KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training vs. Proofpoint Email Protection

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training
Score 9.0 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
KnowBe4 is a security awareness training and simulated phishing platform used by more than 65,000 organizations around the globe. Founded by IT and data security specialist, Stu Sjouwerman, KnowBe4 helps organizations address the human element of security by raising awareness about ransomware, CEO fraud, and other social engineering tactics through a new-school approach to awareness training on security. The KnowBe4 platform offers multi-language support for the Admin Console and end…
$0.90
per month per seat
Proofpoint Email Protection
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Proofpoint Email Protection is available as an on-premise or cloud based solution and blocks unwanted, malicious and impostor emails with granular search capabilities and visibility into all messages. Outbound controls include encryption and data loss prevention, while continuity capabilities ensure business communications can continue as normal in the event of an email outage. With Proofpoint's Email Protection, you can protect your people, data, and brand from today’s threats…N/A
Pricing
KnowBe4 Security Awareness TrainingProofpoint Email Protection
Editions & Modules
Silver
$0.90
per month per seat
Gold
$1.05
per month per seat
Platinum
$1.20
per month per seat
Diamond
$1.70
per month per seat
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
KnowBe4 Security Awareness TrainingProofpoint Email Protection
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsThere are four subscription levels: Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. Each level is priced per user with a sliding scale based on number of users. Monthly pricing per seat billed on an annual basis.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
KnowBe4 Security Awareness TrainingProofpoint Email Protection
Considered Both Products
KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training
Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training
The report phish alert button was easy to set up on the user Outlook ribbon. It is also much cheaper than the Proofpoint training option.
Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training
KnowBe4's catalog of training content is much deeper than the other solutions we looked at. At the same time the cost is significantly lower.
Proofpoint Email Protection

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
KnowBe4 Security Awareness TrainingProofpoint Email Protection
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training
8.8
271 Ratings
5% above category average
Proofpoint Email Protection
-
Ratings
Single sign-on capability9.1239 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based user permissions8.5261 Ratings00 Ratings
Security Awareness Training
Comparison of Security Awareness Training features of Product A and Product B
KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training
8.4
296 Ratings
1% above category average
Proofpoint Email Protection
-
Ratings
Training Content Library8.9293 Ratings00 Ratings
Multilingual Training Content8.3159 Ratings00 Ratings
Training Gamification8.1240 Ratings00 Ratings
Industry-Specific Security Training7.7256 Ratings00 Ratings
Individualized Security Training Plans7.9251 Ratings00 Ratings
Phishing Simulations9.5291 Ratings00 Ratings
Security Reporting8.9285 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Security Tech Stack8.0159 Ratings00 Ratings
Secure Email Gateway
Comparison of Secure Email Gateway features of Product A and Product B
KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training
-
Ratings
Proofpoint Email Protection
9.2
78 Ratings
9% above category average
Anti-malware00 Ratings10.076 Ratings
Customizability00 Ratings10.075 Ratings
Data Loss Protection00 Ratings8.748 Ratings
Threat Detection00 Ratings9.075 Ratings
Sandboxing00 Ratings9.257 Ratings
End-to-End Encryption00 Ratings9.358 Ratings
Management Tools00 Ratings8.074 Ratings
Best Alternatives
KnowBe4 Security Awareness TrainingProofpoint Email Protection
Small Businesses
Barracuda Security Awareness Training
Barracuda Security Awareness Training
Score 6.9 out of 10
Barracuda Essentials
Barracuda Essentials
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Proofpoint Security Awareness Training
Proofpoint Security Awareness Training
Score 9.0 out of 10
Barracuda Essentials
Barracuda Essentials
Score 9.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Hoxhunt
Hoxhunt
Score 9.3 out of 10
Cisco Cloud Email Security
Cisco Cloud Email Security
Score 7.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
KnowBe4 Security Awareness TrainingProofpoint Email Protection
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(642 ratings)
8.8
(95 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.5
(53 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.6
(161 ratings)
8.3
(2 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(18 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Performance
8.8
(19 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
9.4
(258 ratings)
8.3
(5 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.8
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.5
(14 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.4
(21 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.1
(13 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
8.1
(39 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.8
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.4
(19 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
8.9
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.6
(15 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.2
(14 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
KnowBe4 Security Awareness TrainingProofpoint Email Protection
Likelihood to Recommend
KnowBe4
This is a very appropriate training system for a school district. We have the ability to add or remove the number of required training. Originally, we scheduled 4 modules per year, but we reduced it to 2 per year, because teachers shared they felt it was too much, originally.
Read full review
Proofpoint
Well suited: Proofpoint does a pretty good job at protecting us from spam emails. I was able to block a lot of emails coming from SendGrid by blocking SendGrid emails with a custom spam filter. However, SendGrid has a lot of legit emails too so I was able to create another rule to allow those emails from certain people, then block the rest. That way business need was met but spam emails are blocked. Less Appropriate If you are trying to monitor internal to internal emails Proofpoint is probably a little over featured for that.
Read full review
Pros
KnowBe4
  • Real World Examples - Many of the training modules show Kevin Mitnick actually gaining access to a machine showing how one click can allow a malicious actor access to a machine or network.
  • Up-to-Date content - They are always adding new training and phishing examples.
  • The ability to schedule training and phishing tests.
Read full review
Proofpoint
  • Spam - catches these emails before hitting the inbox.
  • Daily digest - provides users with a list of the emails that were blocked and allows them to choose to release them if they are legitimate emails.
  • Ensures that emails coming into our organization is safe for our users and verifies the email is coming from stated senders email server.
Read full review
Cons
KnowBe4
  • Uploading your own SCORM content can be problematic with what seem like arbitrary restrictions (e.g. file size, quiz word count, etc.)
  • Content that once was available at our level was taken away so that they could repackage it as a new "product" for an additional cost. They should have grandfathered in existing clients.
  • Reporting capabilities (key for compliance artifacts) should be better designed with flexibility for users to present content in a manner suited to their specific circumstances
Read full review
Proofpoint
  • Proofpoint could offer more frequent training opportunities to customers at all levels of expertise.
  • Proofpoint can always continue to strive to keep its product a leader in the industry.
  • Proofpoint's support site could be overhauled to provide a more logical flow.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
KnowBe4
Between the ease of use, cost effectiveness, functionality and continued improvements Knowbe4 continues to make it would be pretty hard to find another competitive product that wraps it all up like KnowBe4 has. Not saying it couldn't happen, but haven't seen anything that competes at this point.
Read full review
Proofpoint
No answers on this topic
Usability
KnowBe4
KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training is simple to use, simple to administer, effective, with quality content. It is easy to take the training and we have the reminders set so that the longer a user puts the training off, the more frequently they will receive reminder emails. Eventually they get emailed every day until they take the training. But with a simple click, they can get into the training content.
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Proofpoint
Very robust and solid product in protecting our emails. The engineers who assisted with our implementation was very knowledgable and great to work with. Easy to use by end-users. Administration and management are also easy for IT. Great dashboard and reporting tools for business reviews.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
KnowBe4
There have only been a handful of outages in the 2 years we have had the product. Even during those instances, parts of the system were still operational
Read full review
Proofpoint
There were no appliance errors or unplanned outages during five years of operation.
Read full review
Performance
KnowBe4
Pages load quickly, filter/sort quickly, and don't slow down or freeze. Everything is smooth and very easy to use. There are a places in the UI where you can forget how to get there, but other than that everything is great. We have had no issues using any part of the website.
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Proofpoint
Most important thing is the performance of processing mails. Even in a complex environment the system keeps performing on a very high Level.
Read full review
Support Rating
KnowBe4
Tech prod support is great! I did have to ask for a new customer success rep, needed a more experienced person to match my 12 years of experience running Cybersec training programs. Would suggest that more matching of rep level of knowledge to client level knowledge would help.
Read full review
Proofpoint
We use ProofPoint support quite often to fix issues and assist with setting up features and rules. Each time we have created a ticket, they have been very helpful and respectful. Each ticket has been treated with the appropriate SLA time and attention. We also enjoy the regular check-ins from the engineers when tickets are open but we get busy with other tasks.
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In-Person Training
KnowBe4
Helpful and knowledgeable account managers have helped us navigate and use the system to our full potential
Read full review
Proofpoint
No answers on this topic
Online Training
KnowBe4
confusing question. I inherited this application so I didnt get any formal training other than the person who was leaving. The CSM provided some later on when I asked in a zoom call
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Proofpoint
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
KnowBe4
The implementation went really well and KnowBe4 was there the whole time on setup to make sure things were setup correctly. The only thing we had to figure out on our own was to script users automatically being added to security groups. So that when they sync to knowBe4 from AD they are placed into the same/correct groups.
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Proofpoint
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
KnowBe4
KnowBe4 integrates seamlessly with Drata to monitor security compliance. It is possible to chose which training campaigns are mandatory to consider the security awareness training control passed. The integration is easy to configure and works with complex scenarios (optional and mandatory training campaings, different progress status per each employee, etc.).
Read full review
Proofpoint
We previously used halon anti-spam, which lasted us well until our organization really started to grow and it was not able to keep up with the amount of mail we were receiving. The support is also nothing compared to Proofpoint's professional services offering. Halon was also not able to have the complex rules that Proofpoint can offer.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
KnowBe4
It's kind of expensive compared to other products on the market although I think this product is likely better than those other products it 3 times better? I think not.
Read full review
Proofpoint
No answers on this topic
Scalability
KnowBe4
The product scales greatly. As long as you upgrade the license to support the number of users you are needing, adding in those new users is easy. Also getting those users set up with trainings/campaigns is very easy as well
Read full review
Proofpoint
You can add a lot of agents to your environment if you need them. And you can operate hardware appliances and virtual appliances in the same cluster.
Read full review
Professional Services
KnowBe4
The team was great to work with and took their time to ensure that we knew what we were doing with the product and that it was set up to meet the specific needs of our organization. This wasn't just a cookie-cutter deployment, but rather they focused specifically on our needs.
Read full review
Proofpoint
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
KnowBe4
  • The smart group feature has provided us insight to users who continually fail phishing simulations and allows automatic training assignment. This has greatly reduced our technician's time spent inside the service, allowing them to focus on more important projects.
  • After switching to KnowBe4, for Cybersecurity training, our business has seen an increase of more than 20% participation in training.
  • I can't say enough about the Cybersecurity Assessment feature, which informs us of end-user weaknesses and strengths. Knowing where the company is strong and weak allows us to adjust training and system configurations, keeping the business more secure.
Read full review
Proofpoint
  • Having easy-to-reach backups of all employee emails has made Proofpoint worth it by itself. That plus the countless times that spam/malicious emails did not make it through to the intended person that could have potentially cost the organization a lot of money.
Read full review
ScreenShots

KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training Screenshots

Screenshot of The Phishing and Training Dashboard 
Displays how end users are doing at-a-glance and in comparison to peers across industries with Industry Benchmarking.Screenshot of Virtual Risk Officer™.
The Virtual Risk Officer functionality helps identify risk to support data-driven decisions about a security awareness plan.Screenshot of Advanced Reporting
A Collection of 60+ Built-in Advanced Reports that Provide Holistic View of Over Time. Executive and enterprise-level reporting gives visibility into an organization’s security awareness performance with insights into correlated training and phishing simulation data over any specified period of time.Screenshot of Engaging, Browser-based Training
KnowBe4’s learner experience offers optional gamification, in the form of leaderboards and badges, so users will be incentivized and motivated to take their assigned training.Screenshot of Library of security awareness training content. KnowBe4’s partners with The Security Awareness Company, Popcorn Training, exploqii, Canada Privacy Training, Twist & Shout,  El Pescador, CLTRe, Saya University, lawpilots, and MediaPRO.