Training type · AWARE
Security awareness training: what it covers and where it stops
Short answer
Awareness training teaches every employee to spot and report phishing and other everyday threats, through short modules and simulated phishing. It is the only type here built for the whole workforce. It does not prepare the incident response team, technical or executive, to run an incident.
By The Range Desk · Cyber Range Compare · Published 2026-10-11 · Updated 2026-10-13
Desk research from public vendor, standards and regulator pages read on 27 September, 11 October and 13 October 2026. Profiles follow our published method; we did not run the products.
What does it train?
Everyday behaviour: recognising a phishing email or a suspicious call, handling data properly, using passwords and multi-factor authentication, and reporting something odd quickly. Simulated phishing tests whether the lessons stick. The aim is fewer successful attacks at the front door and faster reports when one gets through.
Who should take part?
Every employee, including executives as employees, contractors and new joiners. October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and vendors publish free material for it; KnowBe4 released a free kit for October 2026.
What does a session look like?
Short modules of a few minutes, a few times a year, plus simulated phishing emails sent without warning. Campaigns are scheduled centrally and run across the whole organisation.
What should it leave behind?
Completion records and phishing simulation results: who clicked, who reported, and how that changes over time. These are useful for audits that ask whether staff are trained. They say little about whether the organisation can respond once an attack succeeds.
Which platforms sell it?
| Platform | Status | What their pages describe | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reflex Security | Not in our sources | Not described on the pages we read. | None |
| BreachRx | Not in our sources | Not described on the pages we read. | None |
| Cloud Range | Not in our sources | Not described on the pages we read. | None |
| Conducttr | Not in our sources | Not described on the pages we read. | None |
| Cyberbit | Not in our sources | Not described on the pages we read. | None |
| Cytactic | Not in our sources | Not described on the pages we read. | None |
| Hack The Box | Not in our sources | Not described on the pages we read. | None |
| iluminr | Sold with a condition | Individual microsimulations and benchmarking by department, region and role reach beyond the crisis team; phishing simulation and awareness modules are not described. | Source: iluminr homepage · Read 27 Sep 2026 |
| Immersive Labs | Sold with a condition | Lab audiences include non-technical employees; phishing simulation is not described on the pages we read. | Source: Immersive Labs: labs · Read 27 Sep 2026 |
| KnowBe4 | Sold | Security awareness training and simulated phishing, with 1,000+ modules, videos and games. | Source: KnowBe4 homepage · Read 27 Sep 2026 |
| SimSpace | Not in our sources | Not described on the pages we read. | None |
| TryHackMe | Not in our sources | Not described on the pages we read. | None |
3 of 12 platforms sell it; 2 sell it with a condition; 9 are not in our sources.
When is it the wrong choice?
When the gap is in the response. If an attack got in and the problem was slow detection, confused escalation or late communication, more awareness modules will not help. The response team needs a range, labs or a crisis exercise, depending on whether the gap was technical or about decisions.
What does it cost, and what do platforms publish?
KnowBe4 publishes US list prices per seat per month on a 3-year term, for 25 to 1,000 seats; larger organisations get a quote.
iluminrNot published
Not published. The pricing page shows no figures.
Source: iluminr pricing · Read 27 Sep 2026
Immersive LabsNot published
Not published.
Source: Immersive Labs homepage · Read 27 Sep 2026
SAT Foundation from $2.40 (25–50 seats) to $1.63 (501–1,000 seats) and SAT Advanced from $3.75 to $2.79, per seat per month, 3-year term, US MSRP as of May 2026, taxes excluded. Above 1,000 seats: quote. Add-ons such as PhishER Plus ($1.50) and Compliance Plus ($0.93) per seat per month at 101–500 seats.
Source: KnowBe4 security awareness training pricing · Read 11 Oct 2026
Questions people ask
Is security awareness training the same as incident response training?
No. Awareness training reaches every employee and teaches them to avoid and report threats. Incident response training prepares the smaller group that runs an incident. Most organisations need both, bought separately.
Does phishing simulation count as an exercise for auditors?
It counts as evidence that staff are trained and tested on phishing. It does not show that the organisation has exercised its incident response plan, which is what most exercise requirements mean.
Can crisis simulation platforms train the whole workforce?
Partly. iluminr describes short individual microsimulations and benchmarking by department, region and role, which reach beyond the crisis team. None of the crisis platforms here describes phishing simulation.
Read next
- Cyber range
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- Hands-on lab libraries
One person works through a guided technical task in a browser lab, picked from a library of hundreds or thousands.
- Tabletop and crisis simulation
The people who own decisions in an incident work through a scenario and decide what to do, from a scripted discussion to an adaptive simulation.
- Training type finder
Five questions that weigh the four types for your team.
- iluminr beside KnowBe4
A pair that sells this type, fact by fact.