Tool profile
Checkr: cost, fit and limits
Checkr is a background screening platform made by Checkr, Inc. that lets employers order criminal, identity, driving record, drug test, education and employment checks, priced per report, and reach the same data through an API.
What to know first
Checkr sells Workforce screening on three published per-report packages, Basic at $29.99, Essential at $59.99 and Complete at $94.99, plus a free Profiles plan for individuals and a contact-sales Enterprise tier. Add-ons such as record filtering, driver monitoring and social media search carry their own prices. The homepage uses AI language, while the privacy policy is the only data document that was readable, and it names no certification.
Checkr at a glance
| Maker | Checkr, Inc., United States |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes |
| Entry price | $29.99 per report |
| API access | Yes |
| Category | Best AI Background Check Software in 2026, rank 1 of 12 |
| Website | checkr.com |
Who Checkr is best for
Gig and delivery platforms
Per-report pricing and continuous motor vehicle record monitoring at $2.50 per enrolled driver per month suit teams that onboard drivers in bulk and need to watch records after hire.
Developers wiring screening into hiring flows
A Trust API returns criminal, identity and driver intelligence in under a second through one integration, so an engineering team can embed checks in its own onboarding app.
Individuals who want to see their own record
The free Profiles plan runs identity verification, a sex offender registry check and a national criminal search without a payment, which suits a candidate preparing a report.
Checkr plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Profiles (Personal) | Free | Identity verification, sex offender registry check and national criminal search for an individual. The plan is aimed at a person, not at an employer ordering for candidates. |
| Basic (Workforce) | $29.99 per report | SSN trace, sex offender registry, global watchlist search and national criminal search. This is the entry Workforce package, charged each time a report is run. |
| Essential (Workforce) | $59.99 per report | Adds identity verification and unlimited county criminal search to the Basic searches. Employers that need local records usually start at this level, charged per report. |
| Complete (Workforce) | $94.99 per report | Adds unlimited state criminal search and a federal criminal search to Essential. This is the most complete published package, charged each time a report is run. |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | Custom arrangement for large volumes, including automated adjudication named on the pricing page. Pricing for this tier is not printed, so volume terms come from the sales team. |
Checked November 2026.
What Checkr does
- Check library
- Criminal, civil, motor vehicle record, drug testing, education, employment, identity and international checks are ordered from one account, each priced per report or per test.
- Assess record filtering
- Assess Lite is included, Assess Standard adds $2.49 per report and Assess Premium $4 per report. The tools filter results against rules an employer sets, which matters for fair-chance hiring policies.
- Motor vehicle records
- A single MVR report costs $9.50, and continuous MVR monitoring runs $2.50 per enrolled driver per month, aimed at employers whose staff drive for work.
- Trust API
- One API returns criminal, identity and driver data, and the vendor says the response arrives in under a second. Developers can build screening into their own signup flow.
- Social media search
- Priced at $29.99 per check. Reports that the system flags go to a human analyst for review rather than straight to the employer. The vendor does not say what share of social media reports reaches an analyst.
How Checkr handles your data
The privacy policy says Checkr keeps personal information as long as needed for the purposes collected, then securely deletes, deidentifies, aggregates or anonymizes it. It names no hosting region and no certification, and the security and trust URLs we tried returned errors. Whether customer or candidate data trains models is not stated on the pages read, so the vendor's policy was not checked for this. Third-party court and database access fees are passed through at cost without markup, which is a billing detail rather than a data one.
Where Checkr falls short in practice
- Pass-through fees. County court and database access fees come on top of the per-report price, so the Complete package invoice can exceed $94.99 for a candidate with records in several jurisdictions.
- No stated certifications. Security reviewers will not find SOC 2 or ISO 27001 claims on the pages read. A procurement team has to request audit reports before approving the vendor for sensitive roles.
- Enterprise by quote. Large buyers lose the printed price ladder, since the Enterprise tier is contact sales only and the pricing page gives no volume discount figures. Pricing for that tier is arranged individually, so budgeting for a large hiring program needs a sales call.
Alternatives to Checkr
Checkr: common questions
Does Checkr charge a monthly fee?
The pricing page frames Workforce screening as pay-as-you-go per report, per check, per test, per letter or per form, so no seat fee is shown. Monitoring add-ons are the exception, billed per enrolled person per month, such as continuous MVR at $2.50 per driver. Confirm any minimums in the Enterprise contract.
What is in the free Checkr plan?
The Profiles (Personal) plan is free and covers identity verification, a sex offender registry check and a national criminal search for an individual. It is separate from the Workforce plans that employers use to screen candidates, and those are priced per report starting at $29.99.
Which Checkr package includes county criminal searches?
Essential at $59.99 per report adds unlimited county criminal search along with identity verification. Basic does not include county searches, and Complete adds state and federal criminal searches on top of Essential. A hiring policy that needs local records usually means Essential or higher.
Does Checkr use AI?
The homepage calls Checkr an AI-powered verification platform and says its workforce section combines AI with human experts. The Enterprise tier names automated adjudication. The pages read do not describe a model, a training rule or accuracy figures, so treat the claim as a feature to test.
How fast does Checkr return results?
The vendor says its Trust API answers in under a second and tenant screening reports come back in about 4 minutes. Those are vendor figures for specific products. County court searches and manual verifications depend on the court, so ask for typical turnaround by check type.