The Best Employment Background Check Sites in 2023 | Top 5 Compared & Reviewed

The best employment background check sites not only allow you to inspect in detail the background of your potential employees but also protects your organization from hiring frauds and legal violations. With the best employment background check sites, you can check a candidate’s family history along with their contact details, criminal records, social media accounts, and much more.

That said, choosing the best background check site, when there are tons of them available, is a pretty sweating task. We’ve found and reviewed the top 5 pre-employment background check tools based on criteria such as the number of databases covered, pricing, the accuracy of reports, search parameters, and others. Read on to see how giants like US Search and CheckMate stand against others on the list.

Top 5 Best Employment Background Check Sites in 2023 | Shortlist

US Search beats others on the list to stand tall as the #1 employment background check service in 2023, primarily due to features like ease of use, an extensive database, various search options, detailed reports, and excellent customer support. However, the others gave it a fair fight. See for yourself:

1. US Search — Overall, The Best Employment Background Check Site | Put it to the Test with a Five-Day Trial for Only $1.99.
2. Checkmate — The Best Employment Background Check Service for Automatic Referee Checks | Take a 7-Day Trial for Just $1.
3. Intelius — Leading Check Service for Fast Background Checks & Unlimited Searches on All Plans | Try it Now with a Six-Day Trial At Only $0.95.
4. TruthFinder — Popular Background Check Site for Neatly Organized Reports | Starts at $4.99/Month.
5. Certn — The Best Criminal Background Check for Employers | Test its Features with a Demo on Request.

Top 5 Employment Background Check Services for 2023 | Reviewed

Excited for more? Let’s dive into the detailed review of each background check site along with their best features, pricing, pros, and cons to help you zero in on the best one for your needs.

1. US Search — The Best Overall Employment Background Check Site

US Search has the largest database of US citizens compared to all the other background check apps. As probably the best background check software for finding out if a candidate has a criminal history, no wonder it’s at the top of our list.

The platform has access to local, state, and federal public records — billions of them, which makes its information both detailed and legit.

No matter where your candidate is from or what you want to know about them, US Search will give you everything you need to know, including phone numbers, addresses, social media handles, email addresses, and criminal records.

What makes US Search the perfect background check software for your company, especially if you don’t want to spend a fortune on employee background checks, is that it’s free and user-friendly.

Sure, you’ll have to pay a monthly or yearly subscription fee if you want unlimited searches, but getting started with US Search won’t cost you a cent.

Thanks to US Search’s navigable interface, you won’t have to waste much time training your hiring panel to get acquainted with the software. Plus, they’ll spend less time evaluating a candidate, too, saving everyone’s time in the process.

One of our favorite features of US Search is that it lets you take a quick look at a potential employee’s relatives and family members to cross-check their claims and ensure they’re not associated with any ill-famed name.

With over 25 years of experience in the industry, US Search offers you multiple ways to evaluate a person. You can:

Once you move to US Search Pro (the paid version), you get additional benefits like unlimited downloadable reports and US-based customer service backed by easy payments with no transaction fee.

Pricing

Technically, US Search starts at just $2.45, but that’s just for 1 report.

US Search’s most affordable subscription is its monthly plan priced at $19.95/month, and includes unlimited people and phone searches.

Take a 5-day trial of US Search for just $1.95. If you wish to continue with it long term, we recommend going ahead with the quarterly plan at $49.85 — you’ll have to pay $10 less than if you got 3 monthly plans.

2. Checkmate — The Best Employment Background Check Service for Automatic Referee Checks

Checkmate is the perfect employee background-checking app if you’re a fan of quick reports. We were particularly impressed by its Automated Referee Check feature, which helps you cross-check the professional claims made by a candidate and verify their work experience from the listed references automatically.

Under this feature, you get a template of questions that can be customized based on the job role. Once a referee is done answering, you can automatically request an additional referee to answer the same questionnaire.

To finish the job faster, Checkmate gives the referee two options to get back to you — online or via a phone call. This way, you don’t have to waste your time directly managing the referees, and you’ll still get all the information you need about the candidate.

Checkmate stands out as a brilliant employee background check service with its vast network and database. Unlike services like TruthFinder, whose searches and records are only limited to the US, Checkmate covers 190+ countries during each screening process.

So, if your candidate has a clean record in the US but is hiding a past criminal record in some other country, Checkmate will uncover it for you within seconds.

In addition to that, it’ll also check all candidates of foreign nationalities’ legal permits to work in the US so that you don’t end up in a legal mess for hiring an illegal migrant worker.

For the roles that require any additional certification or licensing, Checkmate instantly verifies if the potential candidate has the required license to practice or not, helping you hire only trusted and proficient employees. Additional searches include:

The platform’s international reach also extends to educational institutions. Each academic search is cross-referenced with data from over 44,000 universities and tertiary training organizations, including the top institutes. If your candidate has attended the school they say they’ve attended, their records will undoubtedly show up on the search.

Although Checkmate’s feature diversity might be a little overwhelming for new hiring managers, a pleasant experience and fast turnarounds are guaranteed with 24/7 support over Messenger, email, or phone.

The best thing about Checkmate is you can get started with a 5-day trial for as little as $1. There are no binding contracts, and you’re free to switch to a different provider any time you want.

Pricing

The cheapest Checkmate plan is the $5.99/month plan that’ll give you unlimited phone reports — but nothing else.

Person reports, location reports, and report monitoring are all available with Checkmate’s “Person Reports” plan, priced at $35.12 for a single month or $28.09/month for a 3-month plan. We recommend the latter.

Plus, Checkmate also offers a 7-day trial, with access to all its features, for just $1. With virtually nothing to lose, the trial will give you a fair idea of whether Checkmate is for you.

3. Intelius — Leading Check Service for Fast Background Checks & Unlimited Searches on All Plans

Intelius is a fantastic employment background checker for large corporations on a hiring spree. It’s one of the few services in the industry to offer unlimited reports and searches on all their plans. Whether you request a personal report, address lookup report, or even a phone number verification report, you’ll get endless searches each time.

The reports are quite detailed, consisting of basic personal information such as:

Plus, you’ll also get detailed data on the potential employees:

Intelius’s reports are 100% legit and reliable. It searches millions of public records, including some of their very specialized sources, to uncover valuable information about potential candidates that’ll help you make the right decision.

Furthermore, Intelius doesn’t want you to look for a needle in a haystack. If all you want to verify is a specific detail like a candidate’s employment history, contact details, or criminal records, you don’t have to get an unnecessarily detailed employee report.

Instead, you can use one of Intelius’s categorized search options which include People Search, Reverse Phone Lookup, Criminal Records Search, Background Check, Public Records Search, and Reverse Address Lookup.

Just like US Search, Intelius, too, lets you look up a candidate just by entering the first letter of their last name in case you forget or misplace their full name.

We love how serious Intelius is when it comes to user privacy. Feel free to look up anything about a candidate, and howsoever many times you — Intelius will never notify them. In addition to this, all your searches are secured with an AES 256-bit encryption to prevent data leaks.

The only downside to Intelius is it doesn’t have any special feature to handle reference evaluation like Checkmate. If you want to know anything about your candidate’s proficiency as an employee, you’ll have to directly call up the listed references.

Pricing

Intelius has 3 different plans, each catering to a different need.

• The “Reverse Phone Lookup + People Search” plan comes with a 6-day trial at $0.95 and costs $34.95/month thereafter.
• The “Address Lookup + People Search” plan comes with a 7-day trial at $0.95 and costs $29.78/month thereafter.
• The “People Search” plan does not come with a trial and is priced at $21.13/month for a 2-month plan.

We recommend going with either of the first two plans since both of them come with People Search, so it makes little sense to go for the “People Search” plan. Take a trial and see if Intelius is your cup of tea.

4. TruthFinder — Popular Background Check Site for Neatly Organized Reports

TruthFinder is the perfect background check service if you’re on the hunt for a platform that auto-generates neatly organized reports. While other services like Certn might get you tons of data on your candidate, most often, the process is so chaotic and messy that you end up losing important details.

TruthFinder, on the other hand, creates organized reports with detailed information on all the usual parameters.

It’s also one of the few platforms to offer a reverse email lookup. Here, you can dig out the complete history of a potential candidate even if you forget their name. A reverse email lookup will also help you verify whether the candidate is impersonating someone else.

Although TruthFinder asks you to pay an additional fee to download the reports, the good thing is that it’s just a one-time fee to get access to unlimited reports throughout your entire membership span.

However, if you’re not ready to invest in downloadable reports, the online version available on your dashboard will work just fine.

A beginner? TruthFinder will suit you well, too — the platform has a detailed section of “Help Articles” comprising the most frequently asked questions. You won’t have to spend multiple hours figuring out what’s what or worry about not utilizing the tool to the fullest.

Other remarkable features of TruthFinder include a Dark Web Scanner. When you see how easy it is to pull out information about anyone you want in just a few clicks, it might make you wonder what others can see about you online.

With the Dark Web Scanner, you’ll be notified if any of your confidential information, such as stolen passwords, is leaked online. In just a few clicks, you’ll be able to secure your private data and be notified anytime your credentials are compromised.

Another handy add-on is how TruthFinder accepts multiple payment types such as Paypal, credit/debit cards, Mastercard, and Visa, enabling you to purchase background check reports conveniently.

Pricing

Unfortunately, TruthFinder does not have a single comprehensive plan that covers multiple search categories. The cheapest TruthFinder plan is the Reverse Phone Lookup plan at just $4.99/month.

For unlimited email reports, get the Reverse Email Lookup plan at $29.73/month.

Unlimited person reports? The Person Search plan at $28.05/month will serve you well.

5. Certn — The Best Criminal Background Check for Employers

Certn is a globally recognized AI-powered background check software for large enterprises. Its background checks operate under Softcheck — a lightweight data verification tool with real-time access to public data. Unlike traditional tools that take hours to get back to you, Softcheck gives you instant access to updated records.

Certn has a special tool called OneID that busts identity frauds instantly, helping you nab impersonators. This also makes it one of the best tenant background check sites.

With access to more than 3,300+ government-issued identity documents such as passports, driver’s licenses, and other ID cards from over 200 countries (including documents in non-Latin character alphabets), it’s virtually impossible to dodge Certn’s radar with identity fraud.

Talking about simplicity, Certn’s 3-step ID verification process can be carried out from a mobile. It doesn’t even need your supervision — it’ll send an encrypted link to your candidate, have them upload their ID and a few selfies, and guide them through a pre-filled data section. The results will be delivered to you within minutes.

Plus, Certn’s services and network aren’t just limited to the US. If you’re working with immigrant workers, Certn’s international background check, with access to criminal records from more than 190 countries, will ensure you do not hire the wrong person.

Under Certn’s international background check, you’ll find information on the candidate’s work experience and educational records so that you can compare whether the skills they obtained in a different country suffice your current needs.

You also won’t have to worry about your verifications’ legal compliance or legibility. It’s SOC 2-, SOC 3-, and ISO 27001-certified and adheres to Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standards.

On top of all this, Certn also has a team of in-house compliance experts and an experienced customer support team. Together, they all make each one of your employee verifications legally compliant and successful.

To further strengthen its suite of services, Certn seamlessly integrates with popular recruitment and talent hunt platforms such as LinkedIn Talent Hub, Workable, Jobadder, Smart Recruiters, and more.

This way, you’ll be able to verify a profile as soon as you come across it and save time — instead of manually looking up each individual.

Pricing

Certn starts at $24.99/month with its “USA — Basic Criminal Check” plan that comes with basic EID verification and searches across the National Criminal database, Global Sanctions and Terrorist watchlists, and more.

For advanced searches such as country and statewide criminal search for the last 7 years of the candidate’s address history, upgrade to a higher plan — either the “USA — Single Country Criminal Check” or the “USA — Unlimited Country Criminal Check” plan priced at $29.99/month and $44.99/month, respectively.

Best Employment Background Check Comparison Table

If you’re pressed for time, here’s a short table highlighting only the critical differences between the best employment check sites, so you only focus on things that matter to choose the best service quicker.

Why You Need an Employment Background Check Service 

Here are four reasons why you should never skip an employee background check:

Criminal History

As an employer, you only know about a candidate as much as they wish to reveal to you. Now, if they have a criminal record or anything inappropriate that could hamper their chances of getting the job, they’ll obviously keep it hidden. A background check is indispensable to know who you’re getting involved with.

Even if you wish to give that person a second chance, you need to know who they are, what they’re capable of, and what you can entrust them with. Better be prepared than be in the dark.

Identity Check 

How do you know if a candidate is truly what they’re claiming to be? They could be using a false name, or they might lie about having a work permit to work in the US. There could be so many things that a candidate might lie about just to get the job. If you want to steer clear of such fraudsters, all that you’ll need is a quick identity verification through one of our employee background check services.

Proficiency Evaluation 

The only glimpse you get into the professional expertise of each candidate is through their academic qualifications and previous work experience mentioned on their CV. If these are the only evaluation parameters, they better be accurate. And how do you check that? Try these employee background-checking services. Everything you need to know about their past, from their work references to university names and achievements in the academic field, will pop up in just one click.

Fair Selection

Most job openings receive hundreds of applications, and there is often more than one right choice for the same role. To be fair to all the applicants, it’s your responsibility as an employer to select the one who truly deserves the opportunity. If someone lies their way into the job, you not only waste your company funds but also take away the opportunity from someone who truly deserves it.

How We Chose the Best Employment Background Check Sites for 2023

What went into our decision-making when selecting the best employment background check sites? Let’s find out.

Information Accuracy 

Employees are your company’s biggest asset, directly affecting your sales and revenue. That’s why it’s important to choose an employee background-checking service that offers 100% legit and accurate information. Hiring an employee is quite a hassle, considering all the investment, countless hiring rounds, and paperwork, and you surely don’t want to do it again and again

Database & Network

The best background verification service is the one with a massive database of public records and the right connections that’ll help dig up all facts and data about your candidates, even the dirt. For instance, our top pick US Search has access to billions of local, state, and federal databases, ensuring that nothing remains hidden from you.

Cost-effective 

Employee background checks are mandatory for every role, no matter how big or small. Every year, you’ll have employees leaving for better opportunities. In addition to that, the more your company expands, the bigger your team gets. Hence, you need an affordable service. Hiring is an expensive process, and you certainly don’t need the background check service to add to it. That’s why all the services we have picked offer trials at a nominal rate and comprehensive plans under $30.

Faster Turnarounds 

Each day you waste in hiring is a day your competitors will use to surpass you. In the era of speed, you can’t afford to spend days running employee background checks. That’s why we have picked employee verification services with the fastest turnarounds in a few minutes. All you need to do is enter a few basic details about your candidate, such as their name, city, or phone number, and in one click, you’ll have their whole life before you.

Employment Background Check FAQs