KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training vs. SANS Security Awareness Training

SANS Security Awareness Training

Overview
Product	Rating	Most Used By	Product Summary	Starting Price
KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training	Score 9.0 out of 10	N/A	KnowBe4 is a security awareness and compliance training and simulated social engineering product. It is used by organizations worldwide to strengthen their security culture and reduce risk. The product includes a comprehensive suite of awareness and compliance training, real-time user coaching, AI-powered simulated social engineering, crowdsourced anti-phishing defense and an AI suite that enhances risk management through personalized training and automation. With…	$2.79 per seat
SANS Security Awareness Training	Score 8.0 out of 10	N/A	SANS Institute offers a suite of security awareness training courses, and other specialized security learning, delivered via computer, featuring role-based dynamic training modules.	N/A

Pricing

KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training

SANS Security Awareness Training

Editions & Modules

SAT Advanced 501-1000 Monthly Pricing 3 Year: $2.79
per seat
SAT Advanced 251-500 Monthly Pricing 3 Year: $2.96
per seat
SAT Advanced 101-250 Monthly Pricing 3 Year: $3.19
per seat
SAT Advanced 51-100 Monthly Pricing 3 Year: $3.40
per seat
SAT Advanced 25-50 Monthly Pricing 3 Year: $3.75
per seat

No answers on this topic

Offerings

Pricing Offerings
KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training	SANS Security Awareness Training
Free Trial
No	No
Free/Freemium Version
No	No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No	No

Entry-level Setup Fee

Optional

No setup fee

Additional Details

Pricing listed is for SAT Advanced. Other levels available. For organizations with over 1,000 seats, get a quote.

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More Pricing Information

Pricing Info

Community Pulse
	KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training	SANS Security Awareness Training
Considered Both Products	KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training Verified User Manager Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training KnowBe4 has good capability to provide more up-to-date content that related to several industries Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Manager Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training It was in place Incentivized Helpful? JS James Salinas Information Systems Security Manager, CISSP Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training At this point, I am used to and comfortable with KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training and expect the same level of product features and rapid support from any other vendor providing security awareness training for our company. Some of the others I have tried just did not have as … Helpful? NN Nic Nowlan Director of IT Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training We liked the ease of use for end-users and how the content feels a bit less formal. It shouldn't be such a boring task to train. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Engineer Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training There are other products that can compare to KnowBe4. We've assessed several others but we have experienced that other products are less intuitive for administration, have a lower ROI, have poor reporting, or a poor end-user experience on training. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Manager Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training, relative to the competition, is best-in-class. Superior training materials, simulations, user interface, and customer support. The application integrates particularly well with our other technology offerings. The provider gives us access … Incentivized Helpful? AD Andrew Davies VP of IT Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training SANS was good, but the functionality we have gotten with KnowBe4 was what our company needed. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Director Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training Hands down, KnowBe4 has been a superior product for us. Its reporting features are easy to set up, run, and allows for greater analysis of campaign results. This alone has justified the switch. Additionally, there is a far more comprehensive library of material and, within … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User C-Level Executive Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training SANS was too heavy handed and too intensive for the average user in the company. PhishProtection dealt with the narrow domain of phishing attacks only. We chose KnowBe4 for its ease of use and accessibility, not only for the IT security team but based on overall level of … Incentivized Helpful? BC Bryce Cunningham CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training EverFi has reasonable cost-effectiveness. Its popularity in higher education was a major factor in our selection. However, the EverFi Data Privacy and Security training is perhaps the best overall single general training module I have seen due to its realistic scenarios and … Incentivized Helpful? KL Kevin Lee Network Security Analyst Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training I was not involved with the the decision to use SANS training, but it sounds like it was a bit too cumbersome for the users that did use it. That and it was also a bit too advanced. Basically, a lot of money was spent on SANS and it was never properly utilized. KnowBe4 was easy … Incentivized Helpful? JW John Willinger Risk Manager Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training KnowBe4 training does a better job of keeping staff engaged. Their content and presentation method is both informative and entertaining. They present current real life examples in a meaningful way. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Director Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training provided a wider variety of training materials and topics than other vendors. The management capabilities and flexibility in communicating with the trainees were deciding factors. Cost per user was a key contributor to the purchasing decision … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Director Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training KnowBe4 integrates with Active Directory for Single sign on, SANS does not. KnowBe4 has a much more robust Phish system. For example, SANS only allows 1 phish message and it sends it out to all users at the same time. KnowBe4 will send a random group of phish messages over … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Administrator Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training At the time of our evaluation, KnowBe4 stood out because of the size of its training library and the ability to customize training and phishing campaigns to match our organization's corporate and user culture, risk level, and regulatory compliance needs. The platform requires … Incentivized Helpful? JR Jen Rasset IT Office Technician Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training KnowBe4 is easier to use for both me as the admin and for the users. It has relevant security training & Phishing email campaigns that are helpful. SANS didn't have this. Also as an Admin, I can't stress enough that our completion rate is high simply because of the automatic … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Vice-President Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training KnowBe4 compares favorably to other competitive products. Incentivized Helpful? Joshua Meetze Information Security Specialist/Analyst II Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training WE found that KnowBe4 updates its training modules more frequently than other security awareness training programs we have used in the past. Also, we felt like the training videos are more user friendly and very well done. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Analyst Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training KnowBe4's price point for the number of trainings is far better than its competitors. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Analyst Chose KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training While I think PhishMe is a good product, it lacks the continuous training required once the phishing campaign is complete. SANS has a decent training platform, but training materials can become outdated. It also does not address the need to evaluate effectiveness of the … Incentivized Helpful?	SANS Security Awareness Training Verified User C-Level Executive Chose SANS Security Awareness Training We actually are currently migrating to Proofpoint Security Awareness Training because of its integration with the Proofpoint email filter. This will allow us to target specific users who are clicking on bad emails with specific training material. We have used KnowBe4 in the … Incentivized Helpful?

Features

KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training

SANS Security Awareness Training

Security

Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
	KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training 8.9 349 Ratings 3% above category average	SANS Security Awareness Training 9.0 1 Ratings 4% above category average
Single sign-on capability	9.1311 Ratings	9.01 Ratings
Role-based user permissions	8.8337 Ratings	9.01 Ratings

Security Awareness Training

Comparison of Security Awareness Training features of Product A and Product B
	KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training 8.3 381 Ratings 2% below category average	SANS Security Awareness Training 8.5 1 Ratings 0% below category average
Training Content Library	8.6378 Ratings	10.01 Ratings
Multilingual Training Content	8.4214 Ratings	8.01 Ratings
Training Gamification	7.7315 Ratings	8.01 Ratings
Industry-Specific Security Training	7.6333 Ratings	9.01 Ratings
Individualized Security Training Plans	8.2323 Ratings	9.01 Ratings
Phishing Simulations	9.2376 Ratings	9.01 Ratings
Security Reporting	8.5366 Ratings	9.01 Ratings
Integration with Security Tech Stack	8.1218 Ratings	6.01 Ratings

User Ratings
	KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training	SANS Security Awareness Training
Likelihood to Recommend	9.0 (726 ratings)	7.0 (1 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew	10.0 (56 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Usability	9.1 (214 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Availability	9.6 (20 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Performance	9.6 (21 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Support Rating	7.8 (260 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
In-Person Training	8.8 (5 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Online Training	9.4 (17 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Implementation Rating	8.2 (24 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Configurability	8.9 (16 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model	8.1 (39 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Ease of integration	6.4 (8 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Product Scalability	9.6 (21 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Professional Services	8.9 (12 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale	9.6 (17 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale	9.6 (16 ratings)	- (0 ratings)

User Testimonials
	KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training	SANS Security Awareness Training
Likelihood to Recommend	KnowBe4 I think the most important factor is that our risk has decreased significantly among staff. Our staff is well below the industry (Education) benchmark in terms of users that are "prone to phishing". We also have multiple instances over the years where employees have stopped real efforts to access data illegally or an attempt to take funds from our institution Incentivized ES Eric Stewart Director of Technology and Facilities Read full review	SANS Institute SANS Security Awareness Training program would be well suited for a large organization that needs to develop multiple training programs with different courses based on the roles of the end users. It seemed a bit difficult at times to achieve simple setup processes because of the configurations tailored to larger, more complex organizations. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Pros	KnowBe4 Phish tests can be set to various difficulty levels as staff becomes more knowledgeable in catching phish emails. Automated phish tests and training save a lot of admin time. The product can also test for phone and USB stick practices. The phish alert button in Outlook, along with PhishER and PhishFlip allow easy managing and response to actual phishing emails. The interactive training is well designed to cover all types of phishing and safe email and phone behavior. Incentivized John Cook Director of Applications and Networking Read full review	SANS Institute Variety of cyber threat videos and presentations Web based and mobile access to the platform Easy to manage administrator access to configure the training sessions Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Cons	KnowBe4 Many items in the library aren't applicable to our use case, and it's sometimes difficult to filter out what I'm looking for. I don't love the training dashboard, but maybe that's just a "me" thing. Setting up groups can be tedious. Incentivized DH Daven Hunsicker Technology Director Read full review	SANS Institute Mass import of users was a bit confusing User interface was sometimes not intuitive Ability to upload custom content was difficult to use Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Likelihood to Renew	KnowBe4 No question, KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training is a great value to our organization. Properly training our users in the proper use of email and how to be aware of possible dangerous emails is incredibly important now. Also, training users in the best practices for phone calls, as well as internet browsing can prevent data or information from being stolen or exposed. Users have even benefited when using their personal devices as a result of the trainings they have received at work. Incentivized DJ David Judice IT Director Read full review	SANS Institute 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. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	SANS Institute No answers on this topic
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 Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	SANS Institute No answers on this topic
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. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	SANS Institute No answers on this topic
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. Incentivized PM Peigi Maides Security Awareness & Communication Read full review	SANS Institute No answers on this topic
In-Person Training	KnowBe4 Helpful and knowledgeable account managers have helped us navigate and use the system to our full potential Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	SANS Institute 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 RC Rusty Carter Information security & Privacy Manager Read full review	SANS Institute 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. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	SANS Institute No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered	KnowBe4 KnowBe4 offered a significantly more favorable cost-benefit ratio compared to other solutions. Its seamless integration with our existing infrastructure—particularly Active Directory and email systems—was the most compatible with our operational and security requirements. Incentivized João Paulo Chief Information Security Officer Read full review	SANS Institute We actually are currently migrating to Proofpoint Security Awareness Training because of its integration with the Proofpoint email filter. This will allow us to target specific users who are clicking on bad emails with specific training material. We have used KnowBe4 in the past as well, but it was rather costly compared to SANS Security Awareness Training and Proofpoint. SANS Security Awareness Training seems to be the least easy-to-use interface from an administrative perspective compared to the other two. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model	KnowBe4 I was not involved in the pricing, billing or contract terms. Incentivized Michael Zwarg Senior Systems Administrator Read full review	SANS Institute 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 Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	SANS Institute No answers on this topic
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. Incentivized Tyson Wilcox IT Operations Manager Read full review	SANS Institute No answers on this topic
Return on Investment	KnowBe4 There is really no way one can make all the needed trainings with in house resources anymore! The cost for this would be way way more than that of any platform! There is no way to even calculate the damage a company would suffer in case of a cybersecurity breach! So the cost for the use of the KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training platform if minimal compared to that of a possible breach! The cost of creating content for security awareness training is no longer realistic for a company. This is really no option, and it is in no way comparable to the cost of access to the training material available in the KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training platform. Also the training content needs to be constantly updated! Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	SANS Institute Positive impact knowing we are educating our staff from phishing and potential cyber criminals Considering the potential for bad actors infiltrating our network, this is a small expense Pricing based on actual end users, worth the investment Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
ScreenShots	KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training Screenshots