First Advantage vs. HireRight background checks

Size, ownership and what changed in 2024

Both companies changed hands in 2024, which is why older comparisons are out of date.

• First Advantage bought Sterling Check Corp. on October 31, 2024, for about $2.2 billion, combining two of the largest screeners. It is listed on Nasdaq (FA), reported $1.57 billion of revenue in 2025, and says it runs more than 200 million screens a year for over 80,000 customers, including about two-thirds of the Fortune 100.
• HireRight was taken private by funds affiliated with General Atlantic and Stone Point Capital on June 28, 2024, at about a $1.7 billion enterprise value. It says it screens more than 85 million people a year and works with about half of the Fortune 100.

The practical difference for a buyer: First Advantage files annual reports with the SEC, so its revenue, customer concentration and legal reserves are public. HireRight stopped filing after it left the NYSE. If you get a background check request from either company through an employer, it is almost certainly legitimate; both are consumer reporting agencies under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Pricing and contracts

Neither company publishes enterprise prices. HireRight’s pricing page asks you to request a customized quote, and First Advantage prices large accounts by quote as well. For mid-size and large employers this is the normal buying process: you describe the roles, locations and searches, and the vendor prices a package, often with volume discounts and pass-through court fees on top.

Both also have a small business door. First Advantage offers online, pay-as-you-go accounts with no setup fees and no minimum screening volume. HireRight sells the same kind of service through BackgroundChecks.com, which it describes as a HireRight company, with pay-per-report pricing, no contract and no minimum. Neither shows package prices on the pages we checked without starting an account, so compare a real quote for the searches you need.

If posted prices matter more than brand, Checkr and GoodHire list packages from $29.99 per report, which makes budgeting easier for a business that hires a few people a year.

Speed and services

First Advantage states that about 90% of its U.S. criminal screens close in one day. HireRight does not publish a comparable figure. Verifications of past employers and degrees depend on those third parties answering, so they can take several days with either company.

The service menus overlap almost completely: criminal searches at county, state and federal level, identity and SSN checks, employment and education verification, drug and alcohol testing, driving records, healthcare sanction and license checks, Form I-9 and ongoing monitoring. HireRight highlights its DOT and FMCSA driver programs and healthcare license searches, and it lists 70+ integrations across 45+ HR and applicant tracking providers. First Advantage highlights its scale, drug testing network and monitoring products.

Industry reviewers on software sites tend to say First Advantage is simpler to start with and HireRight offers more customization, but those are user opinions, not tests. Ask both for turnaround reports in the counties where you hire most, since local court access drives speed more than vendor choice.

Applicant experience and complaints

Applicants are hard on both companies. First Advantage holds 1.5 out of 5 on Trustpilot across 1,089 reviews, with 86% one star. HireRight sits at 1.1 out of 5 across 768 reviews. The complaints read alike: long delays, repeated requests for documents and trouble reaching a person.

In the CFPB complaint database, First Advantage Corporation had 956 complaints from October 2023 to October 2026 and HireRight Solutions had 244. First Advantage screens more than twice as many people, so the gap shrinks once volume is considered, but HireRight’s count is also rising year over year. For both, the most common issue is incorrect information on a report, followed by problems with the company’s investigation of a dispute.

If either company is screening you, request your free report, check it for records that are not yours or should have been sealed, and dispute in writing. First Advantage takes disputes at 800-845-6004 or online and says reinvestigations are generally completed within 30 days. HireRight takes disputes through its candidate support site and by phone at 866-521-6995.

Legal and regulatory record

HireRight paid a $2.6 million civil penalty in 2012 to settle FTC charges that it did not follow reasonable procedures to keep reports accurate, let people see their files and handle disputes. First Advantage reports in its 2025 annual report that it had accrued $8.7 million at December 31, 2025 for legal matters, mostly lawsuits and potential class actions brought by people it screened, down from $11.6 million a year earlier. Large screeners face FCRA suits as a matter of course, so the more useful question for an employer is how each vendor’s contract handles errors and who defends claims tied to a bad report.

Both hold an A+ rating from the BBB. First Advantage is BBB accredited; HireRight’s Nashville profile is not. BBB ratings reflect how a company responds to complaints, not report accuracy.

Before signing with either, ask for three things in writing: the average turnaround in your top counties over the last quarter, the dispute rate on your account type, and the contract language on indemnity for reporting errors. Also confirm that the vendor supplies compliant disclosure and adverse action templates for each state you hire in, since most FCRA suits against employers turn on those forms rather than on the search itself.