Figment vs MacHive: Mac Hosting Compared

Verdict: Pick Figment If You Want USD Billing or Managed CI

MacHive is a UK host that rents dedicated Mac mini and Mac Studio machines in GBP, with monthly and annual plans spanning M1 through M5 Ultra (machive.co.uk). Figment competes directly and bills in USD. Figment's M-series Mac starts at $95/month (request-based; the exact chip, RAM and disk are confirmed in the quote), a virtual Intel macOS runs at $29/month (2 vCPU, 8 GiB RAM, 80 GiB disk) for Xcode 26-or-earlier builds, and Managed Build Mac is $249/month with CI setup, backups, monitoring and 30 minutes of monthly support.

Choose MacHive if you need GBP invoicing, UK-side colocation, or a specific M5 Ultra configuration. Choose Figment if you want USD billing, a low-cost Intel macOS environment for legacy pipelines, or the managed CI work bundled into the plan.

Published Pricing Compared

MacHive publishes plans ex VAT in GBP; VAT and currency conversion are stated in the MacHive offer at checkout. Figment publishes USD monthly rates. Line up the hardware class first, then the term.

MacHive Mac mini plans (machive.co.uk):

Annual math: £35 × 12 = £420, £420 − £357 = £63; £69 × 12 = £828, £828 − £704 = £124.

MacHive new-generation plans (M5/M6, available from 22 September 2026):

Mac Studio tiers carry a three-month minimum term. Mac mini Colocation is £55/mo with a one-time £100 setup fee; Mac Studio Colocation is £69/mo with £100 setup. Bandwidth is listed as unlimited. MacHive's pricing page does not publish a numeric uptime guarantee in the version we fetched; confirm SLA wording in the offer.

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

Figment publishes monthly rates; annual prepayment, setup or discount terms are not part of the published offer and would be stated in your quote. VAT, taxes and fees are as stated in each provider's actual offer.

Worked GBP/USD comparison for one M4-class Mac mini (12-month total, ex VAT and ex tax):

• MacHive Pro annual: £704/yr (M4, 16GB, 512GB). £704 ÷ 12 = £58.67/mo effective.
• Figment M-series: $95/mo × 12 = $1,140/yr, chip confirmed in quote. At today's ECB reference rate 1 EUR = 1.1214 USD (the rate you apply depends on your card/bank at the time); use your invoicing bank's GBP/USD rate for an exact figure.

The honest read: on a straight M4/16GB/512GB spec, MacHive Pro at £704/yr is the lower sticker. Figment's $95 is an entry M-series price; the chip tier is defined in the quote and may not be an M4. Where Figment usually wins on total cost is the Managed Build plan at $249/mo, because the equivalent self-run CI engineering time on a MacHive box is additional.

Hardware, Access and Toolchain Fit

MacHive's catalog covers M1 through M5 Ultra and includes SSH plus desktop access with 1 public IPv4 by default. Figment M-series is Apple silicon confirmed per quote; the $29 virtual Intel macOS is accessed through the browser console and runs a real macOS userland, so compatible Intel Xcode toolchains, command-line tooling and signing of supported targets work.

Match the chip to the job:

Xcode compatibility per Apple's Xcode system requirements:

• Xcode 27 requires macOS Tahoe 26.6 or later.
• Xcode 26 supports macOS Sequoia 15.6 through macOS Tahoe 26.x.

Per Apple's porting guidance at developer.apple.com/documentation/apple-silicon/porting-your-macos-apps-to-apple-silicon, Intel Macs should use Xcode 26 or earlier. Figment's $29 virtual Intel macOS therefore fits Xcode 26 workloads cleanly; choose an M-series host (MacHive or Figment) for Xcode 27 or visionOS SDKs. Confirm the exact Xcode/macOS pair your project needs before provisioning.

A MacHive → Figment Migration Worksheet

Use the host you have now; capture configuration before you cancel.

On the MacHive machine

1. Record the remaining obligation. If you are inside the annual plan or a three-month Studio minimum, calculate months left × monthly price and add that to the transition cost.
2. Snapshot Homebrew: brew list --formula > brew-formulae.txt && brew list --cask > brew-casks.txt.
3. Export each signing certificate from Keychain Access as an encrypted .p12 (File → Export Items, Personal Information Exchange, include private key, set a strong passphrase). Download provisioning profiles as files from Apple Developer → Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles. Provisioning profiles are not exported from Keychain.
4. Write down the names of every CI environment variable and secret; do not dump the environment to a file. Values move through your CI secret manager (GitHub Actions secrets, GitLab CI variables, 1Password, Vault).
5. Note authorized SSH public keys and any custom firewall rules your pipeline relies on.

On the Figment host

1. Request the Figment plan that matches the row you chose above, and confirm chip/RAM/disk in the quote.
2. Verify the installed macOS version and install the exact Xcode version your pipeline uses.
3. Install Homebrew; restore formulae and casks from your saved lists.
4. Import the .p12 with its passphrase; drop provisioning profiles into ~/Library/MobileDevice/Provisioning Profiles/.
5. Restore secrets from your secret manager into the CI job, not into shell history or a plaintext file.
6. If you maintain allowlists on your own artifact store, CD service, or corporate firewall, add the Figment host's IP. Apple's App Store Connect does not publish a fixed IP allowlist; do not add invented Apple ranges.
7. Run one real pipeline end-to-end before cancelling MacHive.

Cost-transition worksheet (fill in your numbers):

A = MacHive months remaining × monthly price (ex VAT) = ______
B = Figment target plan monthly × months to cutover    = ______
C = Engineer-hours to move × internal hour rate        = ______
Transition cost = A + B + C
Monthly saving after cutover = (MacHive monthly) − (Figment monthly)
Payback months = Transition cost ÷ Monthly saving     (only valid if saving > 0)

Example with MacHive Pro £69/mo and Figment Managed Build $249/mo: there is no monthly saving because Managed Build includes CI engineering MacHive does not. Payback is in the engineering hours you no longer pay internally, not in the sticker price.

Choose the Right Figment Plan

Request a quote or agree an evaluation at /mac-hosting, then start the handover at /mac-hosting/start.

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