Figment vs MacWeb: Mac Hosting Compared in 2026

The quick answer: as of 2026-11-10, every tier on MacWeb's Mac mini page is marked Coming Soon except the Best M1 (Out of Stock). You cannot buy a MacWeb Mac today. If you need an Apple silicon Mac now, start with Figment's M-series from $95/month and request a configuration quote through /mac-hosting/start. If you need a managed CI runner on day one, the Managed Build Mac at $249/month includes one M-series Mac with CI setup, backups, monitoring and 30 minutes of monthly support.

MacWeb's Published Plans

MacWeb lists a full Mac mini catalog with month-to-month billing and "cancel at any time." Prices and status below are read from macweb.com/macmini on 2026-11-10; no annual prepayment, setup fee, trial or uptime SLA is published on that page.

The product page describes bare-metal Mac minis with full admin control and VNC + SSH access. No annual discount, uptime figure or setup fee is stated; treat those as "ask when the plan opens for orders."

Figment's Available Plans

Figment publishes the following retail offers for individual buyers:

• Virtual Intel macOS — $29/month, 2 vCPU, 8 GiB RAM, 80 GiB disk. Runs Intel macOS in a browser-accessible console; suitable for Intel-compatible toolchains, including Xcode 26 or earlier builds that do not need ARM execution or GPU acceleration. No inbound SSH; run commands in the VM's desktop terminal, and outbound CI agents can connect to your CI service.
• i3 Mac — $49/month, physical Intel Mac. Request-based while supply is being confirmed.
• M-series Mac — from $95/month, physical Apple silicon. The exact chip, RAM and disk are set in the quote; $95 is an entry price, not a specific M4/16/256 configuration. Request-based while supply is being confirmed.
• Managed Build Mac — $249/month, one M-series Mac with CI pipeline setup, backups, monitoring and 30 minutes of monthly support.
• Managed Mac Team — $999/month, two M-series Macs, two CI runners, team setup, backups, monitoring and one hour of monthly support.

Priced Comparison Against the Actual MacWeb Catalog

Because none of MacWeb's plans are purchasable today, these comparisons assume MacWeb's listed price is the eventual order price. Hardware classes differ; Figment's $95 is an entry price for an unspecified M-series machine, not an M2/M4 match.

Worked twelve-month worksheet, using listed monthly prices only (no annual discount is published by either vendor):

• MacWeb Base M2 announced: 12 × $99 = $1,188/year
• Figment M-series entry: 12 × $95 = $1,140/year (entry price; exact spec confirmed by quote)
• Difference at the entry row: $1,188 − $1,140 = $48/year cheaper at Figment's entry price, with hardware specified in the quote rather than fixed at M2/16/256
• MacWeb Power M4 Pro announced: 12 × $249 = $2,988/year
• Figment Managed Build Mac: 12 × $249 = $2,988/year, same sticker and includes CI setup, backups, monitoring and 30 minutes of monthly support

The managed row is the interesting one: at the same $249 MacWeb asks for the hardware alone, Figment schedules the pipeline work and watches the runner.

Hardware, Access and Toolchain Fit

MacWeb's catalog is bare-metal Apple silicon Mac minis with admin access and VNC + SSH. That is the right tool for ARM-native builds, GPU-accelerated work, visionOS targets and anything tied to the macOS graphics stack — once a plan is in stock.

Figment's M-series is also physical Apple silicon and covers the same Xcode and simulator surface. The $29 virtual Intel macOS is a different product: it is real Intel macOS, not a jump host, and it can drive compatible Intel Xcode toolchains for cross-compilation and simulator testing where the version supports it. Use it when $100+ for an Apple silicon mini is more than the workload needs. Choose M-series when you need ARM execution, GPU work, visionOS or Xcode 27.

Xcode and macOS pairings from the Apple system requirements page:

• Xcode 27 requires macOS Tahoe 26.6 or later; Apple's porting guide confirms Intel Macs must stay on Xcode 26 or earlier (porting your macOS apps).
• Xcode 26.5–26.6 require macOS Tahoe 26.2 or later.
• Xcode 16.4 runs on macOS Sequoia 15.3 through Tahoe 26.1.x and is compatible with supported Intel Macs.
• visionOS development requires a Mac with Apple silicon in all current Xcode versions.

Confirm the exact Xcode/macOS pair your project needs before picking a tier. Figment's VM installs with Sequoia; if you need a specific Xcode 26.x or Tahoe build, state it in the quote.

Run Your Own Timing Test

Neither MacWeb's product page nor Figment publishes a verified uptime number in the pages we checked, and neither publishes a benchmark for your codebase. The useful signal is a timed clean build of your own project on each candidate machine. Run it twice per machine so the second pass uses a warm Derived Data cache, and compare the second-pass wall times.

# Example only. Substitute your real workspace, scheme and destination.
# Exits non-zero on failure; a failed build is not a performance result.
set -euo pipefail
time xcodebuild clean build \
  -workspace YourApp.xcworkspace \
  -scheme YourAppScheme \
  -destination 'generic/platform=iOS' \
  -configuration Debug

Record the second-pass real time, the chip and RAM reported by system_profiler SPHardwareDataType, and the exact Xcode version. That is the comparison that pays back.

Migration Checklist When a MacWeb Plan Opens

Use this when either vendor becomes available. The steps are the ones that cause real surprises on moving day.

• Confirm the specific chip, RAM, disk and macOS version that will be provisioned, in writing in the quote or order confirmation.
• Export code-signing certificates as encrypted .p12 files from Keychain Access, including the private key, and store the archive password in your CI secret manager — not in shell history or a plaintext file.
• Download provisioning profiles as .mobileprovision files from the Apple Developer portal. They are files on disk, not Keychain exports.
• List the required CI secret names and re-enter their values through your CI provider's secrets UI on the new runner. Do not transfer them in a plaintext dump.
• Register the new CI runner, update pipeline YAML to target it, and run a full archive-and-upload pipeline end to end before cancelling the previous subscription.
• Update IP allowlists only where you control them — your artifact store, internal APIs or CI service. Apple does not publish a TestFlight or App Store Connect IP allowlist to add.

Pick the Figment Plan That Matches the Job

MacWeb's prices are competitive on paper, and worth revisiting when their stock opens. Today, start a Figment configuration quote and get a working Mac on the calendar.

Related reading:

• Figment vs Macdome: Mac Hosting Compared
• Figment vs Macly: Mac Hosting Compared
• Hourly vs Monthly Mac Hosting: Which Saves More?