🚨  NIS2 is now in effect. Security awareness is now legally required in the EU.

Check compliance
Start your free trial
Back to Resource Center

KnowBe4 pricing, explained after all

KnowBe4’s pricing for its security awareness training solution can be a little complex.

No one would argue that KnowBe4 is a robust tool that offers tons of value. But there are certain limitations and complexities to it that made you actually google ‘KnowBe4 pricing’ or something along those lines.

So what are the main points of attention that you need to look out for when it comes to KnowBe4’s pricing?

  • The pricing plans are only for US and “may be different in other countries”
  • You need at least 25 users to get started
  • There are four add-ons (that you may or may not need) that each cost extra money
  • The only way to truly find out what you’ll have to pay is by talking to a sales person

At the same time, there are similar solutions that offer a more straightforward pricing plan. For instance, Guardey — a security awareness training solution built on gamification — requires no minimum number of users, and doesn’t overcomplicate matters with add-ons.

In this article, we’ll tell you all you need to know about KnowBe4’s pricing plans.

Understanding your security awareness training tool’s pricing shouldn’t be a turmoil. Guardey has a straightforward and transparent pricing system based on the number of users. Just sign up for a free 14-day trial to test our solution in full scale.

KnowBe4 features

KnowBe4's security awareness page.

KnowBe4’s security awareness solution offers a long list of features. Let’s look at the most important ones:

  • Phishing security tests
  • Games
  • Posters
  • Video modules
  • Industry benchmarking for phishing scores

If you’re OK with paying for extra add-ons, you can also add:

  • SecurityCoach (delivers real time coaching based on risky user behaviour)
  • Compliance Plus (training specifically made to meet compliance requirements)
  • PhishER (anti phishing protection)
  • PhishER Plus (better anti phishing protection)

But let’s stick to the basics. What KnowBe4 offers is a wide variety of training options, such as games, posters, and video modules to make your employees more aware of modern cyber threats. This should decrease the risk of a data leak.

What KnowBe4’s customers say about its pricing

With hundreds of reviews about a big brand such as KnowBe4, there is always bound to be a negative one or two in them. However, we did find a common thread among many of the reviews.

A complaint that we see a lot is that you need at least 25 users to start using KnowBe4’s security awareness training solution. This is obviously a big bottle neck for smaller companies who don’t want to pay for seats that won’t be filled.

A review about KnowBe4's pricing.

Another complaint is that it’s simply too expensive. This depends on which exact plan you choose, but obviously the word ‘expensive’ is a bit subjective either way. What’s expensive for a small company may not be as expensive for an enterprise.

Another review about KnowBe4's pricing system.

KnowBe4 prices

Now it’s time to get into the nitty and gritty of KnowBe4’s pricing system. But first, let’s have a look at this part of the website.

The first thing you need to know, is that KnowBe4 comes with three training levels. The higher level you pick, the more training modules, posters, and games you get.

The different levels of KnowBe4's security awareness training solution

With that in mind, we have to move on to their four pricing plans: silver, gold, platinum and diamond. If you only need training level one, you can choose silver. For level two you can use gold and platinum. Training level three only comes with the diamond plan.

Starting at 25 users minimum, you can now start calculating how much you will be paying per user, per month. Notice that when you start adding more users, you pay less per user.

KnowBe4's pricing plans.

The silver plan seems very affordable, but is also limited in terms of training materials. To get the best value for your money and an interactive experience, the best option is the diamond plan.

But that’s not all yet…

As stated in the image above, the pricing plan only counts for North America and may be different for other countries. Also, if you start a 3-year contract, you may get an ‘attractive’ discount, but it doesn’t say how much.

Overall, this means it’s very hard to draw any form of conclusions from KnowBe4’s pricing page. Your best bet is to simply request a demo and get an offer from the sales team. Especially if you’re based in Europe or anywhere else outside of the US or Canada, there’s no real way to find out what you’ll have to pay.

Why ISS switched from KnowBe4 to Guardey to boost training participation

When schools move from KnowBe4 to Guardey, the first thing they tell me is that the training finally feels relevant. The International School of Stavanger experienced that firsthand. Their IT Manager, Martin Sirotnak, found KnowBe4’s content too enterprise-focused and too time-consuming—some modules ran up to twenty minutes. He also spent hours manually building training programs and reviewing content before assigning it to staff.

"Our employees take on a short challenge every week that takes them about a minute or two to complete. With KnowBe4, they would have to spend up to 50 minutes a month on security awareness training."
Martin Sirotnak IT manager at The International School of Stavanger

With Guardey, everything flipped. We built a training program tailored specifically for schools, with short weekly challenges that take just one or two minutes and require no admin work. Participation has skyrocketed. Departments that used to struggle with KnowBe4’s content are now the most active, simply because the training is shorter, more engaging, and built around situations teachers actually recognize.

 Read the full case study here

Bottom line

No matter how complicated and unpredictable its pricing can be, KnowBe4 can significantly help your business to become more cyber aware. But so can similar solutions like Guardey.

The major difference is that with Guardey, you can be sure you’ll pay exactly what’s stated on their pricing page. Before rushing into using KnowBe4, just sign up for a free Guardey trial and give it a shot.

Start your 14-day free trial

Dinela Lokvancic
Dinela Lokvancic Marketing Specialist Dinela keeps Guardey's online presence up to date. She creates content that makes complex cyber security topics accessible, and helps organizations understand why security awareness training matters for their teams.
READY TO GET STARTED?

Join 500+ businesses already protecting their teams with Guardey

Start your free 14-day trial
14 days free · No credit card · Full access · Setup in 5 minutes
Or schedule a personalised demo