# Security awareness training for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "security awareness training platform" and as "phishing simulation and training tool", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/security/security-awareness-training/2026-11/smb

**Standing:** KnowBe4 leads with 23% of first choices; verdict contested. 61 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [KnowBe4](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/knowbe4/index.md) | 23% | 44% | 71 |
| 2 | [Huntress Managed Security Awareness Training](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/huntress-managed-security-awareness-training/index.md) | 16% | 0% | 27 |
| 3 | [Hook Security](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/hook-security/index.md) | 13% | 0% | 36 |
| 4 | [Wizer](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/wizer/index.md) | 13% | 0% | 31 |
| 5 | [CanIPhish](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/caniphish/index.md) | 5% | 0% | 21 |
| 6 | [CyberHoot](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cyberhoot/index.md) | 5% | 0% | 17 |
| 7 | [usecure](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/usecure/index.md) | 5% | 0% | 15 |
| 8 | [Hoxhunt](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/hoxhunt/index.md) | 3% | 30% | 23 |
| 12 | [Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Attack Simulation Training](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/microsoft-defender-for-office-365-attack-simulation-training/index.md) | 2% | 17% | 12 |
| 18 | [NINJIO](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/ninjio/index.md) | 0% | 20% | 10 |
| 80 | [Proofpoint ZenGuide](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/proofpoint-zenguide/index.md) | 0% | 52% | 23 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 81 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Hook Security; alternatives EasyLlama, Huntress Managed Security Awareness Training, usecure
- GPT-5.4 mini: Huntress Managed Security Awareness Training, usecure; alternatives EasyLlama, MetaCompliance
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Hoxhunt, Huntress Managed Security Awareness Training; alternatives Hook Security, KnowBe4, NINJIO, Wizer
- Perplexity Sonar: Huntress Managed Security Awareness Training; alternatives Hook Security, Wizer
- Grok 4.20: KnowBe4; alternatives Adaptive Security, Hoxhunt, Infosec IQ, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Attack Simulation Training
- Mistral Small: KnowBe4, Phished; alternatives CyberHoot, Hoxhunt, Mimecast Engage
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: KnowBe4; alternatives CyberHoot, Guardey, Hoxhunt, Phished
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: CyberHoot; alternatives Hoxhunt, KnowBe4, usecure
- Kimi K2: Guardey, Huntress Managed Security Awareness Training; alternatives CyberHoot, Hook Security
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Huntress Managed Security Awareness Training, KnowBe4; alternatives HookPhish, Threatcop
- MiniMax M2.5: Guardey, HookPhish; alternatives KnowBe4
- GPT-6 Luna: Huntress Managed Security Awareness Training; alternatives KnowBe4, Wizer Boost
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Hook Security; alternatives CanIPhish, CyberHoot, KnowBe4, Wizer

## Sources the answers cite

78 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- threatcop.com: 48 answers, 61 citations
- hooksecurity.co: 42 answers, 57 citations
- knowbe4.com: 33 answers, 41 citations
- reddit.com: 28 answers, 52 citations
- g2.com: 28 answers, 35 citations
- cyberaware.com: 18 answers, 40 citations
- spotsaas.com: 18 answers, 20 citations
- expertinsights.com: 17 answers, 20 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://threatcop.com/blog/best-security-awareness-training-small-business (44 answers)
- https://hooksecurity.co/blog/best-security-awareness-training-small-business (31 answers)
- https://reddit.com/r/msp/comments/1sr2914/whats_the_best_security_awareness_training_youve (23 answers)
- https://spotsaas.com/list/security-awareness-training-software/for-small-business (18 answers)
- https://getapp.com/all-software/security-awareness-training/org/small-business (12 answers)
- https://softwareadvice.com/security-awareness-training (12 answers)
- https://hookphish.com/articles/best-security-awareness-training-for-small-businesses (11 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/security-awareness-training/small-business (10 answers)
- https://knowbe4.com/compare/best-security-awareness-training-for-smbs-in-2026 (10 answers)
- https://knowbe4.com/products/security-awareness-training/pricing (10 answers)

## Warned against

- KnowBe4: 31 of 71 labels negative. "Small businesses may find the platform overwhelming or too expensive... Some users report overly aggressive sales tactics and deceptive communications." (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- Proofpoint ZenGuide: 12 of 23 labels negative. "Avoid unless you already have Proofpoint's email security gateway (the NAT) and are comfortable with complex admin dashboards." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- Hoxhunt: 7 of 23 labels negative. "enterprise tiers of platforms like Hoxhunt (which are optimized for 100+ or 500+ user environments)" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)
- GoPhish: 7 of 9 labels negative. "Attempting to build your own program using open-source tools (like unmanaged *GoPhish*)... The labor cost quickly exceeds the price of a turnkey SaaS tool." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: KnowBe4 at 23%.

- EasyLlama: 6% to 0%, −6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 5 → 17 of 81.
- CyberHoot: 0% to 5%, +5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 23 → 6 of 81.
- KnowBe4: 20% to 23%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 1 of 81, unchanged.
- Hook Security: 16% to 13%, −3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 3 of 81, unchanged.
- Wizer: 10% to 13%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 4 of 81, unchanged.
- usecure: 2% to 5%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 10 → 7 of 81.
- CanIPhish: 4% to 5%, +1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 6 → 5 of 81.
- Hoxhunt: 4% to 3%, −1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 7 → 8 of 81.
- Huntress Managed Security Awareness Training: 16% to 16%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 2 of 81, unchanged.
- Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Attack Simulation Training: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 11 → 12 of 81.
- NINJIO: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 24 → 18 of 81.
- Infosec IQ: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 19 → 21 of 81.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.