Figment vs MacDuty: Mac Hosting Compared

Verdict and the Figment plan to pick

If you only need an Intel macOS environment for Xcode 26 or earlier builds, pick the Figment virtual Intel macOS VM at $29/month (2 vCPU, 8 GiB RAM, 80 GiB disk). If you need Apple silicon for ARM execution, visionOS, or Xcode 27, pick Figment M-series from $95/month and confirm the exact chip, RAM and disk in the quote. If you want CI setup, backups and monitoring handled, pick Managed Build Mac at $249/month.

MacDuty rents single-tenant Mac minis from racks in Romania, billed in EUR with VAT added at checkout, and publishes a 99.9% uptime credit on its homepage. MacDuty's cheapest tier beats Figment's M-series entry price in raw euro terms; Figment wins at the low end only if the $29 Intel VM covers your toolchain and at the top end on specific managed CI work.

Published pricing, side by side

MacDuty publishes EUR rates with VAT added at checkout. Figment publishes USD rates. The European Central Bank reference rate on 2026-11-10 is 1 EUR = 1.1214 USD (ECB); conversions below are approximate, dated, pre-VAT and pre-card-fees.

MacDuty published rates (macduty.com, mac-mini-m1):

Annual billing on MacDuty requires 12-month prepayment and saves "at least 19%" versus monthly (verify: €52 ÷ €65 = 20%). No setup fee. Daily, weekly and monthly terms are also published. Colocation starts at €30/month.

Figment published rates (figment.io/mac-hosting):

Figment does not publish an annual prepayment discount, a daily rate, or a free trial. Ask for a configuration quote or agree an evaluation window before purchase. Entry price only: $29 (Intel VM) and $95 (M-series) are not the same hardware class as MacDuty's M-series tiers; equal-hardware comparisons require the quoted M-series spec.

Hardware, access and toolchain fit

Chip: MacDuty lets you pick an exact chip (M1 through M5 Pro) at a published price with specified RAM ranges and bandwidth. Figment's M-series generation and RAM are set in the quote; name the chip, RAM and disk you need in writing.

Access: MacDuty provides SSH to the dedicated host and quotes "order to first SSH prompt < 10 min" for in-stock builds. Figment's $29 Intel macOS VM is reached through its browser console; outbound CI agents can connect from the VM to your pipeline service. Public inbound SSH to the $29 VM is not currently implemented. Physical i3 and M-series access details are confirmed in the Figment quote.

Data residency: MacDuty hosts 100% in Romania (EU), which simplifies GDPR processing agreements for EU personal data. Confirm Figment's region in writing if EU residency is a hard requirement.

Xcode / macOS: Per Apple's Xcode system requirements and porting notes, Xcode 27 requires Apple silicon; Xcode 26 or earlier can run on supported Intel Macs. visionOS development requires Apple silicon. Apple lists Intel MacBook Pro 2019/2020, iMac 2020 and Mac Pro 2019 as supported by macOS Tahoe 26 on its compatibility page. Pair your exact Xcode version with its exact macOS requirement row.

A MacDuty-vs-Figment cost worksheet

Use this with your own term and chip.

1. Pick the equivalent class. MacDuty M4 annual (€76/mo, €912/yr) vs. Figment M-series entry ($95/mo, no annual publication). This is an entry-price comparison, not an M4 vs M4 comparison - Figment's chip is confirmed in the quote.
2. Convert the EUR annual. €912/yr × 1.1214 ≈ $1,022.72/yr pre-VAT. Add your applicable VAT rate as stated at MacDuty checkout.
3. Annualize Figment. $95 × 12 = $1,140/yr at the published monthly rate.
4. Delta on this pair: $1,140 - $1,022.72 ≈ $117.28/yr more at Figment's entry M-series rate, before VAT, card fees and the chip/RAM difference.
5. Add managed CI value. If you would otherwise pay an engineer to set up and maintain runners, compare that labor cost to the $249 Managed Build Mac tier, which bundles CI setup, backups, monitoring and 30 minutes of monthly support.

Do not time a failed build as a success. If you run your own A/B, require a zero exit status, median of at least three clean builds, and the same scheme on both hosts; a non-zero exit is not a measurement.

Migration steps from MacDuty to Figment

Before you switch

• Snapshot Homebrew: brew list --formula > brew-formulae.txt && brew list --cask > brew-casks.txt.
• Export each signing certificate as an encrypted .p12 from Keychain Access (File → Export → Personal Information Exchange; include the private key; strong passphrase). .cer files alone do not include the private key.
• Download provisioning profiles as files from Apple Developer → Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles. They are files, not Keychain exports.
• List the names of CI environment variables and secrets. Do not dump values to a plaintext file; restore values through your secret manager on the new host.
• Note MacDuty-side SSH authorized keys.
• Check remaining months on any MacDuty annual prepayment and fold them into your transition cost.

On the Figment host

• Confirm your macOS version and install the exact Xcode release your pipeline requires. On the $29 VM, plan for Xcode 26 or earlier.
• Reinstall Homebrew; restore packages from the saved lists.
• Import the .p12 into a dedicated keychain created for CI; keep its search-list change scoped and restored on teardown.
• Install provisioning profile files to ~/Library/MobileDevice/Provisioning Profiles/.
• Restore secrets through your secret manager - not into .zshrc or .bashrc.
• Update CI runner configuration (GitHub Actions, GitLab, Bitrise, Buildkite, Jenkins) to point to the Figment host.
• Update any allowlists you control - artifact store, CD service, internal firewall - with the Figment host's address.
• Run one full pipeline on both hosts before canceling MacDuty, and cancel inside its paid billing window.

Start with Figment

Request a quote at figment.io/mac-hosting or go straight to figment.io/mac-hosting/start. Name the Xcode version, chip, RAM, disk and region you need so the returned configuration is the one you will actually run.

Related comparisons: Figment vs MacHive · Figment vs MacMetro · Enterprise fleet RFQ guide