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KnowBe4 Review

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Should I use KnowBe4?

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

· 1 month ago

Mid-market and enterprise security teams get the category's deepest, most-proven phishing training platform — if they have admin time and tolerance for negotiated pricing. Tiny teams or buyers wanting transparent self-serve pricing should pick a lighter alternative.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 60+ public sources; exact pricing and full review quotes unavailable (quote-based sales, truncated snippets).

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

Not public

Quote-based plans

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierNo

Best for

  • Mid-market IT/security teams
  • Compliance-heavy industries (healthcare, finance)
  • Enterprises running phishing simulations at scale
  • MSPs managing multiple client tenants

Not for

  • Tiny teams that just need occasional phishing tips — badly overkill
  • Buyers who want transparent public pricing before talking to sales
  • Orgs with no dedicated admin to own the program
  • Anyone wanting plug-and-play without running ongoing campaigns

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Pricing is not public; expect per-seat annual quotes and negotiation

medium

MSPs report repeated back-and-forth just to get pricing answers

medium

Add-ons (PhishER, Prevent) are priced separately from the base subscription

medium

Trustpilot sits at 1.9/5 — probe support quality during the trial

Pros and cons

Pros

  • #1 in G2 Grid for security awareness training
  • Much more than basic training — deep content library and tooling
  • Proven at huge scale: 70,000+ orgs, 22B events
  • Free assessment tools (Email Exposure Check, BreachSim)

Cons

  • Opaque pricing; negotiation required, no public rates
  • Low 1.9/5 Trustpilot rating from 40 reviewers
  • Some MSPs and sysadmins dislike it and switch away
  • Add-ons like PhishER and Prevent cost extra

Sources & method

- 14 sources - No active breach; several patched CVEs (2020–2024) plus two vendor-disclosed incidents in 2024–25.

official x3review x6security x4news x1
  • CVE-2024-29210, Vendor-published advisory with remediation guidance.
  • CVE-2024-29209, Vendor-published advisory affecting certain users; remediation available.
  • CVE-2020-36844, Vulnerability in the Security Awareness Training application, listed on NVD.
  • CVE-2020-36845, Medium-severity open redirect in the training application.
  • North Korean fake IT worker hire (2024), Company hired a deceptive remote worker; says threat was contained without breach.
  • Darknet data release event (Jan 2025), Security event led to release of previously collected darknet data on Telegram.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 2/5

    Rating

  • Not public

    Starting price

  • 14

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 2/5. Opaque quote-based pricing; add-ons extra
  • Ease of use: 3/5. Good training content; admin complexity complaints
  • Feature depth: 5/5. Tops G2 Grid; deep simulation and add-on ecosystem
  • Support quality: 2/5. 1.9/5 Trustpilot suggests support gripes
  • Security posture: 3/5. Publishes advisories; past CVEs and insider incident
  • 4+/5 G2 rating 3,127 reviews on G2
  • 1.9/5 Trustpilot rating only 40 reviews
  • 70,000+ Customers organizations, per LinkedIn
  • $4.6B Acquired for Vista Equity Partners, 2022

Pricing

Quote-based plans

Not public

  • Per-seat annual subscription
  • Add-ons (PhishER, Prevent) sold separately
  • Free assessment tools available without the platform

Security

No active breach; several patched CVEs (2020–2024) plus two vendor-disclosed incidents in 2024–25.

  • CVE-2024-29210Vendor-published advisory with remediation guidance.⁸
  • CVE-2024-29209Vendor-published advisory affecting certain users; remediation available.
  • CVE-2020-36844Vulnerability in the Security Awareness Training application, listed on NVD.⁹
  • CVE-2020-36845Medium-severity open redirect in the training application.
  • North Korean fake IT worker hire (2024)Company hired a deceptive remote worker; says threat was contained without breach.
  • Darknet data release event (Jan 2025)Security event led to release of previously collected darknet data on Telegram.11

What users say

Reviews praise the training content and category leadership, while a vocal minority of MSPs and sysadmins complain about complexity and switch to alternatives.

“I would recommend KnowBe4…”
G2 review
“KnowBe4 is much more than a…”
FeaturedCustomers review
“Didn't like Knowbe4, alternatives ?”
Reddit, r/msp thread title

Companies that use it

  • athenahealth13
  • Elica
  • Action for Children
  • Beveland Wonen
  • Washington University in St. Louis
Full analysis

Based on 60+ public sources; exact pricing and full review quotes unavailable (quote-based sales, truncated snippets).

The 800-lb gorilla of phishing training — great for mid-market/enterprise with admin time; opaque and overkill for small teams.

Methodology

Based on 60+ public sources; exact pricing and full review quotes unavailable (quote-based sales, truncated snippets).

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. KnowBe4 homepageknowbe4.com
    official
  2. G2 reviews — KnowBe4 Security Awareness Trainingg2.com
    review
  3. Trustpilot reviews — knowbe4.comtrustpilot.com
    review
  4. Is KnowBe4 Worth It in 2026? Inside the 1.9-Star Trustpilot Ratingkindssecurity.com
    review
  5. KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training Pricingknowbe4.com
    official
  6. KnowBe4 Pricing 2026: Plans, Costs & Negotiated Ratescheckthat.ai
    review
  7. Know B 4 Pricing? (r/msp)reddit.com
    review
  8. CVE-2024-29210 advisorysupport.knowbe4.com
    security
  9. CVE-2020-36844 — NVDnvd.nist.gov
    security
  10. How a North Korean Fake IT Worker Tried to Infiltrate Usblog.knowbe4.com
    security
  11. Security event: darknet data released on Telegramknowbe4.com
    security
  12. KnowBe4 To Be Acquired by Vista Equity Partners for $4.6Bvistaequitypartners.com
    news
  13. athenahealth case studyknowbe4.com
    official
  14. 10 Best KnowBe4 Alternativesbrside.com
    review

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