8 best phishing simulation tools in 2026

TL;DR: The best phishing simulation tools do more than send generic test emails. They test employees against realistic threats, reach inboxes without extra administrative work, deliver relevant training after a click, and show where human risk remains.

A click rate is only as meaningful as the lure behind it. In a 2025 UC San Diego study of more than 19,500 health system employees, researchers ran 10 phishing campaigns over eight months. Click rates ranged from 1.8% on a lure asking people to update an Outlook password to 30.8% on one posing as a vacation policy update.

Most phishing simulation software comparisons skip that problem. They count templates, list campaign features, and compare click rates, but never ask whether the simulations resemble the attacks reaching your employees' inboxes. A tool that sends a generic test can post a low click rate and still leave you blind to the invoice fraud and credential phishing your email security stack blocks every week.

This guide compares eight phishing simulation tools, Sublime among them, against a five-part scorecard: threat relevance, delivery, training, measurement, and operational fit. Use it to build a shortlist whether you are replacing a program, adding simulations to your email security stack, or choosing among phishing simulation vendors for the first time.

The short version

• Lure choice swung click rates from 1.8% to 30.8% in a UC San Diego Health study, so realism drives your results.
• The median click rate on email phishing simulations was 1.4% in the Verizon 2026 DBIR, so click rate alone says little about exposure.
• Score every tool on threat relevance, delivery, training, measurement, and operational fit before you compare template counts.

Key criteria for evaluating phishing simulation tools

Whether you are comparing phishing simulation software or a full phishing simulation platform, the best tool depends on four questions: how closely the simulations match real attacks, how easily they reach inboxes, what happens after someone clicks, and how useful the reporting is. A fifth factor, operational fit, decides whether your team can keep the program running. Customer reviews add an outside check on all five.

Two notes on using the scorecard:

• Click rate: The median click rate on email phishing simulations was 1.4% in the Verizon 2026 DBIR. When low numbers are the norm, a low number tells you little about exposure. Pair click rate with report rate, repeat failures, and results by attack type.
• Threat relevance: Test the simulations against what actually reaches your users. Sublime's 2026 Email Threat Research Report found that BEC and fraud accounted for 32.0% of confirmed email threats, and QR code attacks grew 282.7% from the first half to the second half of 2025. A simulation library without those lure types is testing yesterday's attacks.

Simulations measure and condition behavior. They do not stop a malicious message from arriving. Detection does that, so simulations belong alongside AI security solutions for email phishing.

The 8 best phishing simulation tools in 2026, compared

Eight phishing simulation vendors made the shortlist, chosen to cover the main approaches: an email-security-native add-on, training-library suites, a behavior-change specialist, a multichannel AI platform, a SOC-integrated program, a built-in Microsoft feature, and an open source option. Each is scored against the same five criteria.

Sublime Security

• Best for: Security teams on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace that want simulations built from the attacks hitting their own mailboxes, run from the same platform that detects them.
• How simulations are sourced: Threat-informed. Sublime prioritizes campaigns by the attack types it detects in your environment. Admins start from a Sublime-curated template, turn a malicious email detected in the environment into a simulation, or generate a new one from a scenario they describe.
• Delivery and setup: Sublime uses direct API injection on Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, so simulation delivery requires no allowlisting. It labels its own simulations and excludes them from detection and triage, which keeps tests out of the analyst queue.
• Training and measurement: When someone clicks, Sublime trains them on the exact email, calling out the attack pattern and the signals they missed. Reporting covers click, report, and training completion rates by campaign, repeat failures, the most exposed groups, and exposure by attack type, with CSV export.
• Key strength: Relevance and low overhead come from the same source. The platform that sees the attacks also writes the tests, so there is no second console or integration to maintain.
• Potential limitation: Tailored Phishing Simulations and Training is an add-on that requires the Sublime Enterprise Email Security plan.
• Review or rating: 4.9 on Gartner Peer Insights for the Sublime Email Security Platform as of November 2026.

KnowBe4

• Best for: Programs where course assignment and audit reporting outrank simulation relevance.
• How simulations are sourced: Template library. Admins choose or customize campaigns from the library.
• Delivery and setup: KnowBe4's documentation recommends allowing its simulations in Microsoft 365 through advanced delivery policies, so your email admins configure sender domains and IP addresses in the Defender portal.
• Training and measurement: A Phish Alert Button for user reporting, training assignments after interaction, and risk scoring and reporting by user and group.
• Key strength: Training courses and reporting by group support compliance programs that must assign and document training.
• Potential limitation: Allowlisting and mail-flow setup fall to your team, and campaign relevance depends on how much tailoring your admins invest.
• Review or rating: 4.6 on Gartner Peer Insights as of November 2026.

Hoxhunt

• Best for: Teams that put engagement and per-employee learning paths ahead of tailoring to inbox attacks.
• How simulations are sourced: Individualized. Hoxhunt describes using AI and behavioral science to assign each employee a learning path.
• Delivery and setup: On Microsoft 365, Hoxhunt's documentation lists an advanced delivery policy and a mail flow rule as mandatory steps, with optional rules for link scanning and forwarding. Google Workspace customers have a Gmail API delivery option.
• Training and measurement: Short micro-trainings after interaction, completion tracking, dashboards, and an email reporting add-in.
• Key strength: Gamified micro-training after each interaction.
• Potential limitation: Microsoft 365 delivery involves several admin-owned configuration steps. During evaluation, ask how campaigns reflect the attacks reaching your own mailboxes, beyond each employee's skill level.
• Review or rating: 4.8 on Gartner Peer Insights as of November 2026.

Proofpoint ZenGuide

• Best for: Organizations that prioritize one Proofpoint vendor relationship over simulation tailoring.
• How simulations are sourced: Template library and training content delivered through ZenGuide.
• Delivery and setup: Proofpoint's safelisting guidance for Microsoft 365 offers several methods depending on mail flow: safelisting sender IP addresses, a transport rule, a connector, or message headers.
• Training and measurement: Post-click training and reporting run through ZenGuide's content library and dashboards.
• Key strength: Training courses and reporting by group, delivered through ZenGuide so awareness content and results sit in one product.
• Potential limitation: Delivery setup varies with how your environment routes mail. Teams reconsidering their wider email security stack will find options in Sublime's guide to Proofpoint alternatives.
• Review or rating: 4.6 on Gartner Peer Insights as of November 2026.

Adaptive Security

• Best for: Programs that need voice, SMS, and deepfake scenarios alongside email.
• How simulations are sourced: AI-generated from public information. Adaptive says it gathers open-source intelligence on each target, generates a personalized simulation, and delivers it across channels. Admins edit any element.
• Delivery and setup: Adaptive describes connecting by API to email, identity, and ticketing systems.
• Training and measurement: A just-in-time micro-lesson after a failure, per-person and per-department risk scores, and repeat-clicker reporting. The platform also includes compliance and secure-behavior training modules.
• Key strength: Per-employee personalization, with every element of a simulation editable.
• Potential limitation: Personalization draws on public information about each employee, not on the attacks reaching your mailboxes. During evaluation, ask how simulations reflect your own inbound threats. Sublime sources simulations from attacks detected in your environment.
• Review or rating: 4.9 on Gartner Peer Insights as of November 2026.

Cofense

• Best for: SOC-led programs that want user reports from simulations and from real emails to land in an analyst queue.
• How simulations are sourced: Template-based PhishMe simulations.
• Delivery and setup: The Reporter button installs as an add-in for Outlook and Gmail. During evaluation, confirm which allowlisting or mail-flow steps your tenant needs for simulation delivery.
• Training and measurement: Reporter tracks which users reported a simulation.
• Key strength: Reported messages flow into Triage, Cofense's analyst queue.
• Potential limitation: Triage is a separate analyst queue that sits next to your email security platform.
• Review or rating: 4.5 on Gartner Peer Insights as of November 2026.

Microsoft Defender Attack simulation training

• Best for: Microsoft 365 tenants already licensed for Defender for Office 365 Plan 2 or Microsoft 365 E5.
• How simulations are sourced: A built-in payload library plus custom payloads. Payload automations capture harmless versions of real phishing messages detected in Microsoft 365 and reuse them in campaigns. QR code payloads are supported.
• Delivery and setup: Simulations run inside the tenant, so there is no third-party sender to allowlist. Microsoft's documentation advises checking that simulation URLs open in your supported browsers, since Google Safe Browsing blocks some.
• Training and measurement: Built-in training modules, training-only campaigns, how-to guides, simulation reports, and a predicted compromise rate for each payload.
• Key strength: Payload automations reuse real messages detected in Microsoft 365; Plan 2 or E5 is required.
• Potential limitation: It covers Microsoft 365 only, so Google Workspace environments need another tool. Sublime delivers to both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. Certain advanced features, including
• Review or rating: 4.4 on Gartner Peer Insights for Defender for Office 365, which includes Attack simulation training, as of November 2026.

Gophish

• Best for: Teams with engineering time and no budget, or security teams that want a lab for custom scenarios.
• How simulations are sourced: You write the templates and landing pages.
• Delivery and setup: You configure an SMTP sending profile. Mailbox providers often block messages that spoof another sender, so expect allowlisting or sending through your own mail server.
• Training and measurement: Gophish tracks campaign results such as opens, clicks, and submitted credentials. Post-click education is a landing page you build.
• Key strength: Free and open source under the MIT license, with full control of scenarios.
• Potential limitation: You own hosting, deliverability, reporting, and upkeep, and there is no managed training library.
• Review or rating: Gophish does not have a Gartner Peer Insights listing.

How to choose the right phishing simulation tool for your organization

Start with the job the tool needs to do: compliance training, realistic threat testing, or both. Then match fit to your email environment, your industry requirements, and how much operational work your team can support. Use the scorecard above to compare finalists, and treat template counts and click-rate benchmarks as tiebreakers. For enterprise teams, the operational criteria carry extra weight, because setup and upkeep repeat across every region and mail environment.

• If compliance is the priority: Weigh breadth of training content and the reporting your auditors expect. A content library tells you how much training you can assign, not how well simulations match your threats. Sublime pairs with that platform for the threat-relevance half of the program.
• If realistic threat testing is the priority: Weigh simulations tied to current attack patterns and to threats specific to your environment.
• If your team is lean: Weigh delivery, automation, and administrative overhead. Allowlisting rules need upkeep whenever a vendor's sending IP addresses change.
• If you're regulated: Check whether the tool supports scenarios and workflows common in your industry. In finance, business email compromise drove $3.05 billion in reported US losses in 2025 (FBI IC3 2025 Internet Crime Report), so weight BEC and vendor-fraud scenarios. Sublime's guide to phishing prevention in finance covers the threats behind those scenarios.
• If you're on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace: Verify deployment and delivery requirements before you buy. Read how Sublime approaches Microsoft 365 email security and Google Workspace phishing protection for the delivery questions that matter in each environment.
• If you're also reconsidering your email security vendor: See Sublime's guides to Mimecast alternatives and Abnormal Security alternatives.

Why choose Sublime for phishing simulations and training?

Sublime's Tailored Phishing Simulations and Training puts the scorecard's first criterion, threat relevance, inside the platform that already detects your attacks. It fits alongside an existing awareness or compliance program.

• Threat relevance: Sublime prioritizes simulations by the attack types detected in your environment, and admins turn a malicious email caught in their own mailboxes into a simulation.
• Delivery: Direct API injection on Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace means simulations need no allowlisting.
• Training: Employees who click get attack-specific training on the exact email, with the signals they missed called out.
• Measurement: Exposure-by-attack-type reporting shows which attack types appear in your environment, which ones you have tested, and how employees fared. Repeat failures and the most vulnerable groups surface in the same view.
• Operational fit: Simulations run inside the email security platform and stay out of detection and triage. Real reported emails still go to ASA (Autonomous Security Analyst), which investigates them in seconds.

Sublime replaces a standalone phishing simulation tool. It does not replace an LMS, annual compliance courses, or a broad training content library. Teams with compliance training obligations keep that platform and use Sublime to test and train against the threats in their own environment.

"Long-form, generic security training has consistently struggled with uptake. We wanted something shorter and more immediate, delivered at the moment people need it, not another module they'll put off. Sublime's approach gives us that, and it suits how our colleagues engage with learning."
Chris Payne, Group Head of Cyber & Infrastructure, Goodwood

FAQs about phishing simulation tools

What is a phishing simulation tool and how does it work?

A phishing simulation tool sends realistic but harmless phishing messages to employees, records who clicks, reports, or submits credentials, and delivers training afterward. Phishing simulation software and platforms differ in where the messages come from, how they reach inboxes, and what they measure. The criteria above cover those differences.

Do phishing simulations actually work?

Evidence for standalone effectiveness is weak. In the UC San Diego Health study, embedded training reduced the likelihood of clicking by only 2%, and recently completing annual training showed no significant relationship to click likelihood. Three-quarters of users spent a minute or less on embedded training. The researchers recommended technical controls such as two-factor authentication and password managers that only work on correct domains. Treat simulations as measurement and conditioning that sit beside detection.

Do phishing simulation tools require allowlisting in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace?

Many do. KnowBe4 and Hoxhunt document advanced delivery policies for Microsoft 365, and Hoxhunt offers Gmail API delivery for Google Workspace. Microsoft's own Attack simulation training runs inside the tenant, so there is no third-party sender to allowlist. Sublime uses direct API injection on both platforms, so simulation delivery requires no allowlisting. Ask each vendor for its current setup steps before you commit.

What is the best free phishing simulation tool?

Gophish is an open source option, MIT licensed and self-hosted. You supply the SMTP configuration, templates, landing pages, and upkeep. If you already hold Microsoft 365 E5 or Defender for Office 365 Plan 2, Attack simulation training is included in that license. Neither comes with a managed training library. The scorecard above shows what free options leave to you: relevance, delivery, and reporting.

How long does it take to launch a phishing simulation program?

It depends less on the software than on delivery setup and content decisions. Tools that need allowlisting or mail-flow rules add steps for your email admins, and programs with compliance requirements add content and assignment work. Direct API delivery removes the allowlisting step. Existing Sublime Enterprise customers start with their Customer Success representative, and new customers request a demo.

Should you tell employees about phishing simulations in advance?

Announce that the program exists and why it exists, but not when campaigns run. Advance notice of timing defeats the measurement, while a clear policy and a no-blame reporting path keep the program fair. Involve HR and legal before launch, especially in regulated industries or where works councils apply.

How often should you run phishing simulations?

No evidence-backed interval fits every organization. Cadence matters less than variety and relevance, since a predictable pattern of identical lures teaches employees to recognize the test itself. Set a regular rhythm your team can support with follow-up, and use exposure-by-attack-type reporting to find the attack types you have not tested yet.

How should you handle employees who repeatedly fail phishing simulations?

Treat repeat failures as a signal to investigate first. Start by checking whether the lure was unusually effective, since lure choice moved click rates from 1.8% to 30.8% in the UC San Diego study. Then add targeted coaching and consider technical controls such as phishing-resistant authentication for high-risk roles. Escalate to management only as your policy requires.

How does Sublime build phishing simulations from real attacks?

Sublime prioritizes campaigns by the attack types it detects in your environment. Admins pick a Sublime-curated template, turn a malicious email detected in your environment into a simulation, or describe a scenario for Sublime to generate. When an employee clicks, Sublime delivers training on the exact email and the signals they missed. See the product page for details.

Can Sublime replace our security awareness training platform?

It replaces a standalone phishing simulation tool, but not an LMS, annual compliance courses, or a broad training library. If your program depends on assigning and documenting courses, keep that platform and add Sublime for threat-informed simulations and just-in-time training. Tailored Phishing Simulations and Training is an add-on that requires the Sublime Enterprise Email Security plan. Contact us for guidance on fitting it into your stack.

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