The best security awareness platform with a phishing report button in 2026 is Cyber Aware — a report-a-phish button in the portal plus Outlook and Gmail add-ins, with every report logged and matched against your simulation calendar. KnowBe4 is the pick when you want a dedicated threat-analysis engine around the button, Hornetsecurity bundles a Catch Phish plugin into its Microsoft 365 suite, and Huntress runs reporting inside a fully managed programme you never configure. A report button is the single highest-leverage feature in awareness training: it converts every suspicious email from a risk into a data point, and platforms that celebrate reporters beat platforms that only punish clickers.
TL;DR
- Cyber Aware pairs a portal report button with Outlook and Gmail add-ins — every report logged and surfaced.
- KnowBe4's PhishER Plus adds a dedicated queue for analysing reported emails.
- Hornetsecurity ships a Catch Phish plugin inside its Microsoft 365 bundle.
- Huntress runs reporting inside a fully managed programme — zero admin work.
- Rewarding reporters matters as much as the button itself.
Why this matters
Most phishing never reaches the security team because reporting it takes effort: forward to an address nobody remembers, wait, hear nothing. A one-click report button removes the friction, and the change is measurable — reports rise, real incidents surface faster, and the reporting rate becomes a leading indicator of programme health. Click rate tells you who got fooled; report rate tells you who is actively defending.
The platforms that get the most from the button share one habit: they close the loop. The reporter hears that they were right, the report is matched against scheduled simulations so genuine suspicion is not double-counted as a click, and reporting is celebrated rather than ignored. A button without a feedback loop decays into shelfware within a quarter.
What makes the best report button
Five criteria separate a real reporting workflow from a logo on a ribbon:
- Placement. The button must live where staff already are — Outlook, Gmail and the learner portal — not only in a web form.
- Zero-effort matching. A reported email that is actually this month's simulation should be recognised automatically, not penalised as a false positive.
- Feedback loop. Reporters get acknowledgement and, ideally, a small win — congrats, score, leaderboard credit.
- Admin visibility. Who reported what, trending over time, exportable for client or auditor reporting.
- Follow-through. A genuine threat report should route somewhere: analysis, coaching, or an incident workflow.
Report-button platforms at a glance
| Platform | Best for | Reporting approach | Key limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cyber Aware | Australian SMEs and MSPs | Portal button + Outlook/Gmail add-ins, reports matched against simulations | No standalone threat-analysis queue — reporting feeds training and reporting, not a SOC tool |
| KnowBe4 | Dedicated email analysis | PhishER Plus queues, prioritises and dispositions reported email | PhishER Plus is a separately priced add-on |
| Hornetsecurity | Microsoft 365 bundles | Catch Phish plugin alongside simulated phishing | Plugin evaluated as part of the 365 Total Protection suite |
| Huntress SAT | Fully managed programmes | Reporting handled inside managed monthly campaigns | You do not configure or own the reporting workflow |
| Manual forwarding | Any budget | Staff forward suspicious email to IT | Depends on staff remembering an address; no matching or metrics |
1. Cyber Aware: best for turning reports into training
Cyber Aware's approach wires reporting directly into the training engine: a report-a-phish button in the learner portal plus Outlook and Gmail add-ins, every report logged and surfaced, and — via Microsoft's report-phishing integration — every reported email matched against your simulation calendar. A learner who reports this month's simulation gets the congrats flow instead of a shaming email, and reporting data feeds the same human risk reporting layer as clicks and completions.
Cyber Aware pros:
- Button plus Outlook and Gmail add-ins covers staff wherever they already read email.
- Reported simulations are matched automatically — reporters are never false positives.
- Reporting is celebrated: congrats emails and visible reporting counts sit next to click counts.
- Reports feed per-learner dashboards and branded client reports without extra admin work.
Cyber Aware cons:
- No dedicated threat-analysis queue: a genuinely malicious reported email feeds training and reporting, not a SOC-style dispositions workflow.
- Reporting depth is programme-level; there is no standalone PhishER-style incident product.
Best for: SMEs and MSPs who want reporting rates to rise and feed the programme, not a separate security tool.
2. KnowBe4: best for analysing what gets reported
KnowBe4 separates the button from the analysis: its email client add-ins feed PhishER Plus, a dedicated product that queues reported email, prioritises by likelihood of threat and lets a team disposition each message. For organisations where reported email genuinely needs triage — and where someone will staff that queue — it is the deepest workflow in the category.
KnowBe4 pros:
- PhishER Plus gives reported email a real analysis and disposition workflow.
- Prioritisation keeps the dangerous messages at the top of the queue.
- Add-ins integrate with the Microsoft and Google ecosystems cleanly.
KnowBe4 cons:
- PhishER Plus is a separately priced add-on; the base subscription's reporting workflow is thinner.
- A triage queue needs a person — small teams buy workflow they cannot staff.
Best for: teams with a real inbox-triage function that wants reported email analysed, not just counted.
3. Hornetsecurity: best bundled reporting in Microsoft 365
Hornetsecurity pairs its Simulated Phishing module with a Catch Phish plugin for Outlook, so reporting lives one click from the ribbon. Because the whole thing ships inside 365 Total Protection, the reported email also sits next to the vendor's email-security stack — context a training-only tool lacks.
Hornetsecurity pros:
- Catch Phish plugin puts reporting in the Outlook ribbon natively.
- Suite context: reported mail sits beside the email-security products analysing the same threats.
- Bundled evaluation — no separate buying process for the button.
Hornetsecurity cons:
- No white-label claim for the plugin experience specifically.
- Suite bundling means reporting features compete with the wider roadmap.
Best for: Microsoft 365 shops already standardising on the Hornetsecurity suite.
4. Huntress SAT: best reporting you never configure
Huntress runs the programme end-to-end — its researchers design, schedule and operate monthly phishing campaigns, and reporting behaviour is handled inside that managed service with Phishing Defense Coaching for staff who click. Reporting data flows to MSPs through the same platform that bills their clients.
Huntress pros:
- Zero configuration: reporting workflows arrive with the managed service.
- Coaching for clickers pairs with reporting recognition for the vigilant.
- Reports sync into MSP billing and management tools natively.
Huntress cons:
- You do not control or customise the reporting workflow.
- Tiers start at the 50-99 learner band on a 12-month term.
Best for: teams that want the whole programme — button included — run for them.
5. Manual forwarding: the free fallback that still works
The no-platform baseline: publish a reporting address, ask staff to forward suspicious email, and reply to every report. It works at small scale and costs nothing, but there is no matching, no metrics and no trend line — and the first unacknowledged report teaches staff to stop bothering.
Manual forwarding pros:
- Free and immediate; works with any email system.
- A fast human reply can outperform any automated acknowledgement.
Manual forwarding cons:
- No automatic matching, reporting rates or exportable evidence.
- Depends entirely on one person remembering to answer.
Best for: very small teams not yet ready for a platform — start here, then measure.
How we ranked
Rankings weigh workflow depth at the price point: a button staff actually press, matching that never punishes a reporter, and follow-through that keeps the loop closed. Vendor facts come from each vendor's public materials as reviewed in our 2026 buyer's guide.
FAQ
What is a phishing report button? A one-click control in the email client or learner portal that sends a suspicious email to the security team or platform without forwarding. It removes the friction that keeps most phishing unreported.
Which security awareness platforms have a report button? Cyber Aware (portal button plus Outlook and Gmail add-ins), KnowBe4 (add-ins feeding PhishER Plus), Hornetsecurity (Catch Phish plugin) and Huntress (inside its managed programme) all publish one. Confirm placement in your specific email client during any trial.
Do report buttons really improve security? Yes — reporting is the behaviour that surfaces real attacks fastest. Click rates fall, report rates rise as a programme matures, and a rising report rate with a falling click rate is the signature of a workforce actively defending.
What happens when a learner reports a simulated phishing email? On Cyber Aware the reported email is matched against your simulation calendar, so the learner gets a congrats flow rather than a click penalty. Platforms without matching may double-count the report as a failure.
Can staff see their own reporting history? Yes on Cyber Aware — learners see their phishing simulation history on a private dashboard in the end-user portal, while org-wide results stay admin-only.
Is a report button enough without training? No. The button captures the outcome, but training on a steady cadence is what changes the instinct. The two work as a pair: lessons raise detection, the button captures what detection finds.
One last thing
Measure the ratio, not the raw count: reports per click is the single best health metric of a phishing programme. When it climbs past one — staff reporting more than they click — your button and your culture are both working.