Unclaimed: Are you working at Checkr?
Checkr Reviews: 4.5/5 — Highly Rated
Checkr provides background screening, identity, credential, employment & education verification, driver risk and risk intelligence, tenant screening, and trust & safety services. The platform is AI-native (machine learning for charge classification, ETA prediction, and compliance filtering) and offers a real-time data network plus APIs, embeddables, and integrations to automate background checks and related verifications.
| Company | Checkr, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Year founded | 2014 |
| Company size | 501-1000 employees |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California |
| Capabilities |
AI
API
|
|---|---|
| Segment |
Small Business
Mid Market
Enterprise
|
| Deployment | Cloud / SaaS / Web-Based |
| Support | Knowledge Base |
| Training | Documentation |
| Languages | English |
Checkr Pros and Cons
- Large integration ecosystem (200+ ATS/HR integrations)
- Modular packages and transparent pricing with add-ons for different use cases
- AI-powered features (charge classification, ETA prediction, compliance engine) to reduce manual work
- FCRA compliance and broad U.S. jurisdiction coverage
- Published documentation and developer resources
- Some features (reference checks, certain credit checks for hiring) are limited or vary by package
- US-centric for many offerings; international checks add cost and complexity
- Pay-as-you-go costs can be relatively high for very small businesses
- No on-premise deployment option; SaaS only
- Some checks may require manual work or have jurisdictional delays
Checkr quotes $94.99 for its most comprehensive background check, and that is not what you will pay. Courts and DMVs charge their own fees to release records, and those are added on top — $30 in Kansas, $27.50 in Kentucky, $25 in Florida, nothing at all in California. What makes Checkr unusual is not that it charges them. Every screening provider does. It is that Checkr publishes the entire schedule, state by state and county by county, passes the fees through at cost with no markup, and gives you a calculator to estimate them before you buy.
- What it is: Background screening — criminal, identity, driving, employment and education checks.
- Best for: Employers hiring at any volume who want per-report pricing rather than a contract.
- Pricing: $29.99–$94.99 per report, plus court and DMV passthrough fees. Verified August 2026.
- The catch to plan for: The headline price is the floor, not the total.
What Is Checkr?
Checkr runs background checks. Its core business is pre-employment screening — criminal history, identity, employment and education verification, driving records — but it also sells tenant screening, mortgage verification, personal checks and a trust-and-safety product for marketplaces.
It is the modern incumbent in a category that used to be slow and paper-driven, with 200+ pre-built HR integrations and a claim that 97% of customers rate its turnaround faster than the competition. The Findstack listing carries 230 user reviews.
Pricing is genuinely pay-as-you-go. There is no subscription, no minimum, and the signup flow simply asks your expected annual volume (1–10, 11–50, 51–149, 150–299, 300–1,000, 1,000+) before letting you start.
How Checkr Works
The three self-serve packages stack, and what separates them is how deep the criminal search goes.
Basic ($29.99) runs an SSN trace, the sex offender registry, a global watchlist and a national criminal database search. That last item is the important qualifier: national database searches are broad but shallow, assembled from whatever records various jurisdictions have contributed.
Essential ($59.99) adds identity verification and unlimited county criminal searches. County courts are where American criminal records actually live, so this is the step from “we checked a database” to “we checked the source.”
Complete ($94.99) adds unlimited state criminal searches and a federal criminal search — the latter covering federal offences, which never appear in county records at all.
Enterprise is quoted.
Add-ons are priced individually: motor vehicle records at $9.50, identity verification at $4.99, drug screening from $10, FACIS healthcare sanctions screening from $6, and employment verification from $12.50 per check.
Checkr Pricing
| Package | Price | Criminal search depth |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $29.99/report | National database |
| Essential | $59.99/report | + unlimited county |
| Complete | $94.99/report | + unlimited state, + federal |
| Enterprise | Quote | Custom |
Every price is marked “starting from,” and every one carries an asterisk pointing at the same disclosure: “Standard third-party court and database access fees may apply, passed through at cost with no markup.”
The passthrough fees are the real variable
Checkr publishes a state-by-state table of what courts and DMVs charge. The spread on state court fees alone is wide:
- $0 — California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Indiana, Louisiana, Connecticut, Delaware, Arizona, Arkansas, Alaska, DC
- $0.80 Alabama · $1.00 Georgia · $3.25 Idaho · $3.50 Hawaii
- $6.10 Colorado · $10.00 Illinois and Michigan · $15.00 Mississippi
- $20.00 Montana · $21.00 Maine · $25.00 Florida · $27.50 Kentucky · $30.00 Kansas
So a Complete report runs $94.99 in California and $124.99 in Kansas — 32% more for the identical product, decided entirely by where your candidate has lived.
DMV fees behave the same way, and they matter if you screen drivers. The MVR add-on is $9.50, but the DMV fee on top ranges from $2.00 in California to $25.00 in Delaware — meaning the same motor vehicle record costs $11.50 or $34.50 depending on the state. Roughly a threefold difference on a $9.50 product.
Why this is a point in Checkr’s favour
It would be easy to file this as a hidden cost. It is closer to the opposite.
Court access fees are unavoidable in US background screening — Checkr’s own explainer says so plainly: “They are standard across the industry. No background check provider is exempt.” What varies between providers is whether they tell you, and whether they mark them up.
Checkr does three things well here. It states the fees are passed through at cost with no markup. It publishes the complete schedule, filterable by state and county. And it provides an estimator that takes your package, add-ons and candidate locations and returns an expected passthrough total before you commit.
Many competitors bundle these into a single opaque per-check price, which looks simpler and makes comparison impossible. When you price Checkr against another provider, make sure you are comparing like with like — a rival’s flat “$65 per check” may or may not include court fees, and the only way to know is to ask.
The one thing to watch
“Unlimited county criminal search” on Essential and Complete means unlimited searches — not unlimited fees. Each county searched can carry its own court fee, and a candidate who has lived in five counties generates five of them.
That inverts the usual intuition: the more thorough packages are also the ones most exposed to uncapped passthrough. It is the right trade for a role that warrants the depth, but budget for it as a variable rather than a fixed per-report cost.
What actually decides your cost
- Where your candidates have lived, which sets the court fees and can vary the total by a third.
- How many counties they have lived in, since Essential and Complete search all of them.
- Whether you screen drivers, where the DMV fee can be nearly three times the MVR product price.
- Which package the role warrants — federal search only exists on Complete.
- Add-ons, at $4.99 to $12.50 each, several of which carry their own passthrough.
- Not a subscription or a minimum. There is neither.
Who Should Use Checkr
Checkr fits an employer of almost any size who wants to run a check today without signing a contract. The pay-as-you-go model, the self-serve signup and the 200+ integrations make it the path of least resistance for a company hiring in ones and twos, and the volume banding in signup means it scales without a renegotiation.
It fits less well for a company screening entirely within one low-fee state at high volume, where an enterprise contract with a traditional provider may beat per-report pricing — and for anyone outside the US, where the fee structure and the county-court model do not apply in the same way.
Honest Pros and Cons
What works well:
- Passthrough fees at cost with no markup, stated explicitly.
- The full state and county fee schedule is published, which is rare and makes real budgeting possible.
- A passthrough estimator that takes package, add-ons and locations before you buy.
- Genuinely pay-as-you-go — no subscription, no minimum, self-serve signup.
- Clear package logic: each tier is defined by criminal search depth rather than a scattered feature list.
- Add-ons priced individually rather than bundled into a higher tier.
- 200+ HR integrations and a strong reported turnaround record.
- 230 user reviews on the Findstack listing.
What to watch:
- The headline price is a floor. A Complete report is $94.99 in California and $124.99 in Kansas.
- “Unlimited county search” means unlimited searches, not unlimited fees — each county can add its own.
- MVR passthrough can exceed the product price, at up to $25 on a $9.50 check.
- Every price says “starting from”, so even the base numbers are floors.
- Tenant screening is priced completely differently — Complete is $44.99 there against $94.99 for hiring — so do not carry a number across lines of business.
- Enterprise, Trust and most Mortgage pricing is quote-only.
Checkr Alternatives and How It Compares
- HireRight and Sterling are the traditional enterprise incumbents — contract-based, strong for high-volume regulated hiring, slower to start.
- GoodHire targets small businesses with simpler flat pricing, which is easier to budget but harder to verify for passthrough treatment.
- Certn and Veremark are the stronger options for international screening, where Checkr’s US county-court model does not apply.
- Greenhouse and Rippling both integrate background checks into the hiring workflow, and are worth checking before adding a separate vendor.
- Deel bundles screening into global hiring if your problem is international rather than domestic.
The honest comparison: when a competitor quotes a single flat price, ask whether court access fees are included. If they are not, the quote is not comparable to Checkr’s. If they are, the provider is absorbing a variable cost and pricing it into everyone’s rate — which is simpler to budget and, on average, more expensive.
The Verdict
Checkr’s pricing looks worse than a flat-rate competitor’s and is probably better. The $94.99 is not your total — court fees add up to $30 a state, DMV fees up to $25, and county fees stack on the packages that search unlimited counties.
But those fees exist regardless of provider. What Checkr does is show them to you: at cost, with no markup, in a published schedule you can filter to your own state, with a calculator to estimate them in advance. That is more disclosure than this category usually offers.
Pick the package by role, not by budget. Basic’s national database search is a screen, not a check; if the role warrants due diligence, Essential’s county searches are where records actually surface, and Complete’s federal search covers offences that never appear at county level. Then run the passthrough estimator with your actual candidate locations before you commit — it takes two minutes and turns a “starting from” price into a real one.
FAQ
How much does Checkr cost?
Three self-serve packages: Basic at $29.99, Essential at $59.99 and Complete at $94.99 per report, with Enterprise quoted individually. There is no subscription and no minimum volume. Add-ons are priced separately — motor vehicle records $9.50, identity verification $4.99, drug screening from $10, FACIS from $6 and employment verification from $12.50. Court and DMV access fees are added on top at cost.
What are Checkr’s passthrough fees?
Fees charged by courts, DMVs and third-party databases to release records. Checkr passes them through at cost with no markup and publishes the full schedule. State court fees range from $0 — California, Maryland, Massachusetts and around a dozen others — to $30 in Kansas, $27.50 in Kentucky and $25 in Florida. So a Complete report costs $94.99 or $124.99 for the identical product, depending on where your candidate has lived. Checkr provides an estimator that takes your package and candidate locations.
Which Checkr package should I choose?
It depends on the depth the role warrants. Basic searches a national criminal database — broad but assembled from whatever jurisdictions have contributed. Essential adds unlimited county criminal searches, which is where US criminal records actually live, plus identity verification. Complete adds state searches and a federal criminal search, the latter covering offences that never appear in county records. For any role involving money, vulnerable people or driving, Essential is the realistic starting point.
Does “unlimited county criminal search” mean unlimited cost?
No — unlimited searches, not unlimited fees. Each county Checkr searches may carry its own court access fee, so a candidate who has lived in five counties can generate five separate fees on top of the package price. This means the more thorough packages carry the most variable passthrough exposure, which is worth budgeting for as a range rather than a fixed cost per report.
Is Checkr’s tenant screening the same price as its hiring checks?
No, and the shared package names are misleading. Tenant screening runs Starter $24.99, Essential $34.99 and Complete $44.99 — less than half the hiring equivalents — and covers criminal, credit, eviction history and income in one report. Checkr also prices Personal checks from $49.99 with free Profiles, while Mortgage and Trust products are largely quote-only. Do not carry a price across lines of business.
The Checkr experience is always easy to use, integrated with our HRIS system, and simple for applicants. The candidates are able to get it completed quickly and results come back quickly.
Some of the delays by county are not always communicated easily. It's hard to tell why some results are delayed at times because of this but eventually they do pop up and usually within a few days.
We currently utilize Checkr to run all background checks and driver checks for our insurance. This allows us to stay in compliance with our schools and get people onboard quickly.
We love Checkr's interface and how it integrates well with our current church management software.
We have not found anything that we dislike with Checkr
Checkr helps us stay up to date with our church volunteer background checks. The cost is low and the turnaround time is outstanding
The turnaround time. We have rural facilites in counties that are not intergrated for electronic checks. Turn around time better than previous vendor.
I am not a fan of the way users are set up.
They are adding services that we may use in the future.
I find it so helpful since its allowing us to be notified whenever the results of Checkr come up. We can easily pull up the applicants information using their full names and email addresses. I also find it transparent when it comes to the reports.
There are times that the applicants keeps getting Suspended without elaborated reasons/explanations
Through Checkr we are able to screen candidates which are capable.
We need to hire top candidates quickly and we are pleased with the efficiency Checkr offers when we run our background checks. We used a competitor in the past but always felt frustrated with their slow results and loss of candidates. Thank you Checkr for offering a mobile-friendly way to move our candidates through the hiring process.
Some county checks might take longer than expected but we appreciate that Checkr's Support Team is available for help. We can either send emails or call when we require assistance.
Checkr background checks are fast, easy to carry out and when we hire a new recruiter, the platform is user-friendly so training is easy. This helps our operations considerably.
I like the most about Checkr's excellent customer service because they look into every detail when it comes to glitches, like, for example, when the system was down, they kept reminding users that this specific date or time was having system maintenance.
My dislike about chekr is sometimes they has a glitch or long time maintenance and it will affect the on boarding process and might as well it will take on average of 6 to 8 business days to verify.
What is the problem that Checkr is solving, and how is that benefiting me? Incorrect information. I called the applicant about the incorrect information, such as SSN and full name, and I told the applicant to enter the correct information, which eventually checkr fixed it.
It's easy to create a report and they come back quickly.
I wish there was a phone number you could call for customer service.
fast reliable background checks for employment purposes at my job.
Their online portal access and connect with our current applicant data base for single sign on veiwing. The ability to rerun annual checks with clicks of a button!
Sometimes backgrounds can take a while but that is normally due to individual counties that have to be verified in person but we have found that to be the same scenario as with prior vendors.
Obtaining backgrounds compliant with our In-Home Care DHEC License in a timely manner so that we can provide our in home care solutions to our clients and families in need.
I love that I can order background checks for domestic and international employees and consultants.
I wish I had the ability to cancel a background check once initiated.
Checkr allows me to initiate background checks for anyone in the world (domestic and international).
I like how fast we get the results! Also how convenient the system has been integrated with Recruitee. Very convenient.
None at the moment.I like the screening process.
Resolving Problems such paperwork, as everything is more automized.
The software is very user-friendly and easy to use. It is really convenient to have the ability to send multiple background check invitations to potential employees at one time.
There is not much I don't like about Chekr. But if I had to give one thing I dislike, we don't get an email notification when a background check has been completed and the results are ready to review. That would save a small amount of valuable time.
It helps us to streamline our background check process. It provides easy access to previous background check results, significantly lowering the cost of running unnecessary multiple background checks on a single employee.
So easy to use! And way less expensive than Hire Right.
I think this product is great and don't have anything negative to say about it.
They make doing background checks via rippling seamless and so easy to do.
It is helpful because in that way we can gauge our applicants by checking if they have a pending cases such as cases that they did not mind and even if that case has a long time file we can be able to check as well.
None so far for me. It helps a lot in doing task on each of our applicants and the best thing about it is that very detailed on each of those cases was filed and I cannot say I dislike about Chekr. 👏
In regards to Background checks in each applicant it is very beneficial for me since I do not need to go through process on checking each Background of our applicants.
Checkr integrates with our HRIS, Rippling, which makes requesting a background check easy. At max about 4 clicks of the mouse. Employees get an email to complete their end and the employer is notified when it is completed.
Checkr has a variety of product offerings at different prices from the Standard report to the Pro option. While the pdf results are easy to read, I often wonder if the "Consider" titles of emails can be altered instead of seeing this for travel violations if non-job related.
We need an easy to use system for our remote employees across 12 or more states. Without fail, Checkr gets us the results for all employees in a timely manner. Allows us to appropriately mitigate risks with new hires at all levels.
Quick turn times and reliable information.
Has glitches on occasion and can take a few days to fix issues.
Helps eliminate potential candidates that could be a problem for the organization.
I love their mission in helping people find jobs and giving them a second chance! It absolutely aligns with our company's values as well. Also, really fast results, and easy to understand.
I haven't had anything that I disliked yet with Checkr. I would highly recommend it.
Background checks for new employees.
We like the Checkr has allowed our organization to expand across city and state lines to help support needs from health, drug and background screenings all across the country.
Sometimes the timeframe to deliver background checks can hamper our abilities to move a candidate forward into one or more roles so. It would be nice if the background checks in some jursidication could be quicker.
We have a lot of compliance and health/drug screening requirements from clients so. Checkr has helped solve finding a way to get access or partnerships with local labs for health and drug screenings as well as being able to provide multiple types of background checks to support all the different compliance measures required by client locations and sites.
The detailed report that we get on each candidate.
Sometimes the length of time it takes to get the results.
When our clients rely on us to complete a background check for them I feel comfortable they will get accurate and detailed results.
Easy to use, for both us a staffing company but also for the candidates. Communication for the candidates is clear and simple, which is great for everyone!
It's dashboard can be extremely slow and is horrendous at times to work with. Integration with Bullhorn is lackluster at best.
Easy and simple background checks!
How simple it is to use, and review detailed reports.
The ETA for some may take longer than we would like.
Checkr makes it super easy to access the information you need to make a quick decision regarding a potential employee.
Visibility of process, use of product, integration with HRIS, helpful support
Nothing yet - we are relatively new, but I cannot imagine it being worse than our last product!
Running background checks for all new hires
They're easy to use, easy to business with, and results come in fast.
To set up the custom package of background checks that I wanted to start with wasn't intuitive, but their customer support to help me set that up was fantastic.
They check backgrounds on potential employees quickly.
The ease of use. Checkr is easy to set up, it integrates with Paylocity and everything can be ordered and reviewed through our system.
Nothing. It is easy to use and has a reasonable cost.
It helps us make informed decisions about who we are hiring.
Ease of use. It allows me to streamline what used to be the labor-intensive process of ordering background checks and drug screens. In less than 5 minutes, I can check those items off my on-boarding check list.
My only knock is that on a few occasions, I've run into problems ordering background checks for various reasons. That being said, Checkr support quickly helped me find a resolution.
It has made a paper-heavy and time-consuming process go much quicker. As a SMB that doesn't have an HR department, Checkr allows to bring in new talent without any hangups.
Super easy interface. Even inexperienced hiring managers can assign the proper background check and/or drug screen within just a few selections and clicks. It doesn't get easier than this.
That it will show "consider" when results come up, but I don't get an insight from my limited view, on if it is a consider for background results or for drug screen. Also, I wish I would get automatic emails when someone's background came up as "consider" and/or when they are cleared!
I need to make sure that I can trust the background results completely, so that my company is not risking the cost of a bad hire. It's incredibly important that our background software/ partner is trustworthy, fast, and convenient. Checkr is!
The integration between Checkr and our HRIS system has been invaluable. The ease of submitting and subsequently reading the background checks has been a big time saver.
We have had to troubleshoot with some of our candidates, and have not had our issue resolved with the first pass by a Checkr associate. We do understand that as the middle man, we also aren't always seeing the full picture.
Streamlining our background check system through the integration with our HRIS system. We start our onboarding much faster with the integration.
Easy to use on website and through integrations with other software used by recruiting team, HR team and management. Reoccurring checks is a helpful feature as well.
It would be nice to have sorting filters on candidates page.
One location for all background checks and MVRs needed for recruiting purposes and annual checks.
Checkr is cost-effective and easy to use.
At times the process is slower than I would like. I wish I could set up one standardized clinic I use for all drug screens.
Checkr is solving the problem of time management at our location. It is nice to be able to delegate these tasks to a third party.
- User-friendly: extremely easy to use on both ends (person sending the request, person completing the request) - Solid UI/UX: Very simple and self-explanatory to use, plus a simplistic and modern design - International checks: We have the ability to run global background checks for candidates in the US and outside of the US - Good Customer Support: I've had to reach out to Checkr support several times and generally always had a positive experience and quick response
Truthfully, nothing comes to mind! Checkr has been an excellent system for my current organization. My one complaint would have been that Checkr Canada and Checkr US were previously separated (two different systems/logins) but now that they have been integrated into one global platform I have no complaints here.
Checkr allows us to send and run background checks for our employees, who reside both in the US, CAN, and beyond.
We've been using Checker for the last 3 years. It's easy, quick and accurate. When we found a discrepancy they were quick to respond with an answer.
I have found nothing I dislike yet. N changes neccesary
Confirm eligibility for insurance and sending people into clients' homes ,