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Cybersecurity · head to head

KnowBe4 vs Teleport

KnowBe4 logo

KnowBe4

Cybersecurity

World's largest security awareness training platform

From
$1/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Teleport logo

Teleport

Cybersecurity

Certificate-based access to servers, Kubernetes, databases and apps, replacing shared credentials and VPNs

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: KnowBe4 published prices assume a three year term, so the quoted per seat rate depends on a long commitment; Teleport pricing is not published and is described as active users plus protected resources, so an autoscaling estate cannot forecast the bill and finance teams discover the true cost only after the first true-up.
  • They diverge on capability: KnowBe4 covers Security awareness training, Teleport covers Short-lived certificates.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which KnowBe4 and Teleport actually diverge.

Attributes where KnowBe4 and Teleport differ
AttributeKnowBe4Teleport
Starting price$1/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWeb, Mobile, EmailLinux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Cloud
Founded2010Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cybersecurity).

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 KnowBe4

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

Only in Teleport

  • Short-lived certificates
  • Protocol coverage
  • Session recording and replay
  • Access Requests
  • Device Trust
  • Identity provider integration
  • Machine identity
  • FIPS and FedRAMP builds

What people use each for

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

KnowBe4

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

Teleport

  • Removing long-lived SSH keys and shared database passwords so that offboarding an engineer takes one action in the identity providernot KnowBe4
  • Producing session recordings and per-user database audit trails as direct evidence for SOC 2 or FedRAMPnot KnowBe4
  • Giving contractors or on-call engineers time-boxed, approved access to production instead of standing admin rightsnot KnowBe4
  • Replacing a flat VPN with per-resource authorisation across servers, Kubernetes and internal web appsnot KnowBe4

Where each one falls short

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

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

Teleport

  • Pricing is not published and is described as active users plus protected resources, so an autoscaling estate cannot forecast the bill and finance teams discover the true cost only after the first true-up.
  • The proxy is a hard dependency on reaching production, so it needs its own high availability deployment and a tested break-glass path or an outage in Teleport becomes an outage in your ability to respond to outages.
  • The open source Community Edition omits Access Requests, Device Trust and the FIPS builds, which are exactly the controls an auditor asks about, so the free tier rarely survives a compliance review.
  • Self-hosting means running and upgrading a certificate authority and its backing store, and Teleport releases frequently enough that upgrade work becomes a standing operational commitment.
  • Coverage across protocols is uneven in depth, so teams with legacy systems, unusual databases or bespoke network appliances find gaps that still require the old VPN to remain in place alongside it.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Teleport

On request
  • Teleport Community Edition$undefined/year
    • Open source, self-hosted
    • SSH, Kubernetes, database and app access
    • Session recording
  • Teleport Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Cloud-hosted or self-hosted
    • Access Requests and approval workflow
    • Device Trust and hardware key enforcement

Which should you pick?

Choose KnowBe4 if

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

Choose Teleport if

  • You need short-lived certificates.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Cloud.
  • You also want protocol coverage.
Teleport review

Questions people ask

Is KnowBe4 or Teleport better?
Neither clearly leads. KnowBe4 starts at $1/month and Teleport at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, KnowBe4 or Teleport?
KnowBe4 starts at $1/month and Teleport at On request.
Does KnowBe4 or Teleport run on more platforms?
KnowBe4 runs on Web, Mobile, Email. Teleport runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Cloud.
What is KnowBe4 best used for?
KnowBe4 is most often used for security awareness training and simulated phishing for staff, tracking employee susceptibility to phishing over time. Of those, security awareness training and simulated phishing for staff and tracking employee susceptibility to phishing over time are not what Teleport is typically brought in for.
What can KnowBe4 do that Teleport cannot?
KnowBe4 covers Security awareness training, Phishing simulation, Risk assessments, Compliance training. Teleport covers Short-lived certificates, Protocol coverage, Session recording and replay, Access Requests.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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
Teleport: Is the open source edition usable in production?

Yes, but it lacks Access Requests, Device Trust and FIPS builds, which most compliance programmes end up requiring.

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
Teleport: How is it priced?

Not publicly. The vendor prices on active users and protected resources and provides a quote after a sales conversation.

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
Teleport: What happens if Teleport goes down?

Nobody reaches the resources behind it, so you need a highly available deployment and a documented break-glass procedure.

KnowBe4: What currencies does KnowBe4 accept?

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

Source
Teleport: Does it replace our VPN?

For anything you put behind it, yes. Legacy systems and appliances it does not support will keep the VPN alive.

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