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KnowBe4 vs Proofpoint Email Protection comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.9
KnowBe4 enhances cybersecurity, yielding positive ROI by reducing security incidents, increasing awareness, and improving skills and reporting.
Sentiment score
5.0
Proofpoint Email Protection enhances efficiency, reduces breaches by over 50%, decreases costs, and proves a valuable investment.
We learned extensively about cybersecurity with the training, and the automated trainings are very convenient and feasible for us.
Senior Compliance Officer at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
This soft ROI shows value within the company and how security and data are being protected.
Information Technology Solution Specialist at Toyota South Africa
The solution proved valuable for audit reporting and successfully raised awareness while reducing phishing click rates.
Cybersecurity Governance Specialist at Suse
The ideal situation would be to have all these portals combined into one unified dashboard.
Information Security Architect at Loews Hotels
After Proofpoint Email Protection, phishing has been completely eliminated, so it is working very efficiently.
Security Engineer at News Corp
The time required for email investigations and responses has changed with Proofpoint Email Protection's visibility and automation.
Sr Security Engineer at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.7
KnowBe4 offers efficient, proactive customer support with quick resolutions, earning high praise for responsiveness and effective issue handling globally.
Sentiment score
7.0
Proofpoint Email Protection's support is often praised for effectiveness but criticized for slow responses and unclear documentation.
Their support is very quick and informative.
Owner at Ekforce LLC
We have escalated questions to KnowBe4's technical support, and it has been quite helpful in guiding us, especially when we request feature edits or face buggy issues.
Cyber Security Analyst at Ideagen PLC
The content is regularly updated to reflect current threats.
Senior Executive Assistant at Zenith Bank
I am familiar with the granular policy control feature of Proofpoint Email Protection, and I find their support excellent for modifying those policies.
Senior Cybersecurity Specialist at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Even the engineers have been helpful, and if we open a case, they get back to us right away.
Information Security Analyst at a government with 11-50 employees
We always contact them if we need support, whether it's for setting up features or technical support, which is very responsive.
System Administrator at Tutt Bryant Group
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.0
KnowBe4 efficiently scales for any organization size, offering seamless deployment and empowers cybersecurity training for all enterprise levels.
Sentiment score
7.4
Proofpoint Email Protection excels in scalability through cloud architecture, despite high cost, supporting seamless integration and configuration.
I would evaluate the scalability of KnowBe4 as quite scalable, giving it an 8.5 on a scale of one to ten.
Information Technology Solution Specialist at Toyota South Africa
The product is pretty much scalable.
Business Intelligence Developer at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Proofpoint is scalable for multi-site organizations with thousands of users.
Products and solutions director at ITVikings
The solution provides a graphical representation and dashboard view showing how many threats are getting blocked on a daily and monthly basis.
Information Technology Team Lead at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
Proofpoint Email Protection is considered to be highly scalable, designed for large enterprises, with a cloud-based architecture that offers an enormous number of options, including multi-organization support and high-volume email handling.
Senior Solution Delivery Lead Cybersecurity at International Olympic Committee – IOC
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.4
KnowBe4 is stable, with users rating it highly for performance and reliability, despite rare disruptions and escalations.
Sentiment score
8.2
Proofpoint Email Protection is reliable, stable, and efficiently manages email traffic with minimal downtime and well-received maintenance communication.
KnowBe4 works without interruptions and is very stable.
Information Technology Solution Specialist at Toyota South Africa
In terms of stability, KnowBe4 is stable; based on the training we are receiving, I would rate it at nine out of ten.
Senior Software Engineering Manager at Field Nation
During the last downtime, it caused significant disruption as users couldn't access the system.
Cyber Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
If Proofpoint Email Protection has an outage, we are either not receiving emails or not blocking the right threats.
Senior Security Engineer at Cloudflare
Regarding the stability and performance of Proofpoint Email Protection, I have not experienced any crashes, downtimes, or performance issues.
Cyber Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Proofpoint Email Protection is very stable and reliable, as it remains accessible at all times without issues, ensuring that data is available in real time.
Principal Consultant at Infosys
 

Room For Improvement

KnowBe4 should enhance interactivity, localization, and personalized training while improving UI, login stability, and spam filter integration for Ukrainians.
Proofpoint Email Protection needs better UI, faster searching, improved security, easier integration, cost efficiency, and enhanced support services.
KnowBe4 could educate people about OWASP Top 10 in web security testing and API security.
Cyber Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
KnowBe4 should focus more on these issues and provide guidance on dealing with links received from individuals who attempt to manipulate our emotions, particularly on social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn.
EPC Environmental Manager at Nesma & Partners
The more complicated things they do about phishing, AI, and social engineering are very important, and the way they do it is very structured and good.
Manager, Strategic Risk Management at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The older legacy user interface just took a little to work with, and the new unified interface, as it was able to do more and more of the functionality of the old one, the product just got easier and easier to use.
Sr Security Engineer at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
In addition to the UI improvements, I would appreciate an increase in the speed of the tasks being processed on the pod.
Security Specialist at a leisure / travel company with 10,001+ employees
There are pros and cons to that, but I would suggest maintaining a good balance between security protection and operational impact.
Senior Security Engineer at Cloudflare
 

Setup Cost

KnowBe4 pricing varies, averaging $5 per seat monthly, with contract terms of three to five years.
Proofpoint Email Protection is costly, but its strong security features justify the investment for some, despite cheaper alternatives.
It's about five dollars a seat per month.
Solution Architect at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
The solution was considered expensive, particularly in government contexts.
Cyber Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
As an exceptional product, they are relatively expensive, but it is worth it because compared to offline education with hired dedicated people, it would be much more expensive and not obviously more efficient.
Owner at Ekforce LLC
Customers pay around $90,000 yearly for a 1,000-user organization, with the subscription license being the main expense, apart from implementation fees.
Products and solutions director at ITVikings
Given my other experience with other vendors, I think they are a bit on the high end and a bit on the pricey end for the email security functionality that we were using.
Sr Security Engineer at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
Although it is a bit costly compared to Mimecast, Defender, and Cofense Vision, it is efficient and strong in security, so I do not mind the cost because I will not reduce my security risk.
Senior Solution Delivery Lead Cybersecurity at International Olympic Committee – IOC
 

Valuable Features

KnowBe4 provides scalable phishing simulations and reporting, enhancing security awareness and risk assessment with AI integration and multilingual support.
Proofpoint Email Protection offers comprehensive security features, enhancing threat detection, phishing prevention, and seamless Office 365 integration for improved email safety.
Modern phishing emails appear authentic, as if from friends. This enables full-blown ATP operations using AI to generate convincing phishing emails, making it crucial to focus on AI-based detection against AI-generated threats.
Cyber Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
This is the biggest benefit to raise caution in the digital world, making people aware of the importance of verifying the sources of information.
Information Technology Solution Specialist at Toyota South Africa
I appreciate the training methodology. It is detailed with videos and real examples about handling phishing emails and dealing with social media links received through WhatsApp, email, or other platforms.
EPC Environmental Manager at Nesma & Partners
Without Proofpoint Email Protection, most of these emails would have come through, slipped through Exchange, gotten into the user's mailbox, and created a lot of trouble for the organization.
Cyber Security Engineer at IT Naturally
Proofpoint Email Protection has positively impacted my organization by ensuring we are not at risk of a breach through email.
Release lead at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
TAP alerts, where Proofpoint Email Protection scans emails and sends alerts, provide the ability to review suspicious emails and validate them in a sandbox environment.
Infrastructure Analyst at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

KnowBe4
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Security Awareness Training (1st)
Proofpoint Email Protection
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
97
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (3rd), Digital Risk Protection (3rd), Office 365 Protection (1st), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

KnowBe4 and Proofpoint Email Protection aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. KnowBe4 is designed for Security Awareness Training and holds a mindshare of 14.1%, down 29.8% compared to last year.
Proofpoint Email Protection, on the other hand, focuses on Secure Email Gateway (SEG), holds 19.9% mindshare, down 22.1% since last year.
Security Awareness Training Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
KnowBe414.1%
Riot8.0%
Proofpoint’s ZenGuide5.5%
Other72.4%
Security Awareness Training
Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Proofpoint Email Protection19.9%
Microsoft Defender for Office 36518.3%
Mimecast Email and Collaboration Threat Protection16.6%
Other45.199999999999996%
Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
 

Featured Reviews

Amran Hossain - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineering Manager at Field Nation
Training program enables comprehensive security awareness and cautious email practices
One feature that would be highly beneficial in a future release is the ability to automatically send training articles or security tips to users on a regular, scheduled basis—for example, weekly or monthly. While the current training modules and phishing simulations are highly effective, ongoing awareness is equally important to keep security top of mind in day-to-day operations. These short, digestible articles or micro-learning content could cover recent phishing trends, real-world examples of security breaches, or quick tips on secure online behavior. Periodic delivery would serve as a continuous learning touchpoint, reinforcing key concepts from the main training and adapting to evolving threats. Ideally, this feature would also include personalization, allowing content to be tailored based on a user’s role, previous training performance, or common mistakes observed in phishing simulations. This kind of proactive, lightweight training approach could significantly enhance employee engagement with security practices and help maintain a strong security posture over time.
Vivek_Jaiswal - PeerSpot reviewer
Cyber Security Senior Specialist at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Advanced email defenses have protected healthcare staff and simplified incident response
There are many things that could be improved, but once you are very well-known about this application, you could perform that improvement plan. There are many scenarios where I have worked with Proofpoint Email Protection where a requirement was not fulfilled due to the limitation of the product. For example, we have Report Phish automation. With Proofpoint Email Protection, we can configure Report Phish and forward the email to any email addresses or shared mailboxes that we provide in the configuration. That email is forwarded as is with whatever the user reports as a phishing email. However, some organizations do not want the reported phishing email to go as is into their ticketing tool because it might contain malicious attachments and malicious links that are not required to go into their internal organization. Proofpoint Email Protection has that limitation. They cannot forward or restrict, but could forward only limited information such as some header information, sender subject details, or only limited information. As it is, the email can be forwarded, not as limited information. Proofpoint TRAP solution also has limitations. It cannot create alert notifications for some specific requirements because Proofpoint works the way it is designed, and if you want it to work based on our requirement, that should not be possible. There is a scope of limitations here. There are many improvements that should be made. First, they should work on their false positive minimization. Proofpoint generally takes all emails, investigates them, and classifies them. There are many situations where legit emails are blocked because that domain is found to be under a malicious category somehow, but actually it is not. False positive minimization could be improved, and they could enhance their other applications or solutions. There are many things that they could improve from each application and each portal.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Construction Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise24
Large Enterprise50
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about KnowBe4?
Their customizable nature allows us to create scenarios that closely resemble real-world phishing attempts, making them highly relatable to our end users.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for KnowBe4?
I would not know about the pricing because it has been subsidized for us, so I am not fully aware of the actual cost.
What needs improvement with KnowBe4?
I have a challenge with the stability while using KnowBe4. I have made an observation regarding the login process. For every login attempt, because my organization uses KnowBe4 with a large staff s...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Proofpoint Email Protection?
This is not something that I deal with regarding pricing, setup cost, and licensing.
What needs improvement with Proofpoint Email Protection?
I would like to see improvements in the transition from Proofpoint Protection Server to Proofpoint on Demand because Proofpoint Protection Server is not very user-friendly and requires logging into...
What is your primary use case for Proofpoint Email Protection?
In my environment, I am using Proofpoint Email Protection for advanced email threat protection. For malware, spam, and virus protection, we are using their email protection module and security modu...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Proofpoint Enterprise Protection, Proofpoint Digital Protection
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

West Aurora Public School District 129
Blocket, University of Waterloo, Lincoln Memorial University, WellSpan Health, U-Haul, Carestream Health, Westinghouse
Find out what your peers are saying about KnowBe4, Huntress, Proofpoint and others in Security Awareness Training. Updated: April 2026.
892,383 professionals have used our research since 2012.