Figment vs MacRent: Mac Hosting Compared

Verdict: Short Bursts on MacRent, Persistent Builds on Figment

MacRent publishes billing flexibility most Mac hosts skip: $15/day, $89/week and $159/month for a bare-metal Mac mini M4 (16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD), with an M6 upgrade at +$2/day, +$10/week, +$20/month (macrent.cloud). Those rates exclude VAT; EU consumers pay their country's VAT per MacRent's checkout notice. Daily and weekly billing is genuinely useful for spike work, a one-off release build, or a short evaluation.

For teams running builds every month, Figment's M-series Mac from $95/month has a lower published entry price than MacRent's $159 monthly — a $64/month entry-price gap, not a like-for-like hardware match. Figment's $95 tier is an M-series entry; the exact chip, RAM and disk are confirmed in the quote and are not published as an M4/16/256 specification. If you want the specific managed work (CI setup, backups, monitoring, monthly support time), that is Figment's $249 Managed Build Mac or $999 Managed Mac Team.

Availability caveat on both sides: MacRent showed low stock across tiers on 2026-11-10 (macrent.cloud) with a waitlist, and Figment physical plans are request-based. Request a Figment quote to confirm hardware and timing before you cancel MacRent.

Published Rates Side by Side

All MacRent rates from macrent.cloud, 2026-11-10. Prices exclude VAT.

MacRent lists 1 Gb/s networking, static IP, full admin, SSH and remote desktop on all tiers, with priority support on weekly and monthly. No annual rate is listed on the page we checked. No uptime SLA is published on the pricing page we checked.

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

Figment has no published daily or weekly rate. If you need sub-week billing, MacRent's daily or weekly tier is the right choice while it has stock.

Break-Even: When to Pick Each MacRent Tier (and When to Leave)

MacRent's three tiers overlap. Here is the arithmetic, so you pick the right one without guessing.

Two breakpoints matter in practice:

• Day 6. Daily crosses weekly at six days. If you are even slightly likely to need a sixth day, buy weekly up front and avoid paying $90 for what is a $89 bucket.
• Day 11. Daily crosses monthly at eleven days. If the job might run past day 10, the monthly plan removes the risk of being charged $178 for two weekly auto-renewals.

For teams whose Mac is on month after month, MacRent's $159 monthly runs to $1,908/year at published rates (plus VAT where applicable). Figment M-series at $95/month runs to $1,140/year at the entry price — a $768/year entry-price difference — but the Figment M-series specification is confirmed per quote and is not asserted to match M4/16/256. If the exact hardware matters to your build times, ask Figment for a chip/RAM/disk commitment in writing before moving.

Hardware, Access and Toolchain Fit

MacRent M4 / M6 Mac mini. 10-core CPU and GPU, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, static IP, full admin, SSH and remote desktop per macrent.cloud. The M6 upgrade is described on their site as a faster machine with 2× internet throughput.

Figment Virtual Intel macOS ($29). A real Intel macOS environment running on Linux/KVM — not an SSH tunnel to someone else's Mac. 2 vCPU, 8 GiB RAM, 80 GiB disk. No GPU acceleration and no audio. Access is via the browser console; the desktop terminal runs normal macOS commands and outbound CI agents can reach your CI service. Compatible Intel Xcode toolchains (Xcode 26 and earlier) run here and can cross-compile and sign supported Apple targets. Apple silicon execution, visionOS and Xcode 27 are not available on this tier.

Figment M-series. Apple silicon suitable for ARM execution, visionOS and current Xcode 27. Chip, RAM and disk are confirmed in your quote.

Xcode / macOS matrix, from Apple's Xcode system requirements:

Intel macOS cannot run Xcode 27 per Apple's porting guide. If your pipeline requires Xcode 27 today, pick Figment M-series or stay on MacRent's M4/M6; the $29 VM is a cost-efficient option for Xcode 26 and earlier work.

A Buyer Test You Can Actually Run

Benchmark with your own project, not a generic repo. Three clean builds per host, median wall-clock, failed runs discarded:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Usage: ./time-build.sh <SCHEME> <WORKSPACE.xcworkspace>
set -euo pipefail

SCHEME="${1:?scheme required}"
WORKSPACE="${2:?workspace path required}"

echo "host=$(hostname) arch=$(uname -m) chip=$(sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string 2>/dev/null || echo unknown)"
echo "start=$(date -u +%FT%TZ)"
time xcodebuild \
  -workspace "$WORKSPACE" \
  -scheme "$SCHEME" \
  -destination 'generic/platform=iOS' \
  -configuration Release \
  clean build
echo "end=$(date -u +%FT%TZ)"

set -euo pipefail means a failed build exits non-zero and is not counted. This is an example you execute on your own code; it is not a benchmark we are reporting.

MacRent → Figment Migration Plan

On MacRent, before you cancel

• Decide which tier covers your remaining work; MacRent auto-renews daily, weekly and monthly until you click cancel.
• Snapshot Homebrew: brew list --formula > brew-formulae.txt && brew list --cask > brew-casks.txt.
• Export each signing identity as an encrypted .p12 from Keychain Access (File → Export → Personal Information Exchange, include the private key, set a strong passphrase).
• Download provisioning profiles from the Apple Developer portal at developer.apple.com. They are files, not Keychain exports.
• Record the names of CI secrets only. Do not write values to a plaintext file; re-inject from your CI secret store on the new host.
• Note any SSH public keys authorised on the MacRent machine.

On the Figment host

• Confirm the macOS version in your quote and install the exact Xcode version your pipeline needs before copying artifacts.
• Install Homebrew; restore formulae and casks.
• Import the .p12 into the login keychain; place profiles in ~/Library/MobileDevice/Provisioning Profiles/.
• Re-inject secrets from your CI secret manager (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Vault, 1Password). No secret literals in shell history or dotfiles.
• Point your CI runner at the new host; update allowlists you control (artifact store, CD service, your own firewalls). Do not add fictional Apple IP ranges.
• Run the timing script above three times and compare the median with your MacRent baseline before cutover.

After cutover

• Cancel MacRent via the billing portal; keep the confirmation.
• Keep the MacRent machine warm for one release cycle if your schedule allows, then release it.

Choose the Figment Plan That Fits

Start a quote at /mac-hosting/start or read the full plan page at /mac-hosting. Tax and fees apply as stated in your offer.

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