Figment vs FELDHOST: Mac Hosting Compared

Quick verdict

FELDHOST publishes three Apple Mac Mini rental plans starting at CZK 2,050/month on its apple-mac-mini catalogue. On the day we checked, every published tier was marked Out of Stock. Figment's M-series starts at $95/month as a request-based configuration, and Figment also offers a $29/month virtual Intel macOS VM (2 vCPU, 8 GiB RAM, 80 GiB disk) that runs compatible Intel Mac toolchains for CI, scripted builds, and testing against supported Xcode 26-or-earlier versions. If you need an Apple silicon Mac Mini from FELDHOST today, you cannot buy one; if you need a budget Intel macOS build runner right now, the Figment VM is the cheapest option in this comparison. For an M-series build box, request a Figment quote and we will confirm the exact chip, RAM, and storage before you commit.

What FELDHOST publishes

FELDHOST is a Czech host that rents individual Apple Mac Mini machines with Secure KVM remote access. The catalogue lists monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and annual payment cycles, with tiered discounts for longer commitments (percentages are not published on the page we checked) and states "no setup fees or hidden costs". All prices are CZK; USD values below are approximate conversions for orientation only and exclude VAT, bank fees, and card FX spreads as actually charged.

Source: feldhost.cz/apple-mac-mini accessed 2026-11-10. USD figures use an indicative rate near 21.8 CZK/USD; the vendor bills in CZK, so your effective dollar price depends on the rate and fees your card charges on the day.

How this maps to Figment

Figment's published retail offers are:

Entry price, not equal hardware. FELDHOST's CZK 2,050 (~$94) plan is a fixed M2 / 8 GB / 256 GB Mac Mini. Figment's $95 is the starting price for an M-series configuration; the exact chip generation, RAM, and storage are confirmed when you request a quote. Do not treat the ~$1/month gap as like-for-like until both specs are on paper.

Annualised entry cost. Twelve months at FELDHOST M2 Base is roughly 12 × 2,050 CZK = 24,600 CZK (~$1,128 at the indicative rate). Twelve months at Figment's M-series entry is 12 × $95 = $1,140. The dollar gap at the entry tier is roughly $12/year before FX and card fees — immaterial. FELDHOST advertises discounts for longer prepayment cycles but does not publish the percentage, so a direct annual-prepay comparison is not possible from the public page; ask FELDHOST for the annual rate in writing if they restock.

Hardware, access, and toolchain fit

Both providers' Apple silicon machines run current Xcode. Per Apple's Xcode system requirements, Xcode 27 requires macOS Tahoe 26.6 or later, and Xcode 26 runs on macOS Sequoia 15.6 through macOS Tahoe 26.x — confirm the exact Xcode/macOS pair you need against that table before provisioning. visionOS development requires Apple silicon.

FELDHOST ships M2 and M2 Pro Mac Minis with KVM remote access. Figment's M-series generation is set in the quote; if you need a specific chip (for Neural Engine performance, newer AMX/Accelerate paths, or a particular memory ceiling), state it in the request. The $29 Figment VM is virtualised Intel macOS on Linux/KVM — the right fit for CI jobs, Intel-targeted builds, and unit tests that do not need Apple silicon or GPU acceleration. Access is through a browser console; inbound public SSH to the VM is not available, but outbound CI agents can connect to your provider from the VM's terminal.

Data residency. FELDHOST is in the Czech Republic (EU). Figment's datacentre location is confirmed per quote; specify EU or a particular country if that is a compliance requirement.

A FELDHOST-specific cost worksheet

Use this short worksheet with your own numbers instead of a generic benchmark. It assumes a single build machine, 12 months of use, and that FELDHOST comes back in stock.

1. FELDHOST monthly list: ______ CZK. Convert at your bank's rate on the order day: ______ USD.
2. Annual list (×12): ______ CZK. Ask FELDHOST for the annual-prepay discount in writing and subtract: ______ CZK.
3. Figment comparable: $29 (VM, Intel CI), $95 (M-series entry, spec TBC in quote), or $249 (Managed Build Mac, CI + backups + monitoring + 30 min support).
4. Add FX and card fees your bank actually charges on a CZK invoice (typical card FX spread is non-zero; check your statement). Add VAT/withholding only as shown on the real invoice — do not estimate country tax from this page.
5. Decision: if availability is the blocker, Figment is actionable today; if you want a specific M2/M2 Pro Mac Mini in the EU, wait for FELDHOST to restock.

Migration checklist if you are leaving FELDHOST

1. Inventory. List CI agents, cron/launchd jobs, Fastlane lanes, and any daemons on the FELDHOST Mac.
2. Repos. Confirm every repository is pushed; clone fresh on the new Mac.
3. Signing. Export each signing identity from Keychain as an encrypted .p12 including the private key. Store the .p12 in your secret manager, not a plaintext file.
4. Provisioning profiles. Download .mobileprovision files from the Apple Developer portal; they are files, not Keychain exports.
5. Secrets. Record the names of required environment variables and restore the values through your CI platform's secret manager. Do not env > secrets.txt — that file will contain live keys.
6. Request a Figment configuration at /mac-hosting/start. Specify chip, RAM, storage, and whether you need the $29 Intel VM, an M-series box, or Managed Build Mac.
7. Allowlists. Update your own artifact store, package registry, or CI service IP allowlists if you maintain any; Apple's developer services do not publish a stable allowlist.
8. Parallel run. Build the same tag on both machines and diff artefacts before cutting over.
9. Cancel FELDHOST after confirming the notice period for your chosen payment cycle.

Example build-timing script (unexecuted)

Run with your own project and scheme; this is an illustrative snippet, not a benchmark.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

PROJECT_PATH="/path/to/YourProject.xcodeproj"
SCHEME="YourScheme"   # Set explicitly; do not infer

echo "macOS: $(sw_vers -productVersion)"
xcodebuild -version
time xcodebuild \
  -project "$PROJECT_PATH" \
  -scheme "$SCHEME" \
  -destination "platform=macOS" \
  clean build

set -euo pipefail stops on the first failure; never compare a failed build against a successful one.

Choose the Figment plan

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