Cofense PhishMe vs. KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cofense PhishMe
Score 7.4 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Cofense PhishMe is a cyber threat and phishing simulator meant to be of use in training employees to be wary against threats and also to gain information about general employee threat knowledge and preparedness. A free trial is available for small business.N/A
KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
PhishER is presented as a lightweight Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) platform to orchestrate threat response and manage the high volume of potentially malicious email messages reported by users. And, with automatic prioritization of emails, PhishER helps InfoSec and Security Operations team cut through the inbox noise and respond to the most dangerous threats more quickly.
$0.50
per month (billed annually) per seat
Pricing
Cofense PhishMeKnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
3001-5000 Monthly Pricing Per Seat
$0.50
per month (billed annually) per seat
2001-3000 Monthly Pricing Per Seat
$0.55
per month (billed annually) per seat
1001-2000 Monthly Pricing Per Seat
$0.65
per month (billed annually) per seat
501-1000 Monthly Pricing Per Seat
$0.75
per month (billed annually) per seat
101-500 Monthly Pricing Per Seat
$1.00
per month (billed annually) per seat
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cofense PhishMeKnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional DetailsPhishER is a monthly per seat price, billed annually.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cofense PhishMeKnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Considered Both Products
Cofense PhishMe
Chose Cofense PhishMe
PhishMe is a market leader in terms of phishing simulation solutions. The customization appears unmatched when compared with competitors and the support we have experienced from Cofense has been excellent. Phish me offers lots of realistic templates which are updated regularly …
Chose Cofense PhishMe
We chose PhishMe due to its ease of use and integration. The many different scenarios available and the price point were the main selling points vs the competitors.
Chose Cofense PhishMe
PhishMe had similar features and was less expensive.
KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
PhishER has a streamlined user experience that makes it easy to implement and manage.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Cofense PhishMeKnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Cofense PhishMe
7.7
4 Ratings
8% below category average
KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
-
Ratings
Single sign-on capability7.34 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based user permissions8.14 Ratings00 Ratings
Security Awareness Training
Comparison of Security Awareness Training features of Product A and Product B
Cofense PhishMe
7.1
4 Ratings
16% below category average
KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
-
Ratings
Training Content Library6.94 Ratings00 Ratings
Multilingual Training Content6.74 Ratings00 Ratings
Training Gamification7.03 Ratings00 Ratings
Industry-Specific Security Training7.43 Ratings00 Ratings
Individualized Security Training Plans6.63 Ratings00 Ratings
Phishing Simulations7.23 Ratings00 Ratings
Security Reporting7.93 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Security Tech Stack7.33 Ratings00 Ratings
Incident Response Platforms
Comparison of Incident Response Platforms features of Product A and Product B
Cofense PhishMe
-
Ratings
KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
7.6
63 Ratings
11% below category average
Company-wide Incident Reporting00 Ratings7.852 Ratings
Integration with Other Security Systems00 Ratings6.847 Ratings
Centralized Dashboard00 Ratings7.862 Ratings
Machine Learning to Prevent Incidents00 Ratings7.754 Ratings
Live Response for Rapid Remediation00 Ratings7.855 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cofense PhishMeKnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Small Businesses
Barracuda Security Awareness Training
Barracuda Security Awareness Training
Score 6.9 out of 10
ThreatDown, powered by Malwarebytes
ThreatDown, powered by Malwarebytes
Score 8.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Proofpoint Security Awareness Training
Proofpoint Security Awareness Training
Score 9.0 out of 10
CrowdStrike Falcon
CrowdStrike Falcon
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Hoxhunt
Hoxhunt
Score 9.3 out of 10
Hoxhunt
Hoxhunt
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cofense PhishMeKnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(28 ratings)
9.2
(68 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(1 ratings)
8.6
(4 ratings)
Usability
7.3
(2 ratings)
8.2
(3 ratings)
Support Rating
9.1
(4 ratings)
8.5
(3 ratings)
Online Training
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.2
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(6 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cofense PhishMeKnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Likelihood to Recommend
Cofense
Cofense PhishMe is an excellent solution for scenarios where it will be sold as a managed service. I believe that PhishMe is too expensive for many clients and instead would benefit from the economies of scale where an MSSP sells it as part of a whole service, which offers the analysts and reporting included. PhishMe is excellent for training and awareness of Phishing, but shouldn't replace mandatory training for new joiners or yearly refreshers, it should only be used as an additional training option.
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KnowBe4
I have been able to create customized simulated phishing campaigns that are really testing our users ability to "spot the fake." That coupled with the training campaigns that are included make it much more likely that our users will be better prepared to protect our organization by being able to recognize common industry threats, and brings awareness to less common threats that are out there. I love that they have a shared folder full of relevant, recent real-world scams that we can choose from to train our user base.
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Pros
Cofense
  • It gives clear-cut segregation of different parts of an email, header, text and HTML body, URL, attachments, HTML preview and some analytical insight like "similar reports." This distinctive approach actually helps reduce data overload during an analysis.
  • The URLs captured here pass through an automatic reputation check [in our case VirusTotal] and add a tag of the reputation. If it is a well-known bad URL the tag helps us take the decision fast.
  • For creating automation rules on the reported emails the "Recipes" section is really helpful. We can create easy recipes [or rules ] to handle a huge flow of reports and also we can create more sophisticated rules depending on the Cyber intelligence feed to catch the really bad currently less known attack attempts by malicious emails.
  • The "Threat Indicators" section is also useful to use as a threat intelligence source to check the URLs for their maliciousness.
Read full review
KnowBe4
  • Analysis and classification of phishing emails using machine learning
  • Response to reporting users with personalised emails template
  • Automatic response and actions using integration with Microsoft
  • Good dashboard with reporting and KPI
  • Integration with others product to improve scan and analysis
  • It improves users' security awareness and behavior as receiving an immediate response with the analysis result improves the ability to recognize a phishing email
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Cons
Cofense
  • Completely switching to the new UI - Most is redesigned, but some old elements remain
  • Ability to spoof known brands - limited in scope now and you are not allowed to use fully "convincing" campaigns that we are seeing in the wild
  • Ability to own and manage own domains - right now adding a new company domain requires a ticket, allow us to add/verify ourselves
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KnowBe4
  • Enhancing the automated response capabilities, such as directly initiating remediation processes or integrating with other cybersecurity tools, could further streamline the threat management process.
  • Implementing a feedback system where users can be informed about the outcome of their reported emails might encourage more proactive engagement.
  • the reporting tool is not as streamlined on mobile devices as it is on desktops. Enhancing mobile functionality would be beneficial
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Likelihood to Renew
Cofense
No answers on this topic
KnowBe4
Phish ER has reduced the time my team and I spend on reported emails by over 80%. With the volume of emails reported and a small team this is a must have.
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Usability
Cofense
Its built with UX in mind and is aimed at non-tech people, to ensure that almost everyone can run the campaign. But if we go deeper - sometimes you will need an HTML editor or support in order to figure out some advanced edits you might want to add in your scenarios.
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KnowBe4
The configuration is a bit complicated, but easy once you get the hang of it. Once configured, it is easy to manage our malicious emails that are reported by our staff.
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Support Rating
Cofense
I have not had to use their support for pretty much anything. The software works well, and is very intuitive. I would imagine their support would be rather basic as there is not too much that can go wrong with a report phishing button, and if it were I would probably consider a different software.
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KnowBe4
Support has been easy to get along with and easy to understand.
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Online Training
Cofense
It's a must, even if you are never going to use the tool. Cofense aims to provide phishing training first and tool second.
Read full review
KnowBe4
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Cofense
There are some hiccups, but there are meant to be, when you implement something in a large scale enterprise.
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KnowBe4
Work with support or rep for some basic steps, the rest is pretty straight foward.
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Alternatives Considered
Cofense
Cofense PhishMe was the first choice for us as the user interface as well as their bundle package with Cofense Triage and Vision has helped the organisation to alleviate the overall security awareness posture. The other vendors did not provide a vast range of phishing scenarios as compared to Cofense PhishMe platform.
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KnowBe4
KnowBe4 PhishER has a lot of features that other companied does not have. Its AI capability, integration with VirusTotal, PhishRIP and PhishFlip features make it totally different from other solutions. Its Phish Alert Button directly installed on users Outlook without affecting them and the reporting technique is very simple, just clicking on the Phish Alert Button and the email will be directly reported to the KnowBe4 PhishER dashboard. KnowBe4 PhishER dashboard is a very good example of centralized dashboard where you can find all things related to that reported email.
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Return on Investment
Cofense
  • Recipes in the system are capable of handling almost 2x what an analyst does, which cuts down the efforts [of] an analyst and provides more time for accurate strategies.
  • With roughly 90% false positives coming through, the remaining 10% of true positives need as much attention as they can get for the full investigation and analysis.
  • 1,500 or more phishing messages can come through in a given week and the amount of time/employees required to review this without a tool like Cofense is surely beyond [the] expected/anticipated budget.
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KnowBe4
  • It has greatly increased phishing / security awareness by our staff by having a designated button & process for reporting phishing emails
  • It provides greater protection through the ability to delete emails from multiple recipients even if not all of them reported the email
  • It saves time for me to have to evaluate whether or not an email reported is a real threat through the ML/AI/VirusTotal scores
Read full review
ScreenShots

Cofense PhishMe Screenshots

Screenshot of Image 1 – Board of Directors (BOD) report showcasing results of your phishing defense programScreenshot of Image 2 – Create New Scenario PageScreenshot of Image 3 – Intelligent Program Automation using PlaybooksScreenshot of Image 4 – Organizational Suspicious Email Reporting StatisticsScreenshot of Image 5 – Phishing Scam Announcement Templates

KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus Screenshots

Screenshot of This is a diagram of the PhishER workflow. Reviewing the PhishER workflow before getting started will provide an understanding of how PhishER, PhishRIP and PhishFlip work.Screenshot of The Reports screen will display five different dashboards of information.Screenshot of When entering the PhishER platform, the first screen that appears is the Dashboard. Here, a quick overview of the PhishER platform will appear.