Figment vs MacinCloud: Mac Hosting Compared

Verdict and a priced Figment pick

MacinCloud's dedicated server plans list $59/month for a 4-core Intel Mac (8 GB RAM, 120 GB SSD, Sonoma), $89 for M1 (4-core, 8 GB, 250 GB, Sonoma), $114 for M2 (4-core, 8 GB, 250 GB, Sequoia or Sonoma) and $164 for M4 (8-core, 16 GB, 250 GB, Sequoia or Tahoe). All four include full macOS administrator, root and sudo access and a static IP, require you to bring your own software licenses, and do not include a trial. The M4 and M2 tiers list an RDP add-on; M1 and Intel do not.

Figment publishes five retail tiers: a $29 virtual Intel macOS VM (2 vCPU, 8 GiB RAM, 80 GiB disk, Linux/KVM), a $49 i3 Mac, M-series from $95/month, Managed Build Mac $249/month and Managed Mac Team $999/month. The i3 and M-series plans are request-based: the quote confirms the exact chip generation, RAM, disk, macOS build, access method and lead time.

At list prices, Figment's VM, i3 and M-series entry each sit below MacinCloud's nearest named price — with one exception. MacinCloud M1 at $89 is $6/month below Figment's $95 M-series entry, so if an M1 with 8 GB fits your build, MacinCloud's advertised rate is lower there. Figment's $95 is not a stated M4 spec; for M4-class work, request the Figment quote at the exact chip, RAM and disk you need rather than treating $95 as hardware parity.

Request a Figment Mac →

Published plans and twelve-month cost

Prices below come from MacinCloud's dedicated plans page and Figment's published retail tiers. M-series rows compare entry price only; chip and RAM parity are not implied.

At list rates, Figment i3 is $120/year below MacinCloud Intel. MacinCloud M1 is $72/year below the Figment M-series entry. The Figment M-series entry is $228/year below MacinCloud M2 and $828/year below MacinCloud M4 — on entry price only, with no confirmed spec parity. MacinCloud's dedicated page does not list a trial or an annual-prepay discount as we read it; confirm taxes, storage upgrades and RDP add-ons in each vendor's quote.

Figment's Managed Build Mac at $249/month covers one M-series Mac, CI setup, backups, monitoring and 30 minutes of monthly support. Managed Mac Team at $999/month covers two M-series Macs, two CI runners, team setup, backups, monitoring and one hour of monthly support. MacinCloud runs plan families beyond its dedicated page; those managed inclusions are not on the dedicated SKUs we read, so if managed CI is what you need, ask MacinCloud for a comparable quote rather than assuming absence.

Hardware, access and toolchain fit

MacinCloud dedicated advertises full administrator/root/sudo access on every tier, a static IP, RAM upgradable to 32 GB and CPU upgrades to 8-core on select plans (upgrade pricing by quote), and bring-your-own software licensing. OS options span Sonoma on the Intel and M1 tiers through Sequoia on M2 and Sequoia or Tahoe on M4.

Figment's $29 virtual Intel macOS VM runs on Linux/KVM. Access is through a browser console — inbound public SSH is not advertised for this VM. It has no GPU acceleration and no audio; outbound connections work, so a CI agent inside the VM can call out to a cloud CI service, artifact store or self-hosted webhook receiver. The VM is a real macOS runtime: a compatible Intel Xcode can build, test and sign supported targets, and because Xcode 12 and later emit universal (arm64 + x86_64) binaries, the VM can cross-compile arm64 artifacts. What it cannot do is execute arm64 code natively, run Xcode 27, or drive visionOS SDKs — those need Apple silicon, so for native arm64 execution, GPU work or visionOS, pick Figment's M-series from $95/month and confirm the exact chip, RAM, disk, macOS build and access method in the quote. The i3 Mac at $49/month is also quote-provisioned; ask for the exact chip generation, disk and access method rather than assuming parity with MacinCloud's Intel SKU.

Toolchain and OS points to pin down before you buy:

• Xcode 26 requires macOS Sequoia 15.6 or later, per Apple's release notes. Sequoia 15.6 and Tahoe 26 both qualify; pick either based on the exact point release your project supports.
• macOS Tahoe 26 supports several Intel models — including MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019), MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, four Thunderbolt 3), iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020) and Mac Pro (2019). Tahoe is not Apple-silicon-only.
• Apple's porting guide states: "If you need to run Xcode on an Intel-based processor, use Xcode 26 or earlier." Xcode 27 is where running the IDE itself requires Apple silicon.
• visionOS SDKs require Apple silicon on any provider.

Xcode downloads free from the Mac App Store. Shipping to the App Store still needs an Apple Developer Program membership and valid signing identities, which you provide and transfer regardless of host. Commercial third-party tools follow each vendor's transfer rules under MacinCloud's bring-your-own policy.

Choose a plan, migrate and measure

Export from MacinCloud. In Keychain Access, select each signing certificate together with its private key, use File → Export Items, and save an encrypted .p12 with a strong passphrase. Copy provisioning profiles as files from ~/Library/MobileDevice/Provisioning Profiles/ (or regenerate with fastlane match). Record Homebrew state with brew bundle dump --file=~/Brewfile. Copy CI configs (.github/workflows/, Fastfile, Matchfile, Gymfile, Appfile). Write down the required secret names separately and restore the values on Figment through your secret manager — never env > file; it can contain tokens. Re-license commercial developer tools per each vendor's process.

Set up on Figment. Pick the Xcode/macOS pair for your targets, then order the Figment tier that supports it. Install Homebrew and run brew bundle install --file=~/Brewfile. Import the .p12 into Keychain and install provisioning profiles by double-clicking. Clone repos, restore CI configs and register your self-hosted CI runner outbound to your CI service. Run xcodebuild -list and a clean xcodebuild test against your real scheme before cutover.

Cutover. Run both machines in parallel on the same pipeline for at least three working days. Verify a TestFlight upload end-to-end from Figment. If you maintain your own firewalls, artifact store or self-hosted webhook receivers, add Figment's assigned IP to your allow-lists only — there is no generic App Store Connect or TestFlight allowlist to update. Cancel the MacinCloud dedicated plan before the next monthly bill date.

Measurement worksheet (apples-to-apples). Rather than a scripted benchmark, record the following on each provider against the same Git commit, same Xcode version, same base simulator runtime and same device destination. Repeat each row at least three times and keep only runs that completed without failures.

If a MacinCloud M1 or M2 plan at 8 GB fits your suite, RAM — not chip generation — may be the bottleneck; the peak-RSS rows surface that before you commit to twelve months. Do not record wall-clock time for failed runs: a failed build is not a benchmark result.

Compare Figment plans → · Start a Figment Mac →

Related: Figment vs AWS EC2 Mac · Figment vs HostMyApple · Hourly vs monthly Mac hosting