21 July 2025 • Cyber security
The number one misconception about hackers is that they only target large enterprises.
I can’t count on two hands the times I’ve heard from small business owners: “We’re just a small fish, which cybercriminal is going to target us?”
The answer is: all of them.
I’m glad to see that over the past few years, more and more small businesses have started to understand this. These businesses choose to invest in security technology and the security awareness of their employees.
Still, finding the right training solution can be a challenge. Most platforms are designed for large enterprises and end up being too complex for small businesses — too many features, too much time required, and pricing that’s often out of reach.
In this article, I’ll share the most imporant things to look out for in a security awareness training platform for your small business and a list of the best options on the market right now.
Why is security awareness important for small businesses?
No less than 46% of all cyber attacks are aimed at organizations with less than 1000 employees.
Yet, most smaller businesses don’t invest in the security awareness of their employees. Other than sharing phishing attempts among colleagues, there is often no communication about it at all.
This lack of awareness and training creates a dangerous blind spot.
Small organizations are often seen as easy targets by cybercriminals. They typically don’t have dedicated security teams or the resources to recover from a serious incident. A single employee clicking a malicious link can result in ransomware, data breaches, or financial fraud — all of which can be devastating to a small business.
But here’s the good news: most cyber attacks don’t require advanced technical defenses to stop. They often require informed, attentive employees.
By consistently training your team to recognize social engineering, phishing, and suspicious behavior, you build your strongest line of defense: a security-aware culture.
What to look for in a security awareness platform as a small business
In general, the core security awareness topics are the same whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise. The big difference lies in the time and resources available. As an admin in a small organization, you simply won’t have the same capacity as someone managing awareness at a company with 10,000 employees.
Plug & play
If there is one thing that most small businesses often lack, it’s time. Whereas large enterprises may have an FTE or even a full team available to manage its awareness program, your small business doesn’t.
Most training platforms expect you to browse a huge library and build your own program. That can be great if you want full control over what your team learns, but let’s be honest: it takes time you probably don’t have.
That’s why it’s important to look for a training solution that’s fully plug & play. In other words: the content is automatically scheduled and assigned to your team on a weekly or monthly basis.
Bonus points if it’s plug & play and still gives you the option to customize the existing content to your wishes.
Phishing simulation templates
Most awareness platforms let you train your team and test their phishing awareness with simulations.
Same rule applies here: you want these phishing campaigns to be quick and easy to set up.
Look for a provider with a large library of ready-to-use phishing templates that can be personalized with your employees’ details. Even better if the templates mimic the tools your company already uses: think Microsoft, Google, or Slack. That makes them more realistic and effective.
One thing’s for sure: if you have to build these phishing emails from scratch, you’ll waste more time than it’s worth.
Automatically generated reports
Whether you’re tracking participation, measuring performance, or showing compliance — keeping an eye on the right metrics is essential.
But as a small business, you don’t have hours to spend clicking through dashboards, exporting data, and trying to make sense of it all.
That’s why it’s worth choosing a solution with a clear, easy-to-use dashboard that shows your key metrics at a glance.
Even better if it sends you a weekly report automatically. No need to log in, and it’s easy to forward to anyone who needs to stay in the loop.
Low-effort admin experience
The same main concept rings true for the admins: there isn’t a lot of time to upkeep the awareness program.
That’s why you should first take on some free trials and see what the experience is like for you:
- How easily can you add new users?
- Are there native integrations with Azure AD, Slack or Microsoft Teams?
- How long does it take to integrate the platform?
- Is there any onboarding support (either in documents, videos, or from the customer success team)
The 4 best security awareness training platforms for small businesses
Now that you know what to look for, let’s have a look at the current best platforms for small businesses.
1. Guardey
The first platform on this list is Guardey, a gamified security awareness platform modeled after Duolingo.
Each week, Guardey users complete a 5-minute challenge on a specific cybersecurity topic. Over time, this builds lasting knowledge and awareness. A leaderboard adds a layer of friendly competition, letting colleagues compete for the top spot. It’s a simple way to keep users engaged without admins having to constantly push for participation.
In short, Guardey checks all the boxes for small businesses:
- Plug and play training content (customizable if needed)
- Easy admin experience
- Auto-generated reports and intuitive analytics
- Phishing simulations based on templates
You can start a free trial to get a feel for how Guardey works first.
Customer review
“The flexibility of Guardey’s subscription system is a big plus for us. I simply add new users to a group in Azure AD with SSO authentication and the job is done. It’s very, very easy. I don’t have any overhead now. It only took one email to introduce people to the system and I already have about 60% of all employees onboarding within one month. The uptick in participation has been fantastic. I think this is because Guardey doesn’t take a lot of time. And most of all, it’s fun. Employees have even set up their own little competitions internally.” – Source
2. Ninjio
NINJIO takes an original approach to security awareness training. While they’re not the only platform built around video, they are certainly the only one using Hollywood-style animated episodes. The production quality is impressive, and it’s clear they invest heavily in storytelling and design.
That said, video-based training has its pros and cons. It can be great for visual learners and makes security topics feel more engaging. But with attention spans getting shorter, videos can easily feel too long or turn into a passive experience, especially without interaction or follow-up.
Is NINJIO a good fit for small businesses? That depends. NINJIO delivers high-quality content. If your users are engaged, this makes your number one job (getting them to actually participate) a lot easier.
However, Ninjio might not be the most practical choice for small teams with limited time or budget. The video-heavy format is less flexible than bite-sized, interactive training. If you prefer short, frequent touchpoints with easy reporting and low admin effort, other platforms might suit you better.
Customer review
“It’s a great program for user awareness, in particular nowadays, that we keep hearing Cyber Threats and Hacking all over the industries. At first it was not easy to use, but as it goes along, it gets better, there are still rooms for improvements, but on the whole it’s a good program.” – G2
3. Phished
Phished positions itself as an AI-driven security awareness platform with a strong focus on automation. Rather than relying on manually scheduled training and phishing campaigns, Phished emphasizes a fully autonomous approach. The idea is to reduce admin involvement while still delivering personalized learning experiences to employees.
The platform combines simulated phishing attacks with bite-sized training content. It adapts based on user behavior, which helps to tailor the experience to individual knowledge gaps. The goal is to make learning continuous and relevant without overloading users with information. The interface is clean and straightforward, with reports that give insight into risk levels across the organization.
For smaller organizations, the hands-off approach can be a major advantage. Once set up, Phished runs largely in the background, saving time and effort. However, it may feel a bit rigid if you’re looking for more control over training topics or campaign timing. Pricing is also something to watch — the AI-driven model may come at a premium, so it’s worth comparing the value you get against other tools that offer more flexibility or a stronger focus on gamification.
4. Wizer
Wizer takes a community-driven approach to security awareness. The platform is best known for its short, social-media-style videos that focus on real-world security topics. The content is fast, informal, and designed to feel more like TikTok than traditional training — which helps lower the barrier to engagement.
Wizer’s tone is approachable without feeling overly casual. For organizations that want to keep training light but consistent, Wizer offers a low-effort way to stay top of mind.
Wizer’s simplicity makes it especially appealing for smaller teams. You can roll out training with minimal setup, and the bite-sized format works well even if you don’t have much time to onboard or manage the platform.
Customer review
“Wizer is much easier to setup and manage than our previous platform. The training are bite-sized videos that cover the topic well without droning on. The vast majority of our users have told us that the training is easy to digest, gets the point across well, and is entertaining.” – G2
Conclusion
A good security awareness training platform gives you the tools to build a stronger security culture, even with limited time and resources. For small businesses, it’s important to find a solution that balances effectiveness with ease of use — from automated content delivery to clear reporting.
Each platform mentioned above has its strengths and trade-offs. But if you’re looking for a fully gamified experience that keeps your team engaged week after week, while taking the pressure off when it comes to compliance and admin tasks, Guardey is worth a look. You can try it free for 14 days and see how it fits your team.
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