HR AI Index
Index › Talent acquisition › Background screening › Small business › September 2026 Edition

Background screening for small business buyers

Asked as “background check provider”, and as “employment screening service”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 48 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
GoodHire
Contested
38% of first choices, contested.
ShowinginAll 50 categories →

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
Small businessGoodHire38%ContestedThis pageMid-marketCheckr43%Clear leaderStanding →EnterpriseFirst Advantage38%ContestedStanding →

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01GoodHire38%0%48endorsed leader
02Checkr23%2%54accepted challenger
03BackgroundChecks.com12%6%32accepted challenger
04Certn12%3%29accepted challenger
Show the five products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
09HireRight0%55%22criticized challenger
08Sterling0%50%14criticized challenger
07Accurate Background0%40%10criticized challenger
06First Advantage0%36%11criticized challenger
05ShareAble for Hires0%20%10accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.
Head to head
Checkr vs GoodHireCheckr vs CertnGoodHire vs Certn

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative50%
Key
01GoodHire38%
02Checkr23%
03BackgroundChecks.com12%
04Certn12%
05ShareAble for Hires0%
06First Advantage0%
07Accurate Background0%
08Sterling0%
09HireRight0%

02What they warned about

Five of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Mistral Small, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
HireRight
55%
12 of 22 labels negative · 10 of 12 models · 6 hard negative
“This global giant has been the subject of multiple **class-action lawsuits** alleging FCRA violations.” GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt
Sterling
50%
7 of 14 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 5 hard negative
“Providers to **Avoid or Approach with Extreme Caution**: **Sterling (now part of First Advantage)**: Frequently called "the worst"...” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt
TruthFinder
100%
6 of 6 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 6 hard negative
“Consumer "People Search" Sites (Avoid Completely)... NOT compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) for employment purposes.” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
Instant Checkmate
100%
5 of 5 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 5 hard negative
“Avoid consumer "people search" sites (BeenVerified, Spokeo, Instant Checkmate) for employment decisions” DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

67 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 5 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 758 links across 164 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

checkr.com
vendor site · Checkr50 answers · 58 citations · 11 models
bib.com
36 answers · 41 citations · 10 models
fitsmallbusiness.com
36 answers · 41 citations · 9 models
gcheck.com
vendor site · GCheck30 answers · 36 citations · 9 models
goodhire.com
vendor site · GoodHire25 answers · 31 citations · 11 models
checkrreviews.com
22 answers · 26 citations · 8 models
firsthr.app
vendor site · FirstHR21 answers · 21 citations · 9 models
learn.g2.com
16 answers · 17 citations · 8 models
infomart-usa.com
15 answers · 23 citations · 8 models
informationdirect.us
15 answers · 16 citations · 8 models
logicalrefer.com
14 answers · 14 citations · 6 models
vetty.co
vendor site · Vetty12 answers · 13 citations · 6 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

checkr.com/resources/articles/best-background-checks
42 answers · 10 models
fitsmallbusiness.com/best-background-check-companies
36 answers · 9 models
bib.com/blog/best-background-screening-companies-comparison
33 answers · 10 models
gcheck.com/blog/9-best-background-check-companies-for-small-businesses
29 answers · 9 models
checkrreviews.com/best-background-check-services
22 answers · 8 models
firsthr.app/compare/general/employee-background-check-services
21 answers · 9 models
goodhire.com/background-checks/small-business
17 answers · 10 models
learn.g2.com/best-background-check-software
16 answers · 8 models
informationdirect.us/blog/best-background-check-companies-small-business
14 answers · 8 models
logicalrefer.com/articles/best-background-check-services-2026
14 answers · 6 models

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ModelDirect“What is the best background check provider for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which employment screening service would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top background check providers for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best background check provider for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a background check provider. What should we look at?”Negative“Which background check providers should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5no first choiceCheckrChanged
Three alternativesFirst Advantage, Genesis B2B Screening, GoodHire
HireRightGoodHire, Verified Credentials
Two alternativesFirst Advantage, HireRight
no first choiceagainst: ADP Screening and Selection Services, First Advantage, HireRight, National Public Data, Sterling
GPT-5.4 miniCheckr
Two alternativesADP RUN, GoodHire
GoodHireChanged
One alternativeCheckr
against: BackgroundChecks.comCheckr
Four alternativesADP RUN, BackgroundChecks.com, Certn, GoodHire
against: DISA Global SolutionsGoodHire
One alternativeCheckr
against: ADP, HireRightno first choiceagainst: AppFolio / rental-screening operations, Instant Checkmate, RealPage, RentGrow, TruthFinder
Gemini 3.5 FlashCheckr
Five alternativesCreditsafe, Dun & Bradstreet, Genesis B2B Screening, HireShield, KarmaCheck
CheckrHeld
Two alternativesCertn, GoodHire
Checkr
Three alternativesCertn, ShareAble for Hires, Verified First
against: BeenVerified, Spokeo, TruthFinderSentryLink
Three alternativesCertn, Checkr, GoodHire
against: BeenVerified, ShareAble for Hires, Spokeo, TruthFinderno first choice
Three alternativesCertn, Checkr, Sterling
against: BeenVerified, First Advantage, HireRight, Instant Checkmate, Intelius, PeopleLooker, Spokeo, Sterling, TruthFinder
Perplexity SonarGoodHire
One alternativeCheckr
GoodHireHeld
Three alternativesBackgroundChecks.com, Checkr, HireRight
against: DISA Global SolutionsCheckr
Four alternativesBackgroundChecks.com, Bchex, Certn, GoodHire
GoodHire
Two alternativesBackgroundChecks.com, Certn
no first choicenothing named
Grok 4.1 FastGoodHire
Two alternativesBackgroundChecks.com, Checkr
against: HireRight, SterlingGoodHireHeld
Three alternativesBackgroundChecks.com, Bchex, Checkr
Checkr
Four alternativesBackgroundChecks.com, Certn, GoodHire, Trusted Employees
BackgroundChecks.com, Certn
Two alternativesCheckr, GoodHire
no first choiceagainst: Accurate Background, Cisive, HireRight, Sterling
Mistral SmallBackgroundChecks.com, Certn, HireShield
Two alternativesADP RUN, Mitratech AssureHire
CheckrChanged
Two alternativesBchex, GoodHire
Checkr
Three alternativesBackgroundChecks.com, GCheck, GoodHire
against: HireRight, iprospectcheckBackgroundChecks.com
Two alternativesCertn, Checkr
no first choiceagainst: Sterling
DeepSeek V4 FlashGoodHire
Three alternativesCertn, Checkr, ShareAble for Hires
GoodHireHeld
Three alternativesBackgroundChecks.com, Checkr, GCheck
Checkr
Three alternativesBackgroundChecks.com, Certn, GoodHire
against: ShareAble for HiresCertn
Four alternativesBackgroundChecks.com, Backgrounds Online, Checkr, GoodHire
against: BeenVerified, Instant Checkmate, Spokeono first choiceagainst: Accurate Background, BeenVerified, Certn, HireRight, Instant Checkmate, TruthFinder
Llama 4 MaverickBackgroundChecks.com, Certn, HireShieldSecure Screening ServicesChangedCheckr
Three alternativesBackgroundChecks.com, Certn, First Advantage
BackgroundChecks.com, Bchex, Checkrno first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashCheckr, GCheck
Two alternativesBackgroundChecks.com, ShareAble for Hires
GoodHireChanged
One alternativeCheckr
Checkr
Three alternativesCertified First / Verified First, GoodHire, HireShield
against: First AdvantageGoodHire
Two alternativesCertn, Checkr
no first choiceagainst: HireRight, Sterlingagainst: Accurate Background, BackgroundChecks.com, ClearChecks, HireRight, Instant Checkmate, Sterling/First Advantage, TruthFinder
Kimi K2GoodHire
Three alternativesCertn, Checkr, ShareAble for Hires
GoodHireHeld
Three alternativesAsurint Small Business, Checkr, ShareAble for Hires
GCheck
Three alternativesCertn, Checkr, GoodHire
BackgroundChecks.com, Certn
Two alternativesCheckr, GoodHire
against: Accurate Background, HireRight, SterlingCheckr, GoodHire
Two alternativesBackgroundChecks.com, Certn
against: Checkr, General Information Services (GIS) / e-Background-checks.com
GLM 4.7 FlashXCheckr
Three alternativesCertn, GCheck, GoodHire
GoodHireChanged
Three alternativesBackgroundChecks.com, Checkr, ShareAble for Hires
Checkr
Five alternativesAccurate Background, BackgroundChecks.com, Certn, First Advantage, GoodHire
Certn
Five alternativesBackgroundChecks.com, Checkr, GCheck, GoodHire, Verified Credentials
no first choiceagainst: Appfolio, CoreLogic, First Advantage, General Information Services, HireRight, National Background Data, e-Background-checks.com
MiniMax M2.5Checkr
Three alternativesBackgroundChecks.com, GCheck, GoodHire
Checkr, GoodHireChanged
Two alternativesBackgroundChecks.com, GCheck
Checkr, GoodHire
Two alternativesCertn, Sterling
against: HireRightGoodHire
One alternativeCertn
no first choicenothing named
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 21:21yes97 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 21:06yes25 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:40yes819 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 21:29yes205 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 20:14yes3317 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 18:37yes53 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:21yes813 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 21:24yes53 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:02yes525 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:08yes1324 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:38yes1338 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:31yes916 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 21:16yes168 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:37yes35 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:39yes1525 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 21:41yes206 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 18:39yes2314 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:19yes55 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:59yes1916 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 19:08yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:23yes521 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:48yes816 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:47yes2448 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:26yes1030 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 21:12yes98 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:06yes622 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 17:54yes1524 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 17:56yes2011 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 18:00yes1616 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 18:13yes57 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:16yes1718 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 21:44yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 21:40yes519 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 19:33yes1747 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:19yes2975 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 18:47yes914 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:56yes98 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:13yes34 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 19:21yes2021 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 21:04yes205 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 18:58yes2115 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:27yes54 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:31yes910 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 21:42yes53 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:35yes922 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:26yes715 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:16yes1120 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:54yes531 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:33no05 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:13no017 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:33no012 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 18:56yes208 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 19:29yes1310 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:32no06 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-17 19:27yes940 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 19:45yes53 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:51no031 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:42yes1024 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:12yes1058 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:39yes519 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:12yes189 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 21:03yes55 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:56yes2049 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 20:56yes186 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 20:03yes4617 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:00yes54 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-17 18:20yes2547 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:01yes54 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 21:20yes1026 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 19:48yes1842 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:53yes2960 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:09yes519 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings
Accurate read as Accurate Background
DISA read as DISA Global Solutions
RUN Powered by ADP read as ADP RUN
ShareAble read as ShareAble for Hires
TransUnion ShareAble for Hires read as ShareAble for Hires
Unresolved, counted raw
AppFolio / rental-screening operations
Appfolio
Asurint Small Business
Backgrounds Online
Certified First / Verified First
Checked.com
CoreLogic
Creditsafe
InCheck
Infomart
KarmaCheck
National Background Data
PeopleLooker
RealPage
Secure Screening Services
SentryLink
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in talent acquisition

The other categories of this function, with the leader in each.
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