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Barracuda Security Awareness Training vs KnowBe4 comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 19, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Barracuda Security Awarenes...
Ranking in Security Awareness Training
6th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
KnowBe4
Ranking in Security Awareness Training
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Security Awareness Training category, the mindshare of Barracuda Security Awareness Training is 1.7%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of KnowBe4 is 11.8%, down from 29.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Awareness Training Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
KnowBe411.8%
Barracuda Security Awareness Training1.7%
Other86.5%
Security Awareness Training
 

Featured Reviews

SA
IT Lead at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
Security training has improved onboarding and builds ongoing awareness of phishing threats
Barracuda Security Awareness Training has positively impacted our onboarding process, and we have seen a lot of improvement from the new user's standpoint. On the very first day of their onboarding, we introduce this training so that it has created a good impact where everyone who has joined our organization is aware of phishing emails and how to handle those emails, how to identify those phishing emails, and how to avoid clicking unknown links which have been sent by unknown users to our email inboxes. That gives a huge benefit and saves a lot from all security standpoints. It is very much protected, and they are using it in their day-to-day work. We don't have to worry about phishing methods, nor do we have to rely on people for these things. Everyone is aware of phishing simulation attacks, and we have educated everyone in our organization. Barracuda Security Awareness Training offers predefined modules for phishing simulation with training content that is pre-built with interactive videos, quizzes, and campaigns. They also have automated campaigns like pre-built training schedules and the ability to easily view reporting analytics, risk scores, and user performance tracking. We can track whether users have taken the course or not easily. Policy acknowledgment is also tracked and compliance user acceptance is monitored to see if it works well with email security solutions, especially in Barracuda email security. We can view real-world attack simulation test results and phishing simulations. These are some good features. I rely most on the training content, which makes our job easier because it has pre-built interactive videos for every topic of phishing simulation quizzes and campaigns. It also includes pre-built training schedules as well. We don't have to worry about the scheduling part; we just have to schedule the date and the time, and the campaign automatically starts once scheduled. Additionally, Barracuda Security Awareness Training features are easy to use, the interface is good, quick deployment is done, and it has strong phishing simulation capabilities. It also provides good visibility into user risk levels.
reviewer2731362 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Strategic Risk Management at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Has provided comprehensive training with a structured approach
From my perspective regarding what can be improved or enhanced in KnowBe4, I would not be able to talk about pricing or areas that are outside my scope of visibility, but just from the quality of the offering itself, I think that it's a pretty good offering. There are no immediate problems, and they take care to consistently ask for feedback and implement it, so there are no major issues outstanding that I can immediately point to. There are some aspects of KnowBe4 that can be enhanced, specifically in the training feature, as a lot of their training is designed for people who are almost entirely computer illiterate, which is fine because you want to be comprehensive in your cybersecurity training. Most people today have some basic ideas on what passwords are and how to use them. I feel that much of the content they have might not be required, and that might cause frustration, especially when you're trying to implement a cybersecurity program where you're training your entire workforce, as it may frustrate someone if they're forced to do training on how to set a password. However, I think that 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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Barracuda Security Awareness Training has positively impacted our onboarding process, and we have seen a lot of improvement from the new user's standpoint."
"Barracuda PhishLine continues to evolve because as the attacks get more sophisticated, they get integrated into the campaigns. Then the users are exposed to the latest attacks in the form of a training session rather than in real life. They're much better prepared for these real-life ransomware attacks that come through via email."
"Barracuda PhishLine is a very good solution and I strongly recommend it to others."
"Since we did not have any security program initially, this training program was introduced by our CTO as the first training program in our company."
"The ability to have business leadership be aware of their users' security posture as well as any kind of security awareness training being pushed by cybersecurity insurance and underwriters is valuable."
"Their customizable nature allows us to create scenarios that closely resemble real-world phishing attempts, making them highly relatable to our end users."
"The solution is very well priced and very affordable."
"Most valuable for me are the interactiveness and format of KnowBe4; it has a realistic format—for example, when I'm taking the phishing simulations, the modules give me examples of the real phishing types that might be in my mailbox and how to deal with them."
"The benefits I have seen from using KnowBe4 include that many people are now cautious."
"It has helped us tremendously in cybersecurity awareness."
"KnowBe4 significantly enhanced people's awareness of cybersecurity threats within the company through its simulations that replicated real-world scenarios."
 

Cons

"The initial setup of Barracuda PhishLine is very easy."
"The initial setup of Barracuda PhishLine is very easy. All of it can be set up in approximately one hour with someone that has some IT training and previous exposure to Barracuda."
"Regarding needed improvements, the subscription-based pricing is cost-effective compared to other competitors, but they need to add more premium security protections or features combined into this."
"It could be more localized for Ukrainian users."
"In terms of improvement, we would appreciate having the attachments or more details on the raw messages used in the PhishER site, as sometimes it can be a bit buggy."
"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."
"This product has a questions and answers section which is in text form. It could be updated to include a video game format where an employee uses the game to answer these scenarios."
"It does not have an easy way to sync your users and pull emails together."
"It could be more localized for Ukrainian users. This platform is international, and it has a lot of material in different languages, but not in Ukrainian and Russian languages. There's plenty of different content updated regularly for English, French, and German users. They have a lot more information, and Ukrainian users also want more."
"If a new feature is introduced and a user without an IT background faces difficulty in operating the new feature, chat bots would be very helpful to ask questions and get responses."
"Sometimes I feel reluctant to log in because I know I will have to receive a reset link."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are different package plans available, such as email protection advanced, premium, and premium plus."
"I don't know the cost, but I believe we are paying yearly. We did like a three-year or five-year contract. I am not aware of any extra costs in addition to a standard licensing fee."
"I rate the product pricing as four out of ten."
"Licensing is paid on a yearly basis. You can go to the official site to check their approximate pricing. It's based on the number of users or staff. It can vary from country to country, but for Ukraine, it works as it's stated on the site."
"It's about five dollars a seat per month."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
39%
Healthcare Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise12
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for Barracuda PhishLine?
My main use case for Barracuda Security Awareness Training is phishing simulation training. For example, when a new onboarding user joins an organization, we create a training module with the help ...
What advice do you have for others considering Barracuda PhishLine?
Barracuda Security Awareness Training would work better for a mid-sized organization; it worked well for us since we have already scheduled this training for each onboarding user. If it's for large...
What needs improvement with Barracuda Security Awareness Training?
Regarding needed improvements, the subscription-based pricing is cost-effective compared to other competitors, but they need to add more premium security protections or features combined into this....
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 primary use case for KnowBe4?
We use KnowBe4 as a training platform where we have many training videos to watch and complete quizzes for my organization.
 

Also Known As

PhishLine
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Humanitas, Mount Sinai
West Aurora Public School District 129
Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Security Awareness Training vs. KnowBe4 and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,800 professionals have used our research since 2012.