shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use KnowBe4?

Secure Your Digital Workforce: Human + AI - knowbe4.com

Depends. Solid pick for mid-size and larger organizations with compliance mandates and IT admin bandwidth. Small teams and buyers who want transparent, self-serve pricing should look elsewhere.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 20+ public sources; pricing details thin — sales-gated quotes only. Review snippets truncated, so no verbatim quotes extracted.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of useNo direct usability evidence in sources
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

Quote only

Per-user subscription (Diamond is top tier)

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed

Best for

  • Compliance-heavy industries (finance, healthcare)
  • Mid-size to enterprise IT teams
  • Orgs running ongoing phishing simulations

Not for

  • Small teams — per-user pricing and admin overhead dwarf the value
  • Buyers who need transparent, self-serve list pricing
  • Orgs with no staff to run and manage campaigns ongoing
  • Anyone wanting simple one-off training, not a platform

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

1.9/5 Trustpilot across 39 reviews — read recent ones before multi-year commitments

medium

Per-user, per-year quote pricing — negotiate hard; list prices hidden behind sales

medium

Phishing simulations require mail-server whitelisting — budget IT setup time

medium

Costs scale with headcount; Reddit MSPs report leaving for other options

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Tops G2 Grid for security awareness training
  • Scales to 22 billion events on AWS infrastructure
  • 70,000+ organizations, per vendor site
  • Free assessment tools: Email Exposure Check and BreachSim
  • Compliance-ready positioning, including FFIEC banking guidance

Cons

  • 1.9/5 Trustpilot rating per 2026 third-party analysis
  • Quote-only per-user pricing; no public list prices
  • Reddit sysadmins and MSPs document churn to alternatives
  • Recent CVEs plus a 2025 data-exposure event disclosed

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/26/2026 - 12 sources - No confirmed customer-platform breach found; several product CVEs and two disclosed incidents (2024 insider hire, 2025 data release).

official x3review x5security x2news x2
  • CVE-2024-29210, Vendor-published advisory with remediation guidance on the KnowBe4 support portal.
  • CVE-2024-29209, Vendor-published advisory affecting users of a KnowBe4 component, per vendor notice.
  • CVE-2020-36844, Vulnerability in the KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training application, catalogued in NIST NVD.
  • January 2025 darknet data release, Security event released previously collected darknet data on Telegram; company publicly disclosed it.
  • July 2024 North Korean insider hire, KnowBe4 accidentally hired a North Korean fake IT worker; company reports no illegitimate access.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 2/5

    Rating

  • Quote only

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 2/5. Quote-only pricing; recurring user complaints
  • Ease of use. No direct usability evidence in sources
  • Feature depth: 5/5. G2 Grid #1; scales to 22B events
  • Support quality: 2/5. 1.9/5 Trustpilot per third-party analysis
  • Security posture: 2/5. Multiple CVEs; 2025 data exposure disclosed
  • 1.9/5 Trustpilot rating Per 2026 third-party analysis; 39 reviews
  • 3,127 G2 reviews G2 Grid leader in security awareness training
  • 70,000+ Customers Organizations, per knowbe4.com
  • $4.6B Acquisition Vista Equity Partners, 2022

Pricing

Per-user subscription (Diamond is top tier)

Quote only

  • Per-user, per-year billing
  • 'Diamond' bundle referenced by Reddit users
  • Sales-gated quote process

Security

No confirmed customer-platform breach found; several product CVEs and two disclosed incidents (2024 insider hire, 2025 data release).

  • CVE-2024-29210Vendor-published advisory with remediation guidance on the KnowBe4 support portal.
  • CVE-2024-29209Vendor-published advisory affecting users of a KnowBe4 component, per vendor notice.
  • CVE-2020-36844Vulnerability in the KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training application, catalogued in NIST NVD.11
  • January 2025 darknet data releaseSecurity event released previously collected darknet data on Telegram; company publicly disclosed it.12
  • July 2024 North Korean insider hireKnowBe4 accidentally hired a North Korean fake IT worker; company reports no illegitimate access.

What users say

G2 reviewers are broadly positive, but r/sysadmin and r/msp threads show growing gripes about pricing, support, and switching to alternatives.

Companies that use it

  • athenahealth
  • Elica
  • Location World
  • Desktop (telecommunications)
  • Washington University in St. Louis
Full analysis

Based on 20+ public sources; pricing details thin — sales-gated quotes only. Review snippets truncated, so no verbatim quotes extracted.

Category-leading security awareness training; strong feature depth, but quote-only pricing, admin overhead, and weak Trustpilot reviews.

Methodology

Based on 20+ public sources; pricing details thin — sales-gated quotes only. Review snippets truncated, so no verbatim quotes extracted.

Sources

  1. KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training Reviews — G2g2.com
    review
  2. KnowBe4 Customer Reviews — Trustpilottrustpilot.com
    review
  3. Is KnowBe4 Worth It in 2026? Inside the 1.9-Star Trustpilot Ratingkindssecurity.com
    review
  4. KnowBe4 Software Pricing & Plans — Vendrvendr.com
    news
  5. KnowBe4 scales to 22 Billion Events — AWS Case Studyaws.amazon.com
    official
  6. KnowBe4 Homepageknowbe4.com
    official
  7. KnowBe4 Acquired by Vista Equity Partners for $4.6 Billionvistaequitypartners.com
    news
  8. De-throning KnowBe4 — r/sysadminreddit.com
    review
  9. Alternative for KnowBe4 — r/sysadminreddit.com
    review
  10. Whitelisting Guide — KnowBe4 Supportsupport.knowbe4.com
    official
  11. CVE-2020-36844 — NIST NVDnvd.nist.gov
    security
  12. Security event: darknet data released on Telegram — KnowBe4knowbe4.com
    security

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