Figment vs AlexHost: Mac Hosting Compared

Direct verdict

If you need a Mac to work on now, start with Figment and request a configuration. The AlexHost Apple M1 dedicated server page we read on 2026-11-10 lists one Apple M1 plan at €65/month with specs (M1, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, 1 Gbps shared, 1 IPv4) and two further tiers (Apple M2 and Apple M2 Pro) with no specs and no price. All three tiers display a "Coming Soon…" label, and the page's own tagline reads "Fast setup. Incredible M1 Speed. No long-term contracts." The quote we read does not confirm current order availability, so €65 is a headline you should confirm directly with AlexHost sales before you plan around it.

Figment's practical options:

• Virtual Intel macOS VM — $29/month. 2 vCPU, 8 GiB RAM, 80 GiB disk. It is a real Intel macOS environment on Linux/KVM with browser-console access, no GPU acceleration and no audio. Commands run inside the VM's own terminal, and outbound CI agents (GitHub Actions, GitLab, Buildkite, Jenkins) can register from the VM to your service. Inbound public SSH is not part of the current offer.
• i3 Mac — $49/month. Physical Intel; requests collected until supply is confirmed.
• M-series Mac — from $95/month. Apple silicon on request; the exact chip generation, RAM and disk are confirmed in the quote. Do not assume an M4 or a particular memory tier at the entry price.
• Managed Build Mac — $249/month. One M-series Mac with CI setup, backups, monitoring and 30 minutes of monthly support.
• Managed Mac Team — $999/month. Two M-series Macs, two CI runners, team setup, backups, monitoring and one hour of monthly support.

At the European Central Bank reference rate on 2026-11-10 (1 EUR = 1.1214 USD), €65 is approximately $72.89/month before any card, VAT or wire fees. That makes AlexHost's listed M1 cheaper on paper than Figment's $95 M-series entry by about $22.11/month — an entry-price gap between two different hardware tiers (M1 8 GB vs an unspecified Figment M-series configuration), not evidence of equal hardware. Figment's $29 Intel VM undercuts both numbers, but only for Intel work.

Published plans, terms and a dated cost

What the AlexHost page publishes, per our fetch:

The AlexHost page offers billing periods of 1, 3, 6 and 12 months and states "No long-term contracts." The quote we read does not publish an uptime SLA, a setup fee, a trial, a refund term or an annual prepayment discount for these Apple plans. VAT, if applicable to your jurisdiction, is shown only in the AlexHost order flow, which we did not transact. Treat €65 as a pre-tax monthly figure until the cart proves otherwise.

Figment's Apple silicon offers, for monthly billing:

Figment's published plans are monthly; a prepaid annual term is not part of this quoted list. Ask for a quote if you need a longer commitment or guaranteed stock. We do not publish a free trial or an uptime SLA for these plans.

Hardware, access and toolchain fit

AlexHost Apple M1 (if and when it opens). Apple M1, 8 GB unified memory, 256 GB SSD, 1 Gbps shared, one IPv4. Per Apple's Xcode system requirements, an Apple silicon Mac on macOS Tahoe 26.6 or later can run Xcode 27.x; Xcode 26.x pairs with macOS Sequoia 15.6 up to Tahoe 26.x (26.4.1, 26.5 and 26.6 require Tahoe 26.2+); Xcode 16.x covers Sonoma 14.5 through Sequoia 15.x (16.3 needs 15.2+, 16.4 extends to Tahoe 26.1.x). visionOS development requires Apple silicon, which the M1 satisfies. The real constraint on this box is memory: 8 GB unified RAM is tight for a parallel Xcode build with a Simulator running, large SwiftPM graphs or heavy derived data.

Figment M-series. Apple silicon Mac running a current supported macOS, provisioned to the chip, RAM and disk confirmed in your quote. Size the plan against your build before paying.

Figment virtual Intel macOS VM ($29). Use it where Intel is the actual requirement — for example, an Xcode 26 or Xcode 16 row against a legacy macOS/iOS target, or an Intel Homebrew bottle. It is not an Apple silicon Mac, so Xcode 27 and visionOS targets need an M-series Mac; GPU-accelerated and audio workloads also belong on physical hardware. Keep Apple's licence separate from the technical capability: using macOS on any provider still obliges you to meet Apple's terms.

A buyer-specific cost tool for the AlexHost decision

Because the AlexHost quote we read is marked Coming Soon, the useful comparison is the cost of waiting versus starting now on Figment and switching later if AlexHost's spec and availability work for you. Fill in your own assumptions and the arithmetic falls out:

• P = total months you will run a Mac before shipping = ____
• W = months you will wait on AlexHost before orders open (0 if already open when you read this) = ____
• F = Figment monthly you would choose ($29 Intel VM, $49 i3, $95 M-series, $249 Managed Build, $999 Managed Team) = ____
• A = AlexHost monthly in USD at today's ECB rate = €65 × 1.1214 ≈ $72.89 (re-check at purchase)
• M = one-off migration time cost (hours × your rate) = ____

Then:

• Total if you switch at month W = F × W + A × (P − W) + M.
• Total if you stay on Figment = F × P.

Switch when the switch total is smaller by more than your risk margin.

Worked example — P = 6, W = 3, F = $95, A = $72.89, M = $0:

• Stay on Figment M-series for 6 months: 6 × $95 = $570.00.
• Switch at month 3: 3 × $95 + 3 × $72.89 = $285.00 + $218.67 = $503.67.
• Savings versus staying: $66.33 over 6 months, before any VAT and before migration time.
• Figment Intel VM for 6 months, where your toolchain allows it: 6 × $29 = $174.00 (not like-for-like with Apple silicon).

If AlexHost launches late (W = 5), the switch total is 5 × $95 + 1 × $72.89 = $547.89, and the saving versus Figment-only shrinks to $22.11 over 6 months — one month of invoice friction may eat it. Re-run with your own P, W and M before committing, and plug in the ECB rate on the day of purchase.

Portable setup so switching is cheap later

Treat your Figment machine as disposable from day one. Then moving to AlexHost — or anywhere else — is an afternoon, not a project.

• Keep all source, CI config and Fastlane lanes in git. Nothing important lives only on the host.
• Use Fastlane Match for signing: certificates and provisioning profiles are stored encrypted in a git repo and restored on any Mac with fastlane match. Export developer certificates as encrypted .p12 with a passphrase handled through your secret manager; provisioning profiles are files on disk under ~/Library/MobileDevice/Provisioning Profiles/, not Keychain exports.
• Maintain a Brewfile and replay it with brew bundle on the new host.
• Keep secret names in your repo (for example .env.example); restore values from your secret manager on the new host. Never scp a plaintext .env that may contain App Store Connect keys or signing passphrases.
• Register CI runners from configuration files, not from a hand-clicked UI, so repointing a runner is a diff.

Choose the Figment plan

Request a configuration quote at /mac-hosting/start and we will confirm chip, RAM, disk and delivery before you pay.

Related reading:

• Figment vs Aqua Ray
• Figment vs Balhost
• Cloud Mac or Office Mac: How to Decide