Checkr Pricing 2026: Basic, Essential, Complete and Pass-Through Fees

A Checkr background check costs $29.99 per report on Basic, $59.99 on Essential and $94.99 on Complete, with Enterprise priced by quote. Court, DMV and database fees come on top, passed through at cost with no markup, so the list price is a floor. Prices are in US dollars, verified on Checkr's pricing and pass-through fee pages as of October 2026 (read October 19).

The package choice decides the criminal coverage, and the candidate's address history decides the rest of the bill. A hire who has lived in New York and needs a state search can cost twice the package price before any add-on, while the same package in Arizona carries no state court fee at all.

Checkr packages at a glance

Checkr calls this "pay-as-you-go pricing", and the self-serve packages carry no subscription: you pay per report run. Every package line ends with the same footnote, that standard third-party court and database access fees may apply.

Basic is cheap because it skips the courts: county, state and federal court searches all start on the higher packages. For most employers, Essential is the real entry price, because it is the first package with county court searches and identity verification.

How pass-through fees change the bill

Pass-through fees are what courts, DMVs and databases charge Checkr to retrieve a record, and Checkr bills them at cost on the same invoice. Its fee page says no background check provider is exempt from them and that you also pay any taxes or charges on those fees.

Checkr publishes a state-by-state table with two columns, a state court fee and a state DMV fee, and a county lookup for local court fees. County fees depend on each county a candidate has lived in, so they are only knowable per candidate.

HRpresso data: in Checkr's pass-through table, read October 19, 2026, 24 of the 52 jurisdictions listed (50 states, DC and Puerto Rico) charge a state court fee, and 10 of them charge $20 or more. New York's is the highest at $95. Every jurisdiction charges a DMV fee for driving records, from $2 in California to $25 in Delaware and Oklahoma, and half charge more than $11.

The state court fee matters most on Complete, the only package with unlimited state criminal searches. Two more pass-through fees show up often: Pennsylvania State Police charge $22 for a search of their PATCH criminal history database, and education verifications carry institution fees of $3.95 to $50.

Add-ons and what they cost

Most employers attach at least one add-on, and the motor vehicle record is the most common. Every price below is per check unless stated, read on Checkr's pricing page.

The add-on prices show where package math beats a la carte. Adding one county search and identity verification to Basic comes to $59.98, a cent below Essential, but Essential searches unlimited counties for the same price, so any candidate with two or more counties of address history is cheaper on Essential.

Employment verification is the add-on with the widest range, and its pass-through fees are steep. Third-party payroll databases charge $17.95 to $119.95, while Checkr's own direct-match database costs a one-time $58 per candidate. Pick the lookback window the role needs: a current-employer check is $12.50, while ten years is $50.

What a full check costs for four common hires

These scenarios use list prices and the state fees above. Each excludes county court fees, which depend on where the candidate lived, and tax.

A delivery driver in Delaware. Essential plus an MVR plus Delaware's DMV fee, the highest in the table, comes to $94.49. The same check in California, where the DMV fee is $2, comes to $71.49. The $23 gap is the DMV fee alone.

A finance hire in New York on Complete. Complete plus New York's $95 state court fee is $189.99 before any add-on. Adding a five-year employment verification ($25) and one degree ($12.50) brings it to $227.49, plus the database fees for each verification.

A retail hire with no driving. Essential alone covers national and county searches, so a role that needs nothing more adds no add-on line. If the candidate's counties charge no court fee, the package price is the whole bill.

A fleet of 20 drivers under monitoring. Continuous MVR at $2.50 a month per driver costs $600 a year for 20 drivers, before state enrollment fees and any new MVR a violation triggers. Adding continuous criminal monitoring for the same 20 people costs another $408 a year.

Adjudication, compliance and international checks

Checkr also sells the tools that sort results after the check. Assess Lite, which filters records programmatically, is included. Assess Standard costs $2.49 per report and covers 55 criminal record categories, and Assess Premium costs $4 per report across 235 categories; Checkr says they cut manual review by up to 70% and 85%.

Two compliance costs are easy to miss. In places where adverse action notices must go by post, Checkr mails them for $7 a letter, and Form I-9 employment eligibility checks cost $7 a form. Rechecks on a schedule are billed at the package price plus any pass-through fees, so an annual recheck costs what the first check did.

For candidates outside the US, International Basic starts at $32, International Professional at $102 and International Professional+ at $124. Pass-through fees for international criminal searches are included in those prices.

How Checkr compares with GoodHire and Certn

GoodHire prints the same three list prices as Checkr, and Certn undercuts both on its entry checks. All prices below were read on each vendor's US pricing page on October 19, 2026.

Certn's Core is the cheapest way to a county result when a county search applies, at $23.98, but its county search is contingent rather than unlimited. Checkr's MVR is $16.49 cheaper than Certn's, which adds up fast for a driving workforce. GoodHire says its pricing varies by annual volume, so a high-volume buyer should ask both it and Checkr for a rate card. Our Checkr vs HireRight comparison covers HireRight, which publishes no per-check price.

Which Checkr package to buy

• Identity and a national database check only: Basic, for low-risk roles where policy allows it.
• Most hourly and office roles: Essential, the first package with county court searches.
• Roles that need state or federal records: Complete, and check the state court fee for the candidate's states.
• Drivers: Essential plus an MVR, budgeting the DMV fee for the licensing state.
• More than a few hundred checks a year: ask for an Enterprise quote with your volume.

For the wider market, read how much a background check costs across vendors, our Checkr review for turnaround and integrations, and the best background check services ranking. If the check sits inside a wider hiring stack, our Workable pricing and Ashby pricing guides cost the applicant tracking side, and Gusto pricing and Rippling pricing cover payroll.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a Checkr background check cost?

Checkr's packages cost $29.99 per report for Basic, $59.99 for Essential and $94.99 for Complete. Court, DMV and database fees are added at cost, and Enterprise is priced by quote.

What are Checkr's pass-through fees?

They are fees that courts, DMVs and databases charge to retrieve records, passed through at cost with no markup. In Checkr's table, 24 of 52 jurisdictions charge a state court fee, topped by New York at $95, and every DMV in the table charges for driving records.

Does Checkr charge a subscription?

No. The self-serve packages are pay-as-you-go, billed per report with no subscription. Continuous monitoring is the exception, at $1.70 per person a month for criminal records and $2.50 per driver a month for driving records.

How much is a Checkr MVR check?

A motor vehicle record costs $9.50 per check plus the state DMV fee, which ranges from $2 in California to $25 in Delaware and Oklahoma. A commercial MVR with a CDLIS search costs $14.50.

Is Checkr cheaper than GoodHire?

The list prices are the same: GoodHire's Basic, Essential and Complete packages match Checkr's three packages in price and in criminal coverage. GoodHire says its prices vary by annual volume, so compare quotes at your hiring volume rather than list prices.

Which Checkr package includes county searches?

Essential and Complete both include unlimited county criminal searches. Basic does not, and adding a county search to Basic costs $25 per county.

Sources and method

We read Checkr's pricing page and its pass-through fee page, including the state court and DMV fee table, on October 19, 2026. Competitor prices come from GoodHire's pricing page and Certn's US pricing page, read the same day. Scenario totals add printed prices and state fees and exclude county court fees and tax. The jurisdiction counts are our own tally of Checkr's table. Fees change, so confirm them in Checkr's estimator before you budget.

Cite this: HRpresso, "Checkr Pricing 2026: Basic, Essential, Complete and Pass-Through Fees", November 2026.

Related reading: Checkr review, GoodHire review, Checkr vs HireRight, how much does a background check cost, best background check services, HR software pricing index, and Toolradar profiles of Checkr, GoodHire and Certn.

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