EC2 Mac is built for teams already living in AWS. If you need one Mac, today, without allocating a Dedicated Host, MacRent gets you a dedicated Mac Mini M4 or M6 in minutes for a flat $15/day.
See MacRent pricingAmazon EC2 Mac gives you Apple hardware inside AWS, from the M1 mac2 up to M4 Max and M3 Ultra hosts. It fits teams that already run their build fleet in a VPC with IAM, Savings Plans and the rest of the AWS tooling. It is also the most involved way to get a Mac in the cloud: you allocate a Dedicated Host, launch a macOS AMI on it, attach EBS storage, open security groups, set up a key pair and screen sharing, and the host bills for a 24-hour minimum whether or not your instance is running. On-demand host rates start around $1.20 an hour for the mac-m4, so a single day costs about twice MacRent's Daily before storage and data transfer.
MacRent is the short path. You can rent a Mac online and receive remote desktop and SSH credentials for a dedicated Mac Mini M4 or M6 within minutes. The flat price includes the SSD, a static IP and full-admin access. Use it as a development Mac, a test machine or a self-hosted CI runner, and cancel when you are done.
| Feature | MacRent | AWS EC2 Mac |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | A Mac Mini M4 or M6 with macOS installed, remote desktop and SSH ready | A bare Dedicated Host: you allocate it, launch an AMI, attach EBS, configure networking |
| Minimum billing | 1 day, then cancel anytime, or pick 24 hours only at checkout | 24 hours per host, billed even while the instance is stopped |
| Price | Flat $15/day, $89/week, $159/month, storage and IP included | Hourly host rate (mac-m4 around $1.20/h, about $29/day) plus EBS and data transfer |
| Hardware | M4 or M6, 10 to 12-core CPU/GPU, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD | mac2 (M1), mac2-m2, mac-m4 (24GB) up to M4 Max and M3 Ultra |
| Setup time | Minutes, no cloud account needed | Host allocation, AMI, VPC and screen sharing setup; Mac host capacity is not always available in a region |
| Best fit | A developer or small team who needs one Mac now | Teams already on AWS running a build fleet with Savings Plans |
AWS EC2 Mac details are based on publicly available information and may change, so check their site for current specs and pricing.
You pay for a working Mac, not for a host you then have to build an instance on. There is no AMI to pick, no EBS volume to size and no security group to open.
A mac-m4 Dedicated Host is roughly $29 for its 24-hour minimum, before storage and transfer. MacRent's Daily is a flat $15 with the SSD and a static IP included.
EC2 Mac is hourly after a 24-hour minimum, so short jobs still cost a day. MacRent sells exactly the length you need and lets you cancel in one click.
Every MacRent Mac is an M4 or M6 Mac Mini with full-admin access, fast enough for Xcode, the Simulator and native builds, with no architecture mismatch to think about.
A dedicated Mac Mini M4 on every plan. No quotes, no contracts, cancel anytime.
Where should your Mac be?
A whole physical Mac mini, just for you. Bare metal, not a virtual machine.
Delivered automatically, usually in under 5 minutes.
Same price for every model. Your Mac is assigned from what is free, and its model shows in your portal.
1 month of accessonly $5.30 per day
Renews every month until you cancel
Weekly and Monthly renew automatically until you cancel. Daily lets you choose at checkout: 24 hours only, or renew daily. Cancelling takes one click in the billing portal.
When your builds already run in AWS and you want the Mac in the same VPC with IAM roles, CloudWatch and Savings Plans, or when you need a chip MacRent does not offer, such as an M4 Max or M3 Ultra. A 3-year Savings Plan also cuts the hourly rate substantially if you will keep the host for years.
Apple's macOS software license requires that a leased Mac be rented for at least 24 hours, so AWS bills every Dedicated Host for a minimum of one day. MacRent's Daily plan is also one day, but the price is flat and includes everything.
Yes. Install the GitHub Actions, GitLab or Buildkite agent on it like on any Mac. See the cloud Mac for CI/CD page and the self-hosted GitHub Actions macOS runner guide for the setup.
No. MacRent runs on dedicated Mac Mini hardware in US and EU data centers, with a static public IP per machine. You connect over VNC, RustDesk or SSH from any OS.