The Best Background Check Services

What Is Intelius?

Intelius is a people search and background report company founded in 2003. It specializes in delivering one-off reports but offers convenient membership plans too.

Intelius Pricing

The Intelius background check service one-off options include:

• People search/reverse phone lookup—$0.95
• Complete background check—$39.95
• Criminal background check—$29.95
• Social network search/email lookup—$6.95

The service also offers two monthly packages:

• Intelius Premier Plan—$19.95/month

Phone lookups and unlimited people searches

• Intelius Premier Plus—$29.95/month

It includes everything in the previous plan, plus one background check per month.

Intelius Best Features

• Fast and affordable background check—You can get the fastest and cheapest background check just by introducing the person’s full name, state, and city.
• Reverse phone number and address lookup—It gives you information about people’s whereabouts, aliases, and even property ownership.
• Criminal record search—Returns data on the person’s public arrest records, felonies, misdemeanors, and warrants.
• Background report service—Covers personal information, such as divorce history, bankruptcies, liens, or other civil judgments.
• Public records access—Find out even more about one’s legal and marital status.
• Identity Protect—The background check company ensures maximum data security for its users.

What We Disliked

• Intelius doesn’t publicly display its pricing policy on the website.
• Some 444 complaints on BBB dispute whether it the best background check service.

Intelius User Reviews

As we just mentioned above in the Intelius review, this online background check has a mixed reputation.

While BBB gives the company a solid A rating, ConsumerAffairs rewards it with only 2.9/5 stars. There is also a plethora of user complaints, pointing out the company’s lack of transparency in pricing and FOMO tactics.

One customer even accuses the company in their Intelius background check review on Reddit of hiding fees in the fine print.

Still, there are plenty of positive reviews, focusing on the ease of use and extensiveness of information the company provides.

We Recommend Intelius For…

Intelius is the best background checker when it comes to quick, easy, and extremely affordable people searches. Everyone who wants to reconnect with a childhood friend or a long-lost relative but knows very little about them can greatly benefit from this service.

What Is Instant Checkmate?

Instant Checkmate can help you uncover relevant details about one’s criminal history or civil status, whether the person is married or not, or even if your online identity is at risk. It’s a top-rated background check, especially when it comes to court records.

Instant Checkmate Pricing

The most noteworthy aspect of the Instant Checkmate pricing policy is the $1 five-day trial. Apart from this, the company offers:

• Monthly plan—$34.78/month

Unlimited people searches and address lookups. It could also include email address lookup for $7.99 extra.

• Three-month plan—$27.82/month

Same benefits with a $7 discount.

• Reverse phone lookup—$4.99/month

• Dark web scan—$2/month

• Downloadable reports—$2.99/report

Instant Checkmate Best Features

• Simple report structure—Instant Checkmate is one of the top background check sites partially because of the intuitive structure of its reports.
• Informative content—Its website is filled to the brim with valuable information on how to do a background check or how to use the reports.
• Extensive criminal records—Instant Checkmate provides extremely detailed information—from DUI arrests and mugshots to warrants and sex offender records.
• Dark web scan—Although it’s very valuable, this tool is rarely offered by full-service background check companies. With it, you can easily find out whether your online identity is at risk.
• Focus on assets—Instant Checkmate also provides information about properties, vehicles, or tax liens.
• Comments on reports—What makes it the best site for background checks is that users can post comments on their reports in case the information returned is inaccurate.

What We Disliked

• The company doesn’t provide single report options. 
• Some users claim the trial option is well-hidden on the website, requiring you to wait a few minutes after hitting the paywall.

Instant Checkmate User Reviews

Its online reputation is one of the most solid in the industry. Users mostly praise its ease of use and great accuracy of reporting.

Instant Checkmate boasts a 4.5/5 rating on AppStore for its mobile app and an A + rating with BBB, along with an official accreditation on the same platform. The company is a well-regarded background check service.

We Recommend Instant Checkmate For…

You can use Instant Checkmate to check one’s felonies, misdemeanors, or civil judgments.

What Is BeenVerified?

BeenVerified provides detailed background reports that you can access even on your smartphone, thanks to its handy apps.

BeenVerified Pricing

BeenVerified doesn’t provide cheap background services, but the quality of its services justifies the price.

• One-Month Plan—$26.89/month

• Three-Month Plan—$17.48/month

Both packages include monthly searches and reports.

BeenVerified Best Features

• Free mobile app—BeenVerified has the best background search app not only because it’s free but because of its sleek UI too (note, a membership is required to run reports).

• Tracking tools—They help you monitor the data obtained from the background search process and keep an eye on the situation.

• In-depth—BeenVerified is close to being the best background search service when it comes to the extensiveness of information. This may include accident reports, asset information, or business names.

• Simple and upfront pricing—The company spares us the ordeal of searching the whole Web for its prices, as it displays them in a simple way on its website.

• Excellent availability of the reps—The customer support working hours are extensive—seven days per week for 17.5 hours a day.

• Wide variety of features—The best background search services provide diverse information. BeenVerified is no exception—from a person’s VIN to their possible asset, you could find it all.

What We Disliked

• Even the best background search website could sometimes fail to deliver the most up-to-date and accurate information. Unfortunately, BeenVerified is no exception.
• Waiting times can sometimes be longer for some reports. While we didn’t encounter such an issue, some customers complain about the occasional delays.

BeenVerified User Reviews

BeenVerified has a rather average reputation online, with a 3.5 rating on Trustpilot and a B- score from BBB. Most of the complaints focus on the occasional inaccuracies, while the praise is usually directed at the service’s ease of use and accessibility.

We Recommend BeenVerified For…

BeenVerified is a reliable background search site for conducting criminal record searches or looking up information about property ownership.

What Is US Search?

US Search is one of the oldest and most experienced background investigation companies. Founded in 1994, it now provides a plethora of background search types.

US Search Pricing

The US Search pricing lacks transparency. It’s hard to tell what services you receive and what is the exact structure of the plans just by looking at the website.

After  thorough investigation, we managed to find the following information:

• Basic people search—$2.45
• Property Record report—$11.95 
• One state criminal search—$14.95
• Social Media report—$19.95
• Instant Criminal Search—$24.95
• Full background check report—$39.95

Instead of purchasing a la carte services, you could also subscribe to the OmniSearch monthly plan for $19.95/month and get unlimited people searches.

US Search Best Features

• OmniSearch—Whatever type of report you’re searching for, you can get this basic people search subscription. It returns essential information, such as contact details and location history.
• Affordable—The pricing of US Search falls on the cheaper side.
• Well organized—US Search is a great background check website in terms of the organization of reports. The information is sorted out in a coherent manner, so it’s easy to understand.
• Money-Back Guarantee—The company promises to return all your money if you’re not satisfied with its services—and delivers on that promise.
• Accessible—US Search is one of the most straightforward services for performing a background search.
• Social media focus—Unlike most of its competitors, US Search conducts thorough investigations of people’s social media accounts.

What We Disliked

• The lack of transparency in pricing is the most annoying shortcoming of the platform.
• US Search doesn’t have the best background check website—it looks outdated and isn’t user-friendly.

US Search User Reviews

US Search is not well-regarded among end-users. The company lacks a BBB accreditation and has a 1.1/5 score on ConsumerAffairs.

Most of the complaints refer to the lack of pricing information and inaccuracies in the information provided. On the other hand, satisfied customers mention the pragmatic design of the reports and the cheap background check options.

We Recommend US Search For…

US Search works great for the occasional whim to check up on your ex without having to commit to a long-term background check service membership.

What Is PeopleLooker?

PeopleLooker is a convenient background search service for looking up people you don’t know much. You can easily check up on someone you’re interested in starting a relationship.

PeopleLooker Pricing

The good thing about PeopleLooker is that you can try it almost for free—the background search cost for its 7-day trial is only $1.

• Monthly Membership—$22.86/month
  • Unlimited background reports
  • Arrest records
  • Phone and email lookups

• Three-Month Membership—$18.28/month
  • Same features with a $4 discount

PeopleLooker Best Features

• High security and confidentiality—All searches performed with PeopleLooker are 100% confidential.
• Android and iOS optimized—Not even the biggest background search services are so well-suited for mobile devices.
• Court runner—PeopleLooker doesn’t just pull digitalized records from public databases. It goes the extra mile and sends an employee to physically check the accuracy of the court records at the local, county, state, and nationwide levels.
• Information removal—You can remove your reports from the website.
• High accuracy—PeopleLooker is one of the most noteworthy solutions on our list of background search companies, namely because of the accuracy of its reports.
• Effortless navigation—Using PeopleLooker’s interface is a smooth and hassle-free process.

What We Disliked

• The service lacks dark web scanning features, so it can’t help you prevent identity theft or data breaches.
• The search process can sometimes take longer, resulting in the delayed submission of the report.

PeopleLooker User Reviews

PeopleLooker has a mixed online reputation. SiteJabber rates it with 2.2/5 stars and SecureThoughts gives the company a 3/5 rating.

Google Play customers, however, have a more positive outlook, rating the company with a solid 4.2/5.

We Recommend PeopleLooker For…

Its maximum-security and data privacy approach makes it one of the most reliable solutions for checking up on someone before you meet them.

What Is Verispy?

Verispy puts over 50 types of court records at your disposal in a matter of minutes. Its in-depth searches and fast turnarounds make it one of the best criminal background check services on the market.

Verispy Pricing

The company offers a 7-day trial, which will cost you $2.95 if you cancel it before that period expires. Otherwise, you can choose one of the following options:

• Single report access—$19.95

Access to one report for 30 days

• One-week access—$24.95

Access to the “Unlimited Search Menu” for one week

• 30-day unlimited access—$29.95

Unlimited access to your desired reports as well as one-month access to the “Unlimited Search Menu”

Verispy Best Features

• Unlimited Search Menu—Verispy doesn’t limit itself to a one-time background check. Instead, it provides unlimited access to a huge database, ready to return one’s felonies, charges, sex offender status, or contact information.
• Court Records—Versipy extracts a lot of information from courthouses’ archives, including warrants, criminal history, marital status, and divorce and birth records.
• VIN search—You can access people’s vehicle records and find out their accident history, title, and even theft records.
• Court record check—Not only can you search the two-billion database of court records trough-and-through, but you can download them in a few clicks as well.
• Search Assistance—With its support tool for conducting successful searches, Verispy is the best background check site in terms of assistance.
• Price Transparency—Unlike many other personal background checkers, Verispy displays its pricing in a straightforward fashion.

What We Disliked

• Verispy doesn’t have a dedicated mobile app.
• Due to the multitude of criminal records and types of reports, Verispy sometimes yields inconsistent or inaccurate information.

Verispy User Reviews

In spite of its B+ rating on BBB, the company doesn’t have a stellar reputation.

The Verispy user reviews are scarce and mostly negative. People don’t consider it the most reliable background check, claiming it provides inconsistent results.

We Recommend Verispy For…

If you wish to conduct a thorough search of court databases and investigate legal, financial, and civil issues, Verispy is the right tool for you.

What Is NetDetective?

NetDetective searches through more than 1.1 billion records to find out who is the mysterious stranger you met last night or whether to trust your new co-worker. It’s also one of the best background checking companies to help you find unclaimed money.

NetDetective Pricing

NetDetective’s pricing structure is simple—it provides a single pricing option:

• Three-year access—$29.95

Phone and landline lookups as well as unlimited people searches

NetDetective Best Features

• 90-day refund policy—If you’re not satisfied with NetDetective, you can get a full refund within 90 days after the initial purchase.
• Ease of use—Nobody wants to pay for background check services just to realize they’re too difficult to use. With NetDetective, you won’t have this problem.
• Customer service—Unlike other similar companies, NetDetective has a responsive support team that aims to meet your needs.
• More than one billion records—NetDetective boasts a giant database from which it extracts all kinds of personal information, including a property, divorce, and public data check.
• Relatively low cost—NetDetective is among the top background checks in terms of affordability—you can enjoy its services for three full years in exchange for a one-time fee.
• Opt-out option—You can remove your personal information from the site by submitting a removal request.

What We Disliked

• NetDetective is not as accurate and comprehensive as some of the other background checkers we discussed above in this article.
• Customer feedback is scarce and mostly negative.

NetDetective User Reviews

As we mentioned, NetDetective is not the most reputable background check company. The seven reviews we found on SiteJabber accumulated in a not-so-honorable 1/5 score. According to the same website, NetDetective currently ranks 70th among all people search platforms.

The online word-of-mouth is that NetDetective is no longer an active service since 2016, although the website is still functional.

We Recommend NetDetective For…

Despite the rumors, NetDetective works just fine. It isn’t among the most reputable background check companies, but it does an excellent job at identifying unknown callers by their phone landlines.