RefNow vs Zinc

Employment Hero

Discovered

VidCruiter

Sterling

HireRight

Crosschq

Compare RefNow and Zinc based on features, pricing, verified reviews, integrations & more on GetApp. Find out which software is best for your business in 2026.

Discovered Performance Hiring Software is a pre-employment assessment solution with which companies can measure candidates’ people skills, critical thinking, sales aptitude, and more

Sterling is a technology-enabled service that helps businesses conduct employee background checks and identity verification. Recruiters can conduct criminal background checks and civil court record searches to gain insight into breach of contracts, civil judgments, and restraining orders.

VidCruiter is the world’s most advanced video interviewing platform. Our system offers pre-recorded and live video interviewing that can be customized to meet any recruitment scenario and has helped companies of all sizes find better quality applicants in a faster and more cost-effective way.

RefNow is a cloud-based reference checking solution for human resource teams and recruiters. It offers a range of features including reference requests, email invitations and reminders, candidate self service, data analysis, customization questions, user management, and more.

Activity Dashboard

Alerts/Notifications

Applicant Tracking

Background Screening

Bulk Reference Request

Candidate Scoring

Compliance Management

Customizable Branding

Customizable Reports

Customizable Templates

Data Import/Export

Email Reminders

Email/Online

Feedback Management

Mobile Access

Real-Time Notifications

Recruitment Management

Reference Checking

Reference Request Automation

Referral Tracking

Reminders

Reporting & Statistics

Reporting/Analytics

Self Service Portal

Status Tracking

Survey Builder

Survey Library

Third-Party Integrations

Workflow Management

RefNow

Web-based

SR. OFFICER

Fantastic I like most of RefNow. Great initiatives, we may feel free to thanks the organizer.

Recruitment Administrator

Referencing is so important to us and we really appreciate RefNow’s amazing customer service.

nursing

I like the product because it is easy to useIt also afford the user the opportunity of a friendly and adaptive features.

Company Secretary

These issues disrupt user's experience and lead to frustration, especially during critical moments when accessing game information or submitting referee evaluations.

Housekeeper

Overall I had a great experience and was satisfied with the fast result.

BAR CONVENOR

Really good experience and straightforward to use would definitely recommend.

Sustainability Consultant

Sometimes the lack of flexibility can be frustrating.

Director 

Best solution for my business - saved us a lot of money.

Customer Accounts Team Leader 

Quick , Easy and user friendly. I would highly recommend this to other users.

Head of Youth and Sport

An excellent software and accessible to everyone.

IT manager

All round good experience, saved time and money on referencing for.my team.

The user interface is intuitive and visually appealing, ensuring a smooth and hassle-free experience.

HR Administrator 

How easy it is to use, the RefNow team are friendly and listen to your business's needs.

Operations Manager

Can sometimes confuse some staff members hence slow things down.

reception supervisor

Answering the hard questions about client information.

RefNow team are very assuring and the customer service is at a high standard.

RefNow screenshot: Homepage

RefNow screenshot: Timeline view

RefNow screenshot: Create a new request

RefNow screenshot: View Reference Details

Freelancers

Large Enterprises

Mid Size Business

Non Profit

Public Administrations

Small Business

HireRight is a background screening platform, which enables organizations to perform employment data verification such as criminal record and health checks before recruitment. HR professionals can gain insights into hiring trends & opportunities, create job baselines, and define best practices.

Crosschq is a reference management solution, which helps organizations streamline processes related to the screening, hiring, & onboarding of applicants. Its built-in talent acquisition tool gathers insights from candidates to let hiring managers match applicants with job requirements.

Employment Hero’s cloud-based HRIS offers a comprehensive solution for small to medium-sized businesses, integrating HR, payroll, performance, learning, recognition, and benefits management into one platform. It simplifies HR processes, enhances efficiency, and ensures regulatory compliance.

Zinc is an award-winning, all-in-one global background-checking tool offering 12 checks in 190 countries.

Assessment Management

Batch Processing

Candidate Profiles

Criminal History Verification

Data Verification

Education Verification

Employment Eligibility Verification

Employment Screening

Fraud Detection

Identity Verification

Instant Check

Online Applications

Real-Time Monitoring

Real-Time Reporting

Screening Services Integration

Search/Filter

Secure Data Storage

Summary Reports

Visual Analytics

Zinc

People Assistant

The ease of the system, it's super simple with little effort required.I also love the help bot, it connects you to someone immediately which is brilliant.

Health coach

Made background checks extremely easy by just uploading photos all in one place. Great not having to do a separate DBS check, and good communication when I had an issue.

Country Risk Manager

The only negative that I can pinpoint - emails being mandatory fields for references.

Head of Talent

From the start it’s been brilliant support with set up, training and integrations with our ATS.

Core Team Leader

The process behind sending and recieving information was superb.

Customer Device Administrator

Great customer service when I had an issue. Really efficient and helpful.

Senior Product Manager

Very positive - I would use them again and recommend them.

Merchant Support Analyst 

When details are entered and a mistake is made, there is no option to edit the details entered and one would need to reach out to Zinc to have this updated, this could possibly delay the process.

Artistic Director 

Easy to integrate, feels quick and easy for those filling out references, which can be a long and thankless task, clear, simple design and easy to integrate into the business.

Devops

The company that hires me asks me to pass checks with Zink. It was an easy and good experience.

HR Generalist 

Zinc is very easy to use once you get the hang of how things work. I also love the fact that you can text the references instead of calling them.

Hospital Administrator 

User interface is very friendly and secure to use.

Comtroller

As someone who had to reply to the request it was very easy to use. The questions were very straight forward  which made it easy to respond.

Senior Software Engineer

Some of the fields in a few sections were missing. As a result I had to send the document via email.

Electrician 

My company wished to conduct many checks, Zinc facilitated this with no fuss.

Also, the customer service I receive is impeccable. Customer service reaches out to me at least once a month to see how everything is going and responds when I have an issue in a timely manner.

Zinc screenshot: Checks for every type of growing business. Our range of off-the-shelf checks are a simple and easy starting point for HR teams

Zinc screenshot: ISO 27001 certified. GDPR compliant. Securely share candidate profiles with colleagues and view it instantly on any device. Use our globally secure SSO for safe downloads, passwords, or email attachments.

Zinc screenshot: Introducing the one-click check. Zinc integrates with with ATS systems, including Ashby, Greenhouse, Workable, SmartRecruiters, Lever, Teamtailor, Pinpoint HQ, Freshwork, LinkedIn Talent Hub, and Hibob. All integrations are free of charge!

RefNow vs Zinc Comparison (2026)

RefNow

Zinc

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

Alternatives