Checkr Background Check Services: Everything You Need to Know

What Is Checkr and Why Do Companies Use It?

Checkr is a technology-driven background screening company founded in San Francisco. Unlike traditional background check providers that rely heavily on manual processes, Checkr built its platform from the ground up using artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate and accelerate the screening process.

The company has grown to serve over 100,000 organizations and processes approximately 35 million background checks annually. Checkr is particularly dominant in the gig economy, serving roughly 95% of that market-including major players like Uber and Lyft who need to screen high volumes of drivers quickly.

What sets Checkr apart is its API-first approach. The platform integrates with more than 100 applicant tracking systems (ATS) and HR platforms, making it easy to embed background checks directly into your existing hiring workflow. For companies using platforms like Greenhouse, Paylocity, or Rippling, this integration eliminates the need to switch between systems during onboarding.

Checkr pioneered the first background check API, which has become a cornerstone of modern hiring infrastructure. After setup, only a candidate's email address is needed to kick off the entire background screening workflow. The platform uses webhooks to provide real-time status updates, allowing you to trigger additional workflows automatically.

Checkr Pricing Breakdown: What You'll Actually Pay

Understanding Checkr's pricing structure is crucial before committing. The company offers three primary tiers, each adding deeper levels of screening coverage:

Basic+ Plan ($29.99/check): This entry-level option includes SSN trace, sex offender registry search, global watchlist search, and national criminal search. It's suitable for lower-risk positions where you need fundamental screening without extensive depth.

Essential Plan ($54.99/check): Adds county criminal searches to the Basic+ features. This provides more thorough criminal background coverage since county-level records often contain information not found in national databases. The Essential plan also includes a 7-year county criminal records search and comprehensive motor vehicle records search.

Professional Plan ($79.99/check): Includes everything in Essential plus education and employment verifications. This tier is designed for roles requiring credential verification, such as management positions or specialized technical roles.

For companies conducting more than 300 background checks annually, Checkr offers custom volume pricing with discounts. Contact their sales team directly to negotiate enterprise-level agreements that can significantly reduce per-check costs.

Add-On Services and Hidden Costs

Beyond the base packages, Checkr offers numerous add-on services that can significantly increase your total cost:

• Federal criminal searches: $10/check
• Motor vehicle record (MVR) reports: $9.50/check
• Commercial MVR (with CDLIS): $14.50/check
• Continuous criminal monitoring: $1.70/individual per month
• Professional license verifications: $12/check
• Employment verification: $12.50 (current employer) to $50 (10-year history)
• Education verification: $12.50 (1 degree) to $25 (up to 3 degrees)
• Drug testing: Starting at $37 for onsite tests, $60 for clinic-based tests
• International background checks: Starting at $32/check
• Healthcare sanctions (FACIS): Level 1 ($6) and Level 3 ($15.50)

One often-overlooked cost factor is passthrough fees. State and county courts, DMVs, and certain databases charge access fees that Checkr passes through to customers without markup. For example, Pennsylvania charges a $22 fee to access their criminal history database through the Pennsylvania Access to Criminal History (PATCH) system. These fees vary by jurisdiction and can add up, especially if your candidates are spread across multiple states.

Users report that the pricing guide can be unclear about these additional fees, which sometimes leads to unexpected costs. The variations in prices for different searches can make budgeting difficult, particularly when dealing with candidates across multiple counties and states.

Turnaround Times: How Fast Is Checkr Really?

Speed is one of Checkr's strongest competitive advantages. The platform's AI-powered automation delivers significantly faster results than traditional screening providers that rely on manual processes.

According to Checkr's own data, 89% of criminal background checks complete within one hour. The industry average for employment background checks typically ranges from three to five business days, making Checkr substantially faster than most competitors.

Recent benchmarking studies show Checkr's median turnaround time is 1.75 times faster than major competitor HireRight. In fact, 97% of Checkr customers report turnaround times faster than the competition. The platform achieves these speeds through several technological advantages:

Proprietary Data Network: Checkr owns most of the data sources used in background checks-including sources that competitors rely on-ensuring direct access to real-time data without intermediary delays.

AI-Powered Automation: Nearly 99% of all background checks are fully automated after data retrieval, using machine learning and algorithmic matching to deliver faster, more accurate results without sacrificing quality.

Extensive Court Researcher Partnerships: For jurisdictions that require manual courthouse visits, Checkr maintains extensive partnerships with court researchers across the country, ensuring civil and criminal record searches return rapidly.

Turnaround times vary by screening type. Database searches like national criminal record checks and sex offender registry checks often yield results within minutes. County criminal searches may take longer if courts require manual retrieval by a researcher, while state criminal searches are typically faster due to digitized records.

The platform includes an Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) feature that uses machine learning and court data to accurately predict screening turnaround times. Checkr's predictions are 95% accurate within one business day, providing transparency for both hiring teams and candidates.

What Types of Searches Does Checkr Perform?

Understanding exactly what each search covers helps you select the right screening package for different roles:

Criminal Background Checks: Checkr searches county, state, and federal courts to identify criminal records within the lookback period (typically seven years, though some states allow longer). The national criminal search provides broad coverage, while county searches offer the most granular detail since that's where most criminal cases are filed. Checkr's criminal database coverage demonstrates a 62% higher hit rate for criminal records compared to some competitors.

SSN Trace: This search verifies the candidate's Social Security Number and returns a history of addresses and names associated with that SSN. It's foundational for determining which jurisdictions to search for criminal records and helps identify potential identity fraud.

Sex Offender Registry Search: Searches all 50 states' sex offender registries to identify registered offenders. This database search typically returns results within minutes.

Global Watchlist Search: Screens against international databases including terrorism watchlists, sanctions lists, and politically exposed persons (PEP) lists. This is particularly important for financial services and other highly regulated industries.

Motor Vehicle Records: For roles involving driving, MVR checks reveal the candidate's driving history, including violations, suspensions, and accidents. Commercial MVR reports, which include CDLIS (Commercial Driver's License Information System) searches, cost $14.50/check and are essential for commercial driving positions.

Employment and Education Verification: These searches confirm that candidates actually held the positions and earned the degrees they claim. Checkr searches available industry databases and may use email or phone verification to confirm information about current employers. Verification lookback periods range from current employer only to 10 years of history, with pricing scaling accordingly.

Healthcare Sanctions: For healthcare organizations, Checkr searches the Fraud Abuse Control Information System (FACIS) and other databases including the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and System for Award Management (SAM) exclusion lists to ensure candidates aren't prohibited from working in healthcare.

Federal and State Criminal Searches: Federal criminal searches ($10/check) are important because federal records aren't found in county and state searches. State criminal searches vary by jurisdiction-some states have centralized databases while others require county-level searches.

Civil Searches: Both federal and county civil searches reveal whether candidates have been parties in lawsuits, including bankruptcy filings, liens, and judgments. This is particularly relevant for financial positions or roles with fiduciary responsibilities.

Checkr's Technology Advantage: AI and Automation

What truly differentiates Checkr from legacy providers is its technology infrastructure. The platform was built from the ground up as a modern, API-first solution rather than retrofitting old systems.

Charge Classifier: One of Checkr's most powerful features is its AI-powered charge classifier. Depending on the state, county, or jurisdiction, the same criminal charge may be categorized differently, creating confusion during report review. Checkr AI uses machine learning to rapidly categorize criminal charges from different jurisdictions across the country, standardizing reports so they're easy to understand and reducing the risk of manual review errors or inconsistent hiring decisions.

Intelligent Record Matching: The platform uses an intelligent record-matching engine that classifies, sorts, and assigns records to candidates with a very high degree of confidence. This ensures the right criminal record is matched to the right person, minimizing false positives that can delay hiring or lead to adverse action errors.

Automated Adjudication: Checkr's Assess feature provides automated adjudication tools available in multiple tiers. These tools can reduce manual review of records by up to 85% with the most customizable, robust record filtering across 235 criminal record categories. Customers report being able to reallocate up to 75% of adjudication resources to other tasks thanks to these efficiency gains.

Compliance Engine: The platform's compliance engine stays updated with evolving regional laws, automatically filtering out non-reportable information to help ensure adherence to legal standards. When the system detects that a candidate lives or works in jurisdictions with specific regulations (like Los Angeles or New York City), it automatically adjusts compliance procedures.

API Integrations and Technical Capabilities

For organizations with technical resources, Checkr's API capabilities provide unprecedented flexibility in building custom hiring workflows.

The Checkr API offers three endpoints to run the background check process and retrieve status updates, requiring only a candidate's email address to send an invitation. For deeper integration, Checkr offers a report creation flow that enables end-to-end control over the candidate experience and conversion funnel.

The platform integrates with over 100 pre-built ATS and HRIS systems, including industry leaders like Greenhouse, Workday, iCIMS, Gusto, and many others. These integrations eliminate redundancies across platforms for both recruiters and candidates. The API uses RESTful architecture and provides webhooks for real-time notifications, enabling fully automated workflows.

For developers, Checkr provides comprehensive API documentation including code examples, authentication protocols, and testing environments. The platform supports both Checkr-hosted apply flows (where candidates enter information on Checkr's interface) and self-hosted flows (where companies collect candidate information on their own systems).

This technical sophistication makes Checkr particularly attractive to tech companies, gig platforms, and other organizations that need to scale background checks programmatically. The ability to trigger checks automatically based on candidate stage, receive webhooks on status changes, and programmatically manage the entire screening lifecycle provides efficiency that manual systems simply can't match.

Continuous Monitoring: Beyond One-Time Checks

Traditional background checks provide a snapshot at a single point in time. Checkr's Continuous Check products monitor employees' records on an ongoing basis, identifying changes that could pose risks to your organization.

Continuous Criminal Monitoring: For $1.70 per person per month, Continuous Criminal monitoring tracks real-time data sources for changes in employees' criminal records. When Checkr identifies a change in the candidate's history, it automatically kicks off follow-up searches in the appropriate jurisdictions and generates a new background check report.

The system monitors records from the time of enrollment forward (it won't surface records prior to enrollment). Continuous monitoring checks for new reported records at least once monthly, though monitoring frequency depends on how quickly source databases are updated.

Continuous MVR: For organizations with drivers, Continuous MVR represents a significant advancement over traditional annual or quarterly MVR re-runs. The system continuously monitors driver's licenses for new violations and license status changes in real-time.

When Continuous MVR detects a new incident, it automatically runs a full MVR for the driver and applies your adjudication criteria. This approach finds incidents 4+ months sooner than even an MVR rerun program, significantly reducing risk exposure. Checkr uses both state-sponsored notification programs and non-state-sponsored monitoring of criminal and civil traffic court records to provide comprehensive coverage.

Continuous monitoring offers proactive risk management, particularly valuable for organizations in the gig economy, healthcare, financial services, and other industries where ongoing compliance and safety are critical. The combination of automated detection and adjudication rules ensures you're notified of material changes without manually re-running checks.

Important note: Organizations are legally obligated to obtain required consent before enrolling employees in continuous monitoring and must unenroll them if they begin an adverse action process or leave the company. If you use Checkr's automated adverse action features, unenrollment happens automatically; otherwise, you must manage this manually to maintain FCRA compliance.

How Checkr Compares to Alternatives

The background check market includes several established players. Here's how Checkr stacks up:

Checkr vs. Sterling: Sterling, founded in , is one of the oldest names in employment screening. Checkr's advantage lies in its modern, AI-powered platform that automates more of the process. Sterling has acquired multiple companies over the years to modernize but may still involve more manual processing steps. Checkr's technology foundation gives it an edge in speed and scalability, while Sterling may offer more high-touch service for certain enterprise clients.

Checkr vs. Verified First: Verified First emphasizes human expertise combined with technology, claiming a 99.8% accuracy rate through manual review processes. If you prioritize accuracy over speed for high-stakes roles, Verified First may be worth considering. However, Checkr's automated approach typically delivers faster results for high-volume screening without sacrificing accuracy-the company's AI-powered matching achieves high accuracy while processing millions of checks annually.

Checkr vs. Certn: Certn is a newer competitor offering background checks from over 200 countries and 200,000 data sources. For international hiring, Certn's global coverage may offer advantages, though Checkr also supports international screening in 200+ countries and continues to expand its global capabilities.

Checkr vs. HireRight: HireRight is a major competitor that was acquired by private equity firms Stone Point Capital and General Atlantic for $1.65 billion. While HireRight offers comprehensive services, benchmarking studies show Checkr delivers faster turnaround times and higher customer satisfaction scores. HireRight may have stronger presence in certain legacy enterprise accounts, but Checkr's modern platform and superior user experience make it increasingly popular among growing companies.

Checkr vs. First Advantage: First Advantage offers globally-focused enterprise background check services with industry-specific packages. While First Advantage has strong enterprise relationships, recent studies suggest Checkr outpaces First Advantage on average report turnaround time and has a significantly higher hit rate for criminal records.

Checkr vs. GoodHire: Notably, Checkr acquired GoodHire, so the services are now essentially the same with similar pricing starting at $29.99/check. If you're comparing the two, know that they're backed by the same technology and infrastructure.

When to Use Background Checks in Your Hiring Process

Timing matters. Here's a practical framework for implementing background checks effectively:

Post-Offer, Pre-Start: The most common approach is to extend a conditional job offer, then initiate the background check. This protects candidates' privacy (you're not screening everyone who applies) while still giving you time to evaluate results before the start date. Research shows that 73% of organizations with U.S. locations conduct background checks after extending a conditional offer, making this the standard practice in American hiring.

Batch Processing vs. On-Demand: For high-volume hiring, set up automated workflows that trigger background checks when candidates reach a specific stage in your ATS. For occasional hires, on-demand ordering through Checkr's dashboard works fine. The platform's bulk ordering capability allows you to request screens for multiple candidates simultaneously, which is particularly useful during seasonal hiring pushes.

Risk-Based Screening: Not every position requires the same level of scrutiny. A warehouse associate might only need a basic criminal check, while a financial controller handling company funds warrants credit checks, employment verification, and professional license confirmation. Build screening packages matched to role risk levels.

Consider which positions involve:

• Access to sensitive customer or employee data
• Financial responsibilities or access to payment systems
• Driving company vehicles or transporting others
• Working with vulnerable populations (children, elderly, patients)
• Representing your company to clients or the public
• Regulated industries requiring specific clearances

The background check industry is valued at approximately $5.1 billion in revenue, with 93% of organizations reporting they conduct some type of background screening. This widespread adoption reflects the importance employers place on quality of hire and protecting company reputation-51% cite improving quality of hires as a top motivation for background screening.

FCRA Compliance: What You Must Know

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) governs how employers can use background checks in hiring decisions. Non-compliance can result in significant legal liability. Key requirements include:

Disclosure and Authorization: Before running a background check, you must provide candidates with a clear, standalone written disclosure that a background check will be conducted. The candidate must authorize the check in writing. It's critical that the disclosure be a stand-alone document-courts have ruled that employers violated FCRA by including liability waivers, the FCRA Summary of Rights, or other additional information with the disclosure.

Adverse Action Process: If you're considering not hiring someone based on background check results, you must follow a two-step adverse action process:

1. Send a pre-adverse action notice informing the candidate that based on information from their background check, you're considering not moving forward with employment. This must be accompanied by a copy of the background check report and a summary of their rights under the FCRA.
2. Wait a reasonable period (typically 5-7 business days at the federal level, though some states mandate specific waiting periods) to give candidates time to review the report and dispute any inaccuracies or provide additional context.
3. Send a final adverse action notice if you decide to proceed with the adverse decision.

Some state and local laws require additional disclosures and documentation. For example, certain jurisdictions require you to summarize state law rights or identify the specific criminal records that may result in adverse action.

Despite the legal requirements, compliance remains a challenge. Research shows that 70% of survey respondents admit they don't always follow the adverse action process when deciding not to hire a candidate based on background check results. What makes this particularly concerning is that violations and lawsuits are cited as the top concern when conducting background checks-failing to comply with FCRA creates the very risk employers most fear.

Checkr includes built-in compliance tools and adjudication features to help standardize decision-making across candidates. The platform automatically generates candidate notifications and manages mandatory waiting periods. It can automatically mail required notices in jurisdictions that mandate postal delivery. When Checkr detects that a candidate lives or works in cities with specific regulations, it automatically adjusts compliance procedures to meet those requirements.

However, the ultimate responsibility for compliance rests with you as the employer. Checkr's tools can facilitate compliance, but you must ensure your team understands the requirements and follows proper procedures consistently.

Individualized Assessment and Fair Hiring

Beyond basic FCRA compliance, best practices in background screening include conducting individualized assessments before making adverse decisions based on criminal records.

An individualized assessment considers factors such as:

• The nature and gravity of the offense
• The time that has passed since the offense or completion of sentence
• The nature of the job being sought
• Evidence of rehabilitation
• Additional context the candidate provides

Checkr's Candidate Stories feature supports this process by allowing employers to request more information directly from candidates. This gives candidates a voice to share additional context about their records, prior circumstances, and efforts they've made to better themselves. The feature streamlines communication while documenting the individualized assessment process.

Creating and documenting clear criteria for which offenses would or wouldn't adversely affect an employment decision helps ensure consistency across candidates and protects against discrimination claims. Training your adjudicators and hiring managers on these processes is essential for fair, compliant hiring.

Checkr's Assess tool helps by filtering records from candidate reports that aren't relevant to the role and easily initiating the adverse action process when necessary. The system's automated adjudication filters and AI-powered tools help ensure consistent, compliant hiring decisions across your organization.

Industry Trends Shaping Background Screening

The background screening industry continues to evolve rapidly, driven by technological innovation, regulatory changes, and shifting workforce dynamics.

Growth of Continuous Monitoring: The global online background check market is estimated to reach $27.29 billion by , with continuous monitoring representing one of the fastest-growing segments. As organizations navigate remote and hybrid work models, traditional one-time pre-employment checks have proven insufficient. Continuous monitoring enables companies to regularly assess employees' backgrounds throughout their tenure.

Automation and AI Adoption: Automation reduces operational costs and improves accuracy. AI-powered systems can analyze vast amounts of information efficiently and detect anomalies that may indicate potential risks. This technological shift is enabling faster, more accurate screening at lower costs.

International Screening Complexity: As remote work enables companies to hire globally, demand for international background checks has surged. However, diverse legal and regulatory environments across countries create challenges. Each region has unique requirements, necessitating specialized screening approaches that comply with local regulations and international standards like GDPR.

Focus on Candidate Experience: Modern candidates expect transparency and speed in the hiring process. Background check providers that offer mobile-optimized experiences, real-time status tracking, and clear communication have competitive advantages. Checkr's candidate portal allows job seekers to track their background check status, provide information quickly via mobile devices, and get answers to questions without contacting HR.

Ban the Box and Fair Chance Hiring: Many jurisdictions have implemented "ban the box" laws that prohibit asking about criminal history on job applications. These laws aim to give individuals with criminal records a fair chance at employment by ensuring they're evaluated on qualifications first. This regulatory trend requires sophisticated adjudication tools that can account for regional variations in reporting requirements.

Beyond Traditional Background Checks: Building a Complete Verification Stack

Background checks are just one piece of candidate verification. Smart hiring teams combine multiple data sources to build a complete picture:

Email and Contact Verification: Before you can even begin screening a candidate, you need accurate contact information. Our Email Verifier tool helps ensure the email addresses in your applicant tracking system are valid and deliverable, reducing bounced communications during the hiring process. Invalid emails can delay background checks and create frustrating candidate experiences.

Finding Candidate Contact Information: Sometimes candidates provide incomplete information or you need to reach out to passive candidates. Our Email Finder can help you locate professional email addresses when you have a candidate's name and company, while the Mobile Number Finder helps locate accurate phone numbers for interviews or verification calls.

Employment History Deep Dives: While services like Checkr verify employment dates and titles, they don't tell you about actual performance. Consider combining formal verification with reference checks and LinkedIn profile analysis to understand what candidates actually accomplished in previous roles. Our Background Checker tool can supplement formal screening with preliminary research.

Technology Stack Research: For technical positions, understanding what technologies candidates have actually worked with is crucial. Our Tech Stack Scraper can help verify the technical environments at candidates' previous employers, giving you context about their claimed experience.

Company Research: Understanding a candidate's previous employers provides valuable context. Our B2B Company Finder helps you research companies where candidates previously worked, giving you insights into company size, industry, and business model that inform your evaluation.

Running Your Own Preliminary Checks

Before paying for formal background screening, you can conduct preliminary due diligence on candidates. Our Background Checker tool provides comprehensive reports with trust scores, helping you identify potential concerns early in the hiring process.

This approach is particularly useful for:

• Initial screening of large candidate pools before investing in full checks
• Verifying basic information about freelancers or contractors
• Quick preliminary research before scheduling interviews
• Validating information provided on resumes and applications
• Budget-conscious small businesses that need to prioritize formal screening budget

While preliminary checks don't replace FCRA-compliant employment screening for final hiring decisions, they can help you allocate your screening budget more efficiently by identifying candidates who warrant deeper investigation. Think of preliminary checks as a filter that helps you decide which candidates justify the investment in comprehensive formal background screening.

For sales professionals and recruiters building candidate pipelines, combining these preliminary verification tools with formal background checks creates a comprehensive approach to candidate validation. This layered strategy improves hiring quality while managing costs effectively.

Implementation Best Practices

Successfully implementing Checkr (or any background screening program) requires more than just signing up for an account. Consider these best practices:

Document Your Screening Policy: Create a written policy that specifies which positions require which types of checks, your decision-making criteria, and your adverse action procedures. This documentation protects you legally and ensures consistency.

Train Your Team: Everyone involved in hiring should understand FCRA requirements, your company's screening policies, and how to use the background check platform. Many compliance failures result from well-intentioned staff who simply don't know the proper procedures.

Configure Automated Workflows: Take advantage of Checkr's ATS integrations to automate check initiation when candidates reach appropriate hiring stages. This reduces manual work and ensures checks aren't forgotten.

Set Up Custom Packages: Rather than selecting checks ad-hoc for each candidate, create standardized packages for different role types. This speeds the process and ensures consistency.

Monitor Your Metrics: Use Checkr's analytics features to track turnaround times, adjudication rates, and adverse action consistency. These metrics help you identify process bottlenecks and ensure fair hiring practices.

Regular Compliance Reviews: Background check laws change frequently. Schedule regular reviews of your screening program to ensure ongoing compliance with federal, state, and local regulations.

Making the Right Choice for Your Organization

Checkr works well for organizations that need:

• High-volume, fast turnaround background checks
• Deep ATS and HRIS integration capabilities
• Self-service platform with minimal manual intervention
• Gig economy or contractor screening at scale
• Modern, API-first technology for custom integrations
• AI-powered adjudication and compliance tools
• Continuous monitoring of employees post-hire
• Mobile-optimized candidate experience

Consider alternatives if you need:

• High-touch customer service and dedicated account management
• Industry-specific screening packages pre-configured for compliance
• Maximum emphasis on manual review over automated processing
• Very low-volume screening (fewer than 10 checks per year)
• Primary focus on international checks outside North America

The background check market is competitive, and pricing is relatively comparable across major providers. Focus less on finding the cheapest option and more on finding the right fit for your hiring volume, integration requirements, and risk tolerance. The cost of a bad hire far exceeds the difference between background check providers.

Most employers pay between $30-$100 per candidate for standard pre-employment background checks. When evaluating total cost of ownership, consider not just per-check pricing but also compliance support, technology platform capabilities, turnaround times, and how well the solution integrates with your existing hiring infrastructure.

Checkr's combination of speed, automation, compliance tools, and integrations makes it particularly attractive for tech-forward companies, high-growth startups, staffing agencies, and gig platforms. The platform's modern architecture and continuous innovation keep it at the forefront of the industry. With its G2 Leader status, Forbes Cloud 100 recognition for seven consecutive years, and the highest NPS score in the background check industry, Checkr has established itself as a top choice for organizations that value both speed and quality in employment screening.