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Pathly

pathly.com

From $199/mo Free plan Web
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Spec score 8.4 #5 of 29 in Career Guidance Software

What it is

Pathly is a web-based college and career readiness platform for students, counselors, schools, districts, and independent educational consultants. Students can take personality, EQ, and values assessments, then receive AI career matches from more than 1,000 possibilities. They can build roadmaps with monthly and weekly milestones, track progress, and adjust plans. An AI mentor offers guidance on next steps, course selection, and application deadlines. Counselors can view assessment results, career recommendations, progress signals, and conversation starters, but cannot see students' AI conversations unless students choose to share them. Pathways include college, trade, apprenticeship, certification, and entrepreneurship. The counselor page lists nearly 1,000 careers, more than 4,800 colleges and other training paths, over 2,000 scholarships, and more than 400 free courses. Student accounts remain free. Counselor plans start at $199 per month for Solo, which includes one seat and 15 active students; the seven-day trial requires a payment card and converts to a paid subscription unless canceled before it ends. Pathly says data is encrypted in transit and at rest, stored in US data centers, and not intentionally transferred internationally.

Spec sheet

What it does
Pathly is an AI college and career readiness platform for discovering careers, building personalized roadmaps and taking next steps.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Audience
Pathly says it serves students, school counselors, schools and districts, and independent educational consultants.Read 2 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Integrations
The published Enterprise plan mentions future-ready API and integration support, but no public API reference or SDK is provided.Read 15 Oct 2026 · app.pathly.com
Support
Counselor support is email on Solo, priority on Group and dedicated on Enterprise.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Headquarters
South Carolina, United StatesRead 28 Sep 2026 · pathly.com
AI limitation
The Terms warn that AI output is guidance that can be wrong and should be checked with the relevant school, program or provider.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
AI mentor
Students can chat with an AI mentor around the clock about courses, deadlines, careers and encouragement.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
AI privacy
Pathly says AI providers receive limited context, are not allowed to train on platform data and do not receive student email addresses or full conversation histories.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
AI providers
Pathly lists OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Cloud, and Perplexity as AI providers, and says providers are not permitted to train models on platform data.Read 2 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
API processing
Pathly calls third-party AI services by API for conversational guidance and recommendation retrieval.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Audiences
The service serves students, school counselors, schools and districts, and independent educational consultants.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Availability limitation
Pathly does not promise uninterrupted access and says maintenance, updates and outages can occur.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Career assessments
Students can take personality, emotional-intelligence, values and RIASEC assessments, generally described as taking under 15 minutes.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Career exploration
The platform offers personality, EQ, and values assessments and AI career matches from more than 1,000 possibilities.Read 2 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Career library
The public Career Library contains 923 careers and can be browsed without an account.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Career matching
The platform matches assessment traits to more than 1,000 career possibilities and uses labor-market information.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Company activity
Pathly's LinkedIn page says nearly 1,000 students were using the service after its first year and mentions backing from an SCRA startup grant.Read 15 Oct 2026 · linkedin.com
Compliance position
The Terms say Pathly is built to FERPA standards and designed to support COPPA, PPRA and applicable state student-privacy requirements.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Counselor dashboard
Counselors receive live progress, assessment, exploration and roadmap signals, plus follow-up tasks and conversation preparation.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Counselor features
Counselors can view assessment results, AI-matched career recommendations, student progress signals, and conversation starters.Read 2 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Counselor visibility
Counselors cannot see students’ AI conversations or individual messages; the policy says students choose whether to share conversation content.Read 2 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Data coverage
The counselor page lists nearly 1,000 careers, more than 4,800 colleges and training pathways, over 2,000 scholarships and over 400 courses.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Data location
Pathly says platform data is processed and stored in United States regions, with limited possible foreign access for support or security operations.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Data security
Pathly says it encrypts data in transit and at rest, uses row-level security and role-based access control, requires multifactor authentication for administrative production access, and logs administrative access.Read 2 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Documentation
Public documentation consists mainly of product pages, legal policies, a data inventory and a subprocessor list; no developer documentation portal is listed.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Education options
Exploration includes colleges, trade schools, certifications, apprenticeships, entrepreneurship, military service and direct employment.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Education resources
The counselor page lists nearly 1,000 careers, more than 4,800 colleges and other training paths, over 2,000 scholarships, and more than 400 free courses.Read 2 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Independent award news
YoCo News reported that Pathly was one of 18 finalists for the 2026 South Carolina InnoVision Awards and the only finalist from York or Lancaster counties.Read 15 Oct 2026 · yoconews.com
Independent founder fact
About.me identifies Grace Brusky as a co-founder building Pathly to address a student guidance gap in planning after high school.Read 15 Oct 2026 · about.me
Independent funding signal
SCRA's news page lists Pathly among companies accepted as SCRA member companies in an April 14, 2026 update.Read 15 Oct 2026 · scra.org
Independent privacy caveat
YoCo News noted that Pathly's COPPA, FERPA and zero-retention statements were company representations and that it cited no independent audit.Read 15 Oct 2026 · yoconews.com
Independent product description
YoCo News described Pathly as an AI guidance platform using personality, values and emotional-intelligence assessments to match students with more than 1,000 careers.Read 15 Oct 2026 · yoconews.com
Independent security signal
Scamadviser reported a valid SSL certificate for pathly.com but also characterized its traffic ranking as low.Read 15 Oct 2026 · scamadviser.com
Licence
The public Terms and Trust Center identify the service operator and usage terms but do not identify an open-source licence.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Notable news
Pathly announced on August 28, 2026 that it was a 2026 South Carolina InnoVision Awards finalist.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Rating on LinkedIn
LinkedIn shows the company with 2–10 employees, founded in 2025, headquartered in the Charlotte Metro and privately held.Read 15 Oct 2026 · linkedin.com
Roadmaps
Pathly creates customizable roadmaps with weekly or monthly milestones covering coursework, skills and credentials.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Security controls
Pathly states that it uses TLS 1.2 or higher, AES-256 or equivalent encryption, row-level security, role-based access and MFA for production administration.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Self-hosting
The public legal, pricing and product pages describe a hosted web service and provide no self-hosting deployment option.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
SOC 2 limitation
Pathly says its infrastructure and AI vendors have SOC 2 Type II or comparable attestations, while Pathly itself does not currently hold a SOC 2 Type II attestation.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
SOC 2 status
Pathly says its infrastructure and AI subprocessors have SOC 2 Type II or comparable attestations, while Pathly itself does not currently hold a SOC 2 Type II attestation.Read 2 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Subprocessors
The disclosed subprocessors include Supabase, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Cloud, Perplexity, PostHog, Resend, Sentry and Stripe.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Supported pathways
Pathly supports college, trade, apprenticeship, certification, and entrepreneurship pathways.Read 2 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Trial terms
The counselor trial lasts seven days, requires a payment card, and converts to a paid subscription unless canceled before it ends; Enterprise trials are unavailable.Read 2 Oct 2026 · pathly.com

Plans and prices

Students Free Assessments · recommendations · roadmaps · AI guidance Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Students Free Free for students Student accounts remain free; counselor plans do not gate student access Read 2 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Solo $199 a month $199 per month; annual billing is discounted 20% and charged in advance 1 counselor seat · 15 active students · extra students $13/student/month · private dashboard · assessment and roadmap oversight · college, scholarship and pathway visibility · shareable summaries · email support Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Group $599 a month $599 per month; annual billing is discounted 20% and charged in advance 3 counselor seats · 50 active students · extra students $11/student/month · shared dashboard · role-based access · centralized tracking · reports · branded progress reports · family exports · bulk onboarding · priority support Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com
Enterprise Priced on request Custom volume pricing; annual billing available at a 20% discount 4+ counselor seats · 50+ active students · multi-office support · centralized administration · advanced analytics · dedicated onboarding · future-ready API and integration support Read 15 Oct 2026 · pathly.com

Every Pathly plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Student accounts remain free
  • Roadmaps include monthly and weekly milestones
  • Supports trade, apprenticeship, and certification pathways
  • Counselors can view student progress signals

Limits

  • Solo costs $199 per month
  • Counselor trial requires a payment card
  • Trial converts to paid unless canceled

Who it suits

Pathly suits students planning education or career steps and counselors who want visibility into progress and career recommendations. It supports school-based and independent counseling audiences as well as several non-college pathways.

Pathly in depth

Read the full write-up

Overview

Pathly connects career exploration with student planning and counselor progress views. It suits schools and independent counselors who want students to consider several routes after school and turn those interests into next steps. The trade-off is that counselors pay for capacity and seats while student accounts remain free.

Key features

Personality, EQ, and values assessments feed AI career matches across more than 1,000 possibilities. That breadth can give undecided students useful starting points, but matches are prompts for exploration, not a decision on a student’s behalf. Pathly supports college, trade, apprenticeship, certification, and entrepreneurship pathways, making it a broader fit than a college-only planning tool.

Roadmaps break plans into monthly and weekly milestones; students can track progress and revise them. This helps connect an initial career interest to concrete activity. The AI mentor is available 24/7 for guidance on next steps, course selection, and application deadlines, though it does not replace counselor judgment.

Counselors can see assessment results, career recommendations, progress signals, and conversation starters. They cannot see students’ AI conversations or individual messages unless students choose to share them. That boundary protects student privacy, but makes Pathly a poor fit for programs that require staff to monitor those exchanges.

Counselor resources include nearly 1,000 careers, more than 4,800 colleges and other training paths, over 2,000 scholarships, and more than 400 free courses. Pathly names OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Cloud, and Perplexity as AI providers and says they cannot train models on platform data. It describes encryption in transit and at rest, row-level security, role-based access, multifactor authentication for administrative production access, and administrative access logs. Its infrastructure and AI subprocessors have SOC 2 Type II or comparable attestations, but Pathly itself does not hold a SOC 2 Type II attestation. Data is processed and stored in US data centers and is not intentionally transferred internationally.

Pricing

The Students plan is free, and student accounts remain free regardless of counselor subscription. It is the straightforward choice for students using Pathly through a counselor or school; it does not provide a separately priced counselor seat.

Solo costs $199 per month for one seat and 15 active students, with email support targeting a response within two business days. Each additional student costs $13 per month. This is aimed at an individual counselor with a manageable caseload; the per-student charge matters if enrollment rises, and the support target is not a guarantee.

Group costs $599 per month for three seats and 50 active students, with additional students at $11 per month and priority email support targeting a response within one business day. The larger allowance and lower extra-student rate suit a small counseling team, but the higher base price is difficult to justify for a single counselor who does not need three seats.

Enterprise has custom pricing, with four or more seats, at least 50 active students, custom volume pricing, a dedicated contact, and onboarding. It is the fit for larger organizations seeking that support arrangement; smaller practices can choose a defined seat and student allowance instead.

The counselor trial lasts seven days, requires a payment card, and converts to a paid subscription unless canceled before it ends. Enterprise trials are unavailable. Counselors should calendar the cancellation deadline rather than assume the trial ends without a charge.

Platforms

Pathly runs on the web. That suits browser-based school and counselor access, but readers looking specifically for a mobile app should consider an alternative.

Who it's for

Pathly is best suited to counselors, schools, districts, and independent educational consultants who want career exploration, multiple pathway options, student milestones, and counselor-facing progress signals in one platform. It is less suitable for organizations that require counselors to read students’ AI messages or need a mobile app.

Pros and cons

Pro: Students can explore more than 1,000 career matches and plan across college, trades, apprenticeships, certification, and entrepreneurship, rather than being steered toward a single education route.

Pro: Students keep free accounts even when counselors pay, avoiding a separate student subscription charge.

Pro: Counselor views surface progress and recommendations without exposing private AI conversations by default.

Con: Counselor subscriptions start at $199 per month, and Solo covers only one seat and 15 active students before extra monthly charges.

Con: The seven-day trial needs a payment card and renews unless canceled; the cancellation deadline is easy to miss.

Con: Pathly itself lacks a SOC 2 Type II attestation, and counselors cannot monitor individual AI messages.

Alternatives

Browse Career Guidance Software for the broader category. Choose PeopleHawk instead if you want Android or iOS access, or a free 30-minute Ireland and UK readiness test with an estimated score, percentile, and personalized feedback. Pathful is another freemium option, with apps for iOS, macOS, and Windows as well as web access; its platform pricing is not public and it offers a guided walkthrough.

BridgeU is worth considering for schools seeking a free web service with no annual license fees, per-student charges, or subscription renewals; access is arranged through BridgeU. For individual career exploration, CareerExplorer offers a free assessment and an optional membership billed annually. CareerOneStop is a free web and API option for online tools, information, and resources.

Kuder Navigator is a paid alternative for readers considering an Android, iOS, or web product. MAPP Career Assessment offers a free account and a one-time $149.95 Executive Package with a 22+ page report, top ten job areas, and 72 worker trait codes. Morrisby is a paid alternative with Android, iOS, and web access and a £25 per person one-time Profile assessment.

Verdict

Choose Pathly if you are a counselor or education organization that wants students to move from broad career exploration into milestones while keeping student accounts free. Its strongest reason to buy is the combination of varied pathways, roadmaps, and counselor progress views. Look elsewhere if the starting counselor price, trial-renewal terms, mobile access, or lack of counselor visibility into AI messages conflicts with how your program works.

Verdict

Pathly pairs student planning tools with counselor views while keeping student accounts free. Counselor subscriptions start at $199 per month, and the trial terms require attention before the seven days end.

Where Specifiction places it

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