The KnowBe4 Terms of Service are the online contract that governs access to and use of KnowBe4’s Subscription Services. The only exception is a customer with a fully executed master agreement with KnowBe4.[1] The Terms are accepted by clicking a box in the service, by executing a Quote that references them, or by using the services.[1] For licence management, they settle four questions. Who counts as a User. What happens when there are more Users than seats. When a seat can be given to someone else. How the commitment starts, renews and ends. This article goes through those rules in order, then covers the partner agreements that apply when KnowBe4 is bought through a managed service provider or reseller.
Editions
The Terms do not distinguish between product levels. The same rules apply to SAT Foundation, SAT Advanced, legacy levels, add-ons and the email security products bought after 2025-01-01. Levels and prices are covered in KnowBe4 security awareness training subscriptions.
Metrics
User
The Terms define a User as an individual authorized by the customer to use a Subscription Service, for whom the customer purchased a subscription, and to whom the customer has assigned a unique organizational email address on a domain the customer owns. Users may include employees, independent contractors and agents.[1] Catalog row: User (seat). Three counting consequences follow from the wording:
- One person, one seat. The unit is an individual with a unique address. A shared mailbox is not an individual, and one person with two addresses is still one individual. The Terms do not address either case directly (commentary).
- Business domains only. Seats may only be assigned to Users with unique business-domain addresses that the customer owns or is authorized to use by the domain owner.[1] Customers with several email domains add and verify each one on the account.[4] Catalog proof: Each User needs a unique organizational email address on a customer domain.
- Contractors count. Independent contractors and agents are Users when the customer authorizes them.[1] Catalog proof: Contractors and agents count as Users.
Usage-based services, as distinct from user-based ones, are subject to the usage limits in the Quote or Documentation.[1]
Counting / floors
The seat cap and continuous true-up
Section 3.2 limits user-based services to the number of Users paid for on the Quote. The customer is responsible for keeping Users within the purchased seats. If the count is exceeded, the customer “must promptly pay for additional Users or reduce the number of Users”.[1] There is no annual true-up window and no grace allowance: the obligation applies whenever the count is over. KnowBe4’s knowledge base adds that the console will not stop administrators from adding users over the purchased licences. A customer that needs more licences must contact its Customer Success Manager or Account Manager.[3] An Active Directory or SCIM sync that imports every mailbox can therefore create an overage without anyone noticing. Catalog proof: Users must not exceed purchased seats; excess must be paid or removed; The console does not block users beyond the purchased quantity.
Archiving and deleting
The knowledge base gives two ways to take a user out of the count. Archiving removes the user from the console and from campaigns, keeps the user available for reports, can be undone, and “will also prevent them from being counted in your licensed seats”. Deleting permanently removes the user and all phishing and training history.[2] Archiving is the method that keeps audit history. When a domain changes, archived accounts can be restored after the directory sync.[4] Catalog proof: Archived users do not count against licensed seats.
Reassignment
Customers may not freely reassign seats. Reassignment is allowed on “normal workforce attrition”, which the Terms define as a User’s account being terminated or removed because the User left the organization, or because the customer ended its contract with the User. All other reassignments need KnowBe4’s written approval.[1] A leaver’s seat can go to a new hire. Rotating a fixed pool of seats through a larger population, such as seasonal workers each trained for a few weeks, is outside the rule unless KnowBe4 approves it in writing. Catalog proof: Seats may be reassigned only on normal workforce attrition.
Additions, reductions and floors
- Users added during the term are co-terminous: they end on the same date as the current Subscription Term.[1]
- Unless the Quote says otherwise, fees are based on the services acquired, not on actual usage. Neither the term nor the quantities purchased can be decreased during the term.[1] Reductions only take effect at renewal. Catalog proof: Fees are for services acquired; quantities cannot be decreased during the term.
- Add-on quantities can be tied to the base subscription. Compliance Plus seats must equal KSAT seats, including seats added during the term.[10]
Worked example (commentary)
A customer bought 1,000 SAT seats on a 36-month Quote. In month 14 the console shows 1,080 active users: 40 leavers were never archived, and a SCIM sync imported 40 contractor mailboxes. Archiving the 40 leavers removes them from the licensed count.[2] The 40 contractors are Users if they were enrolled, because the definition includes independent contractors.[1] The customer then either buys 40 more seats, co-terminous with the Quote and so priced for the remaining 22 months, or archives the contractors.[1] Any Compliance Plus subscription must grow by the same 40 seats.[10]
Virtualization & partitioning
Not applicable. The Terms license Users, not devices, hosts or processors.[1]
Cloud / BYOL
The licence grant (s.3.1) is a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-assignable right to access the Subscription Services in the Quote. It is for the customer’s internal organizational use only and not for resale or publication, within the usage limits in the Documentation or the Quote. Where downloads are enabled, Software and Training Content are licensed, not sold.[1] A customer that hosts content in its own or a third party’s LMS must bind that third party to substantially the same protection. When the term ends, it must remove all Training Content from the LMS.[1] Catalog proof: Access is for internal organizational use only, not resale; Training Content must be removed from any LMS at the end of the term.
Programs
Evaluation
A Limited Access Account is granted solely for internal evaluation. It runs until the expiration date in the activation email or, if none is given, for 30 days after acceptance or first access. It can be extended by mutual written agreement, including by email. No fees are due unless specified, and the service comes as-is, without support, warranties or indemnity. Data may be permanently lost when the period ends.[1] Catalog proof: Evaluation access ends after 30 days unless another date is set.
Managed service providers
The MSP program lets an MSP buy Subscription Services and sell them with its managed services per seat, subject to the Terms of Service. The MSP’s customers are bound by the Terms, including auto-renewal.[5] The MSP Agreement defines Seats as “the number of Users allowed access to the Subscription Services at any given time”. The MSP may not interchange Seats with its customers. It may reassign Seats to a new customer only when its contract with the previous customer ends, and it must document compliance on first request. Every seat or domain add-on needs separate KnowBe4 approval.[5] Catalog proof: MSP seats cannot be interchanged between customers.
The Standards of Engagement, which form part of the MSP Agreement, require the MSP to run the console on the customer’s behalf; the customer gets no administrative access. Subscriptions can never be bought under a bulk subscription and passed to a customer to manage. A customer subscription cannot later be moved under a bulk subscription. The MSP’s own internal-use subscription must be bought separately.[6] The Partner Dashboard shows bulk purchased seats against bulk active users across managed accounts.[7] Catalog proof: Bulk MSP subscriptions cannot be handed to customers to manage.
Resellers
Under the Reseller program, resellers buy from KnowBe4 and resell per seat under the Terms of Service. They must meet the minimum seat licence, revenue and retention thresholds set in the Partner Portal, and KnowBe4 may audit their compliance.[8] For the end customer, payment terms follow its agreement with the Channel Partner. That agreement does not bind KnowBe4, and renewal still follows s.5.2.[1] Catalog proof: KnowBe4 may audit reseller and MSP compliance.
Contract terms
| Topic | Rule (Terms of Service, 2025-12-16) |
|---|---|
| Commitment | The customer is committed to the full purchase, whatever the payment split, from the earliest of a signed Quote, an attached Quote on execution, payment, or failure to send a non-renewal notice. All sales are final.[1] |
| Price validity | Quoted fees apply for the period in the Quote, or 30 calendar days if none is specified. Prices may increase, or change when services are added or upgraded mid-term.[1] |
| Payment | Net 30 days from invoice. Undisputed late amounts carry interest of 1.5% per month, charged after 15 days’ notice.[1] |
| Renewal | Automatic, for a period equal to the prior term, unless written notice is given at least 30 days before the end. KnowBe4 may also decline to renew.[1] |
| Termination for convenience | Customer: 30 days’ notice, with no reimbursement or relief of future payments. KnowBe4: 30 days’ notice, with a prorated refund.[1] |
| Acceleration | If a fixed-term Quote is terminated by the customer without cause, or by KnowBe4 for cause, all remaining recurring fees become immediately due.[1] |
| After termination | Use of the services and Training Content stops immediately. Copies are returned or destroyed, with certification on request. Customer Data may be deleted under the retention schedule.[1] |
| Affiliates | The customer is jointly and severally liable for Affiliates that use its subscription.[1] |
| Assignment | The Agreement can go to an Affiliate or a successor in a merger without consent. Previously purchased licences, access rights and User seats cannot be transferred without KnowBe4’s written consent.[1] |
| Governing law | Depends on domicile. Florida (Hillsborough County) for the Americas except Brazil. The Netherlands for most of EMEA. Germany for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. England and Wales for the UK and South Africa. Victoria for Australia, New Zealand and Oceania. Japan, Brazil, and Singapore for the rest of Asia-Pacific.[1] |
| Service levels | A 99.9% monthly uptime target. Service credits of one, three, five or ten days by availability band, claimed by ticket within one business day; free, trial, beta and early access use is excluded.[9] |
Catalog proof: A signed Quote commits the customer to the full purchase; Subscriptions auto-renew for the prior term unless notice is given 30 days before the end; Termination for convenience does not release future fees; Seats do not move with an assignment to an Affiliate without consent; Governing law and venue depend on the customer's domicile; Downtime below 99.9% earns service credits in days.
The renewal clause matters most for planning. A 36-month Quote renews for another 36 months unless the Quote says otherwise, and missing the 30-day notice deadline counts as a committed purchase under s.2.1.[1] Seat reductions can only be made at renewal, so the notice deadline is also the last date to reduce quantities.
Audits and compliance
KnowBe4 reserves the right to monitor usage and provide usage reports. On request, the customer must certify its compliance with s.3.2.[1] The Terms give no on-site or third-party audit right against end customers. The partner agreements do give KnowBe4 an audit right over MSPs and resellers.[5][8] Because KnowBe4 hosts the service, it sees the same active-user count as the customer. A self-certification should reconcile the Quote quantity against the console’s active (non-archived) users.[2] Catalog proof: KnowBe4 may monitor usage and require a compliance certification. See software license audit.
Out of scope
- Negotiated master agreements and Quote-specific terms, which prevail over the online Terms.[1]
- Data protection addenda, the Business Associate Agreement, and country-specific provisions other than governing law.
- Professional Services, which are governed by a statement of work and do not auto-renew.[1]