Figment vs Shared Colo: Mac Hosting Compared

Short answer: if you already own a Mac and want it racked in Canada, Shared Colo's C$125/month Mac Mini slot is the cheapest path. If you want the hardware included, start with Figment's virtual Intel macOS at $29/month for Xcode 26-or-earlier work, or move to a physical M-series Mac from $95/month when you need ARM execution, more RAM or a managed CI pipeline. Both services are direct options for a Mac build host; the choice is about whether you want to buy and ship a Mac.

What Shared Colo Publishes

Shared Colo's Mac colocation page lists two slots, priced in Canadian dollars:

A 1 Gb/s guaranteed port is C$250/month; extra IPv4 up to a /24 and IPv6 up to a /48 are available on request. The page does not publish setup fees, annual prepay, minimum terms, uptime figures or a hardware-retrieval procedure. Confirm those directly with Shared Colo before you ship a machine. You buy, insure and ship the Mac Mini or Mac Pro yourself, and you are responsible for sourcing a replacement if it fails.

Figment's Published Offers

Figment prices in US dollars and includes the hardware. The current retail offers are:

The $29 VM is a virtual Intel macOS environment on Linux/KVM: no GPU acceleration, no audio, no ARM execution. It is a real macOS runtime — Intel-compatible toolchains, including Xcode 26 and earlier per Apple's system requirements, can build, cross-compile arm64 device apps and sign supported targets inside it. Physical i3 and M-series plans are request-based while supply is confirmed, so ask for a quote before you plan a cutover date. Figment has no published free trial, no published uptime SLA, and no promised provisioning speed; ask for an evaluation if you need one.

Real Cost Comparison

To compare like for like you need one currency. Use your bank's actual conversion rate on the day you buy; a public reference such as the ECB euro reference rate feed will not help with CAD. For a rough sanity check, if CAD 1 = USD 0.72, C$125 ≈ US$90.

Shared Colo three-year total for one Mac Mini slot:

hardware + (125 CAD × 36) + shipping + insurance
= hardware + 4,500 CAD + shipping + insurance

Figment three-year total at the $95 M-series entry (hardware included):

95 USD × 36 = 3,420 USD

Figment three-year total at the $29 virtual Intel macOS plan:

29 USD × 36 = 1,044 USD

Break-even for colo vs rental, in one currency, only applies when the rental rate is higher than the colo rate after conversion:

break_even_months = hardware_price / (rental_monthly - colo_monthly)

A C$125 colo slot plus a new Mac mini you already needed is cheaper than a $95 rental only after the owned hardware's purchase price is amortised. A $29 virtual Intel macOS plan is below the colo rate in both currencies, so for Intel-compatible workloads there is no break-even — Figment is simply less per month than any colocation setup that also needs a Mac purchase.

Two-week usage of either service still pays a full month: neither $29 nor C$125 is pro-rated.

Hardware and Toolchain Fit

Colocation gives you exact control over the chip, RAM, storage and peripherals, because you buy the Mac. If your build needs a specific M4 Pro configuration or Mac Pro PCIe cards, that is a reason to colocate. Figment's $95 entry is an M-series machine with the exact spec confirmed in the quote, not a verified M4/16 GB configuration, so compare entry prices rather than claiming equivalent silicon.

Toolchain, from Apple's own Xcode system requirements on 2026-11-10:

• Xcode 27, 27.1, 27.2 and 27.3 beta require macOS Tahoe 26.6 or later.
• Xcode 26.4.1, 26.5 and 26.6 require macOS Tahoe 26.2 or later.
• Xcode 26.0.1 and 26.3 require macOS Sequoia 15.6 or Tahoe 26.x.
• Xcode 16.4 runs on Sequoia 15.3 through Tahoe 26.1.x.

Intel Macs are limited to Xcode 26 or earlier per Apple's porting guide. Intel-compatible Xcode 26 builds can still cross-compile arm64 device apps and universal macOS binaries; running ARM-only binaries, visionOS and Xcode 27 require Apple silicon. If you colocate an older Intel Mac Mini, confirm it is on Apple's supported list for your target macOS before shipping.

Switching from Shared Colo to Figment

A realistic cutover, running both for one billing cycle:

1. Request a Figment quote for the plan you need and confirm availability for your start date.

2. Commit every CI config, Fastlane file and build script to version control. Record only the names of required CI secrets — never export a plaintext .env from the colocated Mac.

3. In Keychain Access, export each signing certificate with its private key as a password-protected .p12. Store the passphrase in your team password manager.

4. Copy .mobileprovision files from ~/Library/MobileDevice/Provisioning Profiles/ to secure storage. Provisioning profiles are files; they are not imported into Keychain.

5. On the Figment machine, restore secret values through your secret manager (GitHub Actions secrets, Vault, 1Password CLI) rather than from any exported file.

6. Run a dry build against your own scheme and project. A minimal measurement step, run three times and compared on runs 2 and 3:

   set -euo pipefail
   START=$(date +%s)
   xcodebuild \
     -scheme "$YOUR_SCHEME" \
     -project "$YOUR_PROJECT.xcodeproj" \
     -configuration Release \
     -destination 'platform=macOS' \
     clean build
   echo "Build seconds: $(( $(date +%s) - START ))"
   

   set -euo pipefail stops on failure so a failed build cannot be reported as a fast run. This is example code, not a benchmark.

7. Update your artifact store, runner labels and any customer-controlled IP allowlists to the new host. Figment does not need an App Store Connect IP allowlist — Apple does not publish one.

8. Arrange hardware retrieval with Shared Colo (they do not publish a procedure on the pricing page) and cancel billing once the new host carries production traffic.

Choose the Figment Plan

• Intel-compatible builds, Xcode 26 or earlier, modest RAM: start with the $29 virtual Intel macOS plan.
• ARM execution, Xcode 27, visionOS or more cores and RAM: request an M-series Mac from $95/month.
• Hands-off CI with backups, monitoring and setup: Managed Build Mac at $249 for one machine, Managed Mac Team at $999 for two Macs and two runners.

Keep Shared Colo if you already own the right Mac and want it in Canada. Otherwise, request a Figment configuration quote or review the full lineup on /mac-hosting.

Related pages:

• Figment vs Simcentric: Mac Hosting Compared
• Figment vs Summit: Mac Hosting Compared
• Monthly or Annual Mac Rental: Which Contract Wins?