HR AI Index
Index › Talent acquisition › Background screening › GoodHire vs Certn
Background screening · September 2026 Edition

GoodHire vs Certn

One of twelve models named GoodHire first on the direct prompt; zero named Certn. GoodHire was named by twelve of the twelve models and Certn by ten and GoodHire carries 41 labels and Certn 23, so the shares are not directly comparable.

GoodHire

accepted challenger

Named in one category this edition.

Certn

accepted challenger

Named in one category this edition.

First-choice share14%12%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate2%0%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#3A position in a field of 10; printed, not drawn.
Labels4123A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, GoodHire reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Checkr was named alongside these two in ten of the twelve direct answers. Checkr vs GoodHire · Checkr vs Certn

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the background screening page.

By framing

How many of the twelve models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
GoodHireFirst choices, of twelve modelsCertn
Direct101 against GoodHire
Paraphrase20
Comparative10
Budget-constrained35
Scale-constrained00
Negative10
Bars are first choices, 0 to 12 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to twelve.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where GoodHire and Certn stood in it.

GoodHire first, Certn an alternative

1 of 12 modelsCertn was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
Mistral SmallCheckr, GoodHire alternatives: Certn

Neither was the first choice, one was named

9 of 12 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.
GPT-5.4 miniCheckr alternatives: GoodHire, HireRight, Sterling
Perplexity SonarMitratech AssureHire alternatives: Bchex, Checkr, GoodHire, Verified First
Grok 4.1 FastCheckr alternatives: Accurate Background, Bchex, GoodHire, Verified First
DeepSeek V4 FlashVerified First alternatives: Certn, Checkr, Orange Tree
Llama 4 MaverickBackgroundChecks.com alternatives: Bchex, GoodHire, Mitratech AssureHire
Qwen 3.7 FlashCheckr alternatives: Certn, First Advantage, GoodHire
Kimi K2Accurate Background, Checkr alternatives: Bchex, Certn, Mitratech AssureHire, Verified First
GLM 4.7 FlashXCheckr alternatives: Accurate Background, Certn, GoodHire, Verified First
MiniMax M2.5Checkr alternatives: Certn, GoodHire

Neither was named

2 of 12 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.
Claude Haiku 4.5EDIFY Screening alternatives: Accurate Background, First Advantage, HireRight, iprospectcheck
Gemini 3.5 FlashVerified First alternatives: Accurate Background, Checkr, iprospectcheck

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
GoodHire leads by twenty-five points.
GoodHire38%#1 of 9
Certn12%#4 of 9
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
GoodHire leads by two points.
GoodHire14%#2 of 10
Certn12%#3 of 10
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
Level: the same share of first choices.
GoodHire0%#7 of 8
Certn0%#– of 8
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about GoodHire

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of five in this category shown.

“Checkr acquired GoodHire, so the product roadmap and support structure may be evolving” Kimi K2 · direct prompt · soft negative
“My Verdict: Start with a demo from GoodHire. They strike the safest balance between the capability of an enterprise company and the agility of a startup.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“GoodHire - Great for small-to-mid-sized companies, offers transparent pricing and packages starting around $30/check” MiniMax M2.5 · budget prompt · first choice
“providers like GoodHire (for ease of use) ... are generally recommended over the cheapest aggregators” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · first choice

What the models said about Certn

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Three of four in this category shown.

“If you want the absolute lowest cost: Go with Certn (starting at $13.99–$19.99 per check)” GLM 4.7 FlashX · budget prompt · first choice
“Certn stands out as one of the most affordable FCRA-compliant background check providers” Grok 4.1 Fast · budget prompt · first choice
“If your goal is maximum affordability with zero fluff, go with Certn.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · first choice
Also compared
Checkr vs GoodHireCheckr vs CertnThe full background screening standing

Comparisons are drawn for the top three products in each category. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.