The 6 Best Phishing Simulation Platforms to Protect Your Company
Phishing attacks can cause serious damage to your company. From AI-generated emails to deepfake voicemails, cybercriminals are pulling out all the stops. So how do you keep your team from falling for these traps?
A good phishing simulation platform is essential for any effective phishing awareness program, to ensure employees know how to recognize and respond to phishing attacks. Here is an honest comparison of the six best phishing simulation platforms.
In this blog post, I will walk you through six of the best phishing simulation tools in 2025 that can help you train your employees, reduce risk, and stay one step ahead of attackers.
Key Takeaways
1. Some leading phishing simulation solutions have more powerful customization capabilities than others.
2. Many of the top phishing simulation platforms are better suited to large organizations, and others to organizations with limited resources.
3. Localization, automation, and multi-vector simulations are all important features to look for in a phishing simulation vendor.
Why a Good Phishing Simulation Platform Is Necessary
Easy access to AI has made phishing attacks more effective and numerous than ever. Phishing protections like firewalls and email filters play their part, but they can’t stop every scam attempt from reaching your employees.
The big question is: will employees spot, neutralize, and report the scam, or will they fall for it, exposing your sensitive data, allowing attackers into your systems, and causing you a costly and embarrassing breach? Lectures, videos, reminders, and examples all play their part, but phishing simulations are the best way to verify that your employees are able to spot a social engineering attack.
A good phishing simulation platform gives employees the chance to grow their real-world phishing awareness muscles, and it gives you insights into the true strength of your team’s phishing protections.
What to Look for in the Best Phishing Simulation Platform
A powerful, effective phishing simulation platform should:
- Produce realistic and convincing phishing simulations.
- Draw on real-time threat intel to keep simulations relevant to today’s threats.
- Deliver robust reporting so you can track employee awareness and adjust training accordingly.
- Send unexpected phishing simulations without warnings, to test real responses.
- Monitor changes in employee behavior, not just success on the test.
- Integrate easily into your existing tech stacks for cyber defense, employee training and email infrastructure.
- Scale smoothly for large organizations.
Top 6 Phishing Simulation Platforms for Businesses
There are six top-recommended phishing simulation platforms, each with its strengths and weaknesses, so you can choose the one that best suits your needs.

1. PhishingBox
PhishingBox combines phishing email simulations with training modules and robust reporting, striking a good balance between templated and customizable content. It’s easy to manage as part of a phishing training program, making it a good choice for smaller organizations and those on a tight budget. However, the UI can be confusing, and some users report difficulty getting emails to arrive.
Key Capabilities
- Templates for fast simulation building
- Targeted simulations for individuals or groups
- Vast template library
- Smooth integrations with LMS, SSO, and webhooks for deeper reporting

2. Hoxhunt
Hoxhunt delivers adaptive, dynamic mluti-vector simulations that draw on real-time threat intel and are localized for 30+ languages and 129 countries. It includes powerful analytics and seamless integrations with security and L&D tech stacks. It’s ideal for organizations that want high user engagement and real behavior change. However, there’s no free trial, and the pricing isn’t publicly available.
Key Capabilities
- Highly realistic, regularly updated phishing scenarios with personalization (role/context)
- Multi-vector phishing simulations (QR phishing, SMS phishing)
- Gamified user feedback and reporting
- Strong automation for continuous campaigns
- Risk scoring by user and departmental dashboards to track behavior change over time

3. Cofense
Cofense (formerly PhishMe) is a simulation-first phishing awareness platform with phishing email screening. It’s a good choice for large and security-mature organizations that want to tie simulation into threat reporting pipelines and SOC/IR workflows. However, it can run expensive and require a lot of resources to set up, making it less suited to smaller companies.
Key Capabilities
- Realistic simulations updated frequently with threat intel
- Fast reporting UI in one click
- Robust reporting and analyst workflow that feeds into SOC/IR processes

4. Barracuda
Barracuda Security Awareness Training covers voice phishing, SMS phishing, email phishing, and fake LPs. It has robust analytics and integrates well with the Barracuda suite, making it best for organizations that are already part of the Barracuda ecosystem. However, the UI can be confusing and difficult to master, and customization can be limited.
Key Capabilities
- Multi-vector phishing simulation capabilities including voice phishing and SMS phishing
- Quick and easy phishing reporting
- Native integration with the Barracuda threat protection suite
- Automated campaign scheduling that can handle large-scale training

5. KnowBe4
KnowBe4’s library of phishing simulations is localized to 30+ languages, with plenty of templates and lots of customization options. It’s best for large enterprises and distributed workforces that cross languages and/or cultures. However, the content can be dry and uninteresting, and the false positive rate can be high.
Key Capabilities
- Email and LP simulations localized for 30+ languages
- Automated campaigns and follow-up simulations
- Broad personalization options for targeted simulation campaigns

6. Infosec IQ
Infosec IQ offers a large library of phishing simulation templates, with automated followups covering remediation and advice. It’s a good fit for teams that want strong phishing simulations without paying for a full enterprise phishing training solution. However, it can be difficult to find all the features you need, especially around customization.
Key Capabilities
- Large library of temples that’s updated weekly
- Easy phishing reporting
- Automated campaigns and follow-ups
- Automated user risk scoring

Best Phishing Simulation Platforms Comparison
| Platform | Key strength | Drawback | Best For |
| PhishingBox | Large library of templates for fast simulation building. | UI can be confusing; some users report deliverability issues. | Small or mid-sized organizations needing a cost-effective, customizable phishing simulation engine. |
| Hoxhunt | Highly realistic, adaptive, personalized phishing scenarios. | No free trial; the detailed reporting process can discourage quick reporting. | Mid-large organizations seeking dynamic, personalized phishing simulations and continuous engagement to drive behavioral change. |
| Cofense | Analyst reporting integrated into SOC/IR processes. | Expensive and resource-intensive setup. | Large, security-mature enterprises wanting simulations tightly integrated with threat intelligence and incident response. |
| Barracuda | Multi-vector phishing simulations (email, voice, SMS). | UI can be confusing; limited customization options. | Organizations already using Barracuda solutions that want integrated phishing simulations. |
| KnowBe4 | Localization for 30+ languages. | Content can feel generic; false-positive rate can be high. | Large or global enterprises that need scalable, automated phishing simulations across languages and regions. |
| Infosec IQ | Realistic phishing simulations updated frequently. | Can be hard to locate or configure some advanced customization features. | Mid-sized teams that want phishing simulations and automation without the cost/complexity of enterprise solutions. |
Final Thoughts
Phishing simulation platforms are great tools for educating employees to think critically and act quickly. Whether you’re a startup or a 200+ employee company, investing in the right platform can dramatically reduce your risk of a breach.
These platforms enable your team to recognize suspicious emails, report them confidently, and build a culture of security awareness that ripples across your organization.
FAQs
Hoxhunt and KnowBe4 both offer content that’s localized to 30+ languages. Hoxhunt phishing simulations are also localized for 129 cultures, and are designed to be adaptive and dynamic.
No, there are phishing simulation platforms that are easy to set up and run, even for small organizations with limited resources. PhishingBox stands out for its resource-light setup and management.
A good phishing simulation platform like Hoxhunt, Cofense, and PhishingBox makes it easy for you to customize phishing simulations for different roles, users, and contexts.
Barracuda PhishLine has voice phishing (vishing) and SMS phishing (smishing) simulations; Hoxhunt offers multi-vector phishing, including SMS phishing, voice phishing, and QR phishing.



