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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
5.8
Proofpoint Email Protection reduces SOC workload, blocking threats and cutting costs, despite initial setup challenges.
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
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
If you implement these kinds of solutions in your security stack, the first beneficial thing will be that you will not suffer any malware, and you will not face attacks, which ultimately leads to financial benefit.
Senior Security Engineer at DCIPHERS IT SOLUTIONS (P) LTD
 

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
7.1
Proofpoint Email Protection's customer support is reliable, responsive, and knowledgeable, with mostly positive user experiences and minor improvement areas.
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
7.3
Proofpoint Email Protection offers scalable cloud architecture, effectively managing large email volumes with seamless integration and easy expansion.
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 a scalable solution that very much fits our capacity requirements.
Consultant at Exelixis Inc
 

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 stable with rare downtimes, highly rated for reliability and minimal manual intervention required.
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
It was very rock solid.
Sr Security Engineer at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
Sometimes, when creating connectors for implementing with Google Workspace, we encounter challenges because both Google Workspace and Proofpoint Email Protection do not have very good documentation on how to do this.
Senior Security Engineer at DCIPHERS IT SOLUTIONS (P) LTD
 

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 requires a modern interface, improved AI and support services, competitive pricing, and better third-party integration.
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 offers robust features, justifying its premium cost, though some seek 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
Additional costs do come in, but it enhances security.
Logistics Manager at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

KnowBe4 provides scalable phishing simulations and reporting, enhancing security awareness and risk assessment with AI integration and multilingual support.
Proofpoint Email Protection enhances security with effective phishing and spam protection, comprehensive features, and simplified management for improved efficiency.
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
6.8
Number of Reviews
80
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 16.3%, down 30.7% compared to last year.
Proofpoint Email Protection, on the other hand, focuses on Secure Email Gateway (SEG), holds 21.1% mindshare, down 21.8% since last year.
Security Awareness Training Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
KnowBe416.3%
Riot7.4%
Proofpoint’s ZenGuide6.1%
Other70.19999999999999%
Security Awareness Training
Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Proofpoint Email Protection21.1%
Microsoft Defender for Office 36519.9%
Mimecast Email and Collaboration Threat Protection17.1%
Other41.9%
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.
AshishKochhar - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Technology Team Lead at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
Advanced email protection has blocked targeted attacks and reduces manual threat handling
I feel Proofpoint Email Protection is overpriced. I cannot say that the security level being provided does not justify the cost, but when comparing the similar level of security with other applications or security systems, it is overpriced. If Proofpoint could provide offers or discounts for customers who are already using the product or for new customers implementing it, along with some free services or add-ons, that would be helpful in terms of financial expense. Proofpoint Email Protection has recently introduced AI functionality in terms of data security capabilities and protecting AI assistance from targeted attacks. This is important since everything is now related to AI. The solution is doing threat detection and real-time threat detection and response pretty well. There are a few things I would like to see improved. Sometimes Proofpoint Email Protection takes time to analyze the workflow and the nature of the email. In this age of AI, the solution should analyze an email on the first receipt and determine whether it should pass or be marked as spam without checking previous data. Another improvement would be to have a more user-friendly dashboard. Additionally, if Proofpoint could add the same features in BCP as part of email protection in BCP, it would be helpful since I currently have to take a different add-on for BCP, and integrating it would save costs. I cannot say that threats have increased or decreased with Proofpoint Email Protection because it depends on the mail flow. The solution captures and filters out all threats, and the email threats vary every day depending on how many users are receiving how many emails per day. Today there might be 1,000 emails, tomorrow 5,000, and the day after 500. Proofpoint Email Protection does its job by scanning all emails and threats are reduced to some extent. Since I am aware that virus definitions are updated every day, I cannot blame Proofpoint Email Protection if they take time to determine the nature of an email being received. There are sometimes emails that are false positives, and Proofpoint Email Protection is a bit strict in analyzing false positives, sometimes stopping emails that are actually required. It analyzes the previous nature of an email and if a template looks like an informational template or related to spam, it blocks it because it looks similar to one blocked earlier. However, the template might actually be required. If I receive the same template today that is also blocked by Proofpoint Email Protection, that particular template might be useful and should not be blocked. In such cases, I have to raise it as a false positive stating that this is something in use or my users use and should be released. When AI starts doing its work, it analyzes the email from a sender with a particular template and releases it, but if the same email and template come from another sender, it blocks it according to the policies.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Construction Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business25
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise36
 

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?
I do not know much about the licensing part, but I remember one customer mentioned that it cost them around one crore for approximately three thousand users. It is definitely cost-effective because...
What needs improvement with Proofpoint Email Protection?
A few things about how Proofpoint Email Protection can be improved include implementing artificial intelligence within their platform to start really understanding the organization that is using th...
 

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: March 2026.
883,824 professionals have used our research since 2012.