What does security awareness training typically cost?
Across the market, security awareness training lands roughly between $1 and $6 per user per month depending on tier, seat count and whether phishing simulation is included, with enterprise deals cheaper per seat and quote-only vendors at the premium end. A 50-person company should expect a serious platform to cost low thousands per year, not tens of thousands.
Those are working ranges rather than list prices, because most of the industry sells by quote and the same product can price differently by region, seat band and negotiation. The structural rules hold everywhere: per-seat prices fall as seat counts rise, phishing simulation and compliance reporting push tiers up, and managed service (someone else running your programme) costs the most. train2secure publishes its prices on the pricing page so you can anchor the comparison against at least one set of real numbers.
How much does KnowBe4 cost?
KnowBe4 does not publish list prices; quotes are per seat per year, tiered (Silver through Diamond), and reseller price sheets have typically shown somewhere in the range of $10 to $30 per user per year depending on tier and organisation size, before add-ons such as PhishER. The exact number is whatever your quote says, which is the point of quote-only pricing.
None of that makes KnowBe4 poor value: it is the market leader with an enormous content library, and larger organisations negotiate capable deals. It does make comparison work harder than it should be, particularly for smaller teams without procurement leverage. If you are pricing them against alternatives, insist every quote states the tier, the included modules, the renewal price and the per-seat rate at your actual headcount; our KnowBe4 alternatives comparison does the structural comparison for you.
What drives the price up or down?
Five things move the number: seat count, whether phishing simulation is included, compliance reporting depth, content volume versus content fit, and how much service is bundled. Knowing which of the five you actually need is how small teams avoid paying enterprise prices.
| Driver | What it changes | Do you need it? |
|---|---|---|
| Seat count | Per-seat price falls with volume; minimums can sting tiny teams | Check the minimum, not just the rate |
| Phishing simulation | Often the tier jump; sometimes a separate product entirely | Yes, it is where behaviour changes |
| Compliance reporting | Certificates, audit exports, policy tracking | Yes if insurers or auditors ask |
| Content library size | Thousands of modules sounds impressive; teams use dozens | Fit beats volume for SMBs |
| Managed service | Someone else runs campaigns and reporting for you | Worth it with no internal owner |
train2secure's read on this table: Standard covers training and compliance basics, Pro adds the phishing simulation programme most teams should be running, and Managed exists for firms that want the outcome without the admin. All three are priced per seat, publicly.
What does phishing cost companies without training?
Far more than any training budget. Phishing-led crime reported to the FBI runs to billions in losses each year, IBM puts the average breach in the millions, and business email compromise alone regularly tops the loss tables. Training does not eliminate that risk; it prices it down for a few dollars a seat.
The reference numbers worth knowing: the FBI's IC3 annual report tallies billions in reported losses from phishing-adjacent crime every year, and IBM's Cost of a Data Breach research consistently ranks phishing and stolen credentials among the most common and most expensive ways in. Against that, the entire training market's price range is noise. The honest budgeting question is not whether a few dollars per user is affordable; it is which incident you are prepared to explain without it. Start with the complete guide if you are building the case internally, or run the free phishing test to get your baseline number first.
Common questions
Is free security awareness training good enough?
Free courses cover the knowledge layer and are far better than nothing, but they rarely include phishing simulations, tracking or compliance reporting, which is where behaviour actually changes and evidence gets produced. Most teams outgrow free the first time an auditor or insurer asks for completion records.
Why do most vendors hide their pricing?
Quote-only pricing lets vendors price by what each customer will bear and bundle in modules you may not need. It also signals an enterprise sales motion: demos, negotiations and annual true-ups. Transparent per-seat pricing is the simplest tell that a product is built for self-serve teams.
Does the price usually include phishing simulations?
Often not at entry tiers: many vendors sell training and simulated phishing as separate modules or reserve simulations for higher plans. Always confirm the quoted price includes phishing campaigns, reporting and automatic training for clickers, or the comparison is apples to oranges.
How much should a small business budget per employee?
As a working range, a few dollars per user per month covers a proper platform with training and phishing simulation at small-business scale. Under a hundred users, expect the total to land in the low thousands per year, which is a rounding error against a single successful invoice-fraud email.
Is security awareness training worth the cost?
The maths is rarely close. Phishing-led losses reported to the FBI run to billions each year, an average breach costs millions, and the human element features in most incidents. Training is one of the cheapest controls that addresses it, and insurers increasingly discount or require it.
See real numbers on the pricing page, or compare vendors in the KnowBe4 alternatives guide.
