Nowadays, every company needs a reliable phishing simulation solution. These tools offer the best way to make sure that employees can identify and remediate phishing attacks. Different solutions are designed for different use cases and are the best fit for different size teams, making it critical to find one that’s intended for your circumstances.
This article reviews the best phishing simulation platforms for large, mid-size, and small teams.
What You Will Learn
- When choosing a phishing simulation solution, you might need to decide between scalability vs. simplicity and content depth vs. ease of onboarding.
- Hoxhunt and Ironscales scale easily for large enterprises.
- Defendify and Hook Security are easy to use for small teams, but still extensive enough for midmarket organisations.
- PhishCare is only an option for small teams.
Phishing attacks can wreak havoc on even the most secure organisation. One moment of inattention, stress, or tiredness can be all it takes for an employee to click on a suspicious link, and just like that, all your carefully-built defenses are flattened.
It’s not enough to put up an advanced spam filter, and it’s certainly not enough to force employees to sit through lectures about recognizing phishing attacks. Tech alone can’t keep today’s sophisticated lures out of people’s inboxes. When it comes to awareness education, you want to know that they can put their training into action even when faced with urgent, multitasking scenarios, and prove their ability to flag fakes more effectively over time.
Phishing simulation platforms test that capacity “in the wild,” revealing when you need more training, which training approaches work, and the extent to which social engineering attacks are likely to successfully breach your company’s systems.
There are many phishing awareness solutions out there, each one proclaiming its excellence. Many deliver very effective results, but they are designed for different use cases, verticals, and most of all different size teams. This article compares the main capabilities of five top phishing simulation solutions, suggesting which team size is the best fit for each one.
1. Defendify
Defendify offers a user-friendly phishing simulation training that works well as part of an all-in-one security suite, which includes threat alerts, response planning, vulnerability scans and pentests.
Key phishing simulation capabilities:
- Fully automated delivery. Defendify schedules and delivers unannounced, randomized phishing emails without heavy admin overhead.
- Up-to-date, dynamic, real-world content. The template library includes date-driven notifications and brand impersonations, informed by current phishing techniques.
- Integrated reporting and easy administration. A low-admin phishing simulator with easy reporting that integrates smoothly with other security tools.
Best suited for:
Small to small-mid teams (10–250 users). The low-admin platform, automated workflows, and simple reporting makes it a good fit for smaller companies without a dedicated security team. It trades simplicity for depth of customisation, so larger companies might find it’s not granular or deep enough. If you already use different tools for network security, then you might not want to opt for the full Defendify suite.
2. Hoxhunt
Hoxhunt delivers highly personalized, gamified, engaging phishing simulations that drive measurable behaviour change.
Key phishing simulation capabilities:
- AI/behaviour-driven personalisation. Individual learning paths and unique simulations for each employee based on role, past performance, and risk signals, with discrete spearfishing agents and templates for each user.
- Scalable, automated micro-simulations. Cadence of short, gamified phishing lures and instant micro-trainings across multiple channels and scenarios. The auto-generated simulations maintain personalisation at scale.
- Rich behaviour telemetry and risk scoring. The solution captures behaviour information like who clicked, hesitation metrics, and reporting behaviour, with per-user/group dashboards for prioritizing coaching.
Best suited for:
Mid-market to enterprise (100–10,000+ users). Hoxhunt is built for scalability without losing individualization, with rich reporting, multi-language capabilities, and real behaviour change that makes it ideal for large teams. Smaller teams can benefit from it, but its strengths, such as AI personalisation, multi-channel realism, and deep analytics, are most valuable at scale. Hoxhunt also offers a plan for MSP channel partners.
3. Hook Security
Hook Security brings a solid midmarket phishing simulation solution with automated campaigns and notably good support for analytics exports.
Key phishing simulation capabilities:
- Realistic phishing templates and monthly automated campaigns. Emphasis on memorable, engaging simulations that mimic real-world scenarios.
- Good API/webhook support and analytics export. Low friction workflows for when teams want to pipe simulation results into other analytics and HR systems.
- Competitive pricing and ease-of-use. The pricing plan is affordable for smaller companies, and onboarding is relatively quick even for teams with limited resources.
Best suited for:
Small to mid-market (25–1,000 users). Hook’s reasonable pricing and easy integration options make it a sensible choice for smaller and mid-size teams that want realistic phishing templates and decent reporting, but are struggling with restricted budgets. Larger companies might find the content options a bit limited.
4. Ironscales
Ironscales offers adaptive phishing simulations that integrate tightly with security and reporting workflows. The platform also offers other types of advanced email protection services, which might or might not be redundant with your existing defences.
Key phishing simulation capabilities:
- AI-driven, adaptive phishing simulations. Simulations draw on real-world threat data and generative AI to craft realistic, personalized lures, including spear-phishing.
- Tight integration with email security workflows. Simulations are integrated with reporting buttons, and incorrect responses trigger immediate micro-training.
- Scale and automation. Teams can automate large numbers of simulations, multi-language campaigns, and group targeting.
Best suited for:
Mid-market to enterprise (250–10,000+ users). Ironscales’ scalability and automation, together with multi-language campaigns, makes it well suited for large global teams. Smaller and even mid-size teams might struggle to handle the complex setup required.
5. PhishCare
PhishCare delivers a simulation-focused phishing awareness platform that prioritizes compliance. In addition to simulations, the platform supports assessments and in-depth training.
Key phishing simulation capabilities:
- Tailored phishing simulations. Customizable templates that use real-world phishing trends to simulate authentic attack techniques, with automated follow-up training
- Compliance-oriented phishing awareness. Dashboards and reports collect and present evidence for audits.
- Intuitive reporting. User-friendly dashboard with campaign reporting that clearly tracks clicks and reports.
Best suited for:
Small (10–500 users). The easy setup and user-friendly admin console makes it a good choice for smaller teams. Larger teams and those with more complex needs may find that scalability is iffy and content a bit thin.
Overview: The Best Phishing Simulation Solution for Every Size Team
- Defendify: Best for small to small-mid teams (10–250). When you want low-admin, all-in-one automated phishing simulations with simple reporting.
- Hoxhunt: Best for mid-market to enterprise and MSPs (100–10,000+). When you need AI-driven personalisation, multi-vector realism, and large-scale automation.
- Hook Security: Best for SMBs and growing teams (25–1,000). When you want realistic templates, good value, and easy onboarding.
- Ironscales: Best for large enterprise (250–10,000+): When you need SOC/email-security integration and realistic phishing at scale.
- PhishCare: Best for small teams (10–500). When you need straightforward, customizable campaigns and compliance-friendly reporting.
FAQs
What is the best phishing simulation solution for large teams?
Hoxhunt is the best for large teams and enterprises, because it scales smoothly, supports automated campaigns, and enables individualized targeting with measurable behaviour change on a mass scale.
What should I look for when choosing a phishing solution for a growing enterprise?
The most important thing to look for is a solution that scales smoothly without compromising on personalisation even as the number of users grows. You should also make sure that it’s easy to share reports.
How can I verify ROI on my phishing simulation solution?
The ultimate ROI for a phishing simulation solution is whether it changes real user behaviour. For example, Hoxhunt provides detailed reports that show whether clicks and reports have gone up or down, segmented for individuals, business units and job roles.
