First Advantage
Hire faster, trust more: global background checks, identity verification and monitoring across 200+ countries and territories.
By First Advantage · 4.0/5 Value-Position score (estimate)
Positioning guardrails
Best for
- Multi-country employers that need consistent pre-hire screening, identity verification and drug testing under one program
- Enterprises already running Workday, iCIMS or Bullhorn that want screening orders and results returned inside their ATS
- Regulated industries such as financial services and healthcare that need documented screening and compliance support
- Organizations that also want post-hire continuous monitoring and Form I-9/E-Verify onboarding in the same platform
Ideal size: Mid-market to enterprise (500+) people · Established employer with high-volume hiring and an existing ATS/HRIS
Not for
- Small businesses that want instant, self-serve, pay-as-you-go background checks with no sales cycle
- Buyers who need published per-check list prices before they can evaluate cost
- Teams looking for a general HR or workflow suite rather than a screening service
- Companies expecting an AI copilot or agentic workflow inside the hiring process; no such capability is documented publicly
Value metrics scorecard
Time-to-Value
Days for certified ATS integrations
~7 days to first production value
Total Cost of Ownership
On request
Quote-based and priced per screen or service; no public price list. Program scope, volume and geography drive cost, so buyers must request a demo and quote.
Implementation Friction
2/5
Engineering + admin effort required
Value-Position score
out of 5 · model estimate
Full cost breakdown
Mandatory implementation fee
None
Seat tiers
Not seat-based; cost scales with screens, verifications and services ordered rather than named users.
Add-on costs
- Drug and occupational health screening
- Fingerprinting and Livescan services
- International checks in 200+ countries and territories
- Continuous post-hire monitoring
- Executive screening and investigative due diligence
- Analytics, reporting and case management
Company & support
Who is behind First Advantage, and how your team gets help once it is live.
Company
- Founded
- Not recorded
- Headquarters
- Not recorded
How you get support
- PhoneNot listed
- EmailNot listed
- Live chatNot listed
- Support portal / ticketsNot listed
- Community forumNot listed
- Help centre / docsPlan not stated
- Dedicated account managerNot listed
- In person / on-siteNot listed
- Hours
- Not recorded
- Response time
- Not stated
Existing customers are directed to the Customer Center and help.fadv.com for FAQs, training and product support. The published phone number 844.718.0087 is for sales and new-customer enquiries, not support.
“Not listed” means the vendor’s public pages don’t mention that channel, not that it is unavailable. Ask about it during evaluation.
Market position
Where First Advantage sits against its closest alternatives. Pick any two of cost, speed, friction and buyer score, and up to 9 companies to compare.
Quadrant view
Typical annual cost × Time-to-value
The lines cross at the median of the solutions shown, so about half sit on each side of each line.
Companies on the chart 6 / 10
- First Advantage
- Accurate Background
- Watershed
- Zonos
- Pentera
- Level Access
Add or change companies
Up to 10 companies including First Advantage. Listed closest first.
Stack fit signal
Compatibility with standard B2B ecosystems.
No supported MCP path today, so it cannot be driven from an AI client.
AI & MCP readiness
What First Advantage ships in AI, and what it asks of your ecosystem.
Compliance attestations
* IAPP AIGP certifies individuals, not products. It means named staff hold the credential — not that the platform does.
Bottom line
First Advantage is an enterprise background screening and identity verification provider covering 200+ countries and territories, with 200M+ screens a year and 100+ ATS/HCM integrations including Workday, iCIMS and Bullhorn. It bundles pre-hire checks, Form I-9/E-Verify onboarding, drug and occupational health testing, and post-hire monitoring behind a managed, quote-based program. Standard ATS integrations go live in days and a REST API is available. No AI features, certifications or published prices are documented on its public pages.
Frequently asked questions
How long does implementation take?
The vendor states that standard, pre-built ATS integrations are certified with partners such as Workday and iCIMS, are turn-key, need little or no coding, and can often be implemented in days rather than weeks. A dedicated team supports requirements gathering through go-live, and RESTful APIs are available for custom connections.
How is First Advantage priced?
No price list is published. Pricing is quote-based and driven by the screens, verifications and services you order, plus volume and geography, so buyers need to request a demo and quote. There is no seat-based subscription model described on the vendor pages reviewed.
Which systems does it integrate with?
First Advantage advertises 100+ ATS and HCM integration options, naming Workday, iCIMS and Bullhorn among them, and says its average ATS partner relationship is ten years. Integrations let teams place screening orders and receive results back inside the HR system they already use, and REST API connections are offered.
Does First Advantage offer AI features?
The public vendor pages reviewed do not describe any AI features, model providers, or AI training and data-use terms. The site does refer to intelligent automation for speeding up criminal record searches, but that is not documented as an AI product capability. Buyers should ask the vendor directly before assuming AI functionality.
What compliance certifications does First Advantage hold?
None are claimed on the vendor pages reviewed, so buyers should not assume SOC 2, ISO 27001 or similar certification from public material. The integration pages do say screening supports multi-regional compliance for data privacy and applicable law requirements, and the U.S. products cover FCRA, Form I-9/E-Verify and Livescan fingerprint obligations.
What support is available?
Existing customers are directed to the Customer Center and help.fadv.com for FAQs, training courses, product logins and billing information. Candidates have a separate support path for their own background checks. The published phone number, 844.718.0087, is for sales and new-customer enquiries.