SoSafe vs NovaShield: Comparison for French SMBs

By Kaci, founder of NovaShield, Master's in Cybersecurity & Cloud from IPSSI. NovaShield is a registered provider on the Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr platform.

Estimated reading time: 10 min · Published August 12, 2026 · Updated August 12, 2026

SoSafe targets organizations of 500+ employees with an approach rooted in behavioral science, gamification, and a deployment accompanied by a dedicated Customer Success Manager. NovaShield aims for the opposite: an autonomous solution with transparent pricing for French SMBs with 50–500 employees who want to act quickly without a structured sales process.

Transparency note: This article was written by Kaci, founder of NovaShield. All data cited comes from publicly verifiable sources. We explicitly indicate cases where SoSafe is better suited than NovaShield.

Key Takeaways

• SoSafe (founded 2018, Cologne, $100M+ raised), European behavioral science leader, targets 500+ employees, 4,000+ clients
• G2 rating: approximately 4.5/5 (April 2026), well-reviewed but enterprise-positioned platform
• No public pricing, sales process with CSM, cycle of several weeks
• Germany hosting (Europe, GDPR), not France for French digital sovereignty requirements
• Scenarios designed for the DACH market, translated into French, not natively French
• NovaShield: SMBs 50–500 employees, native French scenarios, public pricing (Freemium free + Pro from €79/month), 15-min deployment
• SoSafe remains the best choice if you're a 500+ employee company with a security team, multilingual needs (30+ languages), and an enterprise budget

At-a-Glance Comparison

SoSafe Overview

SoSafe was founded in 2018 in Cologne, Germany, by Niklas Hellemann (PhD in psychology), Lukas Schaefer, and Felix Schürholz. This academic background shaped the company's positioning: applying behavioral science to cyber awareness. The founding idea is that classic training, annual slideshows, generic quizzes, doesn't sustainably change behavior.

The company has raised significant funding. According to Crunchbase, SoSafe completed a €73 million Series B in 2023, bringing total raised to over $100 million. Investors include Highland Europe, Global Founders Capital, and SAP Ventures.

The platform covers a broad scope: AI-personalized phishing simulations, gamified e-learning modules with narrative journeys, a reporting button (Phish Assist), a Human Risk Score, and compliance reporting tools (ISO 27001, NIS2, DORA), all available in 30+ languages.

SoSafe targets organizations of 500+ employees and claims 4,000+ clients, primarily in the DACH zone, with growing presence in France. On G2, the platform scores approximately 4.5/5.

What SoSafe Does Well

The Behavioral Science Approach

This is SoSafe's founding positioning, and it's more than a marketing argument. The platform structures its learning paths around behavioral psychology principles: nudges, positive reinforcement, spaced learning, contextual reminders. For organizations wanting to transform team habits beyond simple simulation campaigns, this is a differentiating angle.

E-Learning Gamification

SoSafe's training modules are designed to maintain long-term engagement: experience points, badges, team leaderboards, interactive narrative journeys. For large organizations training thousands of employees who face classic awareness program fatigue, gamification helps maintain participation.

Human Risk Score and Benchmarks

SoSafe offers a risk score per employee and per team, calculated from interactions with simulations and training modules. Sector benchmarks allow comparison with companies of similar size and industry, valuable reporting for executive conversations.

Multilingual Coverage

30+ languages supported with localized content. For a company operating in multiple European countries, this is a concrete advantage.

Automated Compliance

SoSafe developed compliance modules covering ISO 27001, NIS2, and DORA. The platform generates reports proving awareness programs are in place.

Phish Assist

The reporting button integrated into email clients (Outlook, Gmail) lets employees flag a suspicious email in one click, with automatic classification and immediate feedback.

SoSafe's Limits for French SMBs

Enterprise Pricing Positioning

SoSafe doesn't publish prices online. Prices are provided after a sales process including demo and needs assessment. Multiple G2 reviews mention a high pricing tier, with some evaluators noting the platform is "better suited for mid-to-large enterprises" due to cost.

German-First: Translated into French, Designed in Germany

SoSafe is a German company, and this shows in the product. Simulation scenarios reflect German and generic European contexts rather than specifically French situations. Fake Ameli emails, fake ANTAI fines, fake Chronopost notifications, IBAN fraud imitating a French supplier, scenarios that work in France because they reproduce real employee situations, are not the priority of a vendor whose primary market is Germany.

According to the CESIN 2024 barometer, phishing remains the top attack vector for 60% of French companies. A simulation's effectiveness depends directly on its plausibility.

Size Threshold That Excludes Smaller SMBs

SoSafe targets 500+ employee organizations. This isn't a technical threshold, it's a commercial one: below a certain number of users, revenue per client doesn't justify acquisition cost and structured onboarding. ANSSI's 2024 Cybermenace Panorama notes that SMBs have become priority targets precisely because they're less well-protected. SoSafe doesn't serve this segment.

Deployment Goes Through a CSM

SoSafe's model relies on structured client support with a dedicated Customer Success Manager, an advantage for large enterprises deploying a program at scale, but a slowdown factor for smaller structures.

Gamification: Advantage or Overhead?

For a 60-person SMB, platform richness can become an administrative burden: who selects the right modules, who configures paths by department, who tracks each employee's progress? What an SMB needs after a failed simulation is a short (3–5 minute), contextualized module that appears automatically at the right moment.

European Hosting, But Not French

SoSafe hosts data in Europe, primarily in Germany, GDPR-compliant, but not in France. For French companies with digital sovereignty requirements (public sector, defense contractors), "Europe" and "France" are not synonyms.

What NovaShield Aims to Do Differently

Native French, Not Translated from German

The stated goal: every scenario written in French, by French speakers, for French situations, fake Chronopost, Ameli, DGFiP, ANTAI, and real French supplier emails.

Public Pricing, Not a Sales Funnel

NovaShield publishes its pricing: free up to 50 employees (Freemium, no time limit), then from €79/month (Pro, 1–50 employees), up to €599/month for 501–1,000 employees. Monthly billing with no commitment, annual option at -13%.

15-Minute Deployment, No Intermediary

The stated goal: create an account, import users, launch a first campaign, no mandatory guided demo.

AI Email Verification for Employees

When an employee receives a suspicious email, they forward it to NovaShield and get a verdict: legitimate or suspicious, with an explanation of detected signals. SoSafe offers Phish Assist, a reporting button that alerts the admin. NovaShield aims to give an immediate response to the employee themselves.

Contextual Micro-Learning Instead of Gamified Paths

When an employee clicks a simulated phishing link, the goal is immediate redirection to a 3–5 minute micro-learning module adapted to the trap type, rather than a gamified course catalog to administer.

Data Hosted in France

NovaShield aims to store all data on French infrastructure, a certainty that SoSafe's European hosting doesn't provide at the same level for organizations with French sovereignty constraints.

Who Should Choose SoSafe or NovaShield?

Choose SoSafe if:

1. You're a 500+ employee company with a dedicated security budget and a training manager who can exploit a feature-rich platform.
2. You operate in multiple European countries and need a unified multilingual program in 30+ languages.
3. Behavioral science and gamification are selection criteria.
4. You want a complete e-learning platform covering ISO 27001, NIS2, and DORA.
5. You have the budget and time for a CSM-accompanied deployment.

Choose NovaShield if:

1. You're a French SMB with 50–500 employees looking for a right-sized solution.
2. Your employees are French-speaking and you want scenarios reflecting their daily French reality.
3. You want clear pricing without entering a sales funnel.
4. Your IT team is small and you need an operational tool quickly.
5. France hosting is a prerequisite.
6. You want AI email verification that helps employees identify threats themselves.

How to Migrate from SoSafe to NovaShield

1. Export your user list from SoSafe in CSV format: names, email addresses, departments.
2. Import into NovaShield. Create your account and import the CSV file.
3. Launch a baseline campaign. SoSafe historical data isn't transferable, but a new baseline is established from the first campaign.
4. Activate automatic training. Micro-learning paths trigger automatically based on each employee's results.

Is your SoSafe contract still active? Create a free Freemium account to test in parallel without technical conflict.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is SoSafe suitable for French SMBs?

SoSafe targets enterprise and mid-market (500+ employees). The platform is available in French but designed for organizations with a substantial awareness budget and security team. For an SMB of 50–200 people, the sales process and enterprise pricing are generally not adapted.

What does SoSafe cost?

SoSafe doesn't publish pricing. Prices are communicated after demo and needs assessment. NovaShield displays pricing publicly: free up to 50 employees (permanent Freemium), then from €79/month (Pro).

SoSafe or NovaShield: which to choose?

SoSafe is the right choice for an international enterprise with a large budget and multilingual needs. NovaShield targets French SMBs wanting realistic French-language scenarios, fast deployment, and predictable pricing.

Is data hosted in France with SoSafe?

No. SoSafe is a German company hosting data in Europe (Germany), GDPR-compliant but not in France. For companies with French sovereignty requirements, this distinction matters.

Does SoSafe offer French content?

Yes. SoSafe is available in 30+ languages, including French. But content is first designed in German or English then adapted, not natively created in French.

Sources

• G2 and Gartner Peer Insights for independent user reviews of SoSafe (approximately 4.5/5 on G2 in April 2026, search "SoSafe" on these platforms).
• SoSafe (sosafe-awareness.com) for product data and positioning.
• Funding: Crunchbase (€73M Series B, 2023, total $100M+).
• French business statistics: INSEE.
• French phishing statistics: CESIN Barometer 2024, ANSSI, Panorama de la cybermenace 2024.

This comparison does not constitute a contractual commitment and the features mentioned may have evolved since the writing date.

About the Author

Kaci is founder of NovaShield, with a Master's in Cybersecurity & Cloud from IPSSI. NovaShield is a registered provider on the Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr platform.

Find Kaci on LinkedIn