Employment Background Check Software 2026: Published Prices vs Quote-Based Vendors

Screening vendors get compared on feature grids far more often than on price. That is backwards. Price, and whether a vendor will tell you it without a sales call, is what shapes the decision.

We checked seven vendors’ own pricing pages in October 2026. The rates they publish differ from what third-party roundups report, so everything below comes from the vendors themselves.

Only two of seven vendors publish their rates

Vendor	Entry per report	Top tier	Rates published?
Checkr	$29.99	$94.99	Yes, in full
GoodHire	$29.99	$94.99	Yes, in full
HireRight	Quote	Quote	Pricing page lists no figures
Sterling	Quote	Quote	No
Accurate Background	Quote	Quote	No
AssureHire	Quote	Quote	No
ClearChecks	Pay per report	Quote	No, see note below

That split is the most useful finding here, and it is rarely what comparison articles lead with. Five of the seven treat price as a conversation.

If you are budgeting a whole hiring stack rather than screening alone, our breakdown of ATS pricing by team size covers the other half of the bill.

Checkr and GoodHire charge the same because they are the same company

Checkr publishes Basic at $29.99 per report, Essential at $59.99 and Complete at $94.99, plus a custom Enterprise tier. GoodHire publishes $29.99, $59.99 and $94.99.

The rates match because GoodHire is a Checkr subsidiary.

If both sit on your evaluation list as independent options, you are comparing two products from one company at one price. A matching quote from the second is not competitive validation.

The sticker price is a floor, not a total

Checkr’s pricing page states that its rates exclude standard third-party court and database access fees, which are passed through at cost with no markup.

This matters more than it first appears. County criminal searches draw on courthouse records, and access fees vary by jurisdiction.

The same package therefore costs different amounts depending on where your candidates live. Ask every vendor for a blended per-check cost modelled on your actual hiring geography, not a package price.

What a standard package contains

Checkr’s tiers are a useful reference for what the market treats as standard, because they are published in full:

• Basic, $29.99 — SSN trace, sex offender registry, global watchlist, national criminal search
• Essential, $59.99 — adds identity verification and unlimited county criminal search
• Complete, $94.99 — adds unlimited state criminal search and federal criminal search

The step from Basic to Essential is where county-level searching begins, and that is also where results take longer. Courthouse retrieval takes time at every vendor, so depth and speed trade against each other regardless of who you buy from.

A note on ClearChecks

As of October 2026 the ClearChecks domain redirects to BackgroundChecks.com, which describes itself as serving more than 100,000 companies and states it charges per report with no setup fees and no contracts, with volume discounts on request.

It publishes no rates publicly. Treat ClearChecks and BackgroundChecks.com as the same operation when drawing up a vendor list.

Why we are not publishing a turnaround comparison

Because the vendors largely do not publish one. Checkr’s pricing page offers only that 97% of customers say its turnaround times are faster than the competition, which is a satisfaction statistic rather than a service level.

Third-party roundups quote specific figures for every vendor here. We could not verify any of them against vendor documentation, so they are not reproduced.

If turnaround drives your decision, ask each vendor for a stated service level for the exact package you intend to buy, and confirm whether that figure describes a database check or a full county search. The two differ by days.

Matching a vendor to your situation

You need to model cost before contacting sales. Checkr and GoodHire are the only two here that allow it, at identical rates.

You run high-volume or seasonal hiring. Per-report pricing with no contract suits a variable pipeline. The same logic applies to your tracking system, which we cover in the best ATS for retail and hospitality hiring.

You hire into regulated roles, internationally, or need credential verification. Sterling, HireRight and Accurate Background are built for that depth. All are quote-only, so plan for a procurement cycle rather than a self-serve signup.

You have steady annual hiring volume. Ask AssureHire and BackgroundChecks.com about program and volume pricing, which converts a variable cost into a planned one.

Six questions to ask before signing

1. What is the blended per-check cost, including court access fees, for our hiring geography?
2. Does the quoted turnaround describe a full county criminal search or a database check?
3. What does a re-run or re-screen cost? Disputes are routine and often priced separately.
4. Which applicant tracking system does it integrate with natively? Manual candidate data entry is where most screening errors begin, and a native integration removes it. Our ATS implementation guide covers sequencing the two rollouts.
5. Who issues the pre-adverse and adverse action notices required under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the vendor or us?
6. What is the dispute resolution service level? Candidates can dispute findings, and your start date moves while they do.

Frequently asked questions

How much does employment background check software cost?

Checkr and GoodHire both publish $29.99 for an entry package, $59.99 mid-tier and $94.99 for their most complete report. Those rates exclude third-party court and database access fees, which are passed through at cost. HireRight, Sterling, Accurate Background and AssureHire quote on request.

Which background check vendors publish their pricing?

Checkr and GoodHire publish full per-check rates. HireRight maintains a pricing page that lists no figures. Sterling, Accurate Background and AssureHire quote on request.

Are Checkr and GoodHire the same company?

GoodHire is a Checkr subsidiary, and both publish identical per-check pricing.

Why does the same background check cost more in some locations?

County criminal searches depend on courthouse record access, and those fees vary by jurisdiction. Vendors generally pass them through at cost, so an identical package carries a different total depending on where candidates are located.

Pricing verified against vendor pricing pages on 2 October 2026. Rates change, so confirm current figures with the vendor before you commit.