouse, Dayforce, Oracle, and Workday.
Sterling Pricing
Subscription model pricing is available by quote only.
Sterling's Features
- Performs checks in the US and over 240 countries and territories
- Personalized and customized services for both large and small businesses
- Extensive compliance tools for fair chance and adverse action processes
- Individualized assessments for criminal record feedback and discrimination prevention
3
Certn
Certn is a Canadian company that specializes in background checks in Canada and the US but also covers over 200 other countries and territories. This company provides criminal records, identity verification, social media, credit, public records, employment, education, references, and motor vehicle checks for its clients around the world.
Each check is priced separately rather than packaged, which makes these services highly customizable for individual client needs.
Certn's Pricing
| Plan | Starting Price |
|---|---|
| US Base Criminal Check | $29.99 |
| US Single County Criminal Check | $34.99 |
| US Unlimited County Criminal Check | $54.99 |
| Basic Canadian Criminal Record Check | $30.99 |
| Enhanced Canadian Criminal Record Check | $36.99 |
Certn's Features
- User-friendly platform with mobile app available
- Integrations with six HRIS and ATS applications
- SOC 2-, SOC-3, and ISO 27001-certified platforms with excellent security
- Packaged pricing and discounts are available for large enterprises
4
HireRight
HireRight’s name tells you what its goals are as a service provider. This company provides criminal background, financial background, identity, employment, education, and other types of screening to help you ensure that you can rely on the candidates you’re looking into.
This provider works with large enterprises to help them perform bulk checks on large numbers of employees with fast turnaround times. At the same time, however, its sister site, backgroundchecks.com, provides self-service checking packages with affordable prices for smaller businesses.
HireRight's Pricing
Self-service checks starting from $36.47 per check
HireRight's Features
- Integrations with 37 top HRIS and ATS software
- Volume pricing for companies performing 50+ checks per year
- Mobile app and easy-to-use platform
- Global capabilities
5
Intelius
Intelius provides people with lookup services and background checks at very affordable prices. This provider is fast and effective at finding information through name checking and reverse phone number and email lookups. It uses a highly sophisticated system to search public databases but is limited to only this information.
Likewise, this provider is not FCRA compliant and can’t be used for employment purposes, but it can help you identify people who may be contacting your organization by phone or email, which can be quite useful.
Intelius' Pricing
Subscription packages starting from $25.11 per month.
Intelius' Features
- Very fast turnaround
- Low fees
- Searches are performed confidentially
- Searches millions of public records
6
Accurate
Accurate is our final recommended background-checking service provider but one that definitely deserves its place on this list.
This provider complies with FCRA, state, and local regulations for background checks, making it very reliable for employers who need to find out the truth about their candidates. It performs criminal record checks, SSN traces, and driving history checks, as well as verifications for employment, education, and professional credentials.
Most of its results are returned within 24-28 hours, so clients don’t miss out on hiring opportunities.
Accurate's Pricing
Pricing is available by quote only.
Accurate's Features
- Provides compliant checks globally
- Offers ongoing monitoring services
- Features integrations with 38 top HRIS and ATS platforms for easy data management
- Easy dispute resolution processes in place
How to Choose a Background Check Provider
As with service providers of any type, background check providers are plentiful and present different levels of service quality, professionalism, and security. They also present different services so you’ll need to find the right combination to suit your needs.
When you’re looking into potential providers, evaluate them based on the following criteria to find the right partner:
Price
Price is always a significant factor in choosing a provider so be sure to find out exactly how much your checks will cost. Many providers don’t give their full pricing structure publicly so you’ll need to obtain tailored quotes from them and even those that do give their starting prices may add extra fees for non-standard services. Find a provider that fits within your budget but still provides all of the services you require.
License
Because of the sensitivity of handling personal information and the many regulations surrounding these checks, you should work with a provider that’s certified. In the US, this means holding PBSA (Professional Background Screening Association) certification while organizations screening globally will hold other national certifications.
Services Offered
Some providers focus only on a few major types of checks like criminal records or driving licenses, while others offer a full range of checking services. Make sure you choose a provider that covers all of your current and potential future service needs.
Reputation
It’s hard to assess the quality of a provider’s services since they’ll all publicly state only their positive attributes. As there’s no background-checking service for background-checking providers, you’ll need to rely instead on client reviews. Look for information from trusted sites to find out the truth about how well a provider has performed in the past.
Security
It’s critical that you protect your candidate’s data when checking their history so you need a provider that can prove it has the ability to do so. It should have a thorough, publicly available security policy. Certifications like ISO 27001 and GDPR (the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation) compliance also demonstrate a commitment to keeping your data safe.
Turnaround Time
You want to make your hiring decisions quickly and don’t have months to wait for information to come back to you. Look into turnaround times to find a partner that can return data to you quickly to help you work efficiently.
The Very Best Background Check Providers in 2025
Background checks are legal, though legally complicated, and have become standard for most hiring in the US and around the world. Performing them can be time-consuming and risky, so outsourcing them to a professional and compliant provider is a good choice that can actually help you save costs. Providers’ services and prices vary, as do their pricing structures. However, any of the providers on our list can be an excellent partner to help reduce your risks and help you make the highly-informed hiring decisions your organization depends on.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you’re in the US, the answer is yes.
Background checks are legal but are strictly controlled by federal regulations and generally require you to receive informed consent from your candidates before performing them. Some states have stricter additional laws you’ll need to follow.
In other countries, the laws vary, and it’s worth looking into your national regulations before searching for a service provider.
With the advanced searching technology that most platforms employ, some of your results will come back to you almost instantaneously. However, verifications for education and employment history can take longer because these might not be available in public records.
Turnaround times can vary, but an effective provider should be able to give you the results of these verifications in under 72 hours. However, checks for international candidates can often take longer and may run as long as two weeks.
Yes, candidates should be informed of the results of their background checks and given the opportunity to correct information and dispute findings.
Most providers offer dispute resolution programs that allow candidates to efficiently provide additional information or clarify findings.
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