Checkrvs
Gem
Gem: For recruiting CRM and sourcing rather than post-offer background screening
Checkr
Background check platform priced per report, with third-party court fees passed through separately
As of 1 September 2026, Checkr's pricing is not published; the vendor quotes on request. A background screening API and dashboard used by employers to run criminal, identity, motor vehicle and employment checks on candidates. Softwr lists it under Recruitment. Checkr is available on Web, API.
Overview
What Checkr does
Checkr runs employment background checks: criminal records, sex offender registry, SSN trace, identity verification, motor vehicle records, drug screening, and employment and education verification, delivered through a dashboard or an API that integrates into an ATS or hiring workflow. Checks are bundled into named packages (Basic, Essential, Complete) or built individually from add-ons. The commercial detail that matters is that the advertised per-report price is not the full cost. County and state courts, the FBI, and various verification databases charge access fees, and Checkr passes these through at cost on top of the package price rather than absorbing them into the sticker. A company running checks across many states will see per-report totals vary because the underlying court fees vary by county, which makes a single headline price misleading for budgeting at volume. Buyers are HR and talent acquisition teams at any company that runs pre-employment screening, from small businesses ordering checks manually through the dashboard to large enterprises calling the API from an ATS at hiring scale. The trade-off against a incumbent screening provider is usually speed of turnaround and API-first integration versus the account management and compliance depth larger legacy providers offer.
What people use it for
- A company running high-volume hourly or gig hiring that needs API-driven checks integrated into an existing ATS
- A startup or mid-size employer wanting self-service ordering through a dashboard without a dedicated screening account manager
- An employer that needs continuous rescreening for driving-related roles rather than a one-time check at hire
- A company budgeting screening costs that needs to model court fee variance across the states it hires in
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Checkr.
- Advertised per-report prices exclude court and database access fees, so the real cost per candidate varies by jurisdiction and is higher than the sticker in many counties
- Turnaround time depends on how fast individual courts process requests, which Checkr does not control and which can stretch well past the advertised average in rural or backlogged counties
- Add-on checks such as MVR, drug screening and education verification are priced separately, so a full pre-employment package can cost significantly more than the base package price suggests
- Enterprise-scale volume requires a custom Enterprise contract rather than the published per-report rates, so large employers cannot rely on the public pricing page to budget
- Compliance obligations under the FCRA and state ban-the-box laws remain the employer's responsibility even though Checkr provides tooling, so legal review is still needed rather than assumed away by the platform
- Candidate disputes and re-adjudication can add days to a hiring timeline, which matters for roles filled under time pressure
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Checkr
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
Pricing
What Checkr costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Basic
$29.99 /report
- SSN trace
- Sex offender registry
- Global watchlist
- National criminal search
Essential
$59.99 /report
- Everything in Basic
- Identity verification
- Unlimited county criminal search
Complete
$94.99 /report
- Everything in Essential
- Unlimited state criminal search
- Federal criminal search
Capabilities
Features
Package pricing
Basic, Essential and Complete tiers bundling criminal, identity and verification checks
API and dashboard
Checks can be ordered programmatically from an ATS or manually through a web dashboard
Adjudication tools
Workflow for reviewing results against a company's own hiring policy, including individualised assessment support
Continuous checks
Ongoing rescreening for roles that require monitoring after hire, such as drivers
Candidate portal
Self-service status tracking and dispute process for candidates
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Does the per-report price include court fees?
No. Checkr states that standard third-party court and database access fees are passed through at cost on top of the package price, and these vary by jurisdiction.
Can Checkr be used without an ATS integration?
Yes, checks can be ordered manually through the Checkr dashboard as well as programmatically through the API.
Is pricing different for enterprise volume?
Yes, high-volume employers negotiate an Enterprise contract rather than paying the published per-report rates.
Keep looking
Where to go from Checkr
- Checkr alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Checkr pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Checkr badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Recruitment softwareThe full category
- Best Recruitment softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Recruitment software for
Compare Checkr with
- Gem
- Glassdoor
- SeekOut
- hireEZ
- Codility
- HackerRank
- Indeed
- Findem
- Fetcher
- Karat
- Recruitee
- ZipRecruiter
- SAP SuccessFactors
- BrightHire
- Bullhorn
- Comeet
- JobAdder
- Findem
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Checkr, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
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