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Cybersecurity · head to head

KnowBe4 vs Very Good Security

KnowBe4 logo

KnowBe4

Cybersecurity

World's largest security awareness training platform

From
$1/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Very Good Security logo

Very Good Security

Cybersecurity

Tokenisation proxy that keeps card and personal data out of your own systems and out of PCI scope

From
$1000/month
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; Very Good Security vGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • They diverge on capability: KnowBe4 covers Security awareness training, Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which KnowBe4 and Very Good Security actually diverge.

Attributes where KnowBe4 and Very Good Security differ
AttributeKnowBe4Very Good Security
Starting price$1/month$1000/month
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer month
PlatformsWeb, Mobile, EmailWeb, API
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 Very Good Security

  • Aliasing proxy
  • PCI scope reduction
  • Network tokenisation
  • Processor optionality
  • Card issuing data
  • Vault and access controls
  • Data residency options
  • Compliance artefacts

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 Very Good Security
  • Tracking employee susceptibility to phishing over timenot Very Good Security

Very Good Security

  • A marketplace facing its first PCI DSS Level 1 assessment that wants to keep card data off its own estate rather than harden a dozen servicesnot KnowBe4
  • A merchant negotiating with a second acquirer that needs card credentials portable so the negotiation is real rather than theoreticalnot KnowBe4
  • A fintech collecting bank account and identity documents that wants sensitive fields absent from logs, backups and analytics warehouses by constructionnot KnowBe4
  • A card issuer that must display a full PAN in its own mobile app without the app or its backend touching cardholder datanot 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

Very Good Security

  • VGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • Token portability is the whole selling point yet leaving VGS means migrating tokens back out, a project the vendor has no incentive to streamline, so the lock-in you removed from your acquirer partly moves to VGS.
  • Entry pricing at around one thousand US dollars a month is real money for a pre-revenue fintech, and it buys volume-limited throughput, so cost scales with exactly the growth that made you buy it.
  • Scope reduction is not scope elimination: your QSA still assesses how you integrate, and teams regularly discover that a support tool or an internal admin screen pulled plaintext back in and dragged systems into scope again.
  • Proxy-based interception constrains how you design request flows, and non-standard payloads, streaming uploads or binary formats often need custom routing rules that make debugging production issues noticeably harder.

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

Very Good Security

$1000/month
  • Starter$1000/month
    • Aliasing proxy
    • Vault storage
    • PCI scope reduction
  • Growth$undefined/month
    • Network tokenisation
    • Multiple processors
    • Data residency options
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom vault architecture
    • Dedicated support and SLA
    • Contractual compliance coverage

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 Very Good Security if

  • You need aliasing proxy.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want pci scope reduction.
Very Good Security review

Questions people ask

Is KnowBe4 or Very Good Security better?
Neither clearly leads. KnowBe4 starts at $1/month and Very Good Security at $1000/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, KnowBe4 or Very Good Security?
KnowBe4 starts at $1/month and Very Good Security at $1000/month.
Does KnowBe4 or Very Good Security run on more platforms?
KnowBe4 runs on Web, Mobile, Email. Very Good Security runs on Web, API.
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 Very Good Security is typically brought in for.
What can KnowBe4 do that Very Good Security cannot?
KnowBe4 covers Security awareness training, Phishing simulation, Risk assessments, Compliance training. Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy, PCI scope reduction, Network tokenisation, Processor optionality.

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
Very Good Security: Does VGS make me PCI compliant?

No. It removes cardholder data from your systems so your assessment covers a far smaller boundary, but you still complete an assessment and your integration is part of it.

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
Very Good Security: Can I move to another processor without re-collecting cards?

Yes, that is a core reason people buy it. The vault reveals stored credentials to whichever processor you route to.

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
Very Good Security: What does it cost?

Published entry pricing is about one thousand US dollars per month; growth and enterprise tiers are quoted.

KnowBe4: What currencies does KnowBe4 accept?

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

Source
Very Good Security: Is it only for card data?

No. The proxy handles any sensitive field, including bank details, national identifiers and documents, though payments is where the product is now focused.

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