empowsec vs KnowBe4: Pricing & Features Compared

Why This Comparison Matters

Security awareness training is no longer optional. Between NIS2 in the EU, DORA for financial services, and rising cyber insurance requirements, almost every organization of meaningful size now needs a documented, measurable program to train employees against phishing and social engineering.

For a long time, that conversation started and ended with KnowBe4. As the market leader, KnowBe4 built the category and remains a familiar name on nearly every shortlist. But the market has evolved. Modern buyers — whether they are a 20-person small business, a 5,000-seat enterprise, or an MSP serving dozens of clients — are weighing factors that barely existed five years ago: transparent pricing, European data residency, AI-driven interactive content, and delivery models that fit how their organization actually buys software.

This post is a direct, practical comparison of empowsec and KnowBe4. It is written for small business owners, IT managers, CISOs, compliance leaders, and MSP owners who need to make a real buying decision, not read a marketing brochure.

At a Glance: Who Are These Platforms?

KnowBe4

KnowBe4 is the largest security awareness training vendor in the world. Founded by Stu Sjouwerman and taken private by Vista Equity Partners in a roughly $4.6 billion acquisition in 2023, it operates at massive scale and has one of the most extensive content libraries in the industry. Its flagship product is the Kevin Mitnick Security Awareness Training (KMSAT) platform, complemented by adjacent products such as PhishER, SecurityCoach, KCM GRC, and Compliance Plus.

KnowBe4 is designed around direct enterprise sales, with a layered tier structure and a partner program aimed primarily at resellers rather than true platform rebranding.

empowsec

empowsec is a modern, European-built security awareness and phishing simulation platform designed to serve organizations of every size. Small businesses sign up directly and run their first phishing simulation the same day. Enterprises deploy at scale with SSO, API access, and compliance-ready reporting. MSPs and IT service providers deliver the platform under their own brand through a first-class reseller architecture.

The core platform includes phishing simulations, interactive training modules, personalized debriefs after simulated attacks, multi-language content, and SSO-backed identity integration. empowsec targets a gap in the market: modern tooling and transparent pricing for organizations of any size, without the weight of a legacy enterprise stack or the friction of a mandatory sales cycle.

Pricing: What You Actually Pay

Pricing is where the two platforms diverge the most. Both use per-seat subscriptions, but the economics and the purchase experience are very different.

KnowBe4 Pricing

KnowBe4 uses a four-tier model — Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond — with pricing that scales by seat count and tier. Published third-party estimates and reseller quotes typically place KnowBe4 in the following ranges (annual, per user, for a mid-sized organization):

Silver: roughly $15–$20 per user per year — basic phishing simulation and training library access
Gold: roughly $25–$30 per user per year — adds advanced reporting and smart groups
Platinum: roughly $35–$45 per user per year — adds user event API, social engineering indicators, and more
Diamond: roughly $50–$60+ per user per year — adds AIDA AI-driven agents and the full feature set

Actual pricing is quote-based, varies significantly by region and seat count, and typically involves an annual commitment. Many of KnowBe4’s more powerful features — particularly in reporting, automation, and AI — sit in the upper tiers, which means the sticker price can climb quickly for organizations that want the full capability set.

empowsec Pricing

empowsec operates a transparent, per-seat subscription model with both monthly and yearly billing options. Key differences in the commercial model:

Monthly or annual — Organizations that cannot commit to a year upfront are not penalized with feature lockouts.
Seat pools with true-up billing — Overage is handled with clear bundle pricing rather than renegotiation.
Configurable free trial — A 14-day trial is available by default, allowing real evaluation before commitment.
No artificial tier gating on core features — Phishing simulation, interactive training, multi-language content, and reporting are part of the standard offering rather than distributed across four increasingly expensive tiers.
Promo codes and discount cycles — First-mover and multi-year incentives are built into the billing engine.

For most mid-market organizations, empowsec delivers the capability set of KnowBe4’s Platinum or Diamond tier at a price closer to the lower half of the market range. For MSPs, the economics are even more favorable because of the reseller pool model described below.

Feature Comparison

Both platforms cover the core pillars of security awareness, but the emphasis and the implementation differ.

Phishing Simulation

KnowBe4 offers a large library of phishing templates and landing pages, smart grouping for targeted campaigns, and AI-driven template selection on upper tiers.

empowsec provides full campaign management with templating, recipient targeting, live activity tracking, and event-based completion monitoring. Templates are maintained for current threat patterns — including callback-style and TOAD (telephone-oriented attack delivery) lures that mirror real-world campaigns like those seen in the ATHR vishing-as-a-service platform.

Training Content

KnowBe4’s ModStore is the largest content library in the industry, with thousands of modules across many languages and formats. The breadth is a genuine strength, especially for organizations that want maximum choice.

empowsec focuses on interactive, engagement-first content with 12 interactive page types, multi-language delivery (English and German at launch, extensible), and an approach built around short, repeatable exercises rather than long-form video libraries. Content is designed for completion, not just assignment.

Interactive Debriefs

When an employee falls for a simulated phish, what happens next determines whether training changes behavior. empowsec delivers personalized, contextual debriefs immediately after a simulation click, explaining exactly what the employee missed and what to do next time. KnowBe4 offers landing-page messaging and optional remedial training assignments, but the debrief experience is less immediate and less tailored by default.

Reporting and Analytics

Both platforms offer dashboards, risk scoring, and export capabilities. KnowBe4’s reporting depth is considerable, though many of the more advanced reports sit behind the Platinum or Diamond tier. empowsec includes dashboard analytics, completion tracking, phishing vulnerability metrics, compliance status, and user activity logs as part of the core offering, along with a REST API for custom integrations.

Integrations and API

KnowBe4 offers a broad integration ecosystem, including SIEM connectors, identity provider integrations, and its own PhishER and SecurityCoach add-ons for phishing response and user coaching.

empowsec ships with a scoped REST API, OAuth client support for partner integrations, SSO (SAML 2.0 and OIDC with PKCE), an Outlook add-in for phishing reporting, and native mobile endpoints. The integration surface is focused and modern rather than exhaustive.

Compliance Support

Both platforms support regulatory frameworks including GDPR, NIS2, and ISO 27001. empowsec’s European origin and hosting profile are a meaningful advantage for organizations concerned about data residency and EU regulatory alignment, particularly in the wake of tightening enforcement around NIS2 and DORA.

White-Label and MSP Delivery

White-label delivery is mainly a consideration for MSPs, IT consultants, and resellers — but it is also relevant for enterprises with multiple subsidiaries or brands that want to deliver training under each business unit’s identity. This is where the two platforms diverge most sharply.

KnowBe4’s Partner Model

KnowBe4 runs a MSP Partner Program that allows managed service providers to resell licenses and administer client environments through a partner console. However, the platform itself remains KnowBe4-branded. End-user training portals, phishing landing pages, report footers, and email communications reference KnowBe4, not the MSP. Partners are resellers of a KnowBe4 product; they are not delivering their own security awareness service built on KnowBe4’s engine.

For MSPs that want to own the customer relationship and differentiate their service offering, this is a meaningful constraint. Clients see KnowBe4 branding every time they log in, which complicates bundling, pricing independence, and brand equity.

empowsec’s White-Label Architecture

empowsec is built around true white-label delivery for MSPs and resellers. The reseller model is a first-class part of the platform, not a bolt-on. Capabilities include:

Full branding control — Custom logos (light and dark mode), favicon, primary and secondary color palette, and forced theme settings applied across the entire user experience.
Custom domains — Deliver the platform on the MSP’s own domain for fully branded client portals.
Per-company branding — Resellers can optionally allow their client companies to further customize branding, supporting multi-brand agency models.
Reseller seat pools — Allocate licenses across unlimited or capped client companies, with overage bundles and true-up billing handled at the reseller level.
Dedicated reseller packages — Separate tiering with features like API access, white-label enablement, interactive lessons, and configurable video storage.
Invite and access control — Reseller invite codes, permission-based roles, and OAuth clients for partner integrations.

The result: an MSP using empowsec sells their own security awareness service, not a resold KnowBe4 subscription. That changes how the service can be priced, bundled with other managed offerings, and positioned in the client relationship.

Deployment, Language, and Regional Fit

KnowBe4 is a US-headquartered platform with global reach. It offers multi-language content and international data center options, but its commercial motion and platform design are rooted in the North American enterprise market.

empowsec is built in Europe with European hosting, GDPR-native data handling, and first-class support for German and English at launch with a translation framework designed for additional languages. For European SMBs, MSPs serving European clients, and organizations navigating NIS2 or DORA, the regional fit is noticeably tighter.

The Buying Experience: Self-Service vs Sales-Led

How you acquire a platform is part of the product. For a growing number of IT leaders and MSPs, the ability to evaluate and sign up without sitting through a sales cycle is a meaningful consideration.

KnowBe4: Sales-Led, Quote-Based

KnowBe4 is a sales-led purchase. There is no credit-card signup path to the full training platform. To buy the product, you typically go through the following steps:

Request a demo or quote through a form on the KnowBe4 website.
Take a discovery call with a regional sales representative, who scopes your seat count, tier interest, and procurement timeline.
Receive a custom quote — list pricing is not published publicly, and the final number depends on region, seat count, tier, and negotiation.
Sign an order form, which is typically structured as an annual commitment.
Onboard through a KnowBe4 customer success contact once the paperwork is complete.

KnowBe4 does make a handful of free standalone tools available without a sales call — including a free Phishing Security Test for up to 100 users, a domain spoof test, and a password exposure test. These are useful for an initial look but do not give you hands-on access to the training platform itself. For that, you are in the sales funnel.

For large enterprises with formal procurement processes, this model is familiar and often welcome. For IT managers evaluating options on a weekend, or MSPs who want to trial a product before speaking to anyone, it adds friction.

empowsec: Direct Signup with a Real Trial

empowsec takes a self-service first approach. Prospective customers and resellers can sign up directly on the website, start a 14-day free trial, and explore the actual platform — not a scripted demo environment — within minutes.

The typical path looks like this:

Sign up online with email and basic company details. No sales call required to start.
Explore the live platform during the 14-day trial, including phishing simulation setup, training module assignment, and interactive debriefs.
Pick a plan with transparent monthly or yearly per-seat pricing, including promo codes and discount cycles where applicable.
Self-serve through the dashboard for seat adjustments, billing changes, and overage bundles — no re-quote required.
Talk to a human when you want to, not because you have to. Direct support and reseller enablement are available, but the platform does not gate access behind them.

MSPs get the same experience on the reseller side: invite codes, reseller packages, and white-label branding controls are configured in the dashboard rather than negotiated in a contract.

Why This Difference Matters

The buying experience shapes who can realistically evaluate and adopt each platform:

Small businesses — Self-service signup often decides whether a security awareness program gets started at all. A 25-person company rarely has the bandwidth for a multi-week sales cycle to purchase training software.
Mid-market and enterprise — Procurement teams benefit from transparent, published pricing they can model internally before engaging a vendor. empowsec still offers enterprise-grade support, SSO, and API access on request; it just does not require a sales conversation as a prerequisite to seeing the product.
MSPs and IT service providers — A reseller can stand up a white-labeled environment on empowsec without waiting for a partner manager. With KnowBe4, partner onboarding is a managed process.
Everyone — Speed of adoption is dramatically different: empowsec can be live in a pilot within the same afternoon; KnowBe4 typically takes days to weeks between first contact and platform access.

Who Each Platform Fits Best

There is no universal winner. The right choice depends on the size of your organization, your delivery model, and the region you operate in. Below is how the two platforms tend to land with each buyer profile.

For Small Business Owners

KnowBe4 can serve small businesses, but the buying journey is built for larger accounts. Expect a sales call, a quote process, and an annual commitment before you ever see the product. For a 15-person company without a dedicated IT manager, this is often the point where a security awareness initiative stalls out.

empowsec is a natural fit for small businesses. You can sign up online, launch a phishing simulation within hours, and pay monthly without committing to a full year upfront. Core features — simulations, training modules, debriefs, reporting — are all included, so there is no tier-chasing to unlock the capabilities you actually need. For a small business owner wearing multiple hats, the time-to-value is measured in hours, not weeks.

For Mid-Market and Enterprise Organizations

KnowBe4 is a proven choice for large enterprises, particularly in North America. The ModStore content library is unmatched in breadth, the ecosystem (PhishER, SecurityCoach, KCM GRC) is mature, and the sales-led motion fits organizations with formal procurement processes. If you want the widest possible content catalog and you are already invested in the KnowBe4 ecosystem, staying the course is defensible.

empowsec is a strong fit for mid-market and enterprise buyers who want modern tooling without the upper-tier price tag. Key advantages for this segment:

SSO and identity integration — SAML 2.0 and OIDC with PKCE out of the box, suitable for enterprise identity stacks.
REST API and scoped keys — Integrate with existing SIEM, ticketing, and HR systems without upgrading to a top tier.
Full feature access by default — Advanced reporting, interactive content, and compliance tracking are standard, not Diamond-tier add-ons.
European hosting and GDPR-native design — A meaningful advantage for EU-based enterprises and multinationals with EU operations subject to NIS2 or DORA.
Transparent, predictable pricing — Per-seat costs that procurement teams can model without a custom quote.

For CISOs comparing a Platinum or Diamond KnowBe4 quote against an empowsec proposal, the capability sets are typically closer than the pricing suggests.

For MSPs and IT Service Providers

KnowBe4’s partner program allows resale and multi-client administration, but the product remains KnowBe4-branded across every client-facing surface. MSPs selling the platform are fundamentally selling KnowBe4, not their own managed security awareness service.

empowsec is built for MSPs from the ground up. Custom domains, full branding control, per-company theming, reseller seat pools, and a dedicated reseller dashboard mean partners can stand up a truly white-labeled service and bundle it however they like. The commercial model — shared seat pools with bundle-based overage — also gives MSPs better unit economics than per-client direct licensing.

Migration and Evaluation Tips

Run a parallel pilot — Where possible, deploy both platforms to a small group for 30 days and compare click rates, completion rates, and employee feedback.
Test the reseller story end-to-end — If you are an MSP, spin up a mock client on each platform. Check what the end user actually sees when they log in, open a phishing report, or complete a training module.
Get total cost of ownership, not list price — Include implementation time, admin overhead, content update cadence, and support SLAs. The sticker price is rarely the full story.
Check data residency contractually — If you have EU obligations, make sure the hosting region, backup locations, and subprocessor list are in writing before you sign.
Validate the debrief experience — Ask to see what an employee actually experiences after they fail a simulated phish. That moment is where behavioral change either happens or does not.

Key Takeaways

KnowBe4 is the incumbent, with unmatched content library breadth and a deeply established enterprise presence. It is a defensible choice for large, US-centric organizations that value ecosystem maturity.
empowsec serves the full market — small businesses benefit from self-service signup and monthly billing, enterprises get SSO, API access, and full features by default, and MSPs get true white-label delivery.
Pricing structure matters as much as sticker price — empowsec’s monthly options, seat pools, and unbundled feature set reduce the “pay to unlock what you actually need” dynamic that upper KnowBe4 tiers tend to create.
Buying friction is a real cost — Small businesses often abandon security awareness programs at the sales-call stage. A self-service trial is the difference between shipping a program and deferring it another quarter.
White-label is the decisive difference for MSPs — empowsec lets partners deliver their own branded service; KnowBe4 keeps its brand on the end-user experience.
The right platform depends on who you are — Match the decision to your organization’s size, region, delivery model, and the kind of experience you want your workforce or your clients to have.

Security awareness is a long game. Whether you are a small business owner running your first phishing simulation, a CISO rolling out training across thousands of employees, or an MSP building a managed service line, the platform you pick today will shape how your people experience cybersecurity for years. Pick the one that fits your organization, not the one that fits someone else’s.

empowsec vs KnowBe4: A Practical Comparison for 2026