People Search and Background Checks
Need to find out about a prospective client, tenant, employee, or boss? A people search and background check service can help you find out a wealth of information on virtually anyone in the United States. In most cases, you don't need much to start with, just name and state of residency. We've put the top companies to the test to help you find the best people search and background check company for your needs.
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The most comprehensive service in terms of depth and accuracy, though results could be more focused |
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An excellent value for unlimited searches, though the depth is not on par with other services |
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Fairly comprehensive, includes federal and state criminal searches, though the latter is limited to certain jurisdictions |
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Good price and easy to read, detailed info on bankruptcies, but not as good with criminal check |
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Fun, attractive user interface; good for basic info, less accurate for background checks |
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Who's Searching for You product is unique and useful, but People Search falls short |
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Good price for check with nationwide criminal search, but it missed many things in our tests |
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Find people and check backgrounds
The people search and background check services we reviewed can help you find essential details on the people you're interested in. These services search out and aggregate disparate public record sources providing you with address histories, property reports, criminal convictions, bankruptcies, known aliases, sex offender status, tax liens, marriage and divorce records, and even known associates. Many of these services offer additional services including reverse phone number, social profile, and business searches.
How we tested these people search and background check services
We found two individuals to act as our background check subjects. We then asked them to verify the returned information. We were interested both in how much information was returned, and how accurate it was. The results were surprisingly varied. In determining the accuracy of the background searches we had the advantage of being able to check the answers. Since most researchers won't have that advantage, we suggest purchasing two background checks from different companies and comparing the results. This is particularly true if your subject has a rather common name.
Free people search vs. paid
A lot of companies advertise free people search and background checks, but the truth is they just return basic information you could find in a phone book, and then try to charge you for advanced data. We've chosen to focus on paid services so you can be sure you're getting what you need. A free people search and background check lookup will not get your criminal records, bankruptcy histories, or detailed address reports.
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Disclosure: NextAdvisor.com is a consumer information site that offers free, independent reviews and ratings of online services. We receive advertising revenue from most of the services we review. Our editors thoroughly research and whenever possible test each service we review and offer their honest opinions about each one. We are independently owned and operated and all opinions expressed on this site are our own.