Best Criminal Record Services | Top 10 Criminal Record

Note: Some or all background search services featured on this site are not subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681 et seq., ("FCRA") In order to make decisions about consumer credit, employment, insurance, tenant screening, or any other purpose that would require FCRA compliance, make sure you choose the appropriate service for you. Be advised that only consumer reporting agencies may provide consumer reports. This is applicable, but not limited to, a background search, credit background check, criminal background check, and/or driving record.

The Benefits of Using a Criminal Background Check

A criminal background check helps you learn about someone’s past before you trust them with your home, your family, or your safety. Instead of searching court websites county by county, you can run a criminal background check online: an online criminal record checker pulls records from many sources into one easy-to-read report.

What Does a Criminal Records Search Return?

A criminal records search looks for criminal history linked to a person’s name. Depending on the person and the state, a criminal record search or criminal history search can return:

Arrests: Arrest and booking records, sometimes with mugshots, from police and county jail logs.
Charges and convictions: Felony and misdemeanor charges, and whether they led to a conviction.
Court outcomes: Case dispositions, such as dismissals, sentences, and probation.
Sex offender status: Entries from state sex offender registries.
Traffic offenses: Serious violations such as DUIs, where they’re part of the public record.

This data comes from public sources: county and state courts, police and sheriff’s departments, state criminal record repositories, and federal courts. A criminal background check site gathers these records into one report, so how complete it is depends on what each source makes public.

National vs. County and State Criminal Records

No single public database holds every criminal record in the U.S. Each level keeps its own records, which is why results can differ from one search to the next:

County records: The most detailed and up-to-date source for local cases, kept by county courts. Most criminal cases are filed here.
State records: State repositories collect cases from their counties, but updates can lag and some counties report more than others.
Federal records: Federal crimes, such as fraud across state lines, are handled in federal courts and won’t appear in county or state files.
National searches: The FBI’s national database isn’t open to the public. A national criminal record search on a people-search site combines records from many counties, states, and federal courts, so it’s broad but can miss counties that don’t publish records online.

For the most complete picture, use a national search to find where someone has records, then check that county’s court for the full case details.

Reasons to Run a Criminal Background Check

People run criminal background checks to vet a new date, a roommate, a neighbor, or someone they’ve met online. A criminal history check can also show sex offender registrations. Keep in mind that people-search sites aren’t FCRA-compliant, so if you’re hiring an employee or screening a tenant, you’ll need a consumer reporting agency instead.

Police and Arrest Record Searches

A police record search usually means looking for arrest records: who was arrested, when, and for what. Booking logs and mugshots come from county jails and sheriff’s offices, and many criminal background check sites include them. Full police incident reports are different. You typically need to request those from the police department through a public records request. Keep in mind that an arrest isn’t a conviction, so check the court record to see how a case ended.

How to Do a Warrant Check

A warrant check shows whether a court has issued an arrest or bench warrant for someone. Some people-search reports list warrants when they appear in public records, but no people-search site can confirm whether a warrant is still active. For a current warrant search, use an official source:

The county sheriff’s website, since many sheriffs post active warrant lists.
The county or state court’s online case search.
A call to the court clerk’s office or sheriff’s non-emergency line.

If you’re checking for a warrant in your own name, consider speaking to a lawyer first. They can confirm the details and help you resolve it.

How to Check My Criminal Record

Running a criminal background check on yourself shows what landlords, employers, or new contacts may find, and helps you catch mistakes before they cause problems. Here’s how to check your own record:

See what others see: Search your name on a site in our chart to view the same public records anyone can find.
Get your state record: Request a copy from your state’s criminal records repository, usually run by the state police or department of justice.
Get your FBI record: Request an Identity History Summary from the FBI if you need a nationwide, fingerprint-based record, for example for immigration or adoption.
Fix errors: If something is wrong or should have been sealed or expunged, contact the court that handled the case.

How to Search for Criminal Records

If you’re wondering how to run a criminal background check, it takes just a few minutes:

Step 1: Gather the person’s full name, plus their city or state and approximate age if you know them.
Step 2: Choose a criminal background search site from the chart above and enter those details.
Step 3: Pick the right person from the matches. Confirm their age, past addresses, or relatives, since common names can return records that belong to someone else.
Step 4: Review the criminal records section, then check the county court for full case details before acting on anything important.

Get the Best Criminal Record Search Today

Whether you need a quick criminal background lookup or a full online criminal background check, the best criminal record services make it easy to get organized results in minutes. Compare the criminal background check sites above to find the right fit for how often you search and what records you need.

This content was drafted with AI assistance and reviewed by our team for accuracy.

Our Top 3 Picks

1
Finding the truth is a few clicks away
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- Best for - Reconnecting with friends and family
- Pricing - From $28.33/month ($4.99/month for reverse phone lookups)
- Reports Offered - Social networks, Dark Web, public records
Finding the truth is a few clicks away
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TruthFinder is one of the most popular background check services for people searches. It's an invaluable resource for consumers looking to reconnect with a friend, family member, or colleague as it supports multiple search methods and provides thorough checks. Depending on the membership level, TruthFinder allows users to search by name, address, phone number, or email address.
Like other services we evaluated, TruthFinder's full background check report includes contact information, address history, social media usernames, academic records, information on associates, dating profiles, personal assets, criminal history, business information, and licenses.
A monthly membership gives you access to unlimited background searches. However, some services cost extra, like unlimited phone and email searches, printable PDF reports, report monitoring, and dark web searches.
Why we chose TruthFinder: TruthFinder offers dark web monitoring services, which scour the darker parts of the web to see if your personal information is being sold there. According to the Dark Web Price Index 2022, more than 9,000 vendors are actively selling personal information products on the deep web. This includes approximately 4.5 million credit cards, sold at $120 each.
Our experience: We liked the convenient "timeline" feature that showcases report highlights in chronological order and the "report quality score," which let us gauge the accuracy of the information included in our report. Our test report, for example, had a few stray email addresses, phone numbers, and photos that weren't associated with the subject of our search.
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TruthFinder Pros & Cons
PROS
Variety in search options
Delivers well-organized, chronological reports
Allows unlimited background searches
CONS
Some add-on services require additional payments
No trial period
TruthFinder
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2
Millions of data points scoured
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- Best for - Social media username searches
- Pricing - From $26.89/month
- Reports Offered - People lookup, phone search, unclaimed money
Millions of data points scoured
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BeenVerified's web search is extensive and delivers results within minutes. It scours billions of records from public data sources and the deep web, turning up a wealth of information that may include locality history, phone numbers, and education history.
While most background search services require consumers to enter search terms like a name or phone number, BeenVerified includes an additional social media search option (which looks at more than 120 social media networks). This allows customers who only have a person's username to run a search.
This is especially helpful for anyone conducting business transactions via social media who wants to avoid falling victim to scams, which, according to the Federal Trade Commission, are rising. In 2021, more than 95,000 people reported losing nearly $770 million to social media fraud—up from $258 million in 2020.
Why we chose BeenVerified: BeenVerified offers affordable access to public record information with seven different search options for a single monthly subscription fee. It also has a money-back policy, which promises users one-on-one assistance or a refund if they're unhappy with the results.
Our experience: We like that BeenVerified lets users monitor any changes on previously run reports. But while this service provides mostly accurate results, our report did contain a few locality history, emails, and academic institutions that weren't associated with the subject of our search.
Read BeenVerified Review
BeenVerified Pros & Cons
PROS
Provides seven search options in one
Offers a 7-day $1 trial, then full monthly subscription price
Searches billions of records
CONS
Reports per month are capped at 100
Search results may not always be fully accurate
BeenVerified
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3
Intelligent background checking
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- Best for - A variety of pricing options and trial periods
- Pricing - From $24.86/month
- Reports Offered - Background checks, criminal records
Intelligent background checking
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Intelius has a variety of search term options and pricing plans, which makes it a perfect fit if you know exactly what kind of information you're looking for. While many other background check providers require a flat monthly fee for all services, Intelius allows users to choose a monthly plan specific to the type of search they're most interested in.
For example, someone using the service to look up details about homes in their neighborhood could choose Intelius's unlimited reverse address lookup plan. With it, they can find property history, ownership information, property tax details, property value, and contact information.
In contrast, someone interested in conducting background checks could choose the site's unlimited people search plan. For the price of the plan, they get criminal history, social media, address history, photos, relatives and associates, lawsuits and civil judgments, traffic violations, and financial history.
These search options, including the criminal records search, public records search, and people search, are all available directly from the site's homepage. But because the pricing structure varies according to search type, knowing how much you'll need to pay for a particular service can become confusing.
Why we chose Intelius: Intelius regularly updates its search engine to ensure it consistently delivers quick, confidential, and detailed results. It is one of the most thorough background check services available and has access to over 20 billion public records.
Our experience: We were impressed by the various types of unlimited searches and different pricing plan options offered by Intelius. But we encountered several "special offers" during the pre-billing process, which made it difficult to determine each service's monthly cost. For example, the unlimited address search plan was initially advertised as $29 a month but was later reduced to a special price of $4.99 during checkout.
Read Intelius Review
Intelius Pros & Cons
PROS
Provides multiple search options
Offers various trial periods
Has access to 20 billion public records
CONS
Confusing pricing structure
Subscription cancellation can be lengthy
Intelius
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