Quote-Only Background Check Vendors
Ten of fifteen vendors covered here do not publish per-check rates. The list, the operational consequences, and how to extract a price without revealing your reservation rate.
The ten quote-only vendors
| Vendor | Specialism | Sales contact |
|---|---|---|
| Sterling | Enterprise quote-only. | www.sterlingcheck.com/contact-us/ |
| HireRight | Enterprise quote-only. | www.hireright.com/contact |
| Accurate Background | Enterprise quote-only. | www.accurate.com/contact-us/ |
| First Advantage | Enterprise quote-only. | fadv.com/contact/ |
| Truework | Quote-only for verifier customers. | www.truework.com/contact-sales |
| Crimcheck (DISA) | Quote-only. | crimcheck.net/contact-us/ |
| Asurint | Enterprise quote-only. | www.asurint.com/contact-us/ |
| Onfido (Entrust) | Quote-only since the Entrust acquisition in 2024. | www.entrust.com/contact-us/ |
| Cisive | Enterprise quote-only. | www.cisive.com/contact-us/ |
| Zinc | Quote-only. | zincwork.com/contact |
The operational consequences of pricing opacity
- Procurement timeline: 6 to 12 weeks for a new enterprise contract vs minutes for a self-serve SMB vendor.
- NDA risk: Some vendors require an NDA before disclosing the proposal. This complicates parallel vendor evaluation.
- Benchmark difficulty: Without published rates, you cannot tell whether the quote you have received is fair. Run parallel exercises and use published-pricing vendors as the floor benchmark.
- Escalator opacity: Year-on-year price increases at renewal are typically private to each customer. Push for an explicit escalator schedule in the MSA.
- Volume commitment risk: Annual minimum commitments lock you into a hiring projection. If your hiring slows, you may owe the commitment regardless. Negotiate quarterly true-up if possible.
How to extract a price without revealing your reservation
- Send the same RFP to three to five vendors. Use the RFP template.
- Provide a specific annual volume figure. Vague figures invite vague proposals.
- Ask for the per-check rate plus the setup fee plus the escalator schedule as three separate line items.
- Ask for indicative pricing on a longer contract term (two and three year) as well as the base one-year proposal.
- Cross-reference the proposal against the published-pricing benchmark from Checkr, GoodHire, Verified First, or ShareAble for Hires at the equivalent tier.
- If the quote is materially above the published-pricing benchmark, ask the vendor to explain the gap.
What we do not do
We do not publish inferred per-check rates for quote-only vendors. Third-party comparison sites typically cite a range, attributed to anonymous customer reviews or to vendor sales conversations under NDA. We do not republish those numbers because they cannot be cited to the vendor itself, and the variance across the cited ranges is large enough that the figure is not actionable.
The pricing model explainer on each vendor dossier describes the structure of the quote (annual commitment, setup fee, industry bundle) without inventing a per-check number. Use those pages to scope your RFP conversation.
Where to go next
- Open the per-vendor dossier from the table above for each quote-only vendor.
- Read the buying guide for the full procurement process.
- Use the RFP template for the structured pricing exercise.