Background check API pricing, worked out by volume
$0.15 a search, $0.11 past 2,000 a month. Criminal records and sex offender registries on one key. 25 free searches to start, no card, no seats, no minimum.
The rate card
One metered price per search, the same for a criminal search and a registry search. Everything else is optional.
| Item | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Search (first 2,000 a month) | $0.15 | Sex offender or criminal; a batch row counts as one |
| Search (after 2,000 a month) | $0.11 | Graduated, so the monthly total never drops |
| Live re-verification | $0.02 / source | Optional; capped at $2.00 per search |
| Verification PDF | $0.02 | Only when you request one |
| Person monitor | $3 / month | Alerts when a person’s records change |
| Location monitor | $10 / month | Alerts for an address and radius (registry data) |
| Free trial | 25 searches | Real data, no card |
What a month costs at your volume
Search charges only, before optional add-ons. The effective per-search rate falls as volume grows because every search past 2,000 is billed at the lower rate.
| Searches / month | Monthly cost | Effective per search |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | $15.00 | $0.1500 |
| 500 | $75.00 | $0.1500 |
| 1,000 | $150.00 | $0.1500 |
| 2,000 | $300.00 | $0.1500 |
| 5,000 | $630.00 | $0.1260 |
| 10,000 | $1,180.00 | $0.1180 |
| 25,000 | $2,830.00 | $0.1132 |
| 50,000 | $5,580.00 | $0.1116 |
| 100,000 | $11,080.00 | $0.1108 |
Screening the same person against both criminal records and sex offender registries is two searches. Need a volume above these figures or annual terms? Talk to us.
Per-call API pricing vs per-report pricing
Most background check pricing you will find is per finished report. That is a different product, and the difference matters when you build screening into software.
| Typical per-report pricing | This API | |
|---|---|---|
| Unit you pay for | A finished report or package | A search, returned as structured records |
| Typical price | Often $15–$50 per report | $0.15, then $0.11 |
| Commitment | Packages, contracts or quotes are common | None — metered, cancel any time |
| Turnaround | Hours to days for some searches | The same call, with an async option for long searches |
| Who handles consent and adverse action | The screening company | You, or your screening company — hiring and tenant decisions run as FCRA workflows |
The right comparison depends on what you are building. If you need a finished, FCRA-regulated report for a hiring or tenant decision, you are buying from a screening company — or, if you are one, through FCRA Partner Access. If you are building trust and safety into a platform, screening volunteers, or adding a registry and criminal check to your own product, per-call pricing on structured data is usually cheaper by an order of magnitude, and you keep the workflow in your own software.
Six ways teams control their API bill
Send a date of birth
A full date of birth narrows a search to the right person, so fewer results need a second look, and fewer re-runs are needed.
Search once, store the answer
Keep the record citations with your decision instead of searching the same person again for each review.
Monitor instead of re-screening
A $3 person monitor alerts you when records change, which is cheaper than re-running a monthly search on long-term workers or volunteers.
Use live re-verification only where it matters
It is optional and per source — turn it on for the jurisdictions where freshness changes the decision.
Batch your re-screens
A CSV or JSON batch runs a whole roster in one request, billed per row at the same rate.
Pick the right product per question
A registry check alone answers a registry question; add a criminal search only when you need criminal history too.
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.
FCRA pricing is quoted per partner, so contact us for pricing.
Background check API pricing questions
How much does a background check API cost?
On this API, $0.15 per search, dropping to $0.11 for every search past 2,000 in a calendar month. There is no setup fee, no per-seat licence and no minimum spend. Employment-screening companies typically price a finished report per check, often in the $15–$50 range; this is the data layer underneath, priced per call.
Is there a free background check API?
Every new account gets 25 free searches on real data with no card and no sales call. After that it is metered — there is no permanent free tier, and no floor either, so a proof of concept costs a few dollars.
Does the rate drop for every search once I pass 2,000?
No. The rate is graduated: the first 2,000 searches in a month are $0.15 each and every search after that is $0.11. So your monthly total never goes down when you cross the threshold — it just grows more slowly.
Are criminal records priced differently from sex offender searches?
A criminal search and a sex offender search are both metered as one search at the same rate, on the same key. Running both for one person counts as two searches.
What costs extra?
Two optional add-ons. Live re-verification adds $0.02 per completed source, capped at $2.00 a search. A verification PDF adds $0.02 per document, only when you ask for one. Monitoring is a monthly subscription: $3 per person, $10 per location.
How is a batch upload billed?
Per row, at the same rate as a single search. A 1,000-row CSV is 1,000 searches.
Do failed or empty searches cost money?
A search that runs and finds no records is still a search — "no record found" is the answer you are paying for, and it is backed by the per-source status on the response.
How is FCRA screening priced?
FCRA workflows — for hiring and tenant decisions — run through FCRA Partner Access under a written agreement and are priced per partner by volume and purpose. Contact us for pricing; the per-call rates on this page are for the standard API.
Related: background check API · integration guide · criminal background check API · top 5 background check APIs compared · full pricing
Price it on your own data
25 free searches, no card. Run your real list and see what it costs before you commit to anything.
The Offendersearch APIs
One account, one key, one bill — the sex offender registry and criminal records, side by side.
Sex offender registry
- Sex offender API — One call across 58 US sex offender registries, with scored matches and a citation on every record.
- Sex offender search API — Endpoints, request shapes, record fields, matching and batch, in detail.
- Sex offender database — The national registry data in one schema — photos, aliases, offenses, addresses.
- Registered offender database — What a registered offender record holds, and how its accuracy is measured.
- Bulk sex offender search — Screen a whole list of names in one upload or one API call.
Criminal records
- Criminal records API — County, state and federal records — jail, prison, court and warrant — through one API.
- Criminal background check API — One cited answer per person for onboarding and screening flows.
- Criminal search API — The search endpoint itself: parameters, record types and coverage, call by call.
- Background check API — The registry and criminal layers together, on one key and one bill.
- Employment background check API — The registry and criminal data layer for HR, ATS and screening platforms.
- Bulk criminal record search — Run a list of names against criminal records in one call.
Build with it
- API documentation — Quickstart, every endpoint, the record object and the OpenAPI spec.
- Background check API integration — Keys, the first call, async and webhooks, batch, monitoring and errors, step by step.
- MCP server for offender search — Give Claude and other AI agents the same search as a tool.
- Offendersearch vs offenders.io — A side-by-side comparison of the two registry APIs.