An affordable background check API: $0.15 a call, no minimum.
An affordable background check API for software teams: $0.15 a call, $0.11 for every call past 2,000 in a month, and nothing in a month you make none. One call searches 58 US sex offender registries; one more searches criminal records across more than a thousand county, state and federal jurisdictions. No seats, no setup fee, no contract.
25 free calls · No card · $0.15 a call, $0.11 past 2,000 a monthNo code? Run the same search in the screening dashboard ›curl https://api.offendersearch.app/v1/search \
-H "X-API-Key: $OFFENDERSEARCH_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"query": {
"firstName": "John",
"lastName": "Doe",
"dob": "1980-04-12"
}
}'Affordable background check API pricing — what $0.15 a call includes
A low headline price only matters if the call is useful on its own. These are part of every search at the base rate — none is an add-on.
| Included in the $0.15 call | What it means for your integration |
|---|---|
| 58 US sex offender registries | The 50 states, DC and the US territories in one request — no per-state contracts or integrations. |
| Scored, explained matches | Every record carries matchConfidence, matchBasis and matchState, so your code can tell a date-of-birth match from a name-only one. |
| Nicknames, aliases and spelling variants | Match tolerance is a request option at the base price, not a per-call surcharge. |
| Registry photos | Returned in images[] wherever the registry publishes one, at no extra charge. |
| Radius, city, county and ZIP search | Location search is the same $0.15 call; a location-only search includes 10,000 records a month. |
| A citation on every record | Each record names the registry that holds it, so an answer can be checked. |
| A completeness signal | counts.sourcesIncomplete tells you whether all 58 registries were searched to the end, so an empty answer is never a guess. |
| Criminal records on the same key | A criminal search — jail bookings, prison custody, court cases, warrants and federal custody — is billed exactly like a registry search. |
Cheap background check API costs, priced per person screened
The useful number is what one screened person costs, not one call. A registry check is one call; registry plus criminal is two. Monthly totals below are computed from the published schedule.
| Use case | Volume | Calls a month | Monthly cost | Per person |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volunteer roster, re-screened once a year | 600 volunteers | 600 registry + 600 criminal, in one month | $180.00 | $0.30 |
| Front-desk visitor check-in | 1 site, ~40 visitors a day, 20 days | 800 registry calls a month | $120.00 | $0.15 |
| Marketplace onboarding | 2,500 new providers a month | 2,500 registry + 2,500 criminal | $630.00 | $0.25 |
| Platform screening at scale | 25,000 new members a month | 25,000 registry calls | $2,830.00 | $0.11 |
$0.15 for each of the first 2,000 calls in a calendar month, $0.11 for every call after. A batch is billed per row, so screening a roster costs the same per person as checking one name. The month-by-month maths at more volumes is on background check API pricing.
Low cost background check API comparison — published prices only
Every competitor figure here is the vendor’s own published price. Per-report products and per-call lookups are different things, so read the unit column before the price column.
| Provider and product | Unit | Published price | Extra fees the vendor lists |
|---|---|---|---|
| OffenderSearch API | One search call | $0.15, then $0.11 past 2,000 a month | None on a name search. Optional: live re-verification +$0.02 a source ($2.00 cap), PDF +$0.02 |
| offenders.io On Demand | One request | First 50 a month free, next 2,000 at $0.20, then $0.15 | Fuzzy matching +$0.02 a call, Extensive Mode +$0.05 a call, verification report $7.99 |
| Checkr Basic | One report | From $29.99 | Pass-through court and database fees not included |
| Checkr Essential | One report | From $59.99 | Pass-through fees not included |
| Checkr Complete | One report | From $94.99 | Pass-through fees not included |
| Checkr Trust (public records) | Quote | No published price | — |
Prices as published on offenders.io/pricing and checkr.com/pricing, read 17 October 2026. A Checkr report is an FCRA consumer report with identity and compliance steps included; a call here returns public records for your own software. That is a difference of product, not just of price — the pay-as-you-go background check API page explains the three pricing models, and the OffenderSearch vs offenders.io page compares the two registry APIs feature by feature.
Our pick: OffenderSearch — the lowest published per-call rates in this table, with no minimum on search and no listed surcharge for fuzzy matching, photos or radius search.
Inexpensive background check API at volume — two per-call schedules
Both providers below publish per-call prices, so here the totals do compare like for like. Base calls only; each provider’s add-ons are listed above.
| Calls a month | OffenderSearch (our pick) | offenders.io On Demand | You save with OffenderSearch |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | $75.00 | $90.00 | $15.00 |
| 2,000 | $300.00 | $390.00 | $90.00 |
| 5,000 | $630.00 | $842.50 | $212.50 |
| 20,000 | $2,280.00 | $3,092.50 | $812.50 |
| 100,000 | $11,080.00 | $15,092.50 | $4,012.50 |
Our pick: OffenderSearch — lower on base calls at every volume shown, computed from each provider’s published per-call schedule.
Hidden fees in a cheap background check API — the checklist
A low per-check price can hide the real bill. These are the lines to look for on any price list before you integrate, and where each one stands here.
| Fee to ask about | OffenderSearch (our pick) | Where it usually shows up elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| Pass-through court fees | None — the call price is the price | County court and database access added to a per-report price |
| Monthly minimum | None on the search API | A committed spend charged whether you search or not |
| Seat licences | None — add teammates freely | A fee per teammate with a dashboard login |
| Setup or platform fee | None | An onboarding charge or a monthly platform line |
| Annual contract | None — pay as you go; committed rates only if you ask | Volume pricing tied to a 12-month term |
| Matching surcharges | Included in the call | Fuzzy, nickname or alias matching billed per call |
| Photo or detail surcharges | Photos included where the registry publishes one | Images or extended detail sold as an add-on |
| Per-page billing | A name search is one call however many records it returns | Each page of a long result billed as a new search |
| Failed-search billing | A live source that fails is reported and not billed | Charges for a check that did not complete |
How to keep background check API costs low — eight habits
- 01Send the date of birth. It narrows the search to the right person, so fewer candidates reach a human reviewer — and reviewer time costs more than any API call. See date of birth matching.
- 02Run the registry check first. For many safety checks it is the question that matters; add the criminal search only where your policy uses it.
- 03Use Regular mode by default. The continuously updated answer is the base rate. Send a
liveblock only when a decision needs re-verification at the moment of the check; it is +$0.02 a completed source, capped at $2.00. - 04Batch rosters.
POST /v1/batchtakes up to 1,000 rows in one request and bills each row at the graduated rate — no premium for bulk. See batch. - 05Store
personRef, not the whole result. It identifies the person behind a listing across re-runs, so you recognise a known match without paying to re-investigate it. - 06Choose re-checks or monitors deliberately. A yearly re-check is $0.15. A person monitor is $3 a month and checked continuously — worth it where a change between visits matters, not as a default.
- 07Generate PDFs only when someone asks. A verification report is a separate $0.02 call within 7 days of the search; most integrations store the
searchIdand render nothing. - 08Let volume do the rest. The rate drops to $0.11 automatically past 2,000 calls in a month; at sustained high volume, ask for a committed rate.
Making a hiring or tenant decision? Use an FCRA workflow.
FCRA workflows are built primarily for tenant screening and hiring decisions. If a result will help decide whether to hire someone or rent to them, the check has to run as an FCRA-regulated consumer report, with a permissible purpose, consent, accuracy controls and a dispute path for the person. Our standard search and API are not a consumer report. FCRA workflows run through FCRA Partner Access, for background check companies and screening platforms under a written FCRA agreement.
What a cheap background check API must not cut
The cheapest call is the one you never have to make twice. Three things a low price should never buy you out of.
Partial answers shown as clear
A search that could not reach the end of a registry must say so. Here, status and counts.sourcesIncomplete report it on every response, so “no records” is never really “not searched”.
Name-only matches treated as identity
Matching a registry on a name alone is how screening goes wrong. matchState separates a full date-of-birth match from a year, an age or no birth evidence at all.
Records with no citation
Every record names the registry or court system that holds it, so a reviewer can check the result rather than trust it.
Try the affordable background check API free
Every new business account gets 25 free calls on real data — no card and no sales call. Trial searches include a name and return up to 50 records each, with the same schema, scoring and citations as a paid key. Add a card when you are ready and the same key keeps working at $0.15 a call. More on the free background check API page.
The first call is in the quickstart; the product itself is on the background check API page; and if you are screening visitors at a front desk, the visitor screening API page works the same price through a check-in flow.
Affordable background check API questions
What is the cheapest background check API?
How much does a background check API cost per search?
Is there a monthly minimum or subscription?
Are there pass-through court fees?
Why is a per-call API so much cheaper than a background check report?
Can I use a low-cost background check API for hiring decisions?
Does a cheaper API mean less coverage?
Do failed or empty searches cost money?
Is bulk screening cheaper?
Can I get a lower committed rate?
Affordable background check API — start with 25 free calls
No card, no sales call. Then $0.15 a call, $0.11 past 2,000 a month, and no minimum.