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Developer Tools · head to head

Hookdeck vs KnowBe4

Hookdeck logo

Hookdeck

Developer Tools

Event gateway that receives, queues, retries and replays inbound webhooks

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
KnowBe4 logo

KnowBe4

Cybersecurity

World's largest security awareness training platform

From
$1/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Hookdeck has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Hookdeck pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries.; KnowBe4 published prices assume a three year term, so the quoted per seat rate depends on a long commitment
  • They diverge on capability: Hookdeck covers Ingest and persist, KnowBe4 covers Security awareness training.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hookdeck and KnowBe4 actually diverge.

Attributes where Hookdeck and KnowBe4 differ
AttributeHookdeckKnowBe4
Starting priceFree$1/month
Pricing modelPer month by delivered event countsubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Linux, macOS, WindowsWeb, Mobile, Email
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity
FoundedUnknown2010

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Hookdeck

  • Ingest and persist
  • Automatic retries
  • Filters and fan-out
  • Transformations
  • Local development CLI
  • Rate limiting

Only in KnowBe4

  • Security awareness training
  • Phishing simulation
  • Risk assessments
  • Compliance training
  • Incident reporting
  • API access
  • Custom policies
  • Behavior analytics

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Hookdeck

  • A payments integration where losing a Stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfillednot KnowBe4
  • Fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separatelynot KnowBe4
  • Debugging a partner integration by replaying the exact failing payload after shipping a fixnot KnowBe4
  • Receiving production-shaped webhooks on a developer laptop without running a public tunnelnot KnowBe4

KnowBe4

  • Security awareness training and simulated phishing for staffnot Hookdeck
  • Tracking employee susceptibility to phishing over timenot Hookdeck

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Hookdeck

  • Pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries.
  • Free-tier retention is three days, which is shorter than the time it typically takes to notice a failing integration, so the payloads needed for a replay are often already gone.
  • It becomes a single point of failure in front of every third-party integration, and an outage there means every provider webhook queues or fails at once.
  • The transformation layer runs JavaScript in a constrained environment, so anything that needs a database lookup or an external call has to happen downstream instead.
  • For a team already running Kafka or SQS the value is mostly the console and the replay UI, which is a hard cost to justify against infrastructure they already operate.

KnowBe4

  • Published prices assume a three year term, so the quoted per seat rate depends on a long commitment
  • Pricing is banded by seat count, and the lowest band of 25 to 50 seats pays the highest rate
  • Accounts above 1,000 seats have no published price and require a custom quote
  • Third party integrations, Compliance Plus and PhishER Plus are all separately priced per seat add ons
  • The Foundation tier carries 200 training modules against more than 1,000 on Advanced, so content volume is the main gate

Pricing, plan by plan

Hookdeck

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • Up to ten thousand events per month
    • Three-day retention
    • One user
  • Team$39/month
    • Ten thousand events included
    • Unlimited users
    • Pay as you go metering above the included events
  • Growth$499/month
    • Ten thousand events included plus metered usage
    • Thirty-day retention
    • Uptime and latency SLAs
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Negotiated event volume
    • Custom retention
    • Dedicated support

KnowBe4

$1/month
  • Basic$1/month
    • Per user
    • Training modules
    • Phishing templates
  • Advanced$2/month
    • All Basic features
    • Advanced phishing
    • Risk assessments
  • Pro$3/month
    • All Advanced features
    • API access
    • Custom content

Which should you pick?

Choose Hookdeck if

  • You need ingest and persist.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want automatic retries.
Hookdeck review

Choose KnowBe4 if

  • You need security awareness training.
  • You work on Web, Mobile, Email.
  • You also want phishing simulation.
KnowBe4 review

Questions people ask

Is Hookdeck or KnowBe4 better?
Neither clearly leads. Hookdeck starts at Free and KnowBe4 at $1/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hookdeck or KnowBe4?
Hookdeck has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Hookdeck and $1/month for KnowBe4.
Does Hookdeck or KnowBe4 run on more platforms?
Hookdeck runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows. KnowBe4 runs on Web, Mobile, Email.
Can I use Hookdeck for free?
Yes. Hookdeck has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. KnowBe4 starts at $1/month.
What is Hookdeck best used for?
Hookdeck is most often used for a payments integration where losing a stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfilled, fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separately, debugging a partner integration by replaying the exact failing payload after shipping a fix, receiving production-shaped webhooks on a developer laptop without running a public tunnel. Of those, a payments integration where losing a stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfilled and fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separately are not what KnowBe4 is typically brought in for.
What can Hookdeck do that KnowBe4 cannot?
Hookdeck covers Ingest and persist, Automatic retries, Filters and fan-out, Transformations. KnowBe4 covers Security awareness training, Phishing simulation, Risk assessments, Compliance training.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Hookdeck: Is there a free plan?

Yes, ten thousand events a month with three-day retention and one user.

KnowBe4: What does KnowBe4 cost per employee?

KnowBe4 charges per seat per month on a subscription basis. For 51-100 employees, SAT Foundation costs $2.13/month per seat and SAT Advanced costs $3.40/month per seat. Prices decrease with larger employee counts.

Source
Hookdeck: How is usage counted?

By delivered events, so a single inbound webhook fanned out to three destinations counts as three.

KnowBe4: Does KnowBe4 offer a free trial?

KnowBe4 does not offer a full free version, but free tools are available separately including assessments and simulators.

Source
Hookdeck: Can I replay a failed webhook?

Yes, individually or in bulk from the console, with the original payload.

KnowBe4: Are there add-on costs beyond the base plan?

Yes, optional add-ons include Third-Party Integrations ($1.10-$1.20/seat/month), Compliance Plus ($0.82-$0.93/seat/month), PhishER Plus ($1.15-$1.50/seat/month), and Student Edition ($0.17/seat/month).

Source
Hookdeck: Does it work for outbound webhooks too?

Yes, the same queueing, retry and observability applies to webhooks you send.

KnowBe4: What currencies does KnowBe4 accept?

KnowBe4 accepts pricing in USD, AUD, BRL, CAD, EUR, GBP, SGD, and ZAR.

Source
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