First Advantage vs HireRight (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, First Advantage and HireRight share a 2.0 GPA, neither has a free plan and their prices can't be set side by side, so the choice depends on which features you need.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Which one is for you
Pick First Advantage if
- Fits if you screen at volume and want identity, drug and criminal checks from one vendor
- Makes sense if you already use Sterling, which now sits under First Advantage
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a price on the page, as every purchase goes through Contact Us
- Not for you if you want to sign up and order one check today, because there is no self-serve route
- Skip it if you hire a few people a year, since the vendor pitches volume
- Watch out: Sterling's old site now redirects here, so those customers deal with this vendor
Pick HireRight if
- Fits if you screen many people a year, across several countries
- Works for HR teams that already run an applicant tracking system HireRight connects to
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a price before talking to anyone, as none is published
- Not for you if you want to sign up and run one check today, because there is no self-serve route
- Skip it if you hire only a few people a year, as the vendor pitches volume
- Watch out: no free plan or trial is shown anywhere on the pages we read
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAFirst AdvantageFair | 2.0GPAHireRightFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo price is published; every purchase goes through Contact Us, so there is no figure to set against this category's $95 middle price. | CThe pricing page publishes no figure at all, only a customized quote, so there is nothing to set against this category's $95 middle price. We leave it at the ordinary grade and say so. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan, trial or self-serve sign-up on the site. | FNo free plan and no trial is shown. Everything starts with a sales request. |
| Features | BBackground checks, identity, verifications, drug and occupational health, I-9, E-Verify and monitoring. The listing shows no gap in the core work of screening. | BCriminal, employment, ID, drug and alcohol, I-9 and E-Verify and extended workforce screening, with global coverage. The listing shows no gap in the core work of screening. |
| Ease of use | CSold through sales and tied into your HR or applicant tracking system, so setup comes first. No store rating is on record. | CBought through sales and wired into an HR or applicant tracking system, so there is setup before it works. No store rating is on record. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with an API and integrations with HR systems. We found no desktop or phone app listed. | BWeb only, with the vendor listing 70 integrations across 45+ HCM and ATS providers. |
| Best for | a large screening vendor that now includes Sterling | large-company screening, quoted on request |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: First Advantage and HireRight. How we grade
Where they differ
In commonWebWorkflow automationApplicant trackingEmployee records
At a glance
| First Advantage | HireRight | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | Not published | Not published |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | First Advantage | HireRight |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
First Advantage
- No prices are published; every purchase goes through Contact Us.
- The site has no self-serve sign-up or free trial.
- Sterling's old site now redirects to First Advantage messaging, so Sterling customers deal with this vendor.
HireRight
- No prices are published; the pricing page only offers a customized quote.
- Sold through sales (Talk to Sales); no self-serve sign-up or free trial is shown.
- The vendor says it screens over 85M people a year, so it is built for larger programs.
Key features
First Advantage
- Background checks
- Criminal background checks, sanctions and compliance searches, fingerprinting and investigative research, offered globally.
- Identity solutions
- Identity checks aimed at catching candidate fraud at hiring, onboarding and after hire.
- Verifications
- Confirmation of job history, skills and credentials, plus social media and media checks as separate services.
- Drug and occupational health
- Drug-free, safety and compliance screening, with random program management for drug and alcohol testing.
- I-9, E-Verify and monitoring
- Handles US employment eligibility paperwork and ongoing post-hire monitoring.
- Integrations and API
- Lists integrations with HR systems and hiring workflows, and an API for building and automating screening workflows.
HireRight
- Criminal searches
- County criminal, felony and misdemeanor searches, a healthcare statewide criminal check and a global criminal search of government record sources.
- Employment verification
- Confirms a candidate's stated employment history with employers or their authorized agents, in the US and in other countries.
- Global ID check
- Validates a candidate's passport or national identity document to determine whether it is authentic.
- Drug and alcohol testing
- Instant and lab-based testing options for pre-employment and ongoing screening.
- I-9 and E-Verify
- An online service for managing US employment eligibility verification, listed alongside the screening products.
- Extended workforce screening
- A separate online solution for managing background screening of contractors and other extended workforce.
Plans
First Advantage
Pricing could not be confirmed. See fadv.com.
HireRight
Pricing could not be confirmed. See hireright.com.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, First Advantage or HireRight?
As of Nov 13, 2026, First Advantage has no price we could confirm, and HireRight has no price we could confirm.
Which has a free plan, First Advantage or HireRight?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither First Advantage nor HireRight has a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.