Talent Hero

The 36 Best Candidate Screening Automation Tools for Recruiters

A good candidate pre-screening tool is the ultimate time-saver for a recruiter. These programs can rank and grade candidates to pre-qualify those who are a fit to move forward in the hiring process.

For example, intelligent resume screeners contextually evaluate a candidate’s experience, skills, and characteristics based on their resumes and other information and automatically identify the most qualified applicants. You can also find tools to automatically assess candidates’ skills and culture fit, or tools that will conduct background and reference checks.

In this post, you’ll find the top options in each of those three categories to help talent acquisition professionals choose the right tools to streamline their hiring process. Whatever type of candidate screening you’re looking for, you’ll find a program that can automate it on the list below.

The 36 best candidate screening and assessment tools at a glance

Tool
Price
Key functions
Available upon request
Resume screening, high-volume hiring, talent analytics
$99-$499 per month
Contextual resume screening, candidate ranking, candidate sourcing
Free-$439 per month
Resume screening, SMB hiring, building candidate pipelines, ATS
Available upon request
Data-driven resume screening, video interviews, interview scheduling, ATS
Available upon request
Resume screening, candidate ranking, building candidate pipelines, chatbot, interview scheduling
$85-$165 per user per month
Resume screening, resume parsing, candidate sourcing, job posting, CRM
Available upon request
Resume screening, candidate ranking, candidate sourcing
Starts at $59 per month
Resume screening, chatbot, interview scheduling, video interviews
Starts at $10,000 per year
Resume screening, recruitment marketing, ATS
Available upon request
Resume screening, resume parsing
$99-$299 per month
Resume screening, ATS, job posting
Available upon request
Resume screening, resume parsing, candidate sourcing
Starts at $5,000 per year
Pre-employment assessment, candidate ranking, reference checks
Available upon request
Pre-employment assessment, video interviews
Free-$469 per month
Pre-employment assessment, candidate ranking
Available upon request
Pre-employment assessment, candidate ranking
Starts at $1,800 per year
Pre-employment assessment
Available upon request
Pre-employment assessment, chatbot, virtual career fairs, talent analytics

SHL
Available upon request
Pre-employment assessment, video interviews
Available upon request
Pre-employment assessment, video interviews
Starts at $300
Pre-employment assessment, candidate ranking
Available upon request
Pre-employment assessment
Available upon request
Pre-employment assessment
Available upon request
Pre-employment assessment, hiring diversity, early career and hourly hiring
Starts at $29.99 per check
Background checks
Available upon request
Pre-employment screening, background checks, ongoing employee monitoring
Starts at $29.99 per check
Background checks
Available upon request
Pre-employment screening, background checks, ongoing employee monitoring
Starts at $17 per check
Background checks, international hiring, reference checks
Starts at £30
Background checks
Starts at $4,500
Pre-employment screening, background checks
Available upon request
Reference checks, employee feedback
Available upon request
Pre-employment screening, background checks
Available upon request
Pre-employment screening, background checks
Available upon request
Background checks
$49-$499 per month
Background checks, international hiring

The top 12 resume screening tools

Lever

https://www.lever.co/

Considered one of the top recruiting tools, Lever is an end-to-end recruitment platform with features such as one-click sourcing, two-way email sync, and @-mentions that you will not find in many of their competitors. As a resume screening system, it is an excellent choice for companies with high-volume hiring needs. The dashboard includes a resume database with sophisticated automation and talent analytics features, making it easy to compare candidates on the qualifications and traits that matter most to your business.

Pricing: Available upon request

Pros

  • Automates several common recruiting tasks to streamline the hiring process
  • Easy to use with comprehensive Lever University training and help features
  • Integrated interview scheduling and planning tools
  • Simple onboarding with little training needed to get started
  • Over 350 third-party integrations
  • 14-day free trial available

Cons

  • Some users report difficulty getting in touch with customer support
  • Limited customization of users and reports

CVViZ

https://cvviz.com/product/resume-screening/

CVViZ’s resume screening software screens resumes contextually, learning from your hiring process to identify better candidates. After resume screening, CVViZ ranks candidates in real-time. Its screening system goes beyond keyword matching, using AI to learn from your hiring process and provide contextual comparisons so you can identify the best candidates quickly.

Pricing

  • $99 per month for starter (5 active jobs)
  • $159 per month for basic (10 active jobs)
  • $259 per month for standard (20 active jobs)
  • $499 per month for pro (50 active jobs)

Pros

  • Provides insights to optimize your recruitment process
  • Includes access to over 2,000 sites for candidate sourcing, including passive candidates
  • Continuously learns from your selection process to improve its ranking and screening
  • Intuitive to navigate with an easy, fast setup process
  • Easy to integrate with your company website
  • Responsive customer support
  • 14-day free trial available

Cons

  • Mobile experience is lacking
  • Doesn’t include pre-assessment tests

BreezyHR

https://breezy.hr/

BreezyHR earned rave reviews and built a loyal user base almost as soon as it was founded in 2014. Now that it’s been around for a few years, it’s known as one of the best ATS platforms for its amazing customer support, smooth UI and end-to-end functionality. Overall, it’s a great example of how you build recruiter software that actually inspires you to do your job.

Pricing

  • Bootstrap: Free (1 position or pool)
  • Startup: $157/month
  • Growth: $273/month
  • Business: $439/month

Pros

  • Excellent option for small to mid-sized companies
  • Create customizable applicant pipelines
  • Simple and intuitive setup, even for those who have never used an ATS
  • Seamless integration with popular recruiting platforms
  • Responsive account team

Cons

  • Reporting functionality can be limited
  • Some features are lacking, such as candidate sorting and references

Clear Company

https://www.clearcompany.com/

Clear Company is an end-to-end talent management platform that integrates data-driven and AI-enhanced tools. Their modular platform includes tools for every stage of the employee journey, from sourcing and screening candidates through onboarding and performance management. Their ATS allows recruiters to create structured blueprints for sourcing and evaluating candidates, prioritizing them based on their fitness for the role. In addition, the AI assistant streamlines the communication process, with automated outreach and job posting to save time in sourcing and sorting applicants.

Pricing: Available upon request

Pros

  • Provides a seamless applicant experience
  • Integrated text recruiting and video interviewing features
  • Automated interview scheduling
  • Good value for the features and capabilities
  • Excellent customer service and support

Cons

  • Limited features for bulk messaging
  • Reports require more manual input than is ideal

Eightfold

https://eightfold.ai/

Eightfold’s AI finds the people most likely to succeed in a job based on their skills and potential, identifying great people often missed by legacy keyword-based screening. You can use it to screen candidates automatically and receive instant ranked pipelines of talent. Its chatbot can also answer candidates’ questions, schedule interviews, and send candidates alerts as they move through stages of the hiring process.

Pricing: Available upon request

Pros

  • Screened candidates can be filtered to help pinpoint the best talent
  • Anonymous screening feature reduces unconscious bias
  • Integrates well with Outlook calendars for easy interview scheduling
  • Streamlines candidate communications throughout the process
  • Great tool for candidate rediscovery

Cons

  • Sometimes lags in its communication with ATS programs
  • Limited options for sorting candidates or adding notes onto their profiles

Recruit CRM

https://recruitcrm.io/

With Recruit CRM, recruiters can do pretty much everything including sourcing candidates, sending emails, setting up interviews, collecting updated CVs, parsing resumes and collecting feedback from clients. It also has a built-in CRM, automatic job board posting and boolean search.

Pricing

  • Pro: $85 per user per month
  • Business: $125 per user per month
  • Enterprise: $165 per user per month

Pros

  • End-to-end system designed for executive search and recruitment firms
  • Very reasonable pricing for the functions it offers
  • Dedicated and responsive support team
  • Dynamic and user-friendly layout is easy to tailor to your workflow
  • Integrates seamlessly with a range of tools and sites, including LinkedIn, Slack, and Outlook

Cons

  • Reports section could be improved
  • No option for automated text engagement with candidates

HireEZ

https://hireez.com/

HireEZ’s AI engine will screen applicants based on your hiring project’s candidate persona with no manual effort or unconscious bias involved. HireEZ’s method for initial screening will rank all candidates/applicants inside a project. You can easily integrate your ATS or CRM with HireEZ, then import stale past applicant profiles through a file upload or direct API. HireEZ uses data fusion technology to refresh past applicant profiles with data from across the entire open web. Refreshed profiles are added to your talent pool, and its AI sourcing surfaces best-fit past applicants for your open roles.

Pricing: Available upon request

Pros

  • Efficient workflow automation features and automatic candidate matching
  • Strong analytics for making data-driven hiring decisions
  • Automated multi-channel outreach
  • Provides access to over 1 billion candidate profiles
  • Integrates smoothly into your existing tech stack

Cons

  • Price may be too high for smaller businesses
  • Some users report issues with bounced emails to candidates sent through the system

MyInterview

https://www.myinterview.com/

MyInterview is a video interview platform that aims to help brands streamline their recruitment efforts and provide a better candidate experience. Its features include the chatbot Taira, which offers conversational candidate screening and automatic interview scheduling. It also offers Smart Shortlisting, multiple video interview formats, and personality profiling tools to help you assess culture fit.

Pricing

  • Individual: $59 per month (2 active jobs)
  • Professional: Custom pricing

Pros

  • Customizable branding and interview questions
  • Time saving automations like voice-to-text transcription and one-way interviews
  • Robust ATS integrations
  • Free trial is available
  • Very user friendly for both recruiters and candidates

Cons

  • Some manual effort required to enter and view notes on cadidates
  • Customer support can be slow to respond

SmartRecruiters

https://www.smartrecruiters.com/

Like most modern applicant tracking systems, SmartRecruiters has features such as multi-channel Recruitment marketing, collaboration tools and built-in automated processes. However, what sets it apart are its integrations, 250+ services ranging from job boards to sourcing tools to background checks, all of which are available in its Marketplace.

Pricing: Starts at $10,000 per year

Pros

  • Seamless, user-friendly layout
  • Extensive integration with third-party applications
  • Customer support is responsive and helpful
  • Easily post customized job posts on all major job boards
  • Good mobile app

Cons

  • Initial configuration and setup can be time consuming
  • Candidate scorecards and messaging can be cumbersome

Daxtra

https://www.daxtra.com/

Daxtra’s main value for recruiting agencies is its ability to provide tailored workflow automation solutions that boost efficiency. It integrates with ATS and CRM platforms to automatically populate candidate profiles with data from mailboxes, folders, and websites. You can then review this information with its intelligent search and match tool to quickly identify the exact right candidates for your role.

Pricing: Available upon request

Pros

  • Ideal for enterprise and high-volume hiring
  • Adaptable to a variety of recruiting systems and hiring needs
  • Accurate data capture with its resume parsing tool
  • Comprehensive search and screening features
  • Option of cloud-based or on-premises versions
  • Powerful built-in ATS

Cons

  • Complexity of the program means it can take a while to learn
  • Higher cost than many other programs

HireBeat

https://hirebeat.co/

HireBeat’s transparent AI enables fast screening of resumes to help hiring teams identify the best candidates faster. Along with an intuitive ATS, the software includes time-saving features like automatic job posting and collaborative candidate review tools. The flexible pricing structure also includes a per-job option for organizations that only have occasional hiring needs.

Pricing

  • PayG: $99 per job
  • Pro: $126 per month
  • Premium: $299 per month

Pros

  • Easy-to-navigate recruitment dashboard
  • Suitable for occasional or regular/high-volume hiring needs
  • Integrated video interviews
  • Branded jobs portal makes it easy for candidates to find openings
  • Automatic posting to hundreds of job sites
  • 14-day free trial available

Cons

  • No social media integrations
  • Initial setup can be confusing and time-consuming

Paycor

https://www.paycor.com/hcm-software/talent-acquisition-solutions/

Paycor uses resume parsing and scanning tools to produce the most accurate results with no manual work. Candidates don’t have to waste time on manual data entry and recruiters can know they are capturing all relevant information from candidates while improving application rates.

Pricing: Available upon request

Pros

  • Equally functional for small and large companies
  • AI platform that sources passive and active candidates
  • Integrated onboarding and payroll software
  • Automates a range of hiring and payroll tasks that are time-consuming to do manually
  • Customer service team is responsive to feedback

Cons

  • Reporting platform is confusing to navigate
  • System can be slow and require refreshing to load properly

The top 12 pre-employment assessment tools

Harver

https://harver.com/

Harver provides your team with validated data and enables them to hire bias-free, while automating laborious repeatable tasks to help you focus on things that require personal attention. Harver comes equipped with 15 customizable assessment modules. From culture fit and cognitive ability, to personality and multitasking, it automatically ranks candidates based on job-fit and assessment performance, using its matching technology that promises to translate results into actionable data.

Pricing: Starts at $5,000 per year

Pros

  • Simple to add new applicants and send assessments to candidates
  • Great tools to match candidates to roles
  • Made specifically for volume hiring
  • Interviewing, reference checking, and assessments all in one
  • Well-researched and science-backed assessments provide accurate information
  • Doesn’t require a strong internet connection to use

Cons

  • Can sometimes take a while to access test results
  • Mobile interface can be cumbersome

Cappfinity

https://cappfinity.com/our-products/skills-framework/

Cappfinity develops a data-informed picture of the most important skills profile required for your role and company. Then, every candidate takes a simple and fun online assessment, receiving automated customized feedback on their impact skills. Candidates are assessed across behavioral, cognitive, and technical skills, while the results of these assessments are sent to your team in a way that’s clear and engaging, so you can make better data-driven hiring decisions.

Pricing: Available upon request

Pros

  • Bulk invites option is ideal for volume hiring
  • Integrated video interview platform
  • Simple and effective data dashboards
  • Digital job simulation gives candidates a preview of their role
  • Assessment tests are interesting and engaging for candidates
  • Host online engagement events in their Virtual Assessment Center

Cons

  • Can take new users some time to learn its full range of features
  • Price can be high for smaller organizations

Toggl Hire

https://toggl.com/hire/

Toggl Hire is a full-funnel solution providing a skills-based hiring funnel. Their pre-built smart tests stack soft and hard skills into one job-specific skills assessment for you, while async video interviews promise real human interaction at scale. Toggl Hire claims to automatically shortlist its highest-scoring, skills-match candidates while assessing candidates on job-specific skills and cutting your time-to-hire by 86%. Apart from providing complete flexibility to their users with custom tests and branding, they also state that 90% of candidates love taking their tests, even if they don’t get the job, improving the candidate experience.

Pricing

  • Free (up to 3 candidates)
  • Basic: $20 per month (up to 20 candidates)
  • Premium: $75 per month (up to 45 candidates)
  • Business: $469 per month (unlimited candidates)

Pros

  • Very easy to set up and use
  • Friendly and responsive support team
  • Pre-made question library is more useful than with other platforms
  • Wide variety of customization options for non-technical assessments
  • Candidates report the tests are engaging, fast, and easy to take

Cons

  • Limited customization options for tech and coding skills
  • Security features are limited on the free tier

Prevue

https://www.prevuehr.com/

Prevue promises to provide valid, accurate, and reliable tests that will help you predict an employee’s future behavior. Their Screen-Fit product automatically screens and organizes candidates based on job fit and culture fit, and Team-Fit compares temperaments between teammates to promote group success.

Pricing: Two tiers (Standard and Premium), pricing available upon request

Pros

  • Assesses across multiple metrics (aptitude, motivation, and personality)
  • Tests are backed by psychological research and industry benchmarking
  • Results are intuitive and accurate
  • Easy to tailor the tested skills for each job search
  • Detailed reports on candidates’ skills and culture fit

Cons

  • Dashboards aren’t as user-friendly as other platforms
  • Limited control to adjust settings of user accounts and types

iMocha

https://www.imocha.io/

iMocha’s mission is to help companies leverage AI to drive data-driven talent decisions and take a skills-first approach to hiring and talent management. To accomplish this, they offer a library of pre-built tests covering more than 3,000 skills, with job role mapping to help pinpoint the exact right skills to predict success for a given position. This versatile system can be used to assess and address skill gaps in an organization, in addition to its power as a recruitment tool.

Pricing

  • Basic: $1,800 per year
  • Professional: $6,000 per year
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing (available upon request)

Pros

  • Easy to customize skill tests to your specific needs
  • AI proctoring and fraud detection reduces risk of candidate cheating
  • Tests cover a variety of skills, including technical and soft skills
  • Detailed reports for each candidate or test-taker
  • Intuitive interface
  • Free trial available

Cons

  • Complexity of the software can give it a high learning curve
  • Some aspects of tests can’t be customized easily

Radancy

https://www.radancy.com

Radancy is a virtual career fair platform that includes a chatbot as one of its tools for users. Its recruiting chatbot enables you to have live conversations with candidates 24/7 and assess candidates based on their responses. Along with this automated communication, Radancy’s Talent Acquisition Cloud gives you data-driven insights to help you hire qualified talent faster and optimize the candidate journey.

Pricing: Available upon request

Pros

  • Also allows you to host virtual career fairs
  • Interface is easy to use and navigate
  • Strong customer support including monthly calls with a dedicated account representative
  • Multiple ways to engage with candidates, including text, voice, video, and a chatbot
  • Helps you make better data-driven hiring decisions

Cons

  • Limited customization options
  • Relatively high cost and long required commitment

SHL

https://www.shl.com/

SHL assesses aptitude, skill, personality and potential without biases to achieve greater diversity. Their AI-powered interviewing technology assesses candidate domain knowledge, language and personality traits including motivation and job fit. AI scores facial expressions, speech and content. SHL lets you choose traditional video interviews or interactive, remote live interviews.

Pricing: Available upon request

Pros

  • Variety of skill tests, personality assessments, and job simulations
  • Scientifically backed cognitive, personality, and behavioral assessments
  • Easy to use from the company side
  • Provides accurate and timely insights for people decisions
  • Also offers 360 assessments and video interviews

Cons

  • Candidate interface is lacking compared to other options
  • Candidates aren’t able to easily view their test results

HireVue

https://www.hirevue.com/

HireVue helps to identify the attributes considered to be most critical for success when hiring new employees. Using a four to six question video interview, HireVue’s proprietary machine learning algorithms surface the candidates that will interact best with your customers and represent your brand in real, customer-centric situations, giving you insight into skills that matter.

Pricing: Two tiers (Essentials and Enterprise), pricing available upon request

Pros

  • Excellent choice for large agencies with high hiring needs
  • Includes on-demand video interviewing and candidate screening features
  • Very responsive customer support team
  • User-friendly interface on both the candidate and recruiter side
  • Conversational screening captures qualified talent that other methods may miss

Cons

  • Integrations are limited
  • Pricing may be too high for smaller businesses

Vervoe

https://vervoe.com/features/

Vervoe automatically grades and ranks all your candidates based on how well they can do the job. With this platform, you can test job-specific skills, technical skills or soft skills using tailored assessments that are generated instantly and graded automatically. Vervoe claims you can even generate a made-to-measure, instantly auto-gradable skills assessment in less than a minute, which is unique to your company and the role you are hiring for.

Pricing: Pay as you go model starts at $300 for 10 candidates

Pros

  • Allows responses in text, audio, or video form
  • Assessments can be customized to your specific job role
  • Includes job simulations as well as skill assessments
  • Strong anti-cheating measures built in
  • Integrates easily with many ATS platforms and other common used tools
  • 7-day free trial is available, no credit card required

Cons

  • AI grading can take some time to set up and train
  • Candidates occasionally report issues with audio and video recordings

Criteria

https://www.criteriacorp.com/

Criteria’s mission is to help employers build better teams, interview smarter, and assess the true potential of candidates with deep insights backed by science. Case studies from users show it improves time to hire by 50%, while reducing bias and helping employers make smarter hiring decisions.

Pricing: Two tiers (Professional and Talent Success Suite), pricing available upon request

Pros

  • Includes skill, personality, cognitive aptitude, emotional intelligence, and risk tests
  • Easy to interpret visual reports and scorecards
  • Game-based assessments provide an immersive and engaging candidate experience
  • Features for employee development as well as new candidate assessment
  • Support team is responsive and easy to work with
  • Fully-featured 14-day free trial

Cons

  • Creating customized tests can be more complicated than on other platforms
  • Culture fit assessments may not be as accurate for international candidates

Plum

https://www.plum.io/

By measuring talents like adaptability, innovation and communication, Plum uses AI and industrial/organizational psychology to predict if an applicant will thrive in a role before you hire them. Along with comprehensive skill alignment, Plum uses the Five-Factor Personality Model to predict candidates’ job performance and innate behaviors, helping you to make more informed long-term hiring decisions.

Pricing: Available upon request

Pros

  • Easy to interpret results and compare candidates side-by-side
  • Science-backed psychometric assessments based in I/O psychology
  • Also includes 360 assessments and talent management features
  • Scalable and adaptable to different team and company sizes
  • Enables custom match criteria
  • Candidates receive results as well as companies

Cons

  • The use of custom criteria can influence the accuracy of results
  • Candidate insights aren’t as targeted to specific jobs as other assessments

Pymetrics

https://www.pymetrics.ai/talent-acquisition#talent-acquisition

Pymetrics has built a talent matching platform that uses objective data for predictions about fit and potential. Candidates go through the Pymetrics platform once and it calculates their fit to all custom job profiles across your company, improving efficiency, diversity and employee success. The platform is said to use recent developments in science and technology to gather objective data through assessments that engage your candidates.

Pricing: Available upon request

Pros

  • Neuroscience-based assessments measure cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral traits
  • Seamlessly shares results with all major ATS platforms
  • Ideal for early career and hourly workers
  • Gamified assessments are excellent for engaging Gen Z and Millennial talent
  • Integrated bias reduction
  • Candidates receive personalized results

Cons

  • Assessment style can be frustrating for older candidates
  • Results aren’t as in-depth as other platforms

The top 12 tools for automating background checks

GoodHire

https://www.goodhire.com/

GoodHire offers a quick way to set up an account and automate many common workflows that would normally take up your time. Your GoodHire dashboard provides at-a-glance results and status updates, and your candidates can view their results in the same mobile-optimized format available to you. GoodHire has a modern API and is pre-integrated with the ATS/HRIS tools you already use. The platform searches, organizes, and processes billions of records per year, promising advanced data engineering, compliance filters, and continual manual reviews.

Pricing

  • Basic+: $29.99 per check
  • Essential: $54.99 per check
  • Professional: $79.99 per check
  • Custom pricing available for companies that run more than 10 checks per year

Pros

  • Clean, modern user interface is easy to learn and navigate
  • Prebuilt integrations with most ATS software
  • Great value for the money
  • Mobile-friendly
  • Built-in compliance and security features

Cons

  • No custom integrations beyond their pre-built options
  • No multilingual support

Mitratech AssureHire

https://mitratech.com/products/assurehire/

AssureHire offers technology and automation in a fast end-to-end screening experience, with data retrieval, mobile candidate experiences, direct line callable account managers, single sign on and ATS/HRIS/ERP system integrations. AssureHire is dedicated to data privacy and regulations such as the EEOC, FCRA and GDPR.

Pricing: Available upon request

Pros

  • 98% of tests completed in under 30 hours
  • Accurate and thorough results
  • Start a background check in minutes
  • Ongoing post-hire alerts and screening
  • Seamless and secure candidate experience

Cons

  • Drug screening results can be slow
  • Customer service can be slow to respond

Checkr

https://checkr.com/

Checkr claims to be the only background check company using artificial intelligence and machine learning to make hiring more inclusive and more efficient. Checkr offers features like progressive screenings, which allows you to skip unnecessary screenings for candidates you disqualified early in the screening process. Checkr also surfaces only the results based on criteria you selected as relevant to the position you’re feeling, creating a bigger, more optimized talent pool.

Pricing

  • Basic+: $29.99 per check
  • Essential: $54.99 per check
  • Professional: $79.99 per check

Individual drug tests, criminal history checks, Department of Transportation checks, and verifications are also available ($8-$60 per check/test)

Pros

  • Can pay for and run only the specific background checks you need
  • Results are usually very fast (often within 48 hours)
  • Easy to set up and conduct checks
  • Provides comprehensive and accurate information on candidates
  • Simple to use from the candidate’s side
  • Integrates with many ATS and CRM platforms

Cons

  • Notifications and alerts are limited and inconsistent
  • Some users report long delays in responses from customer support

Good Egg

https://www.foleyservices.com/goodegg

Good Egg’s Screening Continuum promises to be a faster, smarter approach to screening that looks at every part of a candidate’s career, to not only show you where they’ve been, but also where they’re headed, helping you hire smarter, and mitigate risk at every step. Good Egg offers ongoing monitoring of social media, criminal record checks, drug use, and motor vehicle records can bring issues to light before they escalate into problems.

Pricing: 3 tiers (Starter, Professional, Enterprise), pricing available upon request

Pros

  • Wide range of check, verification, and monitoring options
  • Integrated into a platform that streamlines the onboarding process
  • Results are clear and easy to interpret
  • Scheduling checks is fast and easy
  • Compliance solutions and data monitoring
  • Accredited by the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA)

Cons

  • Can be more challenging to use from the candidate side
  • Pricing can be steep for more involved or complex checks

Checkmate

https://www.checkmate.tech/

Checkmate aims to simplify pre-employment screening with easy-to-use online reference checking and background screening. Their global network covers more than 190 countries and territories, with more than 4,000 international background checks for comprehensive insights into candidates.

Pricing

  • Casual Check: $17 per check
  • Plus Pack: $145 for 10 checks
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing (available upon request)

Pros

  • Excellent choice for international hiring
  • Customizable reference check templates
  • 24/7 support via messenger, email, or phone
  • Easy to use from both the company and candidate/reference side
  • Very mobile-friendly
  • 3-check free trial available

Cons

  • Some integrations are lacking (though more are being added regularly)
  • No option for automatic follow-up

Zinc

https://zincwork.com/

Zinc is an all-in-one employment background check platform designed for employers who hire at scale. Its automated system lets you request a check with one click right from your ATS to save your team time, and it’s fast on the other side, too, with an average turnaround time of 3 days.

Pricing

  • Flex (pay as you go): starts at £30
  • Startup: £125 per month
  • Professional: £300 per month

Pros

  • Fast and efficient background screenings
  • Transparent process with real-time status updates
  • Seamless integration with most ATS programs
  • Meets compliance standards for 200 countries
  • Positive experience for candidates as well as companies
  • Free trial is available

Cons

  • Limited options for reference checks
  • Alerts for red flags or suspicious results aren’t always clear

Fama

https://fama.io/

Fama is talent screening software that helps identify problematic behavior among potential hires and current employees by analyzing publicly available online information. Their technology helps businesses identify thousands of job-relevant behaviors, such as racism or harassment, without exposing hiring managers to unnecessary risk or manual work. Fama is automated and efficient, letting you escalate only the most critical reports for human review and adjudication.

Pricing: Starts from $4,500 (usage based)

Pros

  • Screen over 10,000 online sources to identify potentially problematic candidates
  • FCRA, EEOC, GDPR, and SOC2 compliant
  • Integrates with most ATS platforms and 95% of global background screenings
  • Create customized filters and search parameters
  • Reports are over 99.95% accurate

Cons

  • Higher cost than similar background check services
  • Some users report the check doesn’t go deep enough

Xref

https://www.xref.com/

The primary function of Xref is to gather feedback from employees through customized surveys. It also includes fast and secure automated reference check software. Reference questionnaires can be created in as little as 30 seconds, and can be sent from their templates or customized to your unique needs. The Xref algorithm monitors the process to alert you to unusual activity so you can be confident in the results.

Pricing: Credit-based system (specific prices available upon request)

Pros

  • Easy to create and customize reference questionnaires
  • Good variety of curated survey templates
  • Visual reports are easy to interpret and provide actionable insights
  • Results are returned in 18 hours on average
  • Equally functional on mobile or desktop

Cons

  • Fraud detection isn’t always reliable
  • System can take longer to learn than other options

Clairiti by DISA

https://disa.com/clairiti

DISA offers an integrated solution for all of an employer’s pre-hire screening needs. You can conduct background, occupational health, transportation, and drug screenings all in one system, streamlining the process of verifying potential employees to speed up the hiring process. Their background check feature includes more than 33 checks including criminal, civil, and identity verification, with customized packages that let you choose the specific screenings of most value for your industry and company.

Pricing: Available upon request

Pros

  • Versatile system includes a wide variety of different screenings
  • Accurate and trustworthy results
  • Compliance assistance and educational resources for employers
  • Advanced reporting tools make it easy to track and interpret results
  • Portal is easy to navigate

Cons

  • Some users report occasional glitches and site outages
  • Customer service quality is inconsistent

Intelligo

https://intelligo.ai/

Intelligo’s Clarity background screening product automates research on people and companies, processing thousands of sources including premium databases, legal records, news, regulatory data and social media. Their AI capabilities remove false hits, corroborate information, identify problematic behavior and reputation, and generate red flags. The results provided are concisely presented in an interactive report, and the subjects are kept under continuous monitoring daily, alerting you only when relevant red flags are uncovered.

Pricing: Available upon request

Pros

  • Due diligence, backgrounds checks, and continuous monitoring available
  • AI-powered review of thousands of data sources
  • Interactive reports with red and yellow flags to mark areas of concern, linked to data sources
  • Results typically come back very quickly
  • Comprehensive and compliant results

Cons

  • Interface isn’t very user friendly and can take a while to learn
  • Customer service could be better

HireRight

https://www.hireright.com/

HireRight offers smart, comprehensive background checks that enable you to focus on what’s most important — managing your organization’s risk and improving employment decisions. HireRight’s platforms integrate with many commonly-used applicant tracking systems.

Pricing: Available upon request

Pros

  • On-demand employment screening, drug screening, and I-9 eligibility
  • Interface is easy to use
  • Helpful and responsive support team
  • Integrates easily with other recruiting software and systems
  • Good value for the cost

Cons

  • Process can be cumbersome from the candidate side
  • Some users report long delays in receiving results

Deel

https://www.deel.com/

For global companies, Deel is designed to serve as an all-in-one system for everything from on-boarding through off-boarding. Its Deel EOR platform helps companies remain in compliance when hiring global talent, and it also includes contractor management and immigration support. The background check feature is frictionless, secure, and automated, with support for more than 190 countries and easy integration directly into your onboarding systems.

Pricing

  • Contractor management: $49 per month
  • EOR: $499 per month

Pros

  • Great option for screening international candidates
  • Fast results (as little as 15 minutes)
  • Verifies identity, education, employment, and criminal history
  • Real-time search of more than 200,000 global databases
  • GDPR, EEOC, and SOC2 compliant

Cons

  • May be more features than you need if you’re just looking for background checks
  • No mobile app or functionality

Author

Zack Gallinger

LinkedIn

Zack Gallinger is the founder of Talent Hero Media, a digital marketing agency that specializes in finding new clients and candidates for recruiting agencies. He attended the University of Toronto - Rotman School of Management, where he received his MBA. In his free time, he enjoys rock climbing and spending time with his (very large) family.