Best overall Checkr alternative: OffenderSearch
- The lowest published price per check here — $0.15 a search, $0.11 past 2,000 a month, against Checkr’s $29.99 entry report.
- Live in minutes — a production API key at sign-up, 25 free searches, no card and no sales call.
- An answer in the request — 58 US sex offender registries in one call, plus court, jail, prison, warrant and federal records on the same key, each match scored and cited.
- Built for volume — batches of 1,000 people, CSV upload, and monitoring from $3 a month.
Disclosure: OffenderSearch is our product. For an FCRA hiring or tenant decision, use OffenderSearch FCRA orders through FCRA Partner Access; standard lookups are not a consumer report.
Checkr alternatives compared: the 2026 table Ten options, on the rows that decide the choice.
Every price here was taken from the vendor's own website in October 2026 and nothing else — no review-site figures. Where a vendor publishes no price, we say so.
| Alternative | Best for | What it is | Published price | API | Self-serve sign-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OffenderSearch | Registry and criminal-record lookups from code | Registry and criminal search API, with FCRA orders through FCRA Partner Access | $0.15 a search, $0.11 past 2,000 a month; 25 free | Public docs, production key at sign-up — API docs | Yes, no card |
| Checkr (the baseline) | API-first FCRA employment screening | FCRA consumer reporting agency | Basic $29.99, Essential $59.99, Complete $94.99 a report, plus pass-through fees | Public docs; account credentialed by Checkr | Account sign-up; API by credentialing |
| GoodHire | Small teams that want Checkr’s packages in a simpler wrapper | FCRA consumer reporting agency (a Checkr company) | Basic $29.99, Essential $59.99, Complete $94.99 a check; quote above 50 checks a year | No API documentation linked from its pricing page | Yes |
| Certn | The lowest published US entry price, and international screening | Screening platform and CRA | US Core Criminal $13.99; Complete Criminal $49.99; Complete+ $79.99 | Public API docs linked from its background screening API page | Yes |
| First Advantage (incl. Sterling) | Large, global and regulated employers | FCRA consumer reporting agency | Not published; quote through sales | Developer portal and sandbox, per its API page | No, sales-led |
| HireRight | Enterprise and global employment screening | FCRA consumer reporting agency | See HireRight — no price we could read on its site | The HireRight Connect API | See HireRight |
| iprospectcheck | Small businesses comparing low published package prices | FCRA consumer reporting agency | Basic $24.95, Standard $49.95, Premium $79.95, Healthcare $89.95 | No public API documentation found | Yes |
| Verified First | Teams that want published packages and no minimums | FCRA consumer reporting agency | Basic $29.99, Essential $54.99, Premium $79.99 | Mentions an API; no public documentation found | No, contact to start |
| backgroundchecks.com | Pay-as-you-go employment checks with a developer API | FCRA consumer reporting agency | “Pricing starts at $29.99 per check. No contracts. No minimums.” | Developer guide and API docs with a sandbox | Yes |
| Accurate Background | Mid-market and enterprise programs | FCRA consumer reporting agency | Not published; quote through sales | A background check API product page | No, contact sales |
| Vetty | Employers that prefer a quote-based, assisted setup | FCRA consumer reporting agency | Not published; quote | No public API documentation found | Get-started form |
Prices as each vendor publishes them, read October 2026; package contents differ, so a lower headline is not always a like-for-like saving. All names are trademarks of their owners; this page is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them. Standard OffenderSearch lookups are not a consumer report; FCRA orders run through FCRA Partner Access.
Our pick: OffenderSearch — the only option in this table priced per search ($0.15) rather than per report, with a production key at sign-up and 25 free searches. For an FCRA hiring report, pick a consumer reporting agency from the rows below it.
The best Checkr alternatives, one by one What each is for, what it costs, and the catch.
- 01
OffenderSearch — best for registry and criminal-record lookups from code
Our product, listed first because it is the alternative for a different job: one call searches the 58 US sex offender registries, and a second searches court, jail, prison, warrant and federal records, both answered in the same request with each match scored and cited. Pricing is per search and published. It is not a consumer reporting agency, so it does not replace Checkr for hiring; it replaces paying report prices for lookup questions — rosters, sign-ups, re-checks, trust and safety, and AI agents that call the API.
Published price: $0.15 a search, $0.11 past 2,000 a month; 25 free. API: Public docs, production key at sign-up — API docs. Self-serve: Yes, no card.
Worth knowing: Hiring and tenant decisions run as FCRA orders through FCRA Partner Access and the FCRA Orders API; standard lookups are for safety and risk checks, not a consumer report.
- 02
GoodHire — best for small teams that want Checkr’s packages in a simpler wrapper
GoodHire is owned by Checkr, and its published packages carry the same names, contents and prices as Checkr’s. Choosing it over Checkr is a choice of interface and support model for small-volume hiring, not of a different screening provider. For a genuinely different vendor, look further down this list.
Published price: Basic $29.99, Essential $59.99, Complete $94.99 a check; quote above 50 checks a year. API: No API documentation linked from its pricing page. Self-serve: Yes.
Worth knowing: Same package prices as Checkr; third-party fees may apply on top.
- 03
Certn — best for the lowest published US entry price, and international screening
Certn publishes the lowest US entry price on this list. Read the tiers carefully: Core Criminal includes an SSN trace, national database, sex offender registry and watchlist search, with a county search that is contingent and charged at $9.99 when it runs; Complete Criminal adds a seven-year county search. It also screens outside the US and has a developer API.
Published price: US Core Criminal $13.99; Complete Criminal $49.99; Complete+ $79.99. API: Public API docs linked from its background screening API page. Self-serve: Yes.
Worth knowing: A contingent county search is not the same as Checkr Essential’s unlimited county searches — compare tier contents, not just the headline.
- 04
First Advantage (incl. Sterling) — best for large, global and regulated employers
Sterling is now a First Advantage company, so the two names on many older lists are one vendor. It is the enterprise end of the market: managed programs, account teams, industry packages and integrations into HR systems, with a developer portal and a sandbox. It fits when procurement and a vendor-risk review are part of the purchase.
Published price: Not published; quote through sales. API: Developer portal and sandbox, per its API page. Self-serve: No, sales-led.
Worth knowing: No published price; plan for a sales cycle.
- 05
HireRight — best for enterprise and global employment screening
HireRight is a long-standing employment screening provider for large and international employers, with the Connect API for integrating screening into HR systems. Its pricing page did not show a price when we checked, so we list none here rather than repeat a third-party figure.
Published price: See HireRight — no price we could read on its site. API: The HireRight Connect API. Self-serve: See HireRight.
Worth knowing: Confirm current pricing directly with HireRight.
- 06
iprospectcheck — best for small businesses comparing low published package prices
iprospectcheck publishes per-package prices for low-volume buyers (its 25–50 checks a year tier), from $24.95 for Basic, plus a healthcare package. Pass-through costs and alias searches are extra, and volume above 50 checks a year is quoted.
Published price: Basic $24.95, Standard $49.95, Premium $79.95, Healthcare $89.95. API: No public API documentation found. Self-serve: Yes.
Worth knowing: Pass-through fees and aliases are charged on top of the package price.
- 07
Verified First — best for teams that want published packages and no minimums
Verified First publishes three packages and states that it has no minimum screening requirements; an enterprise tier is custom. Onboarding starts with a conversation rather than a self-serve account.
Published price: Basic $29.99, Essential $54.99, Premium $79.99. API: Mentions an API; no public documentation found. Self-serve: No, contact to start.
Worth knowing: Starts with a sales contact.
- 08
backgroundchecks.com — best for pay-as-you-go employment checks with a developer API
backgroundchecks.com sells per-check employment screening with no contract or minimum, a create-account sign-up, and developer API documentation with a sandbox. It does not publish named package tiers, only the starting price.
Published price: “Pricing starts at $29.99 per check. No contracts. No minimums.”. API: Developer guide and API docs with a sandbox. Self-serve: Yes.
Worth knowing: Only the starting price is published; confirm what it includes.
- 09
Accurate Background — best for mid-market and enterprise programs
Accurate is a full employment screening provider with an API product for integrating checks into HR and applicant tracking software. Pricing is by quote.
Published price: Not published; quote through sales. API: A background check API product page. Self-serve: No, contact sales.
Worth knowing: No published price.
- 10
Vetty — best for employers that prefer a quote-based, assisted setup
Vetty offers employment screening that starts from a get-started or demo form; it does not publish prices on its site, so cost comparison needs a quote.
Published price: Not published; quote. API: No public API documentation found. Self-serve: Get-started form.
Worth knowing: No published price.
OffenderSearch is our product and our pick, ranked first for the reasons above; the nine screening providers after it are in no ranked order. 9 providers, all trademarks of their respective owners.
Cheaper than Checkr? Checkr competitors by published price Lower headline, or lower bill — they are not the same thing.
Checkr's entry package is $29.99 a report. Here is every published price we could verify, per check, lowest first, with the catch for each.
| Vendor and package | Published price | Like-for-like note |
|---|---|---|
| OffenderSearch registry or criminal search — our pick | $0.15 a search ($0.11 past 2,000 a month) | The lowest published price per check on this page, answered in the request; FCRA orders through FCRA Partner Access |
| Certn US Core Criminal | $13.99 | County search is contingent and adds $9.99 when it runs |
| iprospectcheck Basic | $24.95 | Pass-through fees and aliases extra; 25–50 checks a year tier |
| backgroundchecks.com | from $29.99 | Starting price only; no named tiers published |
| Checkr Basic / GoodHire Basic | $29.99 | Same package at both brands; pass-through fees may apply |
| Verified First Basic | $29.99 | No minimums stated |
| Certn US Complete Criminal | $49.99 | Includes a seven-year county search |
| Verified First Essential | $54.99 | — |
| Checkr Essential / GoodHire Essential | $59.99 | Adds identity verification and unlimited county searches |
| Checkr Complete / GoodHire Complete | $94.99 | Adds unlimited state searches and a federal search |
| First Advantage, HireRight, Accurate, Vetty | Quote | No price on the vendor’s site |
Our pick: OffenderSearch for registry and criminal lookups — about 200 times less per check than Checkr Basic. If you need an FCRA consumer report, the lowest published entry package here is Certn’s US Core Criminal at $13.99. Vendor sites, October 2026. Court and database access fees are passed through by most CRAs, including Checkr (standard third-party court and database access fees may apply, passed through at cost). Volume pricing at every CRA is by quote. Our own schedule and volume maths are on background check API pricing.
Checkr alternatives with an API: what a developer can actually use “API: yes” is not an answer. Docs, sandbox and keys are.
What each vendor publishes for engineers, taken from its own site. “Not found” means we could not find it publicly, not that it does not exist under contract.
| Vendor | Public API docs | Sandbox | How you get a key |
|---|---|---|---|
| OffenderSearch — our pick | Yes | Not needed — 25 free searches on production data | Issued at sign-up, no card |
| Checkr | Yes | Staging with mocked data, once Checkr grants access | Account credentialed by a Checkr account executive; live requests enabled by Checkr |
| Certn | Yes | Not stated | See Certn |
| First Advantage / Sterling | Developer portal | Yes, per its API page | Through sales |
| backgroundchecks.com | Yes | Yes | Create an account |
| HireRight | Connect API product page | Not found | See HireRight |
| Accurate | API product page | Not found | Through sales |
| GoodHire, iprospectcheck, Verified First, Vetty | Not found | Not found | — |
Our pick: OffenderSearch — public docs and a working production key at sign-up, no card and no sales step. The integration shapes differ too: a screening API orders a report on a candidate and tells you when it is done; a lookup API answers in the request. The Checkr API alternative page maps Checkr’s objects to a lookup API endpoint by endpoint.
Checkr competitors that are really the same company Two names on most lists are not independent choices.
GoodHire is a Checkr company. Its published packages match Checkr’s names, contents and prices. If you are leaving Checkr because of price or process, moving to GoodHire keeps you inside the same group.
Sterling is a First Advantage company. Sterling’s own site now says so, and its API documentation is reached from First Advantage’s developer page. Lists that rank “Sterling” and “First Advantage” separately are counting one vendor twice.
Neither fact makes either a bad choice. It changes what “switching” means, and it is worth knowing before a procurement review asks.
How to choose a Checkr alternative: FCRA, price, speed and integrations Decide the legal question first; everything else follows.
- Unit of price. Per report, per search or per seat — and is it published, or a quote?
- Package contents. Is county search included, unlimited, contingent, or extra? How many years back?
- Pass-through fees. Most CRAs add court and database fees at cost; budget for them.
- Turnaround. A report completes when its slowest component does; a lookup answers in the request.
- Integrations. Which ATS or HRIS you use, and whether the API is self-serve or credentialed.
- Monitoring. Continuous checks after hire, and what they cost per person per month.
| If you are… | And you need… | Look at |
|---|---|---|
| A developer adding a safety check | Registry and criminal lookups answered in the request | OffenderSearch background check API |
| Ops screening volunteers or a roster | Many cheap registry checks, CSV upload, re-checks | OffenderSearch bulk search |
| A screening company (CRA) | Registry and criminal data under an FCRA agreement | OffenderSearch FCRA Partner Access |
| HR at a small business | A few FCRA hiring reports a year at a published price | GoodHire, iprospectcheck, Verified First, Certn, backgroundchecks.com |
| HR at a large or global employer | Managed programs, international, drug and health testing | First Advantage, HireRight, Accurate, Checkr |
| A platform embedding hiring screens | An FCRA screening API with candidate consent built in | Checkr, Certn, First Advantage, backgroundchecks.com |
Our pick for developers, operations and screening companies: OffenderSearch. If the result will decide whether someone is hired or housed, it must be an FCRA-regulated consumer report — choose a CRA. If it feeds a safety, trust or research process, a lookup API is cheaper and faster.
Switching from Checkr: a migration checklist What to line up before the first order goes to a new vendor.
- 01
Map your packages
List what each Checkr package you order actually contains, and find the equivalent tier — not the equivalent name — at the new vendor.
- 02
Move the compliance steps
Disclosure and consent forms, pre-adverse and adverse-action notices and dispute handling must work on day one. Confirm who sends what.
- 03
Re-point integrations and webhooks
ATS connectors, webhook endpoints and status mappings change with the vendor. Run both in parallel on a few candidates.
- 04
Plan for in-flight reports
Let open Checkr reports and continuous checks finish or wind down; decide who monitors existing staff from the cut-over date.
- 05
Split off the lookups
Registry checks for volunteers, sign-ups and re-checks often do not need a consumer report at all. Moving them to a per-search API can cut the bill independently of your CRA choice — see OffenderSearch vs Checkr.
A Checkr alternative for registry and criminal checks Priced per search, answered in the request.
Many teams pay screening-report prices for questions that are really lookups: is this volunteer on a sex offender registry, does this new marketplace user have a warrant, has anyone on our roster been added to a registry since last quarter. Those checks do not need a candidate invitation or a consumer report.
OffenderSearch searches the 58 US sex offender registries in one call, and court, jail, prison, warrant and federal records in another, with every match scored, the registry or source named and the status of each registry searched. $0.15 a search, $0.11 past 2,000 a month, batch requests of up to 1,000 people, and monitoring from $3 a month. The data is continuously updated.
Keep your CRA for hiring. Move the lookups. Start with the background check API, the sex offender registry API or the criminal records API.
curl https://api.offendersearch.app/v1/search \
-H "X-API-Key: $OFFENDERSEARCH_KEY" \
-d '{"query":{"firstName":"Jordan",
"lastName":"Sample","dob":"1980-04-12"}}'
{ "status": "complete",
"counts": { "sourcesQueried": 58,
"sourcesComplete": 58,
"records": 1 },
"records": [ { "matchState": "dob_match",
"matchConfidence": 0.98 } ] }Checkr alternatives pricing sources Every figure on this page, and where it came from.
Taken from each vendor's own website in October 2026. If you spot a price that has changed, tell us at support@offendersearch.app and we will correct it.
Checkr alternatives FAQ
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