Doppel is the Official Social Engineering Defense Partner of the San Francisco 49ers

A consultative evaluation guide for security teams

Doppel vs. KnowBe4

KnowBe4 passively trains your people. Doppel tests them the way attackers actually do.

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What is KnowBe4?

KnowBe4 is a security awareness training platform, offering a broad content library, email-focused phishing simulations, and click-rate-based risk scoring for organizations looking to reduce human risk.

Best for

Organizations seeking a traditional Security Awareness Training platform with a large content library, compliance coverage, and email phishing simulations. Particularly well-suited for teams that prioritize established content and email-based simulations.

Where they're a strong fit

KnowBe4 is a strong fit for organizations that need broad content coverage across compliance frameworks and engaging videos. Their foreign language support and large module library make them a fit for workforces prioritizing training breadth.

Where buyers tell us they fall short

  • Security teams evaluating modern human risk management solutions may find that KnowBe4's simulation coverage remains heavily email-centric, with limited support for multi-channel attack vectors such as voice calls, SMS, video meeting impersonation, and messaging platforms.
  • While KnowBe4 has introduced AI-assisted features like its AI Defense Agents (AIDA), its AI capabilities may be more limited in scope than an agentic approach.
  • Risk scoring is largely self-contained within the KnowBe4 ecosystem, which may provide more limited visibility into external attacker behavior and broader security-stack signals.
  • Teams also report that running campaigns at scale across channels other than email may require more manual effort, and that simulation and training content may be less directly informed by emerging attacker tactics.

Side by side

Doppel vs. KnowBe4 feature comparison

Doppel
KNOWBE4
Training content library
Hundreds of courses spanning a broad range of topics, tech stacks, and compliance frameworks through video, interactive content, and immersive 3D experiences. Customers can add custom branding to courses.
Yes. Large SAT content library with 1,000+ modules, videos, games, and newsletters across 35+ languages. Strong compliance coverage and broad topic range.
Multi-channel simulations at scale
Simulates realistic attacks across email, voice calls, SMS, Telegram, Microsoft Teams Meetings, and Zoom Meetings, including live, deepfake-enabled voice and video calls, with a 95%+ deliverability rate for voice and SMS simulations.
Not supported. Reliant on email-centric simulations. Limited vishing (voice phishing) simulation capabilities have not been validated at scale. Verify vishing delivery against your program needs.
AI-generated simulation campaigns
Vibe phishing allows security teams to generate a wide range of simulation scenarios from a simple, natural-language prompt. OSINT-backed recommendations are tailored to a company's specific tech stack, org structure, and industry.
Limited. AI-assisted phishing template selection via AIDA, but simulation scenarios remain largely template-driven rather than dynamically generated utilizing artificial intelligence.
Custom training content
AI Content Builder creates custom courses quickly, complete with video, interactive components, and metrics. Doppel's team of experts also partners directly with customers to create tailored content.
Limited. AIDA agents can generate custom training from your own policies, and KnowBe4 supports uploading your own SCORM content, but may offer more limited expert partnership than Doppel's hands-on approach.
Risk Signal Ingestion
Ingests signals and risky behavior from across the security stack to measure human risk and focus training, simulation, and technical controls where they matter most. Simulation and training insights are coupled with external signal ingestion of risky behavior (e.g. personal device login) for a human risk score.
Limited. SmartRisk Engine pulls from across KnowBe4's own product suite and select third-party integrations via API, but risk scoring is heavily anchored to training completion and phishing simulation click-rates.
Threat-informed
Simulation and training recommendations are grounded in real attacker tactics actively detected by Doppel's platform, helping content reflect the current threat landscape.
Limited. Training content and simulations are primarily template-based and may be less directly informed by actual attacker tactics.
Customer experience
Doppel pairs its agentic platform with a dedicated solution architecture team with decades of experience, to act as an extension of your security team.
Yes. Established support organization with mature documentation, community resources, and tiered support options, with customers primarily responsible for managing their programs.

Due diligence

Questions to ask any Human Risk Management vendor

These help security teams evaluate fit regardless of which solution they're considering.

  1. 01Which channels can you run outbound simulations on directly to target users, and what is the deliverability rate on each?
  2. 02How are your simulation templates and training content kept current with emerging attacker tactics — and is that process manual or automated?
  3. 03Can your risk scoring incorporate behavioral signals from outside your own platform, such as from our SIEM, EDR, or identity tools?
  4. 04Can you support concurrent, live voice or video simulations — and at what scale?
  5. 05What is the process for creating a custom simulation scenario beyond your template library?
  6. 06How do you ensure simulation campaigns remain effective as employees become more familiar with your platform's templates?

Why security teams choose Doppel over KnowBe4

Doppel simulation builder generating a chained email and voice phishing campaign

Reliable, multi-channel phishing simulations

Doppel runs live, dynamic simulations across voice calls, SMS, email, video-meeting impersonation, and QR with configurable chained flows and 95%+ deliverability, covering a wide range of channels attackers use today.

Doppel AI content builder creating custom training from source material

AI-powered personalization, at scale

Doppel provides OSINT-backed recommendations for an expansive range of organizations, roles, and tech stacks based on intel gathered by reconnaissance agents, and dynamically translates campaigns into 100+ languages.

Threat-informed simulation campaign chaining voice, URL, and email steps

Threat-informed training and simulations

As a unified agentic social engineering defense platform, Doppel proactively recommends training and simulation campaigns based on actual attacker tactics, and ingests signals across the tech stack to model human risk — building resilience against modern threats.

What Doppel customers say

“Our previous platform was effective five years ago, but the market has moved. We wanted training that reflects current attacks and rewards positive security behavior instead of feeling like punishment.”

Technology executive at a government organization

“We needed to move beyond an antiquated, email-centric approach. Doppel gives us the multimodal simulations and real-world attack workflows we were looking for.”

CISO at a global law firm

“Doppel fundamentally changed how we think about human risk. It's not just about running better simulations — it's about testing how attacks actually happen across channels. The Microsoft Teams simulation campaign showed us where our real exposure was, and gave us a way to measure and improve it. That's the difference between a program that looks good on paper and one that actually reduces risk.”

Jason MartinCo-CEO & Co-Founder, Permiso

Permiso
6+ Channels
Email, voice, SMS, Teams, Zoom & messaging apps
* Doppel
100%
Of targeted employees believed an AI voice clone was a real executive
* Doppel
442%
Increase in vishing attacks year over year
* CrowdStrike
Read Customer Stories

See how Doppel compares to KnowBe4

See how Doppel builds resilience against multi-channel and modern social engineering attacks through threat-informed simulations and tailored training content.

FAQs

What is the difference between Doppel and KnowBe4?
Doppel and KnowBe4 both help organizations manage human risk, but they are built around different approaches. KnowBe4 is a security awareness training platform with a large content library, broad compliance coverage, and email-focused phishing simulations. Doppel combines security awareness training with human risk management and live, multi-channel simulations across email, SMS, voice, and collaboration tools, with an emphasis on realistic, threat-informed social engineering scenarios.
Is Doppel a KnowBe4 alternative?
Yes. Organizations evaluating KnowBe4 for security awareness training, phishing simulation, or human risk management may also consider Doppel. KnowBe4 can be a strong fit for teams that prioritize training breadth, compliance content, and a well-established SAT platform. Doppel is designed for teams that want multi-channel simulation capabilities, AI-powered personalization, risk signal ingestion, and simulations informed by modern attacker tactics.
How do Doppel and KnowBe4 compare for phishing simulations?
KnowBe4 has experience with email phishing simulations and offers a large library of templates. Doppel expands simulation coverage beyond email to channels including SMS, live voice calls, Telegram, Microsoft Teams Meetings, and Zoom Meetings, each with a template library and the ability to leverage OSINT-backed campaign recommendations or create custom campaigns. Doppel supports live voice and video-based social engineering simulations, including voice calls and meeting-based impersonation scenarios across Microsoft Teams and Zoom. KnowBe4’s simulation capabilities are primarily centered on email phishing. For organizations concerned about vishing, deepfake-enabled impersonation, or attacks that move across multiple communication channels, this distinction can be important. Buyers should compare not only template volume, but also channel coverage, realism, deliverability, customization, and the ability to reproduce multi-step social engineering attacks.
Does Doppel provide security awareness training?
Yes. Doppel includes a library of security awareness content covering security, technology, and compliance topics, along with AI-assisted tools for creating custom courses. KnowBe4 is particularly strong in training breadth, with a large established content library. Doppel differentiates by connecting training more directly with simulation performance, external risk signals, and current social engineering threats.
What should security teams evaluate when replacing KnowBe4?
Security teams should consider more than training library size or email phishing coverage. Important factors include support for voice, SMS, and collaboration-platform attacks; simulation realism; AI-driven customization; human risk scoring; third-party signal ingestion; multilingual support; and how closely training and simulations reflect current attacker behavior. The right platform depends on whether the goal is primarily awareness and compliance or resilience against modern social engineering.