The Sterling alternative with source-of-record speed.
Sterling covers the globe — but enterprise onboarding is slow, employment verification still means outreach, and pricing arrives as a quote with pass-through fees. Ethur delivers the same coverage depth with payroll-direct verifications and one transparent price.
Why teams move from Sterling to Ethur.
Weeks, not quarters, to launch
Self-serve packages, sandbox, and a versioned REST API — go live without an enterprise implementation project.
Payroll-direct verification
Employer, title, dates, and earnings pulled from 50+ payroll providers in 90 seconds instead of days of outreach.
Transparent bundles
One price per package including court fees and verifications — no quote-only pricing or pass-through surprises.
What replacing Sterling actually looks like.
Real Ethur surfaces — the dashboard your recruiters open, the portal your candidates see, and the biometric verifications running behind them.
- Name
- Marcus Bennett
- Date of birth
- February 10, 1992
- Phone number
- (415) 555-3030
- marcus.b@mail.com
Texas Health & Human Services
- Authority
- Texas Health & Human Services
- Full name
- Marcus Bennett
- Registry database
- Texas Medicaid Provider Exclusion and Suspension List
- Sanction 1
- Federal Exclusion
/ Candidate portal · live
Payroll-direct verifications
Employment history in seconds via direct payroll — no phone calls, no waiting.
AI-fraud defenses
Liveness + document authenticity built to defeat generated IDs and deepfakes.
Transparent pricing
One package price. No per-check surcharges, no county passthrough surprises.
Modern API + webhooks
Ship a working integration in a day, not a quarter.
Ethur vs. Sterling
| Capability | Ethur | Sterling |
|---|---|---|
| Time to go live | Days, self-serve | Weeks to months, implementation-led |
| Payroll-direct employment | Included, 50+ providers | Manual outreach, per-check fee |
| Bank-direct income | Included | Third-party pass-through |
| Biometric IDV | FIDO-grade passive liveness, included | Add-on |
| International coverage | 200+ countries | Broad global coverage |
| Continuous monitoring | Included | Add-on |
| REST API & webhooks | First-class, versioned | Available |
| Pricing | Bundled, transparent | Quote-based + pass-through |
Comparison based on publicly available product documentation and customer reports as of 2026. Sterling is a trademark of its respective owner and is not affiliated with Ethur.
Purpose-built for the AI-fraud era.
Enterprise depth, startup velocity
Global coverage and configurable packages without a multi-month implementation cycle.
Source-of-record verification
Employment and income anchored to payroll and direct-deposit data, not employer phone calls.
Fraud-first design
AI document tampering review and synthetic-identity cross-checks run on every report.
FCRA-defensible by default
Pre-adverse, adverse action, and dispute workflows with a full audit trail.
Switching from Sterling.
Does Ethur match Sterling's global coverage?
Yes — nationwide U.S. criminal, county, and federal searches plus international screening in 200+ countries.
How fast can we switch from Sterling?
Most teams migrate in under two weeks. We mirror your Sterling packages, import open orders, and connect your ATS before cutover.
Is Ethur less expensive than Sterling?
For most bundles, yes — employment, income, and identity verification are included rather than billed as add-ons or pass-through fees.
Ready to switch from Sterling?
See a live Ethur report on your own hiring workflow. Most teams migrate in under two weeks.