Figment vs IPHOST: Mac Hosting Compared in 2026

If you are comparing IPHOST with Figment for Mac hosting, here is the direct answer. IPHOST publishes an M2 8 GB / 256 GB dedicated Mac at $73.50/month (VAT excluded) with no minimum term and a "2 months free" option on annual billing, which is a lower entry price than Figment's M-series from $95/month. The exact chip, RAM and disk behind Figment's $95 entry are confirmed in your quote, so it is not a like-for-like M4 comparison. If you need managed CI, backups and monitoring without doing the setup yourself, Figment's Managed Build Mac at $249/month is the plan to weigh against IPHOST plus your own configuration time. Start a request at /mac-hosting/start.

Published Plans and Terms

The IPHOST table below is taken from its Apple Mac dedicated servers page, verified on 2026-11-10. All prices exclude VAT. IPHOST lists no setup fee and states 7-day card/bank refund (crypto non-refundable), 24/7 ticket support with a 2-hour business-hours response target, and a 99.9% uptime SLA. Access is via SSH and Screen Sharing with an administrator account. The data center is in Chișinău, Moldova (outside the EU); apply taxes and fees as stated in the actual quote, not generic assumptions.

Annual term: IPHOST advertises "2 months free" on annual billing. Confirm the exact annual total on the vendor page before committing; it is listed next to each plan on the same URL.

Figment's published retail offers (see /mac-hosting):

The i3 and physical M-series plans currently collect requests until supply is confirmed. The $29 virtual Intel macOS instance runs on Linux/KVM and is Intel-only (no GPU acceleration, no audio); access is via the browser console, with outbound CI agents able to reach your service. It is a real virtual macOS environment.

Price Verdict

For the smallest Apple silicon tier, IPHOST's M2 8 GB at $73.50/month is $21.50/month cheaper than Figment's $95/month M-series entry. That is a 23% entry-price gap, not evidence of equal hardware — the $95 line is Figment's lowest M-series point and the exact configuration is set in the quote.

For an M4 16 GB / 256 GB specifically, IPHOST publishes $110.72/month. Figment's $95 entry is not advertised as an M4 16 GB machine; treat the $95 as a starting price and ask for the M4-equivalent quote if that is what you need. On annual billing, IPHOST's 2-months-free promo lowers the per-year cost further — the exact annual figure is on the pricing page beside each plan.

Where Figment can be the better buy: when you would otherwise pay someone to set up Fastlane, runners, backups and monitoring on a bare IPHOST Mac. Figment's Managed Build Mac at $249/month bundles one M-series Mac with CI setup, backups, monitoring and 30 minutes of monthly support. A rough worksheet, using your own labor rate:

• IPHOST M4 16/256 at $110.72/month = $1,328.64/year (month-to-month)
• Figment Managed Build Mac at $249/month = $2,988/year
• Gap: $1,659.36/year. If a contractor at $120/hour would spend more than ~14 hours/year keeping the CI stack working, the managed plan is cheaper. Below that, self-manage on IPHOST.

Use the quote you actually receive; do not assume the $95 Figment entry matches IPHOST's M4 price.

Toolchain and Access Fit

Both providers serve Apple silicon Macs that can run current Xcode. Xcode/macOS pairings change per release — check the exact pair on Apple's Xcode system requirements for the specific version you ship with. Two facts matter for the choice:

• Intel is still useful. Per Apple's porting guidance, Xcode 26 or earlier runs on Intel Macs; Xcode 27 does not. Figment's $29 virtual Intel macOS and $49 i3 Mac are the right line if your pipeline targets Xcode 26 or earlier, or if you need a cheap Intel surface for legacy builds and tests.
• Apple silicon is required for visionOS simulation and Xcode 27. For those workloads, pick IPHOST's M-series or Figment's M-series.

IPHOST access is SSH plus Screen Sharing with an administrator account on a dedicated Mac. Figment's virtual Intel macOS is accessed through the browser console; direct inbound public SSH to the $29 VM is not currently implemented. Figment's physical M-series access details are confirmed in the quote.

IPHOST-to-Figment Migration Plan

This is the concrete sequence. It respects IPHOST's no-minimum-term policy and avoids the usual secret-leak patterns.

On the IPHOST Mac, before you cancel:

1. Open Keychain Access, right-click each signing certificate, choose Export and save as encrypted .p12. Store the passphrase in your password manager, not the same folder as the .p12.
2. Copy provisioning profiles from ~/Library/MobileDevice/Provisioning Profiles/*.mobileprovision to secure storage. They are plain files, not Keychain items — do not try to export them from Keychain.
3. Write down only the names of required secrets (API keys, App Store Connect key IDs, tokens). Restore the values on the new host through your team's secret manager. Do not write a plaintext dump of the environment to disk; it can contain keys.
4. Push every Fastlane lane, Matchfile, Gym/Scan config and Xcode build setting into version control.
5. Note whether you are on month-to-month or annual IPHOST billing so you know when the cycle closes.
6. Update your own firewall, artifact-store or CI allowlists that reference the IPHOST machine's IP — do not rely on inventing an Apple or App Store Connect IP range.
7. Download any build artefacts or logs you need to retain.

On the new Figment Mac:

1. Confirm the macOS version matches the Xcode release you need (see Apple's requirements page).
2. Install Xcode from the App Store or the developer downloads page.
3. Import the .p12 certificates into Keychain Access (certificates only — profiles are separate files).
4. Copy provisioning profiles into ~/Library/MobileDevice/Provisioning Profiles/.
5. Restore secrets from your secret manager, not from a committed file.
6. Run one clean build of your own project as the first validation. Treat it as a smoke test, not a benchmark — a successful clean build proves the toolchain and signing are correct, not that any performance target is met.
7. Point CI, DNS and hostname references at the new machine.

Choose the Right Figment Plan

IPHOST's no-minimum term and annual promo are real strengths; take them seriously if your team is happy to own the CI and signing setup. Pick Figment when the managed CI work is worth the difference, or when a cheap virtual Intel macOS fills a specific gap in your pipeline. Request a Figment configuration at /mac-hosting/start.

Related reading:

• Figment vs JUUZ Cloud: Mac Hosting Compared
• Figment vs JustMac: Mac Hosting Compared
• Virtual Mac vs Dedicated Mac: Which Fits Your Build?