Small business=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
0%from 0% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 13 pointsRank 53 → 49 of 52
1 category · RankedSterling
93Judge labels
8First choices
29Negative labels
14 / 14Models named it
1Category
October 2026 Edition. Every number here is derived from the raw labels under vendor table v2026-10.7, every buyer segment counted.
Best standing
13% in Background screening for enterprise buyers
Rank 11 of 83 in the mid-market standingcriticized challenger
1 of 14 models made it the first choice on the direct prompt; 32% of its 25 labels there were negative.
What the models named instead of Sterling →By buyer segmentRead the same way at every buyer size.
Small business55 of 59
0%16 labels
criticized challenger
Mid-market11 of 83
2%25 labels
criticized challenger
Enterprise4 of 71
13%51 labels
accepted challenger
In background screening · each standing computed within its segment · bars are 0 to 100 · the accent bar is the product's own best reading
Standing by category
Every category where a model named Sterling for a mid-market B2B company. Share is first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts; rank is within every product named in that category.
| Category | Function | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Quadrant | Since September 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Background screening | Talent acquisition | 2% | 11 of 83 | 32% | 25 | criticized challenger | ▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
Movement
Since September 2026, Sterling held within the floor in its one category: no change cleared 13 points.
Best category · Background screening · by segment
Mid-market▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
2%from 0% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 11 pointsRank 42 → 11 of 70
Enterprise▲+11Since September 2026: 2% → 13%, +11 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
13%from 2% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 2 pointsRank 5 → 4 of 62
All categories · Mid-market
| Category | September 2026 | Now | Change | Reading | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Background screening | 0% | 2% | ▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 42 → 11 of 83 |
Shares here are read over the models both editions asked, so they can differ by a point or two from the standing above, which counts every model in this edition.
The floor is 13 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. Movement is read over the twelve models both editions asked; GPT-6 Luna, Muse Glimmer 30B joined this edition and are in the standing but not yet in the comparison. How the floor is measured · The editions
By model
How each model treated Sterling across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.ShowHide
By model
How each model treated Sterling across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.
ShowHide| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Negative | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Grok 4.1 Fast | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Mistral Small | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
By framing
Which of the six questions produced the naming. By model says how often; this says asked what. The first-choice count on the right carries the marks of the models that produced it.
FramingLabels by classFirst choices
Direct15 labels2
Paraphrase14 labels4
Comparative21 labels1not counted in share
Budget-constrained9 labels2
Scale-constrained11 labelsNone
Negative23 labels2not counted in share
First choiceAlternativeMentionNegative93 labels in all, every segment counted; 8 of the 11 first choices count toward share, since the comparative and negative framings do not. The bar is one segment per label class, to scale within the framing.
What the models said for it
Verbatim evidence the judge attached to positive labels.
“Stick with well-established, accredited providers like Sterling, HireRight, GoodHire, or TransUnion SmartMove” Mistral Small · Background screening · negative prompt · first choice
“Sterling (now part of First Advantage) \u2013 Strongest fit for mid-market B2B.” Grok 4.1 Fast · Background screening · direct prompt · first choice
“Best for: Large enterprises needing comprehensive health screenings - Limitations: Quote-based pricing” Kimi K2 · Background screening · comparative prompt · alternative
“If compliance and regulated hiring matter most, Sterling and Accurate Background are often emphasized.” Perplexity Sonar · Background screening · comparative prompt · alternative
And against it
Verbatim evidence attached to negative labels. A warning on a product with few labels is a warning; on a product with many, it is one voice among them.
“Trustpilot reviews highlight disorganization, incompetence, extremely slow turnaround times (weeks/months), poor customer support” GLM 4.7 FlashX · Background screening · negative prompt · hard negative
“$4.75 million FCRA class action settlement for providing outdated information to employers” DeepSeek V4 Flash · Background screening · negative prompt · hard negative
“Recently sued in 2024 for allegedly falsely reporting criminal history and arrest warrants” MiniMax M2.5 · Background screening · negative prompt · hard negative
“Watch out for: Enterprise-only, quote-based pricing (typically 50%+ more expensive); less friendly for smaller teams.” DeepSeek V4 Flash · Background screening · direct prompt · soft negative
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Sterling, over the 93 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Sterling was named but was not.ShowHide
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Sterling, over the 93 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Sterling was named but was not.
ShowHideProductSame answerTook the first choice insteadHead to head
A head-to-head page exists where both products are among a category's top eight. The other rows are the same fact without a page behind them, so they link to the product instead.
What carried it into the answer
The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Sterling. A fact about retrieval, not a lever on the model.
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list, five of the fourteen in this edition, so these counts come from 86 of the 93 answers that named Sterling and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
checkr.com51
pin.com40
selectsoftwarereviews.com34
fadv.com30
peoplemanagingpeople.com28
bib.com27
mitratech.com27
goodhire.com24
techradar.com21
pcmag.com17
299 of the 299 domain citations in answers naming Sterling came from somebody else's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
Search and answers
sterlingcheck.com ranks 3 on Google for the category's searches. In the answers, Sterling takes 2% of first choices and Checkr takes 31%.ShowHide
Search and answers
sterlingcheck.com ranks 3 on Google for the category's searches. In the answers, Sterling takes 2% of first choices and Checkr takes 31%.
ShowHideIn search
Google, US estimatesPosition for “background check provider”
3
Position for “background check providers”
–
not in the top ten
- Searches for its name, Google
- 135,000 a month (“sterling”)
- AI search demand for its name, est.
- 69,113 a month
- Organic visits to its site
- about 92,645 a month
- Searches its site ranks for
- 3,063 · 440 in the top three
- Sites linking to it
- 2,513
- Paid Google search
- No ads found in the estimate; that does not mean it runs none
Ads on Google
None found in Google's ad transparency records for the US
In answers
This editionShare of first choices
2%
rank 11 of 83 in background screening
Segment leader
31%
Checkr
- First choices
- 8 across its categories
- Named in
- 93 answers
- Its own site cited
- in 86 of the answers that named it
Search figures are US estimates from DataForSEO, read September 28, 2026; AI search demand is its modeled, directional estimate, not a count of queries to any assistant. The answers are this edition's. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
What it publishes
ShowHide
What it publishes
ShowHideAddresses on sterlingcheck.com
1,002
subdomains included
Content
752
counted in the table below
Documentation
0
Product · Integration
2 · 12
| Kind | Pages | Last 90 days | 2025-10 to 2026-09 | Latest | Categories named |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blog | 490 | 0 | 2024-12-01 | Background screening, Contingent workforce man | |
| News or press | 184 | undated | Background screening | ||
| Case study | 24 | 0 | 2013-11-01 | ||
| Webinar or virtual event | 16 | 0 | 2024-05-01 | ||
| Podcast or video | 13 | undated | Background screening | ||
| Conference or event | 11 | 0 | 2024-10-01 | ||
| Comparison | 5 | 0 | 2023-08-01 | ||
| Template or tool | 5 | 0 | 2022-05-01 | Background screening | |
| Report or ebook | 2 | undated | |||
| Glossary or explainer | 2 | 0 | 2021-01-01 |
Most recent
- 2024-12-01Paving the way to hiring efficiencies the need to effectively manage your non regulated employees blog
- 2024-11-01Holiday hiring surge best practices for fast effective background checks in retail blog
- 2024-11-01Paving the way to hiring efficiencies assess driver risk with ongoing monitoring blog
- 2024-10-01Top takeaways from the 2024 hr tech conference 2 conference or event
- 2024-10-01Will your drivers dui show up on an employment background check blog
- 2024-10-01Pittsburgh limits employment drug testing for individuals with medical marijuana cards blog
How it is countedHide how it is counted
Every page sterlingcheck.com exposes, subdomains included. Kind is read from the address and title. The last 90 days, the latest date and the twelve months count pages by when they were published, from the site's feeds, a date in the address, or the page's own publication date, read from up to a hundred of its most recently changed pages; a page that says only when it last changed is counted in its kind but not in when, so the recent counts are a floor, and a kind none of whose pages gives a publication date reads undated. An event counts as online when its address or title says so (webinar, on demand, virtual or online summit); a conference, summit, trade show, expo or roadshow that does not say so is counted as a conference or event, which on a vendor's site is mostly in person. Read September 29, 2026.
Names read as Sterling
What the judge wrote, as written, with how often. The vendor table decides that these count as Sterling; a claim can dispute any of them.
Sterling Check 2Sterling Infosystems 2HireRight / Sterling (now First Advantage) 1Sterling (First Advantage) 1Sterling (Sterling Backcheck / Sterling Infosystems) 1Sterling (now part of First Advantage) 1
Follow Sterling
An email the morning each edition publishes: where this product moved, where it held, and by how much against the noise floor. One address, confirmed by a click; a stop link in every email.
Already following? Everything you follow, with a stop for each.
The company
Sterling is its own company.ShowHide
The company
Sterling is its own company.
ShowHideIn its own words
Stated by the vendor, not checked- Positioning
- Sterling Background Check Solutions is now First Advantage
- For
- a business
- Not stated on the pages read
- Price, starting price, free plan or trial, integrations, certifications, hosting, customers
What Sterling's own pages state, read September 28, 2026: sterlingcheck.com, sterlingcheck.com/blog/tag/compliance, sterlingcheck.com/about-sterling/platform-terms-of-use, sterlingcheck.com/resources/customer-stories, sterlingcheck.com/resources/integrations. A claimed page can correct any of them.
Is this your product?
Claim this page
Claiming is free and changes nothing in the data. A claimed page shows a verified contact who is told when each edition publishes and when Sterling's standing changes by more than the noise floor; the right to propose corrections to the vendor table, meaning names the judge wrote that should or should not read as Sterling, applied by version and listed in the change log; and a one-line description supplied by the vendor and marked as such.
What a new claim receivesHide what a new claim receives
A new claim receives the current edition's vendor brief for Sterling by email, built from the raw record of the edition. It shows:
- where Sterling is named, by buyer and by framing, and which cells hold its first choices;
- the claims the models make when they name it, ranked, with the strongest and the weakest quoted;
- its vocabulary against the segment leader's, and the pages the models cited;
- who was chosen in the answers that did not name Sterling, and every reason the record gives;
- a battlecard for each top rival: the head-to-head split, why they win, and the reservation quoted against them;
- one page of published figures cleared to show a buyer.