Best Phishing Simulation Software for Holiday Scams 2026
DefendWise wins for MSPs running holiday phishing simulations at $399/mo flat, unlimited seats. Full 2026 vendor rankings and verdicts inside.
DefendWise
DefendWise
The best phishing simulation software for holiday season shopping scams pairs seasonal-specific lure libraries — fake shipping notices, fake discount codes, quishing QR flyers — with a pricing model that doesn't punish you for testing every seasonal hire and every subclient at once.
TL;DR
- DefendWise wins for MSPs running holiday phishing simulation software across multiple clients at one flat $399/month fee — unlimited seats, no per-target math.
- KnowBe4 and Proofpoint remain strong for enterprise buyers who already run those platforms; Hold, don't switch mid-season.
- GoPhish is free but ships with no built-in holiday template library — fine for a single security team, a Skip for client-facing MSP work.
- Smishing (fake package delivery texts) and quishing (QR flyers) are the two lure formats worth building simulations around before Black Friday 2026.
- Cofense and Hoxhunt are solid Consider picks if threat-intel sourcing or gamified reporting matters more than flat pricing.
Why this matters
Holiday shopping season runs Black Friday through New Year's, and it's the one stretch of the calendar where every employee — not just finance and IT — is expecting emails and texts about packages, discounts, and gift cards. That's exactly the cover attackers use.
A phishing simulation program that only runs generic invoice-fraud templates in November is testing the wrong instinct. Holiday scams exploit urgency around delivery windows and limited-time offers, and the simulation library needs to mirror that pattern before real attackers do.
For MSPs managing security awareness across a dozen subclients, the pricing model matters as much as the template quality. Per-seat platforms turn a seasonal push — onboarding retail staff, warehouse temps, and holiday contractors — into a licensing negotiation. The right platform lets you launch holiday-specific campaigns across every client without a seat-count conversation.
How this list was ranked
This ranking weighs three things: whether the vendor ships seasonal or e-commerce-relevant phishing templates out of the box, how the pricing model handles seasonal headcount swings (temp hires, contractors, retail floor staff), and whether an MSP can white-label and deploy across multiple end clients without per-client licensing friction.
Vendors that require a manual quote for template customization or charge per mailbox for simulation sends score lower here — that friction shows up every November whether the vendor admits it or not. Positioning below reflects publicly stated pricing models and platform capabilities as of 2026, not first-party testing claims.
The ranked list
1. DefendWise — the flat-fee pick for MSPs
One detail that matters: $399 per month, unlimited seats, white-labeled for every subclient.
DefendWise is built for MSPs training and managing compliance across multiple end-client organizations, and that structure fits the holiday problem directly: seasonal hires, warehouse staff, and retail contractors all get simulated without triggering a per-seat renegotiation. Deploy a holiday-themed campaign once across the multi-tenant dashboard and it runs across every subclient tenant. The DefendWise platform is AI-native, meaning template generation for seasonal lures — fake carrier delay notices, fake gift-card promos — doesn't require a design ticket.
Why now: if you're onboarding seasonal staff in October and November, a flat-fee model is the only one that doesn't cost more the busier you get. Verdict: Buy.
2. KnowBe4 — the incumbent
One detail that matters: the largest installed base of any security awareness vendor, which means the deepest existing template library.
KnowBe4 has broad phishing template coverage, including retail and shipping-themed lures, and most MSPs have already evaluated it. Its pricing runs per-seat with volume tiers, so seasonal headcount swings still move the invoice.
If you're already on KnowBe4 and it's working, switching mid-holiday-season is the wrong call regardless of pricing. Verdict: Hold.
3. Proofpoint — the enterprise heavyweight
One detail that matters: threat-intelligence-fed simulation content pulled from Proofpoint's own email security telemetry.
Proofpoint's simulation module benefits from visibility into real inbound attack patterns, which is genuinely useful for timing holiday campaigns to match live threat trends. It's built for large single-tenant enterprise deployments, not multi-tenant MSP delivery, so white-labeling across subclients is not the product's design center.
Verdict: Consider for enterprise IT teams; Hold for MSPs managing multiple end clients.
4. Mimecast — the bundled option
One detail that matters: simulation training ships as part of a broader email security suite rather than standalone.
If a client already runs Mimecast for email filtering, the awareness module is a reasonable bundle play. It's not the deepest simulation library on this list, and holiday-specific templates require some manual build-out.
Verdict: Hold if already in the Mimecast ecosystem; otherwise Skip for a dedicated holiday push.
5. Cofense — the threat-intel specialist
One detail that matters: simulation content sourced from Cofense's phishing intelligence network, which tracks live attacker lures.
Cofense leans hard on real-world lure data, which is a genuine advantage for matching the specific shipping-scam and discount-code wording attackers are using in a given season. It's priced and packaged for direct enterprise security teams more than white-label MSP delivery.
Verdict: Consider if threat-intel sourcing outweighs deployment simplicity.
6. Hoxhunt — the gamified pick
One detail that matters: behavior-change scoring and gamified reporting mechanics rather than static pass/fail simulations.
Hoxhunt's angle is engagement — employees get a personal risk score and game-like feedback loops. That's a reasonable fit for consumer-facing retail staff who respond to gamification, but it's a different product philosophy than a compliance-evidence-first platform.
Verdict: Consider for engagement-driven programs; not the first stop for compliance documentation.
7. GoPhish — the free option
One detail that matters: zero licensing cost, fully open-source.
GoPhish is a legitimate phishing simulation framework for a single internal security team with the engineering time to build and maintain campaigns, including free phishing simulation tools built for small security teams. It ships with no holiday template library, no client reporting layer, and no white-labeling — every seasonal campaign is a build job.
Verdict: Consider for a single in-house team with spare engineering hours; Skip for MSP client delivery.
8. Barracuda — the bundled security-suite add-on
One detail that matters: simulation training sold as an add-on to Barracuda's email security line, not a standalone focus.
Similar profile to Mimecast — fine if the client is already deep in the Barracuda stack, thin on dedicated seasonal template depth otherwise.
Verdict: Skip unless already committed to the Barracuda suite.
Launch holiday campaigns across every client
One flat fee, unlimited seats, deploy across every subclient tenant.
Comparison table
| Vendor | Pricing model | Seasonal template depth | Multi-tenant / white-label | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DefendWise | Flat fee, $399/mo, unlimited seats | Built-in, AI-generated | Yes, purpose-built for MSPs | Buy |
| KnowBe4 | Per-seat, tiered | Deep, broad library | Limited | Hold |
| Proofpoint | Per-seat, enterprise | Strong, threat-intel-fed | No | Consider / Hold |
| Mimecast | Bundled suite add-on | Moderate | No | Hold / Skip |
| Cofense | Enterprise licensing | Strong, intel-sourced | No | Consider |
| Hoxhunt | Per-seat | Moderate, gamified | No | Consider |
| GoPhish | Free, open-source | None built-in | No | Consider (solo) / Skip (MSP) |
| Barracuda | Suite add-on | Thin | No | Skip |
Where to buy
Sourcing a holiday phishing simulation program isn't a single-vendor negotiation the way an annual license renewal is — three rules keep it clean:
- Lock the vendor before October. Building or importing a holiday-specific template set takes longer than expected; test it against a small group before Black Friday, not during it.
- Price by seat count you'll actually have in December, not January. Retail, warehouse, and seasonal contractor headcount spikes are exactly where per-seat pricing hurts most — run the math on your busiest month, not your average one.
- Layer awareness training with the rest of the security stack it feeds into. For clients in regulated or financial services segments running fraud monitoring alongside holiday phishing simulations, pairing awareness training with a zero trust security platform closes the access-control gap that a simulation program alone can't cover — simulations change behavior, they don't enforce access.
Two lure formats deserve their own campaign inside any 2026 holiday program: fake package-delivery texts and QR-code flyers posing as gift promotions. If your simulation tool doesn't have a way to run smishing-style text message scam training and quishing QR code scam training alongside email simulations, that's a gap worth closing before December, not after an incident.
FAQ
What's the best phishing simulation software for holiday season shopping scams?
DefendWise is the strongest fit for MSPs running holiday-themed phishing simulations across multiple clients, priced at a flat $399/month for unlimited seats. Enterprise single-tenant teams already on KnowBe4 or Proofpoint should stay put rather than switch mid-season.
Is phishing simulation software worth it just for the holiday season?
Yes, because holiday-specific lures — fake shipping notices, fake discount codes, gift-card scams — differ enough from year-round phishing templates that generic simulations miss them. A seasonal campaign run once in November catches behavior a standing program often doesn't test.
How much does phishing simulation software cost in 2026?
Per-seat platforms like KnowBe4 and Proofpoint price by mailbox count with volume tiers, which rises with seasonal headcount. Flat-fee platforms like DefendWise charge $399/month for unlimited seats regardless of how many seasonal or contract staff are added.
What is quishing and why does it spike during the holidays?
Quishing is a phishing attack delivered through a QR code instead of a link, and it spikes during the holidays because gift promotions and parking or delivery flyers routinely include real QR codes, making a fake one harder to spot.
Is smishing a bigger holiday risk than email phishing?
Smishing, phishing sent by text message, becomes a bigger relative risk during the holidays because package-delivery notifications are expected and routinely arrive by text, giving a fake delivery link more credibility than it would have in email.
Can MSPs white-label phishing simulation training for holiday campaigns?
Yes — platforms built for MSP delivery, including DefendWise, support white-labeled deployment across subclient tenants from a single dashboard, which matters most during a seasonal push touching every client at once.
Do free phishing simulation tools work for holiday campaigns?
Free tools like GoPhish can run holiday simulations, but they ship with no seasonal template library and no client reporting layer, so every campaign requires manual build time that paid platforms remove.
When should a holiday phishing simulation campaign launch?
Launch by early October 2026 so templates can be tested on a small group and refined before Black Friday traffic and seasonal hiring both spike at once.
One last thing
The template that gets the highest click rate in most 2026 holiday simulations isn't a fake invoice or a fake HR notice — it's a fake shipping delay with a tracking link, because it matches something every single employee is already expecting that week. Build that one first.