Figment vs MacRun: Mac Hosting Compared in 2026

If you are weighing MacRun against Figment for a Mac CI runner or an agentic coding workstation, the headline trade-off is entry price versus a pre-baked image. Figment's M-series entry is $95/month with the exact chip, RAM and disk confirmed in a configuration quote. MacRun's CI Runner is $139/month on a dedicated M6 Mac mini with Xcode 27.1 and the iOS simulator already installed, per macrun.dev. For a one-off deadline, MacRun also publishes a $15/day Day Pass with no renewal; Figment does not list a daily rate.

If managed CI work matters more than the sticker price, Figment's Managed Build Mac at $249/month bundles one M-series Mac, CI setup, backups, monitoring, and 30 minutes of monthly support in a single line item.

Plans, prices and terms as published

Figment M-series hardware is confirmed by quote. MacRun hardware is a dedicated M6 Mac mini per its pricing page. These are different hardware classes, so the entry-price gap is not a same-spec saving.

Neither vendor's pricing page lists a setup fee or an annual prepayment option on these plans; MacRun explicitly says "cancel anytime" and no discount is advertised on its page. Taxes and fees are as stated in each provider's checkout.

Entry-price projection for one developer

The arithmetic below compares the $95/mo Figment M-series entry to the $139/mo MacRun CI Runner. Treat this strictly as an entry-cost comparison; the exact M-series chip at $95 is set in the Figment quote, so it is not a same-spec benchmark.

For a short, fixed engagement, MacRun's Day Pass can beat both monthly plans: ten working days at $15/day is $150, well under a month on either side. Past about nine Day Passes the monthly plans win. Run your own count against your real build calendar.

Hardware, access and Xcode fit

MacRun's CI Runner and Agent Mac run on a dedicated M6 Mac mini with admin rights, SSH, screen sharing on a private network, and Xcode 27.1 plus the iOS simulator in the base image. The Agent Mac image additionally ships with Claude Code and Codex ready for sign-in. MacRun says further Xcode versions can be installed alongside the default.

Figment's M-series is Apple silicon with the exact chip confirmed by quote; you install the Xcode version your project requires. From Apple's Xcode system requirements:

• Xcode 27, 27.1, 27.2 require macOS Tahoe 26.6 or later. Xcode 27 is Apple silicon only.
• Xcode 26.4.1–26.6 require macOS Tahoe 26.2 or later.
• Xcode 26 through 26.3 require macOS Sequoia 15.6 or later and also run on Tahoe 26.x.
• Xcode 16.4 runs on macOS Sequoia 15.3 through Tahoe 26.1.x; verify your exact pair before provisioning.
• visionOS development requires Apple silicon regardless of Xcode version.

Figment's $29 virtual Intel macOS environment is a real macOS runtime for Intel-compatible Xcode toolchains. Compatible Intel Xcode (Xcode 26 or earlier, per Apple's supported matrix) can build and sign supported Intel-friendly targets on it. It is not Apple silicon: it has no GPU acceleration, no audio, and cannot run ARM-only binaries, Xcode 27 or visionOS workflows. Choose Figment M-series or MacRun's M6 for those cases.

Performance and reliability: a check you can run

MacRun states "no SLA theater" and offers "email support that usually answers within the hour"; it does not publish a formal uptime percentage. Figment also does not publish a formal uptime SLA on retail plans. Published numbers tell you little about your project's clean-build time, so measure once on the candidate machine with your own workspace. The snippet below is an unexecuted example to adapt, not a benchmark:

# Substitute your real workspace, scheme and destination before running.
# The run exits non-zero on failure; do not record a failed build as a timing result.
set -euo pipefail
time xcodebuild clean build \
  -workspace YourApp.xcworkspace \
  -scheme YourRealScheme \
  -destination 'generic/platform=iOS' \
  CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO

Run it twice. The first pass populates Derived Data; the second is the number that matters for CI cost planning.

Migrating from MacRun to Figment

1. Export signing identities. From Keychain Access, export the signing certificate with its private key as an encrypted .p12. Store the export password in your team secret manager, not next to the file.
2. Download provisioning profiles as files from the Apple Developer portal. Profiles are .mobileprovision files; they are not exported from Keychain.
3. List secret names, not values. Record the environment variable names your pipeline needs, then restore each value on Figment through your CI provider's secrets UI or your secret manager. Do not dump the whole shell environment to a plaintext file.
4. Re-register the CI runner. If you use GitHub Actions with MacRun as a self-hosted runner, generate a fresh runner token for the Figment host and update your workflow's runs-on: label; MacRun-hosted jobs can run in parallel during cutover.
5. Install the exact Xcode/macOS pair. Confirm the Figment M-series image's macOS version in the quote and install the Xcode release your project pins. For Xcode 27.x you need macOS Tahoe 26.6 or later.
6. Dry-run a full pipeline on Figment including archive, sign and the upload step you actually use, before cancelling MacRun.
7. Update allowlists you control. If your artifact store, VPN or CI service restricts by IP, add the Figment host's address. Do not add imagined Apple or App Store Connect ranges.
8. Cancel MacRun from its self-service portal once the Figment pipeline is green. MacRun states the volume is securely erased after cancellation.

Pick the Figment plan for your job

MacRun at $139/mo is a sensible pick when you want an M6 with Xcode 27.1 ready on day one and zero setup effort, or when a $15/day Day Pass covers a single sprint. If you want a lower monthly entry, managed CI work bundled in, or a fleet quote, request a Figment configuration at /mac-hosting and start on /mac-hosting/start.

Related reading:

• Figment vs MacWeb: Mac Hosting Compared
• Figment vs Macdome: Mac Hosting Compared
• Buy or Rent a Mac: Full Cost Comparison