Intercom is $39/seat/mo (Essential). Pathfinder is a self-hosted alternative at $0.99/mo. Here's when each makes sense.
| Pathfinder | Intercom | |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | Self-hosted, your infra | Managed SaaS (cloud only) |
| Data location | Your server, your disk | Intercom's cloud |
| Free tier | 3 flows | Paid only |
| Pro pricing | $0.99/mo | $39/seat/mo (Essential) |
| Dependencies | None (single binary + SQLite) | N/A (managed) |
| Setup time | ~30 seconds | Account signup |
| Dashboard | Built-in at /ui | Cloud dashboard |
| License | BSL 1.1 | Proprietary SaaS |
Pathfinder is a single Go binary with embedded SQLite. Install it with one command, and you are running in under a minute. Your data stays on your server.
curl -fsSL https://stockyard.dev/pathfinder/install.sh | sh
The decision between Pathfinder and Intercom usually comes down to one question: do you need the breadth of features that Intercom offers, or would a focused tool that stays out of your way be a better fit? Intercom has spent years building an ecosystem around user onboarding. Pathfinder does one thing well and gives you complete control of the underlying data.
Pathfinder runs as a single static binary with an embedded SQLite database. There is no application server, no cache layer, no background worker. One process handles HTTP requests and reads from and writes to the database file directly. This simplicity is the entire point — fewer moving parts means fewer things that can break at 2 AM.
Moving from Intercom does not have to be all-or-nothing. Some teams run Pathfinder for new data while keeping Intercom as a read-only archive of historical records. The API makes it straightforward to build a sync script if you need both systems to reflect the same data during a transition period.
Single binary. Free to start. $0.99/mo for Pro.