Cofense PhishMe vs. KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cofense PhishMe
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Cofense PhishMe is a cyber threat and phishing simulator meant to be of use in training employees to be wary against threats and also to gain information about general employee threat knowledge and preparedness. A free trial is available for small business.N/A
KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
PhishER is presented as a lightweight Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) platform to orchestrate threat response and manage the high volume of potentially malicious email messages reported by users. And, with automatic prioritization of emails, PhishER helps InfoSec and Security Operations team cut through the inbox noise and respond to the most dangerous threats more quickly.
$0.75
per month (billed annually) per seat
Pricing
Cofense PhishMeKnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
3001-5000 Monthly Pricing Per Seat
$0.75
per month (billed annually) per seat
2001-3000 Monthly Pricing Per Seat
$0.85
per month (billed annually) per seat
1001-2000 Monthly Pricing Per Seat
$1.00
per month (billed annually) per seat
501-1000 Monthly Pricing Per Seat
$1.15
per month (billed annually) per seat
101-500 Monthly Pricing Per Seat
$1.50
per month (billed annually) per seat
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cofense PhishMeKnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cofense PhishMeKnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Considered Both Products
Cofense PhishMe
Chose Cofense PhishMe
PhishMe is a market leader in terms of phishing simulation solutions. The customization appears unmatched when compared with competitors and the support we have experienced from Cofense has been excellent. Phish me offers lots of realistic templates which are updated regularly …
Chose Cofense PhishMe
Cofense phishing simulation product is one of the best security awareness solutions that our security team has tested. The product is feature-rich and easy to navigate. Awareness templates are numerous to select from and in multiple languages, which is a big plus. Campaign …
Chose Cofense PhishMe
Cofense PhishMe was the first choice for us as the user interface as well as their bundle package with Cofense Triage and Vision has helped the organisation to alleviate the overall security awareness posture. The other vendors did not provide a vast range of phishing scenarios …
Chose Cofense PhishMe
Cofense PhishMe has a more robust offering and better pricing structure. We used Wombat prior to them being acquired by Proofpoint.
Chose Cofense PhishMe
Cofense PhishMe is price competitive and provides lots of value. We are also utilizing Cofense's other products such as Triage, Vision, and Report PhishMe. We are seeing lots of value from these products and hopefully, your company will see some value also. Support also is …
Chose Cofense PhishMe
I have not used similar kinds of products previously. So this is hard for me to compare anyone here. But as long as I used PhishMe I loved it. The ease of use, the neat designs, and distinct tabs help reduce the clutter. The learning curve to get comfortable with the tool is …
Chose Cofense PhishMe
Cofense provides more templates. We couple the reporter service with the Triage product & managed triage service.
Cofense's support is better and more engaged. We utilized Wombat before acquisition.
Chose Cofense PhishMe
Cofense is more comprehensive in its offerings given that the field of email security and email-related staff awareness is their focus area, while for Cymulate, it is only a component of testing and nothing else. Hence, it was quite beneficial to use Cofense in that regard.
Chose Cofense PhishMe
Cofense was selected as a vendor before I was in this role. Another vendor was evaluated for additional security awareness training but not to replace the Cofense PhishMe program. We also looked at Ninjio to supplement our phishing education program.
Chose Cofense PhishMe
We chose PhishMe due to its ease of use and integration. The many different scenarios available and the price point were the main selling points vs the competitors.
Chose Cofense PhishMe
For reporter, we've used GoSecure IDR. KnowBe4 is probably the biggest paid competitor I've seen and tried a demo.

For opensource, things like GoPhish or the Social Engineering Toolkit within Kali Linux aren't bad. Both require more effort, so you either pay Cofense for ease of …
Chose Cofense PhishMe
We haven't used another provider. However, we used our internal phishing simulation solution prior to contracting Cofense. The internal solution gives you more flexibility (you can send emails to any domain and can impersonate any company) but you'd be missing the Reporter …
Chose Cofense PhishMe
Our previously used product was SANS ACLP. This wasn't an altogether horrible product and for the time we used it the purpose for its use was served. We had multiple issues though with how this product delivered emails, captured clicks, and generated reporting once the …
Chose Cofense PhishMe
PhishMe had similar features and was less expensive.
Chose Cofense PhishMe
We closely looked at KnowBe4's platform as well when it came time to renew. We chose to continue with Cofense because we already had over a year's worth of data in the platform that we would lose by switching vendors.
Chose Cofense PhishMe
I have not used any other products that do the same thing as PhishMe. I was not the decision maker in deploying PhishMe so I can not comment as to why we chose it or any other similar competitors in the field. PhishMe works well for what we use it for.
Chose Cofense PhishMe
Cofense PhishMe is a very usable and customizable suite and compared to a previous product, it's hard to go back. After using [Cofense] PhishMe, I don't want to look for another product since the features are rich and the usability is relatively straightforward. Information and …
KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
We evaluated the Titan options because we have already used their DNS filtering product. However, KnowBe4 came in with a better price per user and a significantly stronger product lineup, particularly with its security awareness training component.
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Hands down superior
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Email customization looks like a carbon copy. Layout is more convoluted. We would have to purchase three separate elements to achieve what we get with KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus at double/triple the cost. The KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus product lineup is better, more …
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Only tool that has features like rip and flip
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
KnowBe4's PhishER was the deciding factor for us.
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Harmony does not provide security awareness training or simulated phishing emails like KnowB4. However, it does provide a phish alert button & workflow similar to PhishER & we may stop using PhishER because the Phish Alert reports from PhishER don't feed into Harmony to help …
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
None of the other security awareness applications we used or considered offered a similar product to PhishER or their overall security awareness application was so subpar that we didn't even consider if they had an option similar to PhishER.
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
No comparison in their capabilities.
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus had a better user interface and a greater option for growth
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
We decided on KnowBe4 PhishER to make our response process smoother and cut down on the time and effort needed to handle threats. We wanted to reduce manual work and focus our team on real threats. PhishER’s fast analysis and response were key in our decision. Overall, …
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
we have not looked at other products
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Our organization has always solely trusted KnowBe4.
Recommended by our outside IT vendor- they continuously do random research on other similar products and time and time again, find KnowBe4 to be the best out there for value and product
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Arctic Wolf also offers a similar product to PhishER using their Phish Tell engine. However, it was severely lacking in terms of workflow automation. Switching to Arctic Wolf's email reporting and response product would have increased the number of manual hours spent on email …
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Microsoft's backed in email reporting tool is good but the time to resolution varies for all messages. It claims that it will help train filters to better classify messages into the tenant, but we have not seen much of that.

Barracuda offered a similar product to PhishER but …
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Some other providers offer similar training but have found Phisher tends to be where we get the most value compared to other products
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
We researched several, however, KnowBe4 was our first choice and we've been with them since the beginning of our time with these types of products.
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Abnormal is on an entirely nother level both in cost and functionality. Costs is 25x but is borderline magic. Barracuda was finicky and cost more. Defender for email we already had but falls short in a lot of areas, especially with the reporting piece.
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
We use the two tools in parallel to ensure that we can effectively manage and report on Phishing and further enhance our training campaigns.
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
We liked the integration and ease of use.
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
PhishER is an add-on to the email client which makes it easy to setup and readily available to use for all staff. Other products require much more indepth setup and can be confusing for untrained staff. PhishER is easy to use for all staff and this encourages staff to use it …
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
I think that KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus is better than Huntress by precisely telling you in real time what your other defenses are missing. Encourage targeted, just-in-time training against actual threats. Provides evidence and data to demonstrate a true risk reduction.
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
We view KnowBe4 PhishER as another piece to the security puzzle. It works well alongside the other security applications and services in use at our organization.
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
We only have evaluated and/or used PhishER since it is a part of the complete KnowB4 package that we subscribe to.
Chose KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
KnowBe4 PhishER requires less hands-on involvement from our small (but mighty) IT team. Threats are alleviated quickly without our team having to drop something important that they are working on to respond to a phishing email.
Features
Cofense PhishMeKnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Cofense PhishMe
7.8
Ratings
9% below category average
KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
-
Ratings
Single sign-on capability7.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based user permissions8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Security Awareness Training
Comparison of Security Awareness Training features of Product A and Product B
Cofense PhishMe
7.3
Ratings
15% below category average
KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
-
Ratings
Training Content Library7.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Multilingual Training Content7.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Training Gamification7.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Industry-Specific Security Training7.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Individualized Security Training Plans6.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Phishing Simulations7.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Security Reporting8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Security Tech Stack7.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Incident Response Platforms
Comparison of Incident Response Platforms features of Product A and Product B
Cofense PhishMe
-
Ratings
KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
8.7
Ratings
1% below category average
Company-wide Incident Reporting00 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Integration with Other Security Systems00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Centralized Dashboard00 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Machine Learning to Prevent Incidents00 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Live Response for Rapid Remediation00 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cofense PhishMeKnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Small Businesses
Barracuda Email Protection
Barracuda Email Protection
Score 10.0 out of 10
ThreatDown, powered by Malwarebytes
ThreatDown, powered by Malwarebytes
Score 8.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Hoxhunt
Hoxhunt
Score 9.5 out of 10
CrowdStrike Falcon
CrowdStrike Falcon
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Hoxhunt
Hoxhunt
Score 9.5 out of 10
CrowdStrike Falcon
CrowdStrike Falcon
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cofense PhishMeKnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(0 ratings)
8.8
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(0 ratings)
8.3
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.3
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.1
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.2
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cofense PhishMeKnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus
Likelihood to Recommend
It's a very apt tool for the scenario where there are multiple users and verticals in an organisation. Phishing Campaigns and recording their response actions is quite easier through this tool. Not suitable for a small organization (less than 500) that can maybe use some open tools or self-made emails for campaigns.
Read full review
PhishER comes with some good features, such as PhishML, PhishRIP, PhishFlip, etc. These features help us manage phishing email reporting incidents. From reporting emails via Phish Alert Button plug-in to collecting all reported emails in one place at the PhishER dashboard. Now, the PhishML comes into play, scanning all reported emails and tagging each as clean, spam, or threat. With the help of this machine learning-based algorithm, our investigation process becomes easier. Other features, such as PhishRip, help to search and quarantine phishing emails, and PhishFlip converts a real phishing campaign to a test phishing campaign.
Read full review
Pros
  • Easy to Navigate GUI - easy to create and run scenarios
  • In depth reporting - Ability to provide detailed reports by department, title, etc. for follow-up training
  • Adoption of new technology - new additions such as Responsive Delivery and Recipient Sync allow less overhead for running scenarios
  • Introduction of new templates - new templates being introduced all the time to keep up with currently seen campaigns
Read full review
  • Well structured KMSAT, PAB is a great addition.
  • Good Training Library, ability to customize templates
  • Phish/ER opens a windows to types & volume of suspect emails and allows admins to act upon.
  • "Rooms" in Phish/ER, to me, is considered my entry point to start my admin duties.
  • PAB and Phish/ER work very well together.
  • KnowBe4 Learner App is a great addition.
Read full review
Cons
  • Many of the URLs come in with an unknown reputation and although it may be challenging from threat intel feeds, somehow allowing a more in-depth analysis of the URL can provide better/quicker decision making or validation.
  • Adjustable widgets for reporting, although the provided are already built very well.
  • Provide in-house templates or summaries of actionable items, such as a single brief on a major phish.
Read full review
  • Issues with Global Blocklist
  • Email Template Modification - Simplification
  • Target Specific Users vs. Groups
  • PhishRIP info tabs (i.e. if improperly check ripped emails are turned into tests. This has caused issues.) Info tabs or markers allow user to hover and get more information about what action a check box or slider provides.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
When we first discovered that KnowBe4 released something like this, we saw a demo of it and were floored at what it could do and how it could help us from a security standpoint. Gone are the days of us in IT sending out a mass email saying please don't click on anything in the email from sender "X", and it allows us to quietly and easily ensure that people don't take any action on malicious emails.
Read full review
Usability
Its built with UX in mind and is aimed at non-tech people, to ensure that almost everyone can run the campaign. But if we go deeper - sometimes you will need an HTML editor or support in order to figure out some advanced edits you might want to add in your scenarios.
Read full review
I think that the system is well designed and makes it easy to fine phishing emails that have been reported. It also has a simple user interface that allows you to review and address threat emails also providing an automated component that allows for automated threat mitigation and customized feedback responses to users
Read full review
Support Rating
I have not had to use their support for pretty much anything. The software works well, and is very intuitive. I would imagine their support would be rather basic as there is not too much that can go wrong with a report phishing button, and if it were I would probably consider a different software.
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Responses to questions were answered quickly and accurately.
Read full review
Online Training
It's a must, even if you are never going to use the tool. Cofense aims to provide phishing training first and tool second.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
There are some hiccups, but there are meant to be, when you implement something in a large scale enterprise.
Read full review
It was very simple to implement - with just a few settings needed to connect it to our O365 environment
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
PhishMe is a market leader in terms of phishing simulation solutions. The customization appears unmatched when compared with competitors and the support we have experienced from Cofense has been excellent. Phish me offers lots of realistic templates which are updated regularly which is far ahead of other solutions. Phish me also provides lots of detailed statistics as well as high-level numbers which are really useful for some clients who want details, and others who only want high-level overviews.
Read full review
We evaluated the Titan options because we have already used their DNS filtering product. However, KnowBe4 came in with a better price per user and a significantly stronger product lineup, particularly with its security awareness training component.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • From a normal user's perspective, it's an easy and fast, very very user-friendly phishing email reporting structure. No need to remember any email address, no need for sophisticated handling of malicious emails while sending/ reporting. Just a click and it is done.
  • From the admin and analyst point of view: Easy and clutter-free triaging pane, IOC reputation check facility, Rules and Recipes section for automation and focused triaging, Notification to the reporter based on the triaging done is really a helpful feedback loop.
  • Overall: Simple to handle, less learning curve, well managed, less administration time, fewer issues, less maintenance time.
Read full review
  • There has been a 700% increase in emails being reported now. Previously, staff were only reporting 4 emails a month. It is easier for us to promote the phish alert button, receive automated remediation and rapidly respond.
  • We had no reports on the amount of phishing emails were coming through Mimecast but now we have reports for the board of trustees.
  • Every Wednesday we talk about cyber security to all staff, PhishER allows us to point out the trend and what to look out for which raises awareness. Never before were we able to talk about cyber security like this.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Cofense PhishMe Screenshots

Screenshot of Image 1 – Board of Directors (BOD) report showcasing results of your phishing defense programScreenshot of Image 2 – Create New Scenario PageScreenshot of Image 3 – Intelligent Program Automation using PlaybooksScreenshot of Image 4 – Organizational Suspicious Email Reporting StatisticsScreenshot of Image 5 – Phishing Scam Announcement Templates

KnowBe4 PhishER/PhishER Plus Screenshots

Screenshot of how PhishER Plus enables a critical workstream to help IR teams work together to mitigate the phishing threat and is suited for any organization that wants to automatically prioritize and manage potentially malicious messages.