Believe me the flashed ecu and Tactrix setup will be well worth it. What you tune with can blow up your engine instantly so it isn't something to be taken lightly. You can get engine management systems used but that's about as far as you want to go. I've been there before but tuning isn't one of those areas you want to take shortcuts.
I understand wanting to save some money where you can. There isn't anything else on the market with as many features available unless you get a used AEM EMS v1 for about the same price, but it won't be nearly as easy to use.
Once you tune with it the $800 for a complete setup cable included won't seem like a bad deal at all. If you haven't used chrome yet you won't truly appreciate everything it does. You can even sell your flashed ecu for $500+. Something like a used SAFC for $200 will get you probably where you need to go. Combined with our EcuFlash software, the OpenPort 2.0 is capable of reflashing a large number of newer for and for. You get what you pay for and if paying for a legitimate Tactrix product is something to sit on the fence about, then you really need to reconsider your mod path with your car. Features: Tactrix Openport 2.0 + ECUFLASH. Click to expand.Then that means Chrome is not for you.