Figment vs CloudMac: Mac Hosting Compared

Direct verdict: CloudMac's cheapest published Mac is $99.99/month for an M4 / 16 GB / 256 GB mini, or $999/year prepaid — about $83.25 effective monthly (cloudmac.org/pricing). Figment's M-series from $95/month is the cheapest published monthly entry on the Figment side, but the exact chip, RAM and disk are confirmed at quote rather than on a catalog page. Start a Figment request at /mac-hosting/start.

$95 and $99.99 are not the same spec row. CloudMac's $99.99 is a specific M4 / 16 GB / 256 GB mini. Figment's $95 is an unspecified M-series entry — ask for the chip, RAM, disk and access level in writing before treating the two prices as equal.

What CloudMac Publishes

CloudMac rents dedicated Apple silicon Macs from a European data centre. The pricing page lists one standard tier with three storage options, all at the same monthly rate, plus billing-cycle tabs for daily, weekly, 6-month and yearly terms:

CloudMac's homepage advertises $999/year for the base M4 mini. Pro and Studio tiers are listed as "configured to order" with prices on request. The pricing page describes dedicated NVMe, a gigabit-class network, on-demand macOS updates, Screen Sharing / SSH / VNC access with full administrator rights, and support "handled by a real person." No setup fee is mentioned. Five-plus machines and multi-year terms go through sales. The daily and weekly dollar figures are not displayed on the page we checked, and no SLA is published there.

What Figment's Comparable Plan Looks Like

For the direct CloudMac-replacement case — one Apple silicon Mac mini you drive yourself — the Figment entry is M-series from $95/month on a request-based quote. Chip class, RAM, disk, region, access level and start date are set in the quote, so write down what your CI actually needs before you submit.

Two other Figment plans matter for this comparison when you want more than a bare rental:

• Managed Build Mac — $249/month. One M-series Mac, CI setup, backups, monitoring, 30 minutes of monthly support.
• Managed Mac Team — $999/month. Two M-series Macs, two CI runners, team setup, backups, monitoring, one hour of monthly support.

Figment also lists a $29/month virtual Intel macOS environment running on Linux/KVM, with no GPU/audio and browser-console access with a desktop terminal. It is useful if your toolchain is Xcode 26 or earlier and you do not need Apple silicon; visionOS targets and anything requiring Xcode 27+ rule it out.

Price Comparison: Monthly and Annual

Arithmetic:

• CloudMac annual effective monthly: $999 / 12 = $83.25.
• Figment year vs CloudMac annual: $1,140 − $999 = $141 more at Figment over a year if the Figment quote holds at $95.
• Figment year vs CloudMac monthly: $1,199.88 − $1,140 = $59.88 less at Figment.
• Break-even delta: the monthly rate that matches CloudMac annual is $83.25. This is $11.75 below Figment’s $95 entry ($141 / 12). Compare the actual quoted hardware and terms.

Two caveats before you commit. First, $95 is a starting price — your quoted M4 / 16 GB / 256 GB spec may price higher, so compare the actual quote to CloudMac's $99.99 line. Second, CloudMac shows daily and weekly tabs but the dollar values are not visible on the page we checked, so a two-week stint is only cheaper than a month if CloudMac's quote proves it.

Hardware, Access and Toolchain Fit

CloudMac's pricing page is explicit about the $99.99 inclusion: a dedicated M4 / 16 GB / 256 GB mini with full administrator access over Screen Sharing, SSH and VNC. If that is the spec and those are the access methods you want, it is a catalog-priced answer you can act on today.

Figment's M-series is request-based, so hardware class, access level and location are confirmed in the quote rather than on a tier page. State what your CI actually needs: sudo for runner installation, a trusted CA for private registries, a specific Xcode version pinned with xcode-select, and a region close to your artifact store. This gives you a quote for the configuration your pipeline needs.

Xcode. Each Xcode release has its own macOS floor — check Apple's Xcode system requirements for the exact Xcode/macOS pair you plan to run. Figment's $29 Intel VM covers supported Xcode 26-or-earlier Intel workflows. visionOS development requires Apple silicon, so a visionOS project means the CloudMac M4 line or a Figment M-series quote, not the Intel VM.

Managed inclusions. Figment's $249 and $999 plans bundle CI setup, backups, monitoring and a monthly support budget. CloudMac's pricing page lists hardware, network and admin access; CI runner setup, backup orchestration and monitoring are not described there as included in the $99.99 or $999 plan. If you want that work handled, either contract it from CloudMac separately or pick a Figment Managed tier.

Reader Tool: 12-Month Total-Cost Calculator

Fill in the Figment number from your actual quote before deciding.

INPUTS
  cloudmac_monthly_rate   = 99.99      # cloudmac.org/pricing
  cloudmac_annual_prepay  = 999.00     # cloudmac.org homepage, $999/year
  figment_quoted_monthly  = ____       # from your Figment quote
  months                  = 12

TOTALS
  cloudmac_monthly_year   = cloudmac_monthly_rate * months   # 1199.88
  cloudmac_annual_year    = cloudmac_annual_prepay           # 999.00
  figment_year            = figment_quoted_monthly * months

DECISION
  if   figment_year < cloudmac_annual_year  : Figment wins on 12-month total
  elif figment_year < cloudmac_monthly_year : Figment beats CloudMac monthly only
  else                                      : CloudMac annual wins on price alone

  add_managed_value = step up to Managed Build Mac ($249) or Managed Mac
                      Team ($999) if you need CI setup, backups, monitoring
                      or bundled support minutes

CloudMac-to-Figment Migration Plan

• Check your CloudMac term. On monthly, cancel through CloudMac's own cancellation path before the next renewal and keep the confirmation — do not assume the subscription simply lapses, since auto-renewal may apply. On the $999/year plan, ask CloudMac in writing about refund, credit or auto-renewal before you cancel.
• Dump Homebrew state. Run brew bundle dump --file=Brewfile on the CloudMac machine.
• Archive Ruby and Fastlane configs. Copy Gemfile, Gemfile.lock, fastlane/Fastfile, Appfile and Matchfile. Transfer required secret names only; never dump the full environment to a plaintext file. Restore secret values through your own secret manager on the new host.
• Export signing material correctly. In Keychain Access, select each signing certificate together with its private key and export as an encrypted .p12. Copy provisioning-profile files from ~/Library/MobileDevice/Provisioning Profiles/ directly; they are files, not keychain items.
• Record the allowlists you control. If your CI service, artifact store or firewall allowlists CloudMac's egress IP, note it so you can update your own entries later.
• Submit a Figment M-series request at /mac-hosting/start with chip class, RAM, disk, Xcode version, access level and region.
• Rehydrate on Figment. brew bundle install --file=Brewfile, then bundle install. Install the Xcode release that matches your project's deployment target.
• Restore signing. Import each .p12 with its private key; drop the profile files back into the directory above.
• Update your own allowlists to the Figment egress IP.
• Run a clean build of your real project on the Figment Mac before cancelling CloudMac. Only successful builds count as evidence.
• Cancel CloudMac once the new host passes and keep the cancellation confirmation.

Start a Figment quote at /mac-hosting/start or see the product page at /mac-hosting.

Related reading:

• Figment vs Datagram: Mac Hosting Compared
• Figment vs Dataplugs: Mac Hosting Compared
• Managed vs Self-Managed Mac Hosting